Knowt vs Coursity: A Flashcard Library or a Tutor Built From Your Course

Knowt calls itself "The #1 Quizlet Alternative with AI Study Tools." I make Coursity, and I haven't used Knowt myself, so everything here comes from Knowt's own pages, mostly its plans page and help center, as of October 1, 2026.

If flashcards are how you study, Knowt's free plan covers most of it: a big public library, every study mode free on your own sets, and AP, SAT and ACT prep. Coursity doesn't make flashcards. It's a tutor you set up for each college course, and it explains your professor's slides, cites the slide or page it used and puts your due dates on your calendar.

Setting up a course starts on the course page in Coursity

You install Coursity Capture from the Chrome Web Store yourself, with no school setup. Then you open your course's Content page, click the Coursity button and click Import. The page's files, pages and links arrive together (a few may still need uploading by hand), PDFs and slides are converted, and the syllabus is used to draft the course's structure. It runs on Canvas, Brightspace and other course sites at the vendor's own address, and where a school hosts its course site at its own address, you upload the files directly for now.

Knowt works in batches instead: upload PDFs, images, video, PowerPoint or a live recording, up to 5 files at once, or paste a YouTube, Canvas or Google Drive link, and Knowt turns it into notes or flashcards. On the free plan, that AI step is one summary a month. Cards you already have can come with you: Knowt's free Chrome extension moves a Quizlet set when you "press a single button," and Anki or CSV decks come in by pasting them from a spreadsheet into its manual import box.

Knowt's own Canvas and Google Classroom connection is for teachers on Ultra and schools on a site license, and "Students don't inherit Ultra from their teacher."

Is Knowt free?

Yes, for flashcards. Knowt's help center says studying on Knowt "is free, and stays free," and the free plan covers unlimited sets plus Learn, Practice Test, Spaced Repetition, Match and Flashcards on your own sets. In spaced repetition you rate each card Again, Hard, Good or Easy, and the ones you find hard come back sooner.

The limits are on the AI. Free gets you 1 AI summary a month, five practice-room sessions, and one free full-length mock exam for AP, SAT and ACT. Chat with Kai, the tutor, is part of Knowt Ultra for students, and so is Call Kai on your own sets. One exception: "AI features on teacher-shared materials are free for students."

Ultra is $149.99 a year (about $12.50 a month) or $24.99 month to month on the plans page. The annual plan has a 3-day trial, after which you're "auto-charged at the end of your billing cycle," and Knowt's UNiDAYS article says to fill out payment information to start the trial, so plan on entering a card. The plans page says refunds happen within 24 hours of a purchase or renewal, minus about 3.5% in fees, and not for purchases made through the iOS or Android app. Students verified through UNiDAYS get a month free and 15% off, and coins you earn studying can be redeemed for Ultra.

Coursity also costs nothing to start, with no card needed. Its free plan includes the tutor itself and 2 courses, but how much you can use it is limited, so it's a different kind of free from Knowt's flashcard plan. Plus ($9.99 a month or $39 a semester) and Pro ($19.99 a month or $79 a semester) raise that to about 150 and 300 tutor replies a week, with no trial. Coursity has no yearly plan; month to month, Pro is $19.99 against Knowt's $24.99. Coursity's terms don't mention refunds at all, within 24 hours or otherwise. Cancelling Pro stops it when the current billing period runs out, and the account falls back to the free plan with your courses still in it.

Knowt is built around flashcards and test prep

There's a public library of 5 million+ resources, so for a common intro course someone may have made your cards already. Knowt also works from video and audio: record a lecture and it becomes notes or flashcards. Ultra adds an AI podcast generator and Call Kai, which quizzes you out loud on your terms and definitions.

It's also built for standardized tests. Knowt has prep hubs for AP, SAT, ACT, PSAT and CTE, and its home page says "At least 700,000 of 1.3 million students used Knowt for the May 2025 AP season." There are iOS and Android apps as well.

Coursity doesn't make flashcards, and the quizzes inside its tutor won't replace a deck you flip through every night. With no public library, every course starts from your own files, and there's no Coursity phone app.

Knowt's AI tutor is a paid feature for students

On Ultra, Kai explains step by step, and the flashcard maker lets you paste in your notes or use a Sources tab "so Kai works from your material." Progress is tracked per set and, for AP, SAT and ACT, per exam unit: Learn mode adjusts the difficulty as you go, past practice tests are listed with your score and the date, and the exam hubs show a predicted score.

Coursity is built around its tutor, and the tutor is on the free plan, with limited use. You ask about your course, and it answers from the files you brought in and tells you which slide or page it used. Get something wrong and it re-teaches the point, adjusting how much detail it gives you, and it keeps track of which topics you've got across the course.

Coursity reads your syllabus for due dates

Once your syllabus is in Coursity, by upload or import, it reads the deadlines out into a calendar subscription for Google, Apple or Outlook. Coursity emails and texts you the night before each one, free plan included.

Knowt's deadline tools are about one test at a time. You can set an exam date and Knowt paces your studying toward it, with a daily reminder at whatever time you pick. Its help center doesn't mention reading a syllabus or putting due dates on a calendar.

If your instructor already uses Knowt, stay on it for that class

The AI on teacher-shared material is free for students, so the question of paying for Kai goes away for that course.

On Knowt, the tutor is the part you pay for. On Coursity it's the main thing, and you can try it on one course without a card.