What Anki does well
Anki is an open-source flashcard app. You write cards yourself or import ready-made decks, and an algorithm decides when each card comes up again. Cards you know well appear less often, hard ones more often. This is called spaced repetition and is one of the best-supported study methods.
Anki runs on Mac, Windows and Linux as well as on phones. It is ideal for knowledge you need to recall quickly and reliably: terms, definitions, vocabulary, numbers.
Where KnowFi is different
KnowFi needs no cards. It works with practice questions that already exist and the notes you already have.
- No preparation: nothing to copy out or create. Open the practice question, press the shortcut.
- Reasoning instead of a card back: a flashcard shows the answer. KnowFi explains why it is right and why the other options don't fit.
- Open questions: for tasks without options, KnowFi writes a model answer from your notes to measure your own against.
- No review schedule: KnowFi doesn't plan when you review what. Anki remains stronger there.
| KnowFi | Anki | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Understanding practice questions | Retaining facts long term |
| Preparation | None, select your notes once | Write cards or import decks |
| Answer | Solution with reasoning from your notes | Back of the card |
| Open questions | Model answer from your notes | Only as a card you write yourself |
| Review schedule | No | Yes, automatic |
| Platform | Mac | Mac, Windows, Linux, phone |
As of November 2026. Details about other providers without guarantee; please check features and prices with each provider.
How the two fit together
A proven routine: practise with past papers and problem sets, use KnowFi to follow the solutions, and turn every question you got wrong into an Anki card. That way exactly the material that hasn't stuck yet goes into your review schedule.
More in the guide to spaced repetition.
Updated 11 November 2026