Tools
Vocabulary apps compared: how they schedule reviews and where the words come from
Quizlet, Memrise and Drops have by far the most App Store ratings in the US, but the count says nothing about how an app schedules reviews. Choose by where the words come from (ready-made courses, cards you make, or words you meet while reading), then check that the app brings words back over weeks and months.
Key points
- On 31 October 2026, Quizlet had 1,138,677 ratings on the US App Store, more than five times Memrise's 217,564. At the bottom of our ten, SuperMemo had 132 and Readlang Mobile 6 (iTunes lookup).
- A rating count measures how many iPhone and iPad users rated an app, not how well it teaches. AnkiMobile costs $24.99 and has 2,370 ratings, while desktop Anki and AnkiDroid are free and do not appear in the count (Anki).
- Three apps publish fixed review steps: Memrise from 4 hours to 6 months in eight steps (Memrise, 2022), Clozemaster at 1, 10, 30 and 180 days (Clozemaster FAQ), and LingQ from 1 day to 3 months (LingQ, 2020).
- Two schedule by predicted memory instead: SuperMemo sets the next review for the day your chance of recall falls to 90% (SuperMemo FAQ), and Anki's FSRS lets you choose the retention you want (Anki manual).
Which vocabulary apps have the most App Store ratings?
Ten apps for learning foreign-language words, with flashcards, review courses, or words saved while reading. Each one is listed under its App Store name, and the order comes only from the number of ratings each had on the US App Store.
Sorted by the number of App Store ratings in the US (userRatingCount in Apple's iTunes lookup API), checked 31 October 2026. Average rating is rounded to one decimal, as the store shows it.
| # | App (App Store name) | Developer | Ratings (US) | Average | Download price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quizlet: More than Flashcards | Quizlet Inc | 1,138,677 | 4.8 | Free |
| 2 | Memrise: Language Learning App | Memrise Limited | 217,564 | 4.8 | Free |
| 3 | Drops: Language Learning Games | PLANB LABS OU | 71,716 | 4.7 | Free |
| 4 | Brainscape - Study Flashcards | Bold Learning Solutions, Inc. | 21,607 | 4.8 | Free |
| 5 | LingQ | Learn Languages | LingQ Languages Ltd. | 10,412 | 4.7 | Free |
| 6 | Lingvist: Learn Languages Fast | Lingvist Technologies OU | 3,708 | 4.6 | Free |
| 7 | AnkiMobile Flashcards | Anki Software LLC | 2,370 | 4.0 | $24.99 |
| 8 | Clozemaster－Vocabulary Builder | Language Innovation LLC | 2,095 | 4.8 | Free |
| 9 | SuperMemo – effective learning | SuperMemo World sp. z o.o. | 132 | 4.2 | Free |
| 10 | Readlang Language Readers (Readlang Mobile, ours) | Alisher Fayzullaev | 6 | 4.7 | Free |
Readlang Mobile, listed on the App Store as Readlang Language Readers, is made by the team that writes this site. It is not affiliated with Readlang (readlang.com). Free apps here sell subscriptions or upgrades inside the app.
What does an App Store rating count tell you?
Mostly how many people use an app on iPhone and iPad in the US, and how long it has been on the store. It is not a measure of how well an app teaches vocabulary. Four things skew the figures in the table above:
- Not everyone is a language learner. Quizlet and Brainscape are general study apps used for any subject; their ratings include students revising biology or law.
- Price. AnkiMobile is the only paid download, at $24.99. Most Anki users study on the free desktop program or the free AnkiDroid for Android (Anki download page), and their ratings are not in the App Store count.
- Age. An app released recently has had little time to collect ratings. Readlang Mobile's 6 ratings say more about its age than about its quality, good or bad.
- One storefront. These are US figures only. An app popular in Europe or Asia can rank lower here.
The average rating is less useful still: nine of the ten apps sit between 4.2 and 4.8. Use the count to see which apps are widely used, then compare the schedules below.
How does each vocabulary app schedule reviews?
Every app in the table says it uses spaced repetition or review, but only some publish how it works. This table records what each developer's own help pages, blog or App Store listing says, in the same order as the ranking.
