StudyFetch turns your class material into flashcards, quizzes, notes and a chat tutor. It also gives you two free uploads for the life of your account, and then costs $19.99 a month. If you are reading this, you probably hit that wall, or you want to know what else is out there before you pay.
A note before you read: we make Pausly, one of the tools below, so read this with that in mind. Each tool is described from its official pages, help docs and app store listings, checked on November 1, 2026, and we say where another tool is the better choice.
The short answer
- Best free alternative for your own notes and PDFs: Google NotebookLM, now called Gemini Notebook.
- Best free flashcards with spaced repetition: Knowt, or Anki if you will make your own cards.
- Best for gamified daily review: Gizmo.
- Best for recording lectures: Turbo AI.
- Closest all-in-one replacement: Studley AI or YouLearn.
- Best for studying from YouTube lectures while you watch: Pausly.
All nine at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid from | YouTube | Spaced repetition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook) | Studying from your own sources | 100 notebooks, 50 sources each | $4.99/mo | Imports the transcript | No |
| Knowt | Quizlet-style flashcards, AP and SAT prep | Unlimited sets, 1 AI summary a month | $95.99/yr | Link or Chrome extension | Yes, free |
| Anki | Long-term memorisation | Free on desktop, Android and web | Free ($24.99 once on iPhone) | None | Yes |
| Quizlet | Shared flashcard library | Yes, limits not published | $35.99/yr | Not documented | Yes, web only |
| Gizmo | Gamified daily recall | Unlimited decks, a 20-minute wait between imports | Not published | Flashcards and quizzes from a link | Yes |
| Turbo AI | Lecture recording and notes | Yes, limits not published | Not published | Upload a link | Not listed |
| Studley AI | All-in-one exam prep | Small weekly allowance | US web price not confirmed | Paste a link | Yes |
| YouLearn | Long lectures and videos | 3 uploads a day | $143.99/yr (App Store) | Summary and chat | Not listed |
| Pausly | Studying from YouTube while you watch | Weekly usage allowance, every study tool | $119.94/yr | Questions during playback | Not yet |
All prices are in US dollars for the US. Several of these tools, Pausly included, charge less in other countries. "Not published" means the company has no public price page. Where an app store lists prices without saying what they cover, we left them out rather than guess.
What StudyFetch costs, exactly
StudyFetch has no public pricing page; studyfetch.com/pricing returns a 404. The prices that are published are on its App Store listing:
| StudyFetch plan or add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| Premium, monthly | $19.99 |
| Premium, quarterly | $29.00 |
| Premium, yearly | $96.00 |
| Explainer videos | $9.99 or $19.99 |
| Voice calls with the tutor | $7.49 for 1 hour, $25.00 for 5 hours |
The free plan is the part most comparisons get wrong. StudyFetch's own help article says "Free: 2 uploads total", and deleting an upload does not give the slot back (source). StudyFetch has said in replies to App Store reviews that Live Lecture recording needs a subscription.
Two more things are worth knowing before you pay. The terms of service say fees are non-refundable except at the company's discretion, and they give StudyFetch a "perpetual, irrevocable" license to use what you upload to train its AI.
Why students look for alternatives
The same four complaints come up in app store reviews and Reddit threads such as "Studyfetch pricing is confusing" and "An honest StudyFetch review":
- The free plan ends almost immediately. Two lifetime uploads is enough to try it, not to study with it.
- Billing surprises. Trial-to-paid charges and hard cancellations are a common one-star theme.
- Bugs on long sessions. Uploads stuck partway, tutor chats that freeze, worse on Android.
- Weaker on diagrams and maths. Reviewers say it does best with text-heavy material.
People also praise it. The tutor, the practice tests and the sheer number of formats are the reasons it holds a 4.8 rating from about 16,000 App Store ratings. If those features fit how you study and the price works for you, it may still be the right choice.
The alternatives, by what you need
Google NotebookLM: the best free option for your own material
Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026 (announcement). You add sources, including PDFs, slides, Google Docs, audio, web pages and YouTube videos, and it answers questions from them with citations. It also makes Audio and Video Overviews, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and reports.
- Free plan: 100 notebooks with up to 50 sources each.
- Paid: part of Google AI plans, from $4.99 a month (Google AI Plus).
- Good to know: flashcards let you retry the ones you missed, but there is no spaced repetition schedule. YouTube support imports the caption text of public videos.
- Choose it if you want a generous free tool that stays close to your own sources.
Knowt: free flashcards with spaced repetition
Knowt positions itself as a free Quizlet alternative and keeps most study modes free, including spaced repetition (free plan). It accepts PDFs, slides, video, audio, YouTube links and Quizlet imports, and has a Chrome extension for YouTube.
- Free plan: unlimited sets and notes, all study modes, 1 AI summary a month, 1 mock exam.
- Paid: Ultra at $24.99 a month or $95.99 a year (plans).
- Choose it if flashcards and spaced repetition are the core of how you study and you want them free.
Anki: free, and the strongest spaced repetition
Anki has no AI and no PDF import. You make cards yourself or download shared decks. What it does better than anything else here is scheduling reviews so you remember things for months, using either the classic SM-2 algorithm or FSRS (docs).
- Free: desktop, Android and AnkiWeb sync. The iPhone app is $24.99 once.
- Choose it if you are studying for a long exam such as the MCAT or a medical licensing exam and are willing to build or curate cards.
