November 14, 2026•11 min read

Best AI Flashcard Makers From a PDF in 2026

The best AI flashcard maker from a PDF or notes depends on where you will study the cards. Knowt, Gemini Notebook, RemNote, Quizlet, Anki, and Scholarly compared.

By Scholarly TeamComparisons

The best AI flashcard maker from a PDF depends on where you want to study the cards afterward. For free Quizlet-style studying, use Knowt. For cards that live inside your notes, use RemNote. For a quick deck from sources already in a notebook, use Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM). If your class already shares Quizlet sets, use Quizlet. For an editable deck from a PDF, notes, or a recording that you can export to Anki, use Scholarly. Anki schedules the cards you give it, so pair it with a tool that writes them.

How we checked: in November 2026 we opened each tool's own website and help pages and described it in the vendor's words. Free allowances are quoted as each vendor's page read on November 14, 2026. We do not quote other companies' prices because they change, so pricing pages are linked. Scholarly is our product, and this guide says which jobs other tools do better.

AI flashcard makers from a PDF or notes, by job

Job	Tool	What it does well	What it does not do
Free Quizlet-style studying with AI cards	Knowt	Makes flashcards from pasted notes, PDFs, images, videos, PowerPoints, and audio, with a free Learn mode and Quizlet import	Include every AI tool for free. Its plans page lists the AI summarizer for PDFs, videos, images, and PowerPoints under the paid Ultra plan
A quick deck from sources in a notebook	Gemini Notebook	Flashcards and quizzes from your sources, with a difficulty and card-count setting and a CSV download	Describe a review schedule. Its help page covers Got it and Missed it marking
Cards that live inside your notes	RemNote	Converts a PDF to flashcards with AI and places them in your notes, with spaced repetition	Give unlimited AI cards. Each plan lists an AI allowance
Cards next to the sets your class already shares	Quizlet	Smart Assist turns notes or an uploaded file into draft cards you edit before publishing	Offer file import everywhere. Smart Assist import is limited to listed countries and to English, French, or German accounts
Full control of scheduling	Anki	Open source, with FSRS or SM-2 scheduling, and it imports text files and packaged decks	Write the cards. Its site describes no AI card generation of its own
An editable deck from your own PDF, notes, or recording	Scholarly	Question-and-answer and definition cards written from the pages you choose, with a card target and an Anki export on paid plans	Give more than one free deck. Free is one lifetime AI Creation Credit and 5 lifetime study answers, and exports are paid

What makes an AI flashcard maker worth using

It reads your file. A deck written from the pages of your PDF matches your course. A deck written from a topic name matches the average course.
You can edit every card. Treat an AI deck as a first draft. Fixing weak cards is also your first pass through the material.
It schedules reviews. Flashcards work through repeated recall over time, so check whether the tool has spaced repetition or only lets you flip through.
You can take the cards with you. Check the export formats before you build a large deck.

Knowt: free Quizlet-style studying with AI cards

Knowt's AI flashcard maker says: "Upload any notes or paste them below, and Kai will make flashcards instantly." It lists PDFs, images, videos, PowerPoints, and audio as inputs, and says you can upload up to 30 files. Its answer to whether this is free is "Yes! You can make flashcards with the AI flash card creator for free."

For studying, Knowt's homepage says you can "Create, share, and study for completely free with unlimited learn mode", and its FAQ describes a spaced repetition mode and Quizlet import.

What to check: Knowt's plans page lists the "AI PDF, video, image(s), and powerpoint summarizer", the AI lecture recording summarizer, and the AI Podcast generator under its paid Ultra plan, so confirm which AI features your account includes. Where it fits: students who want free Learn-style studying and have Quizlet sets to bring over. We compare the two in Scholarly vs Knowt.

Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM): a quick deck from your sources

Google's help center now calls the product Gemini Notebook, and notebooklm.google redirects to notebook.google. Its Flashcards and Quizzes turn the sources in a notebook into study aids. You can choose easy, medium, or hard, ask for fewer, standard, or more cards, and add a prompt to shape the content.

