The Anki alternative for vocabulary
Both run FSRS. Only one asks you to set it up. Rayaad is for people who want Anki’s scheduling for their vocabulary, without the settings screen.
Why switch to Rayaad
- FSRS is on from your first card, already tuned. There is no scheduler to switch on, no parameters to optimise, and no monthly maintenance.
- Two answers — knew it, or didn’t — instead of four buttons. You stop grading yourself and just review.
- Every card can speak both sides, each in its own language, built in rather than added on.
- Listen mode turns your due cards into an audio session for a walk or a commute, and it counts as review.
- One free account across the web and every device, with nothing held back for a paid app.
Where they differ
- Anki is a general-purpose tool with custom note types, cloze deletions and image occlusion. Rayaad is built for vocabulary and has one kind of card, which is why there is nothing to configure.
- Anki exposes its scheduler's settings and suggests re-optimising them about once a month. Rayaad ships one tuned set and publishes it.
- Anki has a large library of add-ons. Rayaad has none — what add-ons usually fix, like audio and a review screen worth using, is built in.
- Anki imports its own collection format. Rayaad imports cards from a CSV or a pasted list, and their schedule starts fresh.
Anki vs Rayaad, side by side
In words rather than ticks — a tick on both sides tells you nothing.
| Rayaad | Anki | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Learning vocabulary in one or more language pairs, with scheduling that is right without becoming a project. | Reviewing anything at all. It is deliberately general, and configured deck by deck. |
| What a card is | A word, its meaning and an optional example, inside a language pair. One shape, nothing to set up. | Almost anything — custom note types, many fields, cloze deletions, image occlusion, audio and video. |
| Scheduling | FSRS-6, on by default, with one published set of parameters. Nothing to enable or optimise. | FSRS is available once you enable it in deck options; the older SM-2 scheduler remains. The manual suggests optimising parameters about once a month. |
| Answering | Two answers, by swipe, key or button, with an undo that also reverses the scheduling. | Four buttons. Anki's own documentation supports studying with two of them. |
| Pronunciation | Built in. Both sides spoken in their own language and kept after the first play. | Audio can be added to notes, generated by add-ons, or read by your device's text-to-speech. |
| Hands-free review | Listen mode plays your due cards with headphone and lock-screen controls, on every plan. | No built-in equivalent; add-ons and other apps come close. |
| Ready-made decks | A catalog written for each language pair, installed into a deck you own. | A huge library of decks shared by other users, of varying quality. |
| Platforms and price | The web app works on any computer or phone, free; phone apps are coming on the same account. | Free on desktop, Android and the web. The official iPhone app is a separate one-time purchase. |
Same scheduling, without the upkeep
Anki and Rayaad both run FSRS, so the gaps between reviews come from the same kind of model. What differs is everything around it.
In Anki, FSRS is a setting you find, switch on and then look after — the manual suggests re-optimising its parameters about once a month, and the screen that holds it also holds learning steps, leech thresholds and a dozen other choices. Each is useful to someone. Together they are why a new user often makes scheduling decisions before making a single card.
Rayaad has no such screen. One scheduler, one published set of parameters, on from your first card.
Two answers are enough
Rayaad asks one question per card: did you know it? Anki offers four buttons and asks you to place your recall on a scale. The middle buttons are the ones people are least consistent about, and FSRS works correctly with two answers. Fewer decisions per card means faster sessions you actually finish.
Built for words, not just facts
A general tool treats a word like any other fact. Rayaad knows each side of a card is in a different language: it speaks both sides in the right voice, plays your due words as audio when your hands are busy, and keeps everything on one account across your devices.
Moving from Anki
Export the words you are working on now
In Anki, export the deck you are actively learning as notes in plain text. Leave long-mature cards where they are — they are not costing you anything there.
Import them and check every row
Paste the list or upload the file in Rayaad. Every row appears in a preview first, and you keep only what you want.
Give it two weeks
The first days of any spaced repetition app are all new cards. The real shape of a session shows once the gaps start to spread.
Anki alternative questions
Can I import my Anki decks?
Your cards, yes — export them from Anki as notes in plain text and paste or import them into Rayaad, which shows every row before adding it. Your Anki review history does not come across, so imported cards start their schedule fresh. Most people bring the few hundred words they are learning right now.
Is Rayaad's scheduling as good as Anki's?
It is the same algorithm, FSRS-6, with one tuned set of parameters that Rayaad publishes. You get the scheduling without having to maintain it.
Does Rayaad have add-ons?
No. The things people usually install add-ons for — audio, a sensible review screen, good defaults — are part of Rayaad.
Is Rayaad open source like Anki?
No. Rayaad is a hosted app, and everything you put in it comes back out in one file whenever you want, on any plan.
Try Rayaad alongside Anki
Nothing to uninstall. Add a handful of words you keep losing and see whether they stop being lost.