Quizlet: the biggest shared library
Quizlet's advantage is its library of shared flashcard sets, plus AI study guides and spaced repetition on the web (upgrade).
- Paid: on the web, Plus at $7.99 a month or $35.99 a year; Plus Unlimited at $9.99 a month or $44.99 a year.
- Good to know: even Plus caps practice tests at 3 a month.
- Choose it if someone has probably already made a set for your course.
Gizmo: gamified daily review
Gizmo turns your PDFs, slides, YouTube videos and Anki or Quizlet decks into quizzes with automatic spaced repetition, and wraps them in hearts, XP and leagues (spaced repetition).
- Free plan: unlimited decks and quizzing, a 20-minute wait between AI imports, and a 10-minute wait after you lose all 15 hearts.
- Paid: Gizmo Unlimited; there is no public price list.
- Choose it if you need something that makes you come back every day.
Turbo AI: recording lectures
Turbo AI, formerly TurboLearn, is built around an AI notetaker: record a lecture, or upload a PDF, slides or a YouTube link, and it writes notes, flashcards and quizzes in a shared, document-style editor (turbo.ai).
- Paid: there is no public price page. The App Store lists several Unlimited plans without saying which is which.
- Choose it if most of your material is lectures you attend in person.
Studley AI: the closest all-in-one
Studley covers much of StudyFetch's feature list: study sets from PDFs, slides, audio, video and YouTube, an AI tutor, podcasts, written tests and spaced repetition (studley.ai).
- Free plan: a small allowance that resets weekly; when we checked, it was 1 study set and 5 tutor uses (pricing).
- Paid: Studley Unlimited; the website shows prices in your local currency, and we could not confirm a US web price.
- Choose it if you want StudyFetch's breadth at a different price.
YouLearn: long lectures and videos
YouLearn is an AI tutor for PDFs, recorded lectures and long YouTube videos, with summaries, chat that cites the source, quizzes, flashcards and practice exams (limits).
- Free plan: 3 uploads a day and 5 chats a day, plus daily quiz and practice-exam limits.
- Paid: Pro at $20 a month or $143.99 a year on the App Store.
- Choose it if you want a generous daily free plan for lecture-heavy courses.
Pausly: studying from YouTube while you watch
This is our product. Every tool above that supports YouTube handles it the same way: it reads the transcript after the fact and gives you a summary or a deck. None of them documents anything that happens while the video plays. Pausly's Focus Mode does: it pauses the lesson at moments chosen from the content, asks a question, and shows you where to rewatch if you miss it.
Pausly also works with PDFs, lecture audio and PowerPoint slides, and makes notes, quizzes, flashcards, mind maps, podcasts and a tutor chat from them.
- Free plan: every study tool, within a weekly usage allowance that resets every week. Pro adds the Advanced tutor model and larger uploads.
- Paid: Pro at $19.99 a month or $119.94 a year in the US, with a larger weekly allowance. Prices are shown in your own currency and are up to 50% lower in many countries.
- Where it falls short: no spaced repetition schedule yet, no phone app (it runs in the browser), and it works from captions, so silent demonstrations are missed.
- Choose it if you learn mostly from YouTube lectures and want to practise recall while you watch. Try it with the YouTube quiz generator, or read our guide on how to study from YouTube videos.
StudyFetch features and their closest replacements
| StudyFetch feature | Closest alternative |
|---|---|
| Spark.E / Sparky tutor chat | NotebookLM, YouLearn, Pausly |
| Live Lecture recording | Turbo AI, Knowt |
| Flashcards with spaced repetition | Knowt, Anki, Gizmo |
| QuizFetch quizzes and practice tests | Knowt, YouLearn, Pausly |
| Audio recaps | NotebookLM Audio Overviews, Pausly podcasts |
| Explainer videos | NotebookLM Video Overviews |
| YouTube videos | Pausly (during playback); NotebookLM, Knowt, YouLearn (after) |
Before you switch
- Cancel the right way. On the web, StudyFetch subscriptions are managed under Settings, then Billing Portal (guide). If you subscribed through the App Store or Google Play, cancel in that store's subscription settings instead. Cancelling stops the next renewal; it does not refund the current period.
- Keep your source files. Your PDFs and slides are the valuable part. Every tool above can rebuild cards and quizzes from them.
- Try the free plan with one real lesson before paying for anything. The right tool is the one you still open three weeks later.
Frequently asked questions
Is StudyFetch free? There is a free plan, but it allows 2 uploads for the life of the account. Real use needs Premium at $19.99 a month, $29 a quarter or $96 a year.
What is the best free alternative to StudyFetch? For your own notes and PDFs, NotebookLM. For flashcards with spaced repetition, Knowt or Anki. For YouTube lectures, Pausly's free weekly allowance covers every study tool.
Can I get a refund from StudyFetch? Its terms say fees are non-refundable except at the company's discretion, and its refund guide rules out refunds for a change of mind, forgetting to cancel, or claims without evidence.
Does StudyFetch use my uploads to train its AI? Its terms of service grant it a perpetual, irrevocable license to use uploaded content for that purpose.
Which alternative is best for med or nursing students? Anki for long-term memorisation, paired with a tool that turns lectures into questions, such as Knowt or Pausly.
Does NotebookLM make flashcards like StudyFetch? Yes. It makes flashcards and quizzes from your sources, though it has no spaced repetition schedule.