Is FlowRecall better than Anki?

Not in general — it is better at a different moment. Anki is the better tool once you have cards and want the most configurable scheduler in existence. FlowRecall is the better tool while you are still reading, because the card gets made from the passage in front of you instead of being a separate task you do later, or never.

Can I import my Anki decks into FlowRecall?

No. FlowRecall is built around material you read inside it, so there is no deck importer. If you already have a working Anki collection, keep it.

Does FlowRecall use the same algorithm as Anki?

Both use FSRS. FlowRecall runs FSRS-6 on-device with no configuration; Anki ships FSRS as an option you enable and can tune.

Is Anki free and FlowRecall paid?

Anki is free on desktop and Android, and a one-off paid app on iPhone. FlowRecall has a free tier — five AI decks and twenty AI lookups a month — and paid plans priced for a single exam term.

FlowRecall vs Anki

Anki is a flashcard app you bring finished cards to. FlowRecall puts the reading, the card-writing and FSRS-6 scheduling in one app. If you already have a working Anki collection, keep it — the case for FlowRecall is about the step before the card exists.

The honest summary

Anki is one of the best pieces of study software ever made, it is free, and it has a twenty-year head start. Nothing below is an argument that it is bad. The argument is narrower: Anki begins at the moment a card exists, and for most students the card never exists.

The gap between "I read this chapter" and "I have cards for this chapter" is where studying quietly fails. It is a separate session, it is boring, and it happens after the reading when the material has already started to fade. FlowRecall closes that gap by putting the card-writing in the same app as the reading, while you still know why the passage mattered — and by letting the AI draft a deck when the chapter is too long to write by hand.

	FlowRecall	Anki
Where the card comes from	Written in seconds in the same app you read in - or made by the AI from your notes or a PDF.	You write it somewhere else, then type or paste it in.
Reading	Built in. PDF, EPUB and pasted text, with any word defined in place.	Not included. You read elsewhere and switch apps to make the card.
Scheduler	FSRS-6, on-device and offline. No configuration.	FSRS, and it is excellent — but it is a setting you have to find and enable.
Shared decks	None. You study your own material.	An enormous library, and it is genuinely Anki's best feature.
Card types	Question and answer (tap to reveal); true-or-false and fill-the-blank in AI decks.	Deeply customisable — cloze, image occlusion, custom templates, add-ons.
Cost	Free tier, then ₹199 a month or ₹449 for a three-month exam term.	Free on desktop and Android. The iPhone app is a one-off paid purchase.
Setup	Open a PDF and start reading.	Real, and worth it if you stay — deck structure, note types, sync, add-ons.

Where Anki is clearly better

Shared decks. If someone has already built a good deck for your exam, using it is faster than making your own, and FlowRecall has no equivalent at all.

Card types and add-ons. Image occlusion for anatomy, cloze deletion, custom note types, and a plugin ecosystem that can reshape the whole app. FlowRecall has question-and-answer cards, and true-or-false and fill-the-blank in its AI decks, and that is the whole list.

Price and longevity. It is free, it is open source, and your collection is a file you own. That is a real argument and it should be taken seriously.

Where FlowRecall is better

The card gets made. A card is two lines — a front and a back — written in the app you read in and saved with one tap. When a chapter is too big for that, the AI makes a deck from the PDF. Either way there is no export, no second app, and no chapter to re-read to remember what was worth asking about.

Your own material, not someone else's. A shared deck teaches a syllabus that may not be yours. Your cards are from the book your course actually set.

Nothing to configure. FSRS-6 is on, on-device, and offline. There is no scheduler to enable and no interval to tune.

Who should use which

Use Anki if you already have a collection that works, if image occlusion or cloze is central to your subject, or if a shared deck covers your exam well.

Use FlowRecall if your problem is that you read a lot and retain little, if you have never got card-making to stick as a habit, or if your material is your own PDFs rather than a syllabus someone else has already carded.

Common questions

Is FlowRecall better than Anki?: Not in general — it is better at a different moment. Anki is the better tool once you have cards and want the most configurable scheduler in existence. FlowRecall is the better tool while you are still reading, because the card gets made from the passage in front of you instead of being a separate task you do later, or never.
Can I import my Anki decks into FlowRecall?: No. FlowRecall is built around material you read inside it, so there is no deck importer. If you already have a working Anki collection, keep it.
Does FlowRecall use the same algorithm as Anki?: Both use FSRS. FlowRecall runs FSRS-6 on-device with no configuration; Anki ships FSRS as an option you enable and can tune.
Is Anki free and FlowRecall paid?: Anki is free on desktop and Android, and a one-off paid app on iPhone. FlowRecall has a free tier — five AI decks and twenty AI lookups a month — and paid plans priced for a single exam term.