The best Gizmo alternatives in 2026

Gizmo calls itself AI quizzes that make studying easy. Its help center explains the idea: Magic Import turns a PDF, pasted notes, a YouTube link or a recorded lesson into flashcards. Memorise mode quizzes you with spaced repetition, an AI tutor explains things step by step, and Gizmo Live turns a deck into a multiplayer quiz with a game code. XP, levels, leagues, streaks and a Monster Hunt keep score.

Its App Store page adds imports from Anki and Quizlet, PowerPoint files and photos of handwritten notes. It runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS 16.4 or later), and there's an Android app. No Mac app is listed. The App Store lists ten Gizmo Unlimited purchases from $6.99 to $309.99 without saying what each covers, and we couldn't find a pricing page on Gizmo's own site.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Every fact about another app comes from its own site, help center or app store page, checked October 21, 2026. We didn't run tests.

• They study on a Mac and want a real app there, not only a phone.
• The pricing is hard to read before you're in the app.
• Leagues, streaks and monsters aren't how they like to study.
• They want the notes and the cards together, so the explanation sits beside the question.
• They'd rather keep their material on their own computer.

From each app's own site or app store page, checked October 21, 2026.

1. Choose Import in the Documents window, or File, Import… in the menu bar, and pick the PDF, Word file or slides. Koi reads it on your Mac into a page.
2. Choose Make study notes from the page's document menu.
3. A new page opens with a summary, the key points, flashcards and a multiple-choice quiz.
4. Click the Study pill over the flashcards. Press Space for the back, then 1 to 4 for Again, Hard, Good or Easy.

The page's words, up to 120,000 characters, go to Koi's AI to do it, and what comes back is kept only in the new page on your Mac. Or tap Fn + ⌘ on any page and say “make flashcards from this page”. The full guide: how to make flashcards from a PDF on a Mac.

Gizmo's tutor explains topics step by step and quizzes you on your content. Koi's Study mode works on the problem in front of you. Turn it on in Settings, under Koi, or from the menu bar, then tap Fn + ⌘ and ask. Koi looks at your screen, circles where your working went wrong, asks what you'd try next and draws only the next step. Each miss becomes a card on a page called “What I got wrong”.

Study mode is a call with Koi, the assistant that sees your screen: your voice and, unless you turn it off, a picture of your screen go to the AI provider while it lasts. More in our guide to an AI tutor that sees your screen.

• Where: Gizmo is a phone app. Koi is a Mac app with no phone app.
• Sources: Gizmo reads YouTube links and photos of handwriting too. Koi reads PDFs, Word files, slides, Markdown, text and classes you record.
• Feel: Gizmo is a game, with XP, leagues and live quizzes. Koi is a page of notes with a study window.
• Notes: Gizmo makes decks. Koi makes a page with a summary, key points, cards and a quiz, inside your other notes.
• Storage: Gizmo keeps decks in your account. Koi keeps pages on your Mac.
• Price: Gizmo's prices are in the app and on its store pages. Koi's are on its pricing page, with no free plan.

• Phone, games and streaks? Stay on Gizmo.
• Free study modes and Quizlet import? Knowt.
• Shared sets? Quizlet.
• A tutor you can call? StudyFetch.
• Free and serious, with a Mac app? Anki.
• Notes and cards on every device? RemNote.
• AI cards from your PDFs, slides and lectures, inside your notes on a Mac? Koi.

More on Koi's study tools, how to record a lecture on a Mac, and the plans.