Anki
Plane
| Feature | Anki | Plane |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $24.99/mo | Free / from $7/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | medical-students, language-learners, researchers, lifelong-learners | developers, open-source-advocates, startups, engineering-teams |
| Founded | 2006 | 2022 |
| Spaced Repetition | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom Cards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Add Ons | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shared Decks | ✓ | ✗ |
| Statistics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sync | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cycles | ✗ | ✓ |
| Modules | ✗ | ✓ |
| Views | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pages | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hostable | ✗ | ✓ |
| Analytics | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Anki Pros
- Free desktop/Android
- Spaced repetition
- Highly customizable
- Huge shared deck library
✗ Anki Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Dated interface
- iOS app expensive
✓ Plane Pros
- Open source and self-hostable
- Modern clean interface
- Jira-like power without complexity
- Active community
✗ Plane Cons
- Relatively new
- Smaller integration ecosystem
- Documentation still maturing
The Verdict
Anki is built for medical students and language learners, with a focus on spaced-repetition and custom-cards. Plane targets developers and open source advocates and leads with cycles and modules.
On pricing, Plane is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $7/mo compared to $24.99/mo for Anki. That $17.99/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Bottom line: Anki has a slight overall edge — but if open source and self-hostable matters most to you, Plane may still be the right call.