| App | Where the words come from | What the developer says about scheduling | Published intervals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quizlet | Sets you type or paste, or sets Quizlet builds from your notes or a recorded lecture (App Store) | After flipping a card you rate it Repeat, Hard, Okay or Easy, and the rating sets when it returns. The help article says this is available only on the Quizlet website (Quizlet help); the app listing says Quizlet "resurfaces" what you need to review, without details (App Store) | Repeat: within minutes. Okay: about a day. Easy: four or more days |
| Memrise | Memrise's own courses, with videos of native speakers | Each correct answer moves an item to the next interval; a wrong answer sends it back to the first (Memrise blog, February 2022) | 4 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 6 days, 12 days, 48 days, 96 days, 6 months |
| Drops | A curated list of more than 3,000 words and phrases, in 55+ languages (App Store) | After 50 learned words, the Review Dojo tests them "with our spaced-repetition algorithm" and flags words that need more practice (Kahoot, 2021) | Not published |
| Brainscape | Cards you make, cards generated from notes, PDFs and images, or expert and community decks (App Store) | You rate each card from 1 (not at all) to 5 (totally); cards rated 4 or 5 come back less often, 1 or 2 more often, and the intervals for each rating can be adjusted (Brainscape) | Default intervals not published |
| LingQ | Words and phrases you save while reading or listening to lessons and your own imports | Saved words have a status from 1 to 4, and the status sets when a word is due for SRS review (LingQ help, updated March 2020) | Status 1: 1 day; 2: 3 days; 3: 1 week; 4: 2 weeks, then 1 month, then 3 months |
| Lingvist | Lingvist's courses in 16 languages (App Store) | An algorithm calculates when to repeat each word; new words come only once the words due for review are finished (Lingvist help) | Not published |
| AnkiMobile (Anki) | Cards you make, or shared decks | Two schedulers since Anki 23.10: one based on SM-2, and FSRS, which fits a memory model to your review history; with FSRS you set a desired retention, and higher retention means more reviews a day (Anki manual) | Calculated per card; settings are yours |
| Clozemaster | Sentences with a missing word, in over 50 languages (App Store) | Each correct answer in a row moves a sentence to the next step (25%, 50%, 75%, 100% mastered); a wrong answer at any point resets it to 0%. Pro subscribers can change the intervals (Clozemaster FAQ) | 1, 10, 30 and 180 days |
| SuperMemo | SuperMemo's courses, 300+ in 28 languages, or courses and cards you make (App Store) | By default the next review is set for the day the probability of remembering an item drops to 90%; easy answers lengthen the gap, hard ones shorten it (SuperMemo FAQ) | First review usually after 2–3 days, then calculated |
| Readlang Mobile (ours) | Words and phrases you translate while reading books, articles and websites in the app | Translated words go to a vocabulary list for flashcards, a multiple-choice quiz (Premium) and a word game. The listing does not describe spaced repetition (App Store) | None |
Readlang Mobile is not affiliated with Readlang (readlang.com). Readlang on the web does offer flashcards with spaced repetition, but it has no app in the App Store (on iPhone it runs in Safari and can be added to the home screen; Readlang), so it is not in the App Store ranking; it is compared with other reading tools on learning words from reading.
Do the exact intervals matter?
Less than the fact that reviews keep coming over weeks and months. In the research on spacing, whether gaps grow, stay equal or shrink makes little or no difference; what matters is the total spacing, and that the longest gaps match how long you want to remember (see do the gaps need to grow?). By that standard, the published schedules all reach long gaps: Memrise reaches 6 months, Clozemaster 180 days, and LingQ 3 months. Apps that do not publish intervals may do the same; you cannot check it from their documentation.
Two other features matter more in daily use:
- Do you have to recall before seeing the answer? Typing or saying the word before it is shown is retrieval practice, which keeps words better than rereading them (recall, do not reread). Flashcards with self-rating (Anki, Quizlet, Brainscape, SuperMemo) depend on you answering honestly before you flip the card.
- Can you control the number of new words? Every new word brings reviews for weeks. Lingvist holds new words back until due reviews are done (Lingvist help); in Anki you set a daily limit. Our suggestion of 10 to 15 new words a day is explained in how many new words a day?
Which vocabulary app suits which learner?
Each paragraph below stands on its own: who the app suits, and what limits it, from the developer's own pages and the App Store listing.
Quizlet
Suits learners who want to make word lists quickly from their own notes, in any language or subject. Limits: it is a general study app, not a language course, and its help article says spaced repetition with Repeat, Hard, Okay and Easy ratings is available only on the Quizlet website (Quizlet help).
Memrise
Suits beginners who want a ready-made course with videos of native speakers and a schedule they do not have to set up. Limits: you learn the words Memrise chose, and the published intervals (4 hours to 6 months) come from a 2022 blog post, so they may have changed (Memrise, 2022).
Drops
Suits learners who want short, picture-based sessions with little typing. Limits: the free plan allows up to 5 minutes a day (Kahoot), the Review Dojo opens only after 50 learned words (Kahoot, 2021), and the curated list of more than 3,000 words and phrases is a start rather than a reading vocabulary: unsimplified novels take about 8,000–9,000 word families by Paul Nation's estimate (how many words you need). Words and phrases are counted differently from word families, so the two numbers are only roughly comparable.
Brainscape
Suits learners who make their own cards and like rating their confidence from 1 to 5. Limits: it is a general study app, its default intervals are not published, and Pro costs $19.99 a month or $95.99 a year in the US; creating and sharing text flashcards is free (App Store).
