I built a free AI study tool– paste notes, get flashcards in 10 seconds

Name: I built a free AI study tool– paste notes, get flashcards in 10 seconds
Availability: InStock
Author: digi_wares

by digi_wares·Mar 1, 2026·2 points·0 comments

Visit Project View on HN

AI Analysis

●●SolidSolve My ProblemShip It

Free no-signup flashcard generator, but Quizlet exists and Revisely's paywall is the moat.

Strengths

•Instant generation with multiple output formats (flashcards, quiz, summary, explain) in under 10 seconds.
•No signup, no paywall, supports PDF/DOCX/images and voice input across 40+ countries and 11 languages.
•Raw engagement data shows flashcards dramatically outperform quizzes—shipped feature prioritization based on real user signals.

Weaknesses

•Zero day-7 retention before spaced repetition launch; unverified impact of new reminder system on repeat usage.
•User base of 180 total (8 deeply engaged, 172 bounced) indicates product-market fit questions and viral growth plateau.
•Competes directly against Quizlet, Revisely, and Knowt in a crowded edtech space with no unique differentiation beyond free tier.

Post Description

Hey HN, I built a free AI flashcard generator with no signup and no paywall. Quizlet charges $7.99/month, Revisely caps free users at 3 generations, Knowt keeps moving features behind paywalls. I wanted to build the opposite of that. https://prepareyourself.app Paste text or upload a PDF. Pick an output type — flashcards, quiz, summary, or explain-with-examples. Get results in ~10 seconds. Done. I've been running it for 28 days. Here are the real numbers:

- 180 users. 8 of them engaged deeply. One person hit "review again" 64 times on a single flashcard deck. The other 172 bounced.

- Indian users spend 2x longer than US users (96 sec vs 44 sec). Bengaluru and Ahmedabad are my strongest cities. No idea why.

- Flashcards get 10x the engagement of quizzes. Quiz completions in a month: 1 person. So I made flashcards the default.

- Day 7 retention: 0%. Literally zero. Just shipped spaced repetition reminders — no data yet on whether it helps.

- Revenue: $0.

So the product works for the few who try it. The problem is getting people to try it.

Features: 4 output types (flashcards, quiz, summary, explain-with-examples), PDF upload, TTS audio on every card, spaced repetition, export to PDF/DOCX/JSON, 11 languages. History and streaks stored client-side in IndexedDB — nothing leaves the browser unless you hit generate.

Stack: Next.js, Supabase, Claude Haiku, Vercel. No auth required — rate limiting via IP + fingerprinting.

Would love feedback on UX, output quality, or whether "free forever, no signup" is a viable positioning against VC-funded competitors who are all moving toward paywalls.

thank you!