Best apps for students, organized by study task

Students use apps for a few distinct jobs: taking notes in class, memorizing facts, getting help with a problem, mapping ideas before writing, writing and calculating, tracking deadlines and reading course books. Many of the options here have free plans, but the limits differ, and a free plan that works for one task can stop short for another. This guide goes task by task and names the free limits that matter for each one.

Taking notes in class

Note apps differ mainly in where the notes live. The note-taking apps ranking compares them on storage, sharing and price. Obsidian keeps notes as Markdown files on your device, and its core app is free without limits. Sync and publishing are paid add-ons. Joplin is free and open source, with end-to-end encrypted sync across desktop, mobile and terminal. If you want notes that turn into review cards, RemNote builds flashcards from them, but its free plan limits annotated documents and images, so heavy use needs a paid tier.

Choose a notes app by the way you will search and reuse notes later, not only by how it looks on the first day.

Memorizing with flashcards

Spaced repetition schedules each review just before you would forget the card. Spaced repetition explained covers how that scheduling works, and the flashcard ranking compares the apps. Anki is free, open source and offers the most scheduling control in its ranking. The desktop program is free, and AnkiWeb sync is free too. Its iOS app is a separate program, and the Android client is also separate, so check which platforms you use before you commit.

Mochi is a simpler spaced repetition app with a free plan that needs no sign-up. Sync, publishing and AI services sit behind its Pro plan, which matters if you study on several devices. Anki vs Mochi puts the two side by side. Other flashcard services in the ranking have free study tools too, but their cards live on their own services, so your material depends on those services staying available.

Getting help with a problem

A tutor that guides you differs from a solver that hands over the answer, and the AI tutors and study assistants ranking separates the two. Claude has a learning mode that asks guiding questions rather than giving the answer, and it covers any subject. Its free plan has usage limits, so heavy sessions can reach them. Khanmigo is built for school subjects and tied to Khan Academy's lessons. Teachers can use it for free, while learners and parents pay a monthly fee. Claude vs Khanmigo compares the two for school work.

ReLU.chat* answers from curated entries stored on your device, with no account needed. It covers six subject areas and cannot write new text, so it works best as a quick reference for the topics it covers. ReLU.chat is built by the person who publishes this site, and the ranking marks it with an asterisk. Tools that lead with solved homework rank lower in the ranking because they give answers rather than guided questions.

Whatever tool you use, check its answers against your course material. A tutor that asks questions still needs you to check the reasoning.

Mapping ideas before writing

Mind maps help with outlines, essays and project plans. XMind is the most complete desktop mapper in its ranking, with themes and exports to PNG, SVG, PDF and Markdown. Its free plan caps online maps at 10, and the paid plan adds more maps and removes the export watermark. Freeplane is free and open source under GPL-2.0 for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is desktop only and its interface is denser than newer apps. For a single map on a phone, check which apps run on the platform you carry.

Writing papers and calculating

LibreOffice is a free, open-source office suite with Writer and Calc, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux with no subscription. It opens and saves Microsoft Office formats, which matters when a course requires a specific file type. Microsoft 365 has free web apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint with a Microsoft account, while its desktop apps and extras need a paid plan.

Check the file format your course asks for before you choose a free suite, and test an export with the format your instructor uses. LibreOffice vs Microsoft 365 covers the same choice in more detail.

Planning deadlines

A to-do app helps when you have several deadlines in the same week. Todoist has a free Beginner plan on most platforms, and its advanced planning sits behind paid plans. Its free tier covers basic task lists. If you want a timer for study blocks, a plain focus timer can do the job without another app. Enter exam and due dates on the day you receive a syllabus, and set reminders a few days ahead, since a reminder that arrives on the due date rarely leaves time to start the work.

Reading course books and reference sites

Ebook apps differ on where books come from. Libby borrows ebooks and audiobooks from a public library for free, with access depending on your library card. It is a good choice when your course reading is available through your library. Readest is a free, open-source reader for EPUB and PDF that runs on most platforms. It offers highlights, notes and text-to-speech, which helps with long readings. Kindle and Apple Books are free apps for books bought from their own stores.

For background reading, Wikipedia has citations and a revision history, and its text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Articles vary in quality, so follow the citations to the primary source before you quote an article in a paper. Some reader apps open EPUB and PDF files you already have, and a library manager can convert files between formats when a device will not open one. Check the copyright status of any file before you add it to a shared folder.

How to decide

These are the short picks, grouped by the task you need help with first:

• For notes you can read in any text editor, Obsidian, or Joplin if open source matters most.
• For flashcards with full scheduling control, Anki.
• For guided help on course material, Claude's learning mode, and Khanmigo for school subjects.
• For writing offline in an office format, LibreOffice.
• For course books you can borrow, Libby.

Check each free plan's limit before the term starts. A free tier that suits one task may cap another, and the cap often shows up at the worst time, near a deadline. Write the limits down next to the course dates, so you can see which one will bind first.

Related rankings and guides

• Best flashcard and spaced repetition apps: scheduling, free starts and AI study tools compared.
• Best office suites: desktop, browser and open-source suites for writing and spreadsheets.
• Best ebook reader apps: library, store and open-source readers side by side.
• How to choose a note-taking app: storage, sharing and price questions for notes.