LingQ
Suits intermediate learners who read and listen a lot and want the words they look up to come back for review. Limits: the review intervals in its help centre are from an article last updated in March 2020 (LingQ help), and the free plan limits how many words you can save; prices are in the spaced repetition tools table.
Lingvist
Suits learners who want the app to decide what to study each day, in one of its 16 languages. Limits: no intervals are published, and new words wait until due reviews are finished, which slows new material if you skip days (Lingvist help).
AnkiMobile (Anki)
Suits learners who want full control: your own cards, shared decks, a choice of SM-2-based scheduling or FSRS with a retention target (Anki manual). Limits: on iPhone it costs $24.99, it takes setting up, and the cards are only as good as the ones you make or download. The desktop version and AnkiDroid are free (Anki).
Clozemaster
Suits learners at about A2 to C1, the range its listing names, who want to meet words in sentences rather than as single translations (App Store). Limits: one wrong answer resets a sentence to 0% mastered, and only Pro subscribers can change the default intervals of 1, 10, 30 and 180 days (Clozemaster FAQ).
SuperMemo
Suits learners who want ready-made courses with a documented recall target of 90%, in 28 languages that include Arabic, Czech, Greek, Ukrainian, Turkish and Romanian (App Store; SuperMemo FAQ). Limits: it has few ratings in the US store, so there is little user feedback to go on there.
Readlang Mobile (ours)
Suits learners who read books and articles on iPhone or iPad and want each translated word saved. Limits: its listing does not describe spaced repetition, the multiple-choice quiz is on Premium, the free plan allows 30 translations a day, and it has 6 ratings in the US store (App Store). If scheduled review matters most, pair it, or any reader, with a flashcard app from the table. Readlang Mobile is made by the team behind this site and is not affiliated with Readlang (readlang.com).
How to choose a vocabulary app
- Decide where your words will come from. Ready-made courses: Memrise, Drops, Lingvist, Clozemaster, SuperMemo. Cards you make or download: Anki, Quizlet, Brainscape. Words you meet while reading: LingQ, Readlang Mobile.
- Check that it brings words back for months. A schedule that stops after a few days keeps words for a test, not for reading a novel next year.
- Prefer recall to recognition. Typing or saying the word before you see it beats choosing it from a list.
- Keep new words to a level you can review. If daily reviews grow past about 15 minutes, add fewer new words.
- Add reading. Apps cover the most frequent few thousand words; the rest come from meeting words again and again in books, as explained in can you learn words just by reading?
For the research behind spaced review, see the guide to spaced repetition.
How we checked
Rating counts, average ratings, prices and developer names come from Apple's public iTunes lookup API for the US storefront (country=us), queried for all ten apps on 31 October 2026 (iTunes lookup). The figures change every day. Scheduling details come from each developer's help pages, FAQ, blog or App Store description, read on the same day; where a page carries a date, the table gives it. We did not test the apps' schedules ourselves, and we included only apps whose main job is vocabulary or flashcards, so general courses such as Duolingo are not in the list.
References
- Apple. iTunes lookup API, US storefront: itunes.apple.com/lookup (userRatingCount, averageUserRating, formattedPrice, sellerName), checked 31 October 2026.
- Quizlet. Studying with Spaced Repetition. Quizlet Help Center. help.quizlet.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (US). Quizlet: More than Flashcards. apps.apple.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Memrise. February Product Roundup, 21 February 2022. memrise.com
- Apple App Store (US). Drops: Language Learning Games. apps.apple.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Kahoot! Drops language learning app, 30 April 2021. kahoot.com
- Kahoot! Drops: Learn a new language in 5 minutes per day, FAQ. kahoot.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Brainscape. The science of never forgetting: spaced repetition. Brainscape Academy. brainscape.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (US). Brainscape - Study Flashcards. apps.apple.com, prices checked 31 October 2026.
- LingQ. How does the LingQ SRS review work? LingQ Support, updated 9 March 2020. lingq-support.groovehq.com
- Lingvist. Why do I see the same words? Lingvist Help. lingvist.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (US). Lingvist: Learn Languages Fast. apps.apple.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Anki. What spaced repetition algorithm does Anki use? Anki Manual, FAQs. docs.ankiweb.net, checked 31 October 2026.
- Anki. Download page (desktop, AnkiDroid, AnkiMobile). apps.ankiweb.net, checked 31 October 2026.
- Clozemaster. Frequently asked questions. clozemaster.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (US). Clozemaster－Vocabulary Builder. apps.apple.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- SuperMemo. How often should the material be repeated? How does the algorithm plan repetitions? SuperMemo FAQ. supermemo.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (US). SuperMemo – effective learning. apps.apple.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (US). Readlang Language Readers (Readlang Mobile). apps.apple.com, checked 31 October 2026.
- Readlang. About Readlang (footer link: Readlang for iOS and Android), readlang.com; Install Readlang on your iPhone, iPad or Android home screen, Readlang Forum, forum.readlang.com. Checked 31 October 2026.