As of early August this year, Quizlet announced that it would restrict its Learn and Test features behind its paid membership, Quizlet Plus. Free users can still use Learn for five rounds and use Test once per study set before they are required to upgrade to Quizlet Plus. 

Quizlet has combined Write and Listen with Learn, so those features will also require the new membership. Additionally, Quizlet removed its Gravity feature, claiming that “it wasn’t used as much as other study modes.”

Quizlet did admit that these changes may “create disruptions in study routines.” Likewise, many students have expressed their frustration towards the change.

“I feel like it’s unnecessary because a lot of people use Quizlet to help them study,” said Yashvi Patel ‘24.

Free users are still able to access the Flashcards, but many students suggest that they are not much help compared to the Learn feature.

“I think it kind of ruins the platform cause the flashcards are cool, but their Learn feature is really what made me use them,” said Georgi Petrov ‘24. “Flashcards for me didn’t work, but the learning kind of helps more than just Flashcards.”

To users, this change may come across as Quizlet prioritizing money over students’ needs. However, some do acknowledge the fact that Quizlet is a business.

“They need to get paid somehow and if these are the features that they’re using the most, it might make sense for them to require some compensation for it,” said Petrov.

Quizlet says they have made this change to “better reinvest in building great products that can help millions of students around the world.” Assuming that the change will cause more users to pay for Quizlet Plus, the extra revenue gained from it could potentially improve the platform in the long run.

“It might have positive benefits potentially. It could teach you different ways to study,” said English teacher Mr. James Napoli. “But unfortunately I think it will have more negative consequences than positive ones in all likelihood.”

Furthermore, users could look for alternatives that give a similar service to Quizlet if they do not wish to pay for the membership.

“[Since the change] I’m just now using a different website basically,” said Ethan Lin ‘25.

Although some do consider the change to be necessary for Quizlet’s business, the overall sentiment across students appears to lean towards aggravation.