If you search the App Store for an Anki alternative, Noji is one of the first names you'll see. Until 2025 it was called Anki Pro. The name changed; the developer stayed the same.
Noji and MintDeck look like they solve the same problem: a polished phone app for spaced-repetition flashcards, with AI to help make cards. The differences are in what's free, how reviews are scheduled, and which devices you can use. This post goes through each one, including where Noji is the better pick.
The Quick Summary
Choose MintDeck if: You study on an iPhone or iPad, you want FSRS scheduling with no daily review cap, and you'd rather pay for AI per use than subscribe.
Choose Noji if: You need Android or a web app, you want AI card generation and PDF imports bundled into one subscription, and 50 cards a day on the free plan is enough or you're ready to pay for Premium.
First: Noji Is Not Anki
Because of its old name, many students assume Noji is the official Anki app. It isn't. The official Anki FAQ lists Anki Pro (now Noji) among apps developed by separate groups and unrelated to the Anki project. The official Anki app for iPhone is AnkiMobile.
That doesn't make Noji a bad app. It just means its features, prices, and data formats are its own and don't follow Anki's. We covered the naming confusion in more detail in Is AnkiPro safe?.
MintDeck isn't affiliated with Anki either. It imports Anki .apkg decks and uses FSRS, the same algorithm modern Anki offers, but it's an independent app.
Free Plan: The 50-Card Ceiling
This is the biggest practical difference.
Noji's help center says the free plan is capped at 50 cards per day, and Premium removes that limit. For a light daily language habit, 50 cards may be plenty. For a med student with a few thousand due cards, or anyone catching up after a missed week, it isn't. The same Premium list includes adding images, image occlusion, and custom review intervals.
MintDeck has no daily review limit. The full study loop is free: unlimited reviews with FSRS, manual card creation, CSV and Anki import, image occlusion, LaTeX formulas, folders, iCloud sync, and audio study with on-device voices. Credits only pay for optional cloud AI.
| MintDeck free | Noji free | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily review limit | None | 50 cards/day |
| Images on cards | ✅ Your own images, free | Premium |
| Image occlusion | ✅ Free | Premium |
| AI card generation | 10 free credits, then pay per use | Premium |
Price
MintDeck is free to download and study with. New accounts get 10 AI credits. If you want more, there's a one-time pack of 400 credits for $4.99. There's no subscription, and purchased credits don't expire. Full details are in what's free and what costs credits.
Noji is free with in-app purchases. Its Premium plan is a subscription, and App Store listings also show a lifetime option. We found several different price points across store listings and third-party reviews, so we're not quoting a figure here. Check the current price inside the app before you start a trial.
The models are different in kind. With Noji, the subscription unlocks both unlimited study and the AI tools. With MintDeck, studying is never metered, and you pay only when you ask AI to write or enrich cards.
Spaced Repetition Algorithm
MintDeck uses FSRS by default. FSRS models each card's difficulty and stability from your review history and schedules the next review for when you're about to forget it. There's nothing to set up. The FSRS explainer covers how it works.
Noji describes a spaced repetition mode that builds a review schedule from your feedback, plus a separate mode for cramming. In the help pages and marketing pages we checked, it doesn't name the underlying algorithm, so we can't tell you whether it's FSRS, SM-2, or something custom. If the algorithm matters to you, check Noji's settings before you commit a large deck.
AI Features
Both apps can turn source material into cards.
Noji lists AI card generation, PDF imports, enhanced text-to-speech voices, and card templates as Premium features. Its help center notes that PDF-to-flashcards runs on the web app only.
MintDeck generates decks from a topic, notes, a PDF, or an image on iPhone. Topic generation costs about 1 credit per card, and a PDF or image job costs 10–30 credits depending on length. You see the cost on a confirmation sheet before anything is charged. On devices that support Apple Intelligence, AI mnemonics and notes run on-device for free.
If you'll generate AI cards every week, a bundled subscription can be simpler. If you mostly study cards you already have, pay-per-use means you don't spend anything in the months you don't need AI.
Importing Anki Decks
Both apps take .apkg files, through different routes.
