Lexpad
Lexpad vs MemriseLexpad vs Memrise:
a course, or your own words?
Choose Memrise if you want a ready-made course that teaches a language from the start, with videos of native speakers and AI speaking practice. Choose Lexpad (our own app) if you already meet words in your own reading, series and work and want to keep exactly those, with the card written for you and a schedule that brings each word back. Memrise now lets you make your own word lists too; Lexpad is built only around them.
By Reza Pirighadim, who makes Lexpad. Checked against the app on 20 October 2026.
- Memrise
- Courses, native-speaker videos
- Lexpad
- Your own words, AI-written cards
- Checked
- 20 October 2026
- Ours
- Lexpad, marked as ours
At a glance
Memrise facts from its own site, its page on community courses and its US App Store listing, read on 20 October 2026 (sources). Lexpad is our own app.
| For vocabulary | Memrise | Lexpad (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Learning a language from the start: official courses, native-speaker videos, AI practice | Keeping the words you meet in real life |
| Who picks the words | The course; you can also make word lists in the app (back since 2026) | You. Type a word, or save it where you meet it |
| Cards | Course material: videos, audio and example sentences; a word you add to a list gets material from Memrise’s dictionary | AI writes each card (meanings in your language, examples with translations, pronunciation, level); you can change anything |
| Review | “Smart repetition”, in Memrise’s words | Five Leitner boxes you can see, or the Smart schedule built on FSRS-6 (Beta) |
| Languages | 149 languages from 23 languages you speak, per Memrise | 81 languages, any pair, including a language in itself |
| Save words while you read | Not mentioned on the pages we read | Browser extension (Chrome, Edge, Firefox), a shortcut in any app on Mac or Windows, Kindle, ChatGPT and Claude |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android and the web | Web, Android, Mac and Windows; on iPhone in the browser |
| Price | Free to start; Memrise Pro is sold in the app (the US App Store lists, among other offers, $24.99 a month, $61.99 a year and a $329.99 lifetime plan) | Free plan with unlimited words; Pro 4.99 USD a month or 29.99 USD a year |
Where Memrise is better
- Starting from zero. A course decides what to learn first; Lexpad has no course and never chooses words for you.
- Hearing real people. Memrise is built around short videos of native speakers saying each word and phrase.
- Speaking practice. Its listing describes AI chat partners for role-play; Lexpad’s tutor, Lex, helps with your saved words but is not a conversation course.
- A native iPhone app. The iPhone and iPad app is in Apple’s App Review; until then, use the web app in Safari.
Where Lexpad is better
- The words from your own life. The word from page 40 of your novel or from today’s meeting is in no course. In Lexpad you type it and AI writes the card in a few seconds.
- Saving where you read. The browser extension keeps the word with the sentence it was in; on a computer, select a word in any app and press ⌘⇧L or Ctrl+Shift+L; Kindle look-ups import in one file.
- Meanings in your language, for any pair. 81 languages in any direction, so a Turkish speaker learning German gets Turkish meanings.
- A schedule you can see. Every word sits in one of five boxes and its page says when it comes back.
- ChatGPT and Claude. Save a word from a chat or get quizzed there, with answers counted as practice; free on every plan.
What happened to Memrise community courses
This is the question that sends many people looking for a Memrise alternative. Memrise’s own page answers it (Memrise, community courses): the courses made by learners left the app and memrise.com on 31 March 2024 and moved to a separate site, community-courses.memrise.com, where you sign in with the same account and your progress came across. That site was first meant to close in late 2024; Memrise says it is still live in 2026, and creating courses there still works on a computer.
In 2026 Memrise began bringing learner-made content back into the main app as word lists: you make a list of the words you need, study it with the same engine as its courses and share it. If what you miss is making your own course inside Memrise, that is the route Memrise recommends.
If what you miss is a home for the words you meet outside any course, that is the job Lexpad does: one notebook for your own words, in any of 81 languages, filled in by AI and brought back on a schedule.
Bringing your list into Lexpad
If you still have the list you once typed into a Memrise course, in a spreadsheet or a text file, it can come across:
- Save it with the word in the first column and the meaning in the second; a third column becomes the example sentence.
- In Lexpad, open Settings, Import & export and Import words, or Paste a list to paste the rows.
- Check the first cards, then tap Add 40 words (the count follows your list). Words you already have are skipped, and Undo takes the import back.
- Words with no meaning yet? Fill with AI writes meanings, examples and pronunciation for all of them in one tap.
Progress does not come across: every word starts in box 1. More in moving your words into Lexpad.
Using both
A course and a notebook do different jobs. Many learners follow a course for structure and keep a vocabulary notebook for the words they meet outside it. If you want the notebook on your phone and computer rather than on paper, see the digital vocabulary notebook.
Sources, checked 20 October 2026
Each fact about another product was read on 20 October 2026 on that product’s own site, help page, blog or US App Store listing. Prices and features change; check the source before you buy. Lexpad facts come from our feature pages.
Good to know
Questions
Is there a Memrise alternative for my own words?
Yes. Memrise itself now has word lists you make in the app. Lexpad (ours) is built only for your own words: type or save a word where you meet it, AI writes the card, and Leitner boxes or the optional Smart schedule bring it back. Anki and Quizlet also let you make your own cards.
Are Memrise community courses gone?
No. Memrise says they moved on 31 March 2024 to community-courses.memrise.com, where you sign in with your usual account, and that the site is still live in 2026. They are not in the main app.
Can I make my own word list in Memrise?
Yes. Memrise says user-made word lists returned to the app in 2026, studied with its own engine and shareable. Course creation also still works on the community courses site, on a computer.
Is Lexpad free?
Yes. The free plan keeps unlimited words with every card type and both schedules, and writes AI cards every day within an allowance. Pro adds more AI cards, Lex the AI tutor and more notebooks.
Does Lexpad have courses or native-speaker videos?
No. Lexpad has no courses, lessons or word lists. It keeps the words you bring, reads them aloud with your device’s voice, and brings them back on a schedule.
Does Lexpad have an iPhone app?
Not yet. The iPhone and iPad app is in Apple’s App Review; until then, use the web app in Safari. Android, the web, Mac and Windows have apps today.
Lexpad
Your next word is worth keeping.
Lexpad is free to start, on the web and on Android. Bring the words you meet.