When you study, you mark each card "Got it!" or "Missed it!", your progress is saved, and you can practice again with only the cards you missed. Google's help page says you can "Download your flashcards as a CSV file."

Where it fits: a fast deck from material already in a notebook, with no extra tool. Where it does not: the help page describes no spaced-repetition schedule, so for long-term review move the cards to a tool that has one. Compare it with us in Scholarly vs NotebookLM.

RemNote: cards that live inside your notes

RemNote describes itself as "Notes, flashcards, PDFs, and advanced AI study tools." Its PDF to flashcards page says "RemNote lets you convert PDFs to flashcards automatically using AI", aimed at "testable concepts such as definitions, relationships, formulas, and key ideas", and the cards are placed "directly into your notes for long term study." Cards are then shown with spaced repetition, and you can add exam dates.

Plans: RemNote's pricing page lists Free, Pro, and Pro with AI. Free includes "Unlimited Notes & Flashcards", and each plan lists an allowance of AI credits and of AI cards from text, PDFs, and slides. Free has the smallest.

Where it fits: heavy note-takers who want their notes and their review queue in one document. Where it does not: if you only want a deck from one PDF, a notes app is more tool than you need. We compare the two in Scholarly vs RemNote.

Quizlet: AI cards next to shared class sets

Quizlet's help center describes two ways to get cards from your own material.

Smart Assist "helps you create study sets faster by turning your notes or uploaded content into flashcards." You type or paste text, upload a file, or enter a topic, and it makes draft cards you can edit, delete, or add to before publishing. Quizlet says importing content with Smart Assist is available to eligible users whose account language is English, French, or German and who live in one of the countries it lists, with minimum ages.
Study Guides take uploaded or pasted course materials and "generate a study guide equipped with an outline, flashcard set, and more." Quizlet says "Free users can generate study guides for free with limited access."

For studying, Quizlet's help page says Learn and Test are available to Quizlet Plus subscribers. Without a subscription you can use Learn "for a limited number of rounds per flashcard set" and take one practice test per flashcard set. See Quizlet's plans.

Where it fits: classes where the teacher or classmates already share Quizlet sets. Where it does not: regular Learn and Test study without a subscription. We compare the two in Scholarly vs Quizlet.

Anki: the scheduler to pair with an AI card maker

Anki is "a flashcard program that helps you spend more time on challenging material, and less on what you already know." Its site says the free computer version is available for all major platforms, and its manual says Anki is open source and that the FSRS algorithm "has been integrated as an alternative to the legacy SM-2 algorithm."

Anki's site does not describe AI card generation of its own. You write cards, install add-ons, or import them: the manual says "Anki can import text files, packaged Anki decks created by the export feature and Mnemosyne 2.0 .db files."

How to get AI cards into Anki: make the deck in a tool that exports for it. Scholarly downloads an Anki deck (.apkg) on a paid plan, and Gemini Notebook downloads flashcards as a CSV file. Where it fits: anyone who wants deep control of scheduling and will keep up daily reviews. For the trade-off, see Scholarly vs Anki.

Scholarly: an editable deck from your own PDF, notes, or recording

Disclosure: this one is ours.

Scholarly's flashcard maker reads the material you give it and writes the cards from that content. It takes PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, images, plain text, audio recordings, YouTube videos, and web pages. From a PDF it writes mostly question-and-answer cards, plus definition cards for key terms, and you can choose a page range if you only need one chapter. For fill-in-the-blank cards there is a separate cloze deletion generator.

Card target: Low (about 30 or more cards), Medium (about 60 or more), High (about 120 or more), or Very High (about 200). These are targets, and a short source produces fewer cards. A finished deck with fewer than 15 cards does not use your credit.
Editing: edit questions and answers, add images, delete cards, or write new ones. Repair Card works on one card and Refine with AI on the whole deck, and neither uses an AI Creation Credit.
Studying: study mode schedules each card with a modified SM-2 algorithm, so cards you miss come back sooner.
Imports: Quizlet sets through Copy text, Anki .apkg files, and CSV or Excel files with question and answer columns. Importing is free.
Free plan: one lifetime AI Creation Credit and one upload of up to 8 MB (the first 32 pages of a PDF are read), so one AI deck. Blank decks, imports, flipping through cards, and sharing by link are free. Study mode stops after 5 lifetime answers. None of this resets.
Paid plans: unlimited study mode, and Anki (.apkg), PDF, and print exports. In the US, Premium is $30 a month or $180 a year with 15 AI Creation Credits a week, files up to 300 MB, and PDFs up to 1,000 pages. Laureate is $99 a month with 80 credits a week and PDFs up to 3,000 pages. See pricing.

