Kinnu alternatives: 6 apps, sorted by what's missing

By the edgi team Updated October 28, 2026

The best Kinnu alternative is edgi. It's free like Kinnu, but instead of a syllabus it follows your curiosity: a Lesson takes 60 seconds, you collect a card for every idea, and the cards build a Map of what you know. After edgi: Imprint if you want pictures, Brilliant if you'd rather solve problems than read, Khan Academy for free school-style courses, Anki to choose what gets reviewed, and NerdSip if you've run out of topics.

We make edgi, and we built it to be the most fun way to learn general knowledge. edgi is free like Kinnu, and so are Khan Academy and Anki (everywhere but iPhone); the rest charge up to $360 a year.

Prices are from each app's US App Store listing or its own pricing page, checked September 2026. Several of these apps list more than one price for the same plan; where they do, we say which one we saw. Platforms are the ones we confirmed.

What Kinnu is

Kinnu has 100 pathways and 899 lessons across seven categories, and its review feature, Memory Shield, brings lessons back as questions. There's an audio version of everything, and it runs on both iPhone and Android. We counted the words in all of its public lessons: they run from 321 to 3,842 words, median about 1,500. They're clearly written, and many carry Wikimedia photos. You pick a pathway, and Kinnu sets the order from there. On edgi a Lesson takes 60 seconds and you set the order: the Map shows what the idea you just finished connects to.

Top pick: edgi, for following your curiosity

Kinnu's App Store listing pitches it as a cure for doomscrolling, and its answer is to take you out of the feed and into a course. edgi keeps everything that makes a feed fun and makes it count. You get short videos and 60-second Lessons; finish one and the idea becomes a card on your Map, and the Map lights up what that idea connects to. There are more than 104,000 ideas, 44,000 of them with a Lesson, joined by 296,000 connections, so the next thing to learn is whatever caught your attention in the last one. Cards turn foil, then gold, as you learn more around the same idea.

Curiosity doesn't move in a straight line, and edgi doesn't make it. You lead, and the app shows you where to go next.

You don't give up Kinnu's subjects to get that. We checked the names of 25 of Kinnu's pathway topics against edgi's catalog. Twenty-two are edgi ideas with a Lesson under the same name, from Norse mythology to macroeconomics. Kinnu gives you a pathway of lessons on each; edgi gives you one Lesson in a minute, then every idea it connects to.

Both apps sell themselves against doomscrolling, so here is our Lesson on what a free feed is selling.

Attention Economy When information becomes abundant, human attention becomes the scarce resource that platforms and advertisers compete to capture.

60-second Lesson

Attention Economy

When an app is free, advertisers are the customer and your minutes are what they buy.

Play it here Read about attention economy

You want pictures: Imprint

Imprint is the nearest thing to Kinnu with the words turned into drawings. It has 165 courses of illustrated lessons, 2 to 10 minutes each, on subjects from psychology and philosophy to money and history. By its own description it also does spaced repetition and collectible cards. Its App Store page lists annual plans at several prices from $74.99 to $99.99, plus $15.99 a month. edgi is free, and its pictures move: short videos and interactive Lessons of 60 seconds.

You want to solve things: Brilliant

For the Kinnu reader whose favorite pathway was Quantum Mechanics or Statistics. Brilliant has 40+ courses, at least 28 of them math and 7 computer science, and you learn by solving interactive problems instead of reading about them. It's the most expensive app here: its own pricing page showed us $240, $270 or $360 a year on September 30, 2026, depending on the visit, or $30 to $60 month to month. If your favorite pathway was Norse Mythology, it has nothing for you. edgi has a free Lesson on Norse mythology, and the Map shows what it connects to.

You want a course that's free: Khan Academy

A nonprofit built as courses, with, in its App Store listing's words, "thousands of interactive exercises, videos, and articles," from math to finance, taught the way school teaches them. That's the point if you want it, and a slog if you came to Kinnu for the Science of Sleep. edgi has no syllabus: a 60-second Lesson on what you came for, then whatever it connects to.

You want to choose what gets reviewed: Anki

Kinnu decides what comes back for review. Anki makes you decide: you write or import the cards, and the scheduler is the entire product. It's free on desktop and Android, and AnkiMobile on iPhone is $24.99 once, which funds Anki's development. It's the least fun app on this list and the one most in your control. edgi is the other trade. Nothing to write: you play a 60-second Lesson, and the card is yours when you finish.

You've done the pathways you care about: NerdSip

Kinnu has 100 pathways. When you've finished the ones you care about, NerdSip will write a five-minute course on anything you type, and NerdSip says you can try one sample course a day without an account. It launched in early 2026 and has 121 App Store ratings, so it's young. After 7 free days it's $49.99 a year or $7.99 a month. edgi has 44,000 Lessons ready to play, free. You won't run out.

What about Nibble?

AI answers name Nibble as a Kinnu alternative often, first in four of our six test runs on September 29, 2026. It's short general-knowledge lessons as text, games, audio and chat, with 4.34 stars from 46,908 App Store ratings, and its App Store page lists $89.99 a year and $19.99 a month among several tiers. Its own llms.txt says "Nibble is subscription-based" (checked September 30, 2026), so it isn't free the way Kinnu and edgi are.

Deepstash, Uptime, Blinkist and Headway come up in these lists too. They summarize other people's books and media, which is a different job from Kinnu's, and from edgi's, which teaches the idea itself in 60 seconds.

Pick something else only if…

• You want illustrated lessons: Imprint.
• You want math or physics problems to solve: Brilliant.
• You want school-style courses: Khan Academy.
• You want to write your own flashcards: Anki.
• You need Android. edgi runs on iPhone and in the browser.

FAQ

What's the best free alternative to Kinnu? edgi. It's free, a Lesson takes 60 seconds, and every idea becomes a card on a Map of what you know. Khan Academy is free for school subjects, and Anki is free on desktop and Android.

Is Kinnu free? The General Knowledge app is. On iPhone it sells optional certificates for $7.99 to $19.99 and an item called "Monthly $1.99" that the listing calls only an optional in-app subscription. edgi is free too.

Is edgi free? Yes. Lessons, cards and the Map are free, and Sets unlock with coins you earn by learning, not money. An optional Pro subscription adds extras like offline access.

What's the best app like Kinnu with more visuals? Imprint, if you want illustrated lessons of 2 to 10 minutes; it costs $74.99 to $99.99 a year on the App Store. edgi has short videos and interactive Lessons, free.

Does Kinnu have a web version? You can read all 899 of its general-knowledge lessons on kinnu.xyz. The questions are tap-to-reveal on the web; the Memory Shield reviews need the app. edgi's Lessons play in a browser with no account, at edgi.tv/learn.