An Anki alternative for Mac that skips the card-making.
Nov 3, 2026 · 5 min read
Most people who search for an Anki alternative on a Mac do not dislike spaced repetition. They dislike building the cards. Mochi and RemNote are the full replacements that run on a Mac; LeafyApp is the one that removes card-making and still sends words to Anki if you want it. It is Mac only, so if you live on your iPhone, read the last section first.
Who should leave Anki, and who should not
Leave if the thing you hate is the admin: copying a word, opening Anki, choosing a deck and a note type, writing the back, hunting for the sentence it came from. That is a card-making problem, and a different scheduler will not fix it. Stay if you already have a deck you trust, a phone you review on, or a shared deck that took you months to build.
Anki itself has not gone anywhere. As of November 2026 its download page lists a free desktop version for macOS 13 and up, on both Apple Silicon and Intel, plus AnkiMobile for iPhone and AnkiDroid for Android. If Anki feels slow rather than tedious, that is a separate problem and has its own page: why Anki is slow on a Mac.
The options on a Mac
Each project's own site was opened today to check where it runs and whether there is a free way in. Nothing here is a ranking. It is a list of what exists, as of November 2026.
Your words come from reading and you do not want to make cards
Mochi's site says "Free forever. No sign-up required" for its free plan and mentions spaced repetition. RemNote's says it has a free plan covering notes, flashcards and PDF annotation, and that flashcards can be generated with AI. For Mnemosyne the GitHub page was used, because on checking today the project's own website was showing a hosting suspension notice. Platforms and plans were checked, not how pleasant any of them are, so there is no ranking on that.
What a swap of scheduler does not fix
Mochi, RemNote and Mnemosyne are all places to keep and review cards. For someone who reads in another language, the cards still need to come from somewhere, and the step that breaks is the one before the app: you meet a word in a PDF, a game, a subtitle, a paper, and getting that word plus its sentence into any card tool takes a minute each time. Move to a nicer app and that minute stays.
That is why "simple Anki alternative" so often turns out to mean "something where you can skip making cards". If your list of words lives in a notes app and never becomes a deck, this is the usual reason, not the scheduler.
Where LeafyApp fits
LeafyApp works one step earlier. Press ⌥A in any app, drag a box over the word, and macOS text recognition reads that patch of screen. You get an explanation for the sense the sentence is using. The word is saved on its own with the sentence, the source and the date, so there is no card to build. It works on text you cannot select too: scanned PDFs, pictures, subtitles, a game window.
Review is built in. LeafyApp turns the saved sentence into a fill-in-the-blank card and schedules it with FSRS-5, so for a language learner it can be the whole loop with no second app. If you still want Anki, it can send words straight to it with a card preview, one folder per deck. Your own Anki cards also show in the popup ahead of the lookup, so a word you already know turns up as your card first. The setup is on the Anki setup page, and the card maker page covers what lands on the card. If the link ever refuses to connect, here is the fix list.
Who should look somewhere else
LeafyApp is a Mac app for Apple Silicon on macOS 14 or later. There is no iPhone app, no Windows version and no browser extension. If most of your reviewing happens on a phone on the train, Anki with AnkiMobile, Mochi or RemNote will serve you better, and all three list iOS on their own sites. Its own review is fill-in-the-blank cards built from your saved sentences. It is not a general flashcard maker for anatomy diagrams or maths, so if that is your use, stay with Anki.
The text you box goes out to an AI so it can explain the word as the sentence uses it, with nothing attached that says who you are. The picture is read on your Mac and thrown away, and your library stays on the Mac. The privacy page lists exactly what is sent.
Questions people ask
What is the best Anki alternative for Mac? It depends on what you dislike. For a different editor with a free plan, Mochi and RemNote both run on a Mac. If the part you dislike is making cards from what you read, LeafyApp saves each lookup with its sentence and reviews it for you, but it is Mac only.
Is there an Anki alternative for language learning without making cards? LeafyApp is built for that. You box a word with ⌥A, it is saved with its sentence, and the built-in review makes fill-in-the-blank cards from it. You can still send words to Anki later.
Is there a simple Anki alternative that is a spaced repetition app for Mac? Mochi and Mnemosyne are the plain ones. LeafyApp is simpler still if your words come from reading, because it has no deck-building step, and it uses FSRS-5 scheduling.
Can I use LeafyApp and Anki together? Yes. LeafyApp can send words to Anki through the free AnkiConnect add-on, and it shows your own Anki cards in its popup. Deleting a card on one side never deletes it on the other.
Is there an Anki alternative for iPhone from LeafyApp? No. LeafyApp has no iPhone app. For phone-first reviewing, look at AnkiMobile, Mochi or RemNote.
Keep the scheduler if you like it. Lose the card-making.
Free while LeafyApp is in beta. One download, macOS 14 and up.
Anki, AnkiMobile and AnkiDroid are trademarks or products of their respective owners. Mochi, RemNote and Mnemosyne are names of their respective owners. LeafyApp is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and the names are used here only to describe compatibility and for comparison.