What it does not do: it does not export directly to Quizlet. When a deck goes to Anki, study history, difficulty ratings, and AI hints do not transfer, so Anki starts each card fresh. The free plan is a way to try it, not a free long-term tool: if your budget is zero and you will write your own cards, Anki is the better fit, and for a pre-made public set Quizlet is stronger.

Start from PDF to flashcards, notes to flashcards, or lecture to flashcards. The same source can also become a quiz, a podcast, or a video lecture.

Which should you pick

You want free Learn-style studying and have Quizlet sets to import: Knowt.
Your sources are already in a notebook and you want a quick deck: Gemini Notebook.
You want cards inside your notes: RemNote.
Your class shares Quizlet sets: Quizlet, with Smart Assist or Study Guides for your own material.
You will write or import your own cards and want full control of scheduling: Anki.
You have a PDF, notes, or a recording and want an editable deck with spaced repetition, and an Anki file on a paid plan: Scholarly.

How to turn a PDF or your notes into flashcards with AI

Pick one chapter or one lecture. Smaller sources make tighter decks.
Upload the file or paste the notes into the tool you chose, and select a page range if the tool offers one.
Set the number of cards if you can. One or two cards per key idea is enough.
Read every card against the source. Delete cards on material you already know, and fix any that are vague or wrong.
Study in short, spaced sessions, and export the deck if you review somewhere else.

FAQ

What is the best AI flashcard maker from a PDF?

It depends on where you will study. Knowt makes AI flashcards from a PDF and has a free Learn mode. RemNote converts a PDF into cards inside your notes. Gemini Notebook makes flashcards from the PDFs in a notebook and downloads them as a CSV file. Quizlet's Smart Assist turns an uploaded file into draft cards. Scholarly writes an editable deck from the pages you choose, with spaced repetition and an Anki export on paid plans.

How do I turn my notes into flashcards with AI?

Paste or upload the notes into a tool that reads them. In Scholarly, open notes to flashcards, add typed notes or a photo of handwritten ones, pick a card target, and review the deck. Knowt makes cards from pasted notes, Quizlet's Smart Assist takes typed or pasted text, and RemNote makes cards from notes you keep in it.

Is there a free AI flashcard maker from a PDF?

Yes, with limits. Knowt says you can make flashcards with its AI flashcard creator for free. RemNote says you can create flashcards from PDFs at no cost, within the AI allowance on its Free plan. Gemini Notebook is available without an AI plan. Scholarly's free plan makes one AI deck with its one lifetime AI Creation Credit, from one PDF of up to 8 MB and 32 pages.

Can AI make Anki cards from a PDF?

Anki's site describes no AI card generation of its own, so use a second tool. Scholarly makes the deck from your PDF and, on a paid plan, downloads an .apkg file that opens in Anki with the card images included. Gemini Notebook downloads flashcards as a CSV file, and Anki's manual says it imports text files. See PDF to Anki cards.

Does Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) make flashcards?

Yes. Google's help page describes Flashcards and Quizzes made from the sources in a notebook, with a difficulty setting, a choice of fewer, standard, or more cards, Got it and Missed it marking, and a CSV download.

Are AI flashcards accurate?

They are a first draft. Quality depends on the source, and AI can still make mistakes, so check each card against the page it came from before you rely on the deck.

How many flashcards will AI make from a PDF?

It depends on the tool and the source. Scholarly lets you set a target from about 30 or more to about 200 cards, and a short source produces fewer cards and not padded ones. Gemini Notebook offers fewer, standard, or more.