[allenu]

I'm working on my own flash card app [1] and I agree with you that charging a monthly subscription is too much. I think to make a new flash cards app or service viable, you need to have an open ecosystem. This means an open file format, easy to share cards, and no subscription fee. If the service goes down, then what are you supposed to do with your cards? I think this is one reason why Anki is so successful. Obviously it's free, but the file format is understood and decks are easily shared.

The plan for my app is just to charge a one-time fee to get the app and not charge a monthly fee or anything. On top of it, the file format will be "open" (i.e. you can peek at how it works easily). Obviously that means I can't rely on a service, but there are still ways to allow people to sync their data or share decks with each other.

[1] https://www.ussherpress.com/freshcards/