- Noji: Its help center documents exporting from Anki desktop (
.apkgor.colpkg) and uploading the file through the Noji web interface. Including progress data in the export lets your study history come along. It also imports CSV. - MintDeck: Import the
.apkgfile directly on your iPhone. Cards, media, tags, deck structure, and existing review history come across. See how to import Anki decks. CSV import works the same way, and Quizlet sets come in via CSV export.
If your Anki library lives on a desktop anyway, Noji's web upload is no hardship. If you only have your phone, MintDeck's in-app import is the shorter path.
Platforms
| MintDeck | Noji | |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone / iPad | ✅ | ✅ |
| Android | ❌ | ✅ |
| Web | ❌ | ✅ (web app at noji.io) |
| Mac | Via iCloud | Via web |
Noji clearly wins on reach. If you switch between an iPhone and an Android tablet, or study from a school Chromebook, MintDeck can't follow you there. MintDeck is built only for Apple devices, so the iPhone and iPad apps are its whole focus.
Audio Study
MintDeck has a hands-free Audio Study mode: it reads the front of a card, gives you time to recall, then reads the back. The on-device voices are free; higher-quality cloud voices cost credits.
Noji lists enhanced text-to-speech voices among its Premium features. We didn't find documentation of a hands-free review mode equivalent to MintDeck's, so we're not comparing them directly.
Who Should Use MintDeck
- iPhone and iPad students who review more than 50 cards on a typical day
- Anyone moving an Anki library to their phone without a computer
- Students who want FSRS working out of the box
- People who'd rather pay for AI occasionally than subscribe
Who Should Use Noji
- Students who need Android or a browser alongside (or instead of) iOS
- People who want AI generation and PDF import in one subscription and will use them often
- Light daily learners for whom 50 free cards a day is enough
The Honest Verdict
Noji is a cross-platform app, and on Android or the web it's a reasonable choice that MintDeck can't compete with. Its subscription bundles unlimited study with AI tools, which suits people who use both heavily.
On an iPhone, the trade looks different. Noji's free plan stops at 50 cards a day and puts images, image occlusion, and AI behind Premium. MintDeck keeps all of studying free with no daily cap, uses FSRS by default, imports Anki decks on the phone itself, and charges for AI only when you use it.
The easiest test: import one of your existing decks into MintDeck and run a week of reviews.
Try MintDeck free — import your Anki decks on iPhone →
Compare more: MintDeck vs Anki · MintDeck vs Quizlet · MintDeck vs Mochi · MintDeck vs RemNote · MintDeck vs Brainscape · MintDeck vs FlashRecall
Related: Is AnkiPro safe? · Best Anki alternative for iPhone · Is Anki free on iPhone? · Best spaced repetition apps 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Is Noji the same as Anki?
- No. Noji is the new name of the app formerly called Anki Pro, and the official Anki FAQ lists it as unrelated to the Anki project. The official Anki app for iPhone is AnkiMobile. MintDeck is also independent of Anki, but it imports Anki .apkg decks and uses the FSRS algorithm that modern Anki supports.
- Is Noji free?
- Noji has a free plan, but its help center says free study is capped at 50 cards per day. Premium removes that cap and adds AI card generation, PDF imports, image support, image occlusion, and custom review intervals. MintDeck has no daily review limit on its free study loop; only optional AI generation costs credits.
- Can I import Anki decks into Noji and MintDeck?
- Yes, both accept Anki .apkg files. Noji's documented path is uploading the file through its web app at noji.io, with an option to bring study progress along. MintDeck imports .apkg files directly on iPhone, including media, tags, and existing review history.
- Should I pick Noji or MintDeck if I use Android?
- Noji. It is available on Android and the web as well as iOS, while MintDeck is Apple-only (iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud). If every device you study on is an Apple device, MintDeck's free FSRS study loop is the stronger value.
Written by
Sergiu Puscas · Creator of MintDeck
Sergiu builds MintDeck and writes every guide and comparison on this blog — drawing on building an FSRS-based flashcard app and hands-on testing of the study apps covered here.
More about Sergiu
