Quizfix vs Anki: cards you build or a test first?

The short answer

Anki is a free, community built flashcard app with a strong spaced repetition scheduler (SM-2 or FSRS), add-ons and full control over card design. Quizfix makes a practice test from your own files, shows what you missed, and turns the misses into spaced repetition cards up to your exam date. Pick Anki if you want to build and tune your own decks for months or years. Pick Quizfix if you want questions made from your material fast and a daily plan for one exam.

What Anki does well

A mature spaced repetition scheduler. You can use the classic SM-2 or turn on FSRS.
Full control over card layout, fields and review timing.
Add-ons extend the desktop app with new features.
Cards can hold audio, images, video and scientific markup.
The desktop app, AnkiDroid and AnkiWeb sync are free. It handles very large decks.
A community project with open code on GitHub.

Where Quizfix is different

You don't write the cards. Quizfix makes questions from your PDF, slides, notes or video.
A test comes first, so you see your gaps before you drill.
Misses become cards in a Fix round, then come back with spaced repetition.
An exam date drives Today's session and a Readiness number.
It works the same on the web, iPhone and Android, and it is free on all of them.

Side by side

Topic	Quizfix	Anki
Who makes the cards	Made from your material	You write them, or use shared decks
Main flow	Test, see misses, Fix round	Daily card reviews
Scheduler	Spaced repetition, built in	SM-2 or FSRS, with many settings
Question types	Multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank	Any card type you design
Custom control	Simple, few settings	Very deep, plus add-ons
Exam date plan	Built in, with Readiness	Not built in
Cost	Free on web, iPhone and Android	Free desktop and Android; the iPhone app is paid

Pick Anki if

You study one subject for years, like a language or medicine, and want fine control.
You like to write your own cards. Writing them helps you learn.
You want add-ons or card types you design yourself.
You already have big decks and a daily habit in Anki.

Pick Quizfix if

You have an exam soon and no time to write hundreds of cards.
Your material is a PDF, slides or a lecture video, and you want questions from it.
You want a test first, to see what you don't know yet.
You want a plan that counts down to one exam date.

Anki and Quizfix both use spaced repetition. Cards come back right before you would forget them. The big difference is where the cards come from and what you do first. In Anki, you build cards and review them every day. In Quizfix, you take a test made from your material, and the cards come from your misses.

How Anki fits a study routine

Anki is a tool for people who want control. You decide what goes on each card. You choose the layout and the fields. You can tune how often cards come back. Since version 23.10, Anki also has FSRS, a newer scheduler you can turn on in deck options. By default it aims for you to remember about 90 percent of cards when they come due. You can change that goal.

This control suits long subjects, like a language or medicine. When you study for years, small gains in scheduling add up. Writing your own cards is also study time in itself. The cost is time. Making good cards for a whole course takes many hours, and the settings take time to learn.

How Quizfix fits a study routine

Quizfix is built for one exam at a time. You add your lecture slides, a PDF, Word file, photos of notes or a YouTube lecture. Quizfix makes a test with multiple choice, true or false and fill in the blank questions. Every question comes from your material, and each answer says why.

After the test you see the questions you missed. A Fix round turns them into cards and drills them. Those cards come back with spaced repetition. Set your exam date, and Today's session gives you a short mix each day. It has due cards and a few questions on weak topics. Readiness shows how much of the material you know now.

Starting with a test has support in research. The pretesting effect (Richland, Kornell and Kao, 2009) found that trying to answer first can help you learn the material better later. A test also points you at the right cards, so you don't spend days on what you already know.

Use your Anki deck in Quizfix

If you have an Anki deck, you can bring it in. Quizfix reads an Anki or CSV file. The Anki to quiz tool turns your deck into a practice test. This is a good check before an exam. Seeing a card is not the same as answering a test question. Our guide on spaced repetition before an exam explains how to plan the last weeks.

Cost and platforms

Anki desktop is free on Windows, Mac and Linux. AnkiDroid on Android is free and made by volunteers. AnkiWeb sync is free. AnkiMobile on iPhone and iPad is a paid app, and the money helps fund Anki.

Quizfix is free on the web, iPhone and Android. The web tools work with no account: 3 runs a day per device and files up to 15 MB. A free account gives 15 runs a day, files up to 50 MB, and keeps every Set.

You can use both

Keep Anki for long term subjects you review for years.
Use Quizfix to make a test from new slides, then fix what you miss before the exam.
Turn a big Anki deck into a test once a week to check what really stuck.
Short on time? Read how to turn lecture slides into flashcards for a faster path.

Questions about Quizfix and Anki

Is Quizfix better than Anki?

It depends on your goal. Anki is better for long term decks you build and tune yourself. Quizfix is faster when you need questions from your own files for an exam soon.

Can I import my Anki deck into Quizfix?

Yes. Quizfix reads Anki and CSV files and makes a practice test from your cards.

Does Quizfix use spaced repetition like Anki?

Yes. Cards from your misses come back when they are due. Quizfix has fewer settings than Anki, on purpose.

Is Anki free?

The desktop app, AnkiDroid and AnkiWeb sync are free. AnkiMobile for iPhone and iPad is a paid app.

Quizfix vs Anki