Free study tools worth using: flashcards, citations, notes and open textbooks

Student budgets are tight, and many study apps now charge monthly subscriptions. But some of the most useful tools are free, and several are run by nonprofits, universities or open-source communities rather than companies that need you to upgrade.

Prices and features change, so check each tool’s website before you rely on it.

Anki: flashcards that schedule themselves

Anki is a flashcard program built around spaced repetition. After each card, you rate how hard it was, and Anki decides when to show it again: cards you know well come back after longer and longer gaps, and cards you miss come back soon.

• Cost: Free on Windows, Mac and Linux, free on Android through the AnkiDroid app, and free in a web browser through AnkiWeb. The official iPhone and iPad app is a one-time paid purchase.
• Best for: Vocabulary, definitions, formulas, anatomy, dates — anything you need to remember precisely.
• Watch out for: A plain interface and a learning curve. Start with simple cards before exploring add-ons.

Zotero: never format a bibliography by hand again

Zotero is a free, open-source reference manager. With its browser extension, you can save a journal article, book or web page in one click, and Zotero captures the author, title, date and other details. Its plugins for Microsoft Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs then insert citations and build your bibliography in APA, MLA, Chicago or thousands of other styles.

• Cost: Free. A free account includes 300 MB of online storage for syncing PDFs and other files between devices; more storage is a paid option.
• Best for: Essays, research papers and theses — anything with more than a handful of sources.
• Watch out for: Imported details are sometimes wrong or incomplete. Always check your citations before you submit.

Our beginner’s guide to Zotero walks through setup step by step.

Obsidian: notes you own

Obsidian is a note-taking app that stores your notes as plain text files on your own device. You can link notes to each other, so ideas from different lectures and courses connect over time.

• Cost: Free. Obsidian’s own syncing service is a paid add-on, though you can sync your notes folder in other ways.
• Best for: Long-term notes you want to keep beyond a single course.
• Watch out for: It starts as a blank page with no structure, which can feel overwhelming. Keep things simple at first.

OpenStax: free, peer-reviewed textbooks

OpenStax, a nonprofit based at Rice University, publishes free, openly licensed textbooks for common introductory college courses, including biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, economics, statistics and calculus. The books are peer-reviewed, and you can read them online or download them as PDFs at no cost.

Even if your course requires a different textbook, an OpenStax book on the same subject can be a useful second explanation.

Khan Academy: free lessons and practice

Khan Academy is a nonprofit offering free video lessons and practice exercises, strongest in math, science and economics. It’s especially useful for filling gaps from earlier years — if your statistics course assumes algebra you’ve forgotten, for example.

Google Scholar: search academic research

Google Scholar searches journal articles, theses, books and conference papers. Two features students often miss:

• “Cited by” under each result lists newer work that cites that paper — a quick way to follow a debate forward in time.
• Library links: in Scholar’s settings, add your university library. Results you can access through your library will then show a direct link to the full text.

Your university library

The most underrated free study tool is probably one you already pay for through tuition and fees. Most college and university libraries offer:

• Access to paid journal databases and e-books.
• Interlibrary loan, for borrowing books and articles your library doesn’t own.
• Required textbooks on short-term loan, often called course reserves.
• Librarians, who can help you find sources for a research project faster than any search engine. Many offer one-on-one appointments.

Services vary between institutions, so check your library’s website or ask at the front desk.

Before you install anything

More tools don’t automatically mean better studying. Pick one tool for one problem — Anki for memorization, say, or Zotero for your next essay — and use it for a few weeks before adding another.

Frequently asked questions

Is Anki free?

Anki is free on Windows, Mac and Linux, free on Android through the AnkiDroid app, and free in a web browser through AnkiWeb. The official iPhone and iPad app is a one-time paid purchase.

Is Zotero really free?

Yes. Zotero is free and open source. A free account includes 300 MB of online storage for synced files such as PDFs, and extra storage is a paid option.

Where can students find free textbooks?

Start with your college library, which may hold required textbooks on course reserve. OpenStax, a nonprofit based at Rice University, publishes free, peer-reviewed textbooks for many introductory college courses.

How do I get full-text articles through Google Scholar?

In Google Scholar's settings, add your university library under Library links. Results available through your library will then show a direct link to the full text.