DigMyGemDigMyGem vs Anki: a reader with gems, or a flashcard program
DigMyGem is a language reader and Anki is a flashcard program. DigMyGem imports your text, practises saved words with FSRS and turns words you practise far enough into gems, but it has no Anki link today: its Anki add-on was removed and it reads no Anki packages. Anki exports plain text, .apkg and .colpkg files.[1][2] Open DigMyGem
At a glance
- No Anki add-on or Anki package support today
- Settings exports your words as CSV with the columns text, type, sentence, translation, state and createdAt
- Open source under the AGPL v3 licence, and self-hostable
- Free plan at $0, with unlimited reading, importing, saved words and practice
How do DigMyGem and Anki compare?
| Topic | DigMyGem | Anki |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Reading text you choose, then practising the words you save: they climb from rough stones towards gems as you practise, and practice is scheduled by FSRS. | A flashcard program that schedules each review for when you are most likely to forget the card.[1] |
| Hosting and licence | Open source under AGPL v3. Use the hosted app, or run your own copy with Docker Compose: one service starts by default (the app), and a second, an article extractor, is optional. | Runs on your own devices: a free computer version, the free AnkiDroid on Android and the official AnkiMobile app on iOS. Its LICENSE file names AGPL v3 or later.[1][5] |
| Price | Free plan at $0 with unlimited reading, importing, saved words and practice. Pro is $10 a month or $100 a year, Ultra $30 a month or $300 a year.[6] | The computer version and AnkiDroid are free; purchases of AnkiMobile fund Anki’s development. AnkiWeb sync is free.[1] |
| Scheduling | Cloze, dictation, flashcards, matching, picture to word, word to picture and listen and pick, scheduled by FSRS. Words practised to level 5 or higher become gems. | FSRS is documented as an alternative to the legacy SM-2 algorithm, and can only be enabled globally.[4] |
| Getting cards in | Your own files and web pages: EPUB, MOBI, PDF, DOCX, Markdown, text, subtitles and web addresses. | Imports text files, exported Anki decks and Mnemosyne 2.0 .db files.[3] |
| Getting data out | A self-hosted copy keeps your data in one SQLite file, digmygem.db, in a folder you choose. Settings exports your words as CSV or JSON, and all your learning data as one JSON backup. | Exports notes as plain text, decks as .apkg and collections as .colpkg.[2] |
Can I use Anki and DigMyGem together?
No Anki link today. The Anki add-on was removed, and DigMyGem does not read or write Anki packages. Settings exports your words as a CSV file with the columns text, type, sentence, translation, state and createdAt.
Anki’s manual lists text files among what it imports, so a DigMyGem CSV can be loaded by hand. This page has not checked how its columns map onto your note type.[3]
When is Anki the better choice?
- You want a flashcard program that runs on your own devices, with free sync through AnkiWeb and add-ons that extend it.[1]
- Your cards already live in Anki or in an Anki deck you were given: DigMyGem cannot read .apkg or .colpkg packages.[2]
- You want to choose the scheduler yourself: Anki documents FSRS as an option beside its legacy algorithm.[4]
How does the DigMyGem gem game work?
Every word you save starts as a rough stone, and practice moves it up an eight-level ladder. Levels 1 to 4 are stones on the way (Rough, Forming, Refining, Shimmering). A word practised to the top of the stone ladder becomes a gem, and further reviews raise its tier: Brilliant (5), Flawless (6), Divine (7) and Jewelled (8), which is jewellery. The collection page shows the gems and jewellery you have earned, from a catalogue of 112 gemstones. Gems come from practice only: a word you already knew before you used the app, or marked known, counts as mastered. It is never a gem and is not in the collection.
- Cloze: fill in the blank.
- Dictation: type what you hear, for languages that have a voice.
- Flashcards: flip a card, then mark it Got it or Later. Each mark is a graded answer, like one in the other games, and flipping first counts as a hint.
- Matching: drag words to their meaning.
- Picture to word: see a picture, pick its word from four, for English words for now.
- Word to picture: read a word and its sentence, pick its picture, for English words for now.
- Listen and pick: hear a word, tap its picture, for English words for now.
Each answer is graded Again, Hard, Good or Easy from what you did: a wrong answer is Again, a correct answer after a hint or a first input slower than 2 seconds is Hard, a quick correct answer is Good, and the Too easy button, pressed before you answer, is Easy. On the stone ladder an answer banks 0.25, 0.5, 1 or 2 of a level for Again, Hard, Good or Easy. A miss never lowers a level, and the word comes back later. On a gem, any answer except Again counts as one more review towards its next tier. FSRS sets the next review, with a longest interval of 180 days.
A day counts when you look up a word, answer a practice question or read. The streak counts days in a row, and the stats page draws an activity heatmap. Reading worlds change the scenery behind the app: Crystal Pines, Candlelit Reading Room and Paper Hills are open from the start; Star Road opens with a 7-day streak, Ink and Wash opens after you finish 15 lessons and Japanese Onsen opens after you finish 3 lessons.
Related pages
- What is DigMyGem? An open-source language reader
- DigMyGem vs LingQ, Anki, Readlang and other language apps
- DigMyGem vs Readlang: reading, lookups and flashcards compared
- DigMyGem vs Clozemaster: reading and gems, or sentence drills
- DigMyGem vs Lute: two open-source readers you run yourself
- DigMyGem vs LinguaCafe: self-hosted reading apps compared
Sources and checks
Checked on . Statements about DigMyGem were written from its code; statements about other apps cite the page they were read from.