Anki AnKing Step Deck

What exactly is being sold?

Anki is the base layer. Its own site says the computer version is free on all major platforms, AnkiWeb sync is free, and AnkiDroid on Android is free. AnkiMobile, the iPhone app, is paid (apps.ankiweb.net). The Anki name is a registered trademark of Ankitects Pty Ltd, and the source code is on GitHub.

The AnKing Step Deck is content that runs inside Anki. AnkiHub lists it as a flagship deck, created by The AnKing and AnKingMed.

AnkiHub is the company you pay. Its co-founders are Nicholas Flint, who describes himself as a dermatology resident, and Andrew Sanchez, the CTO (ankihub.net/about). The About page does not state a legal entity, headquarters or founding year. In January 2025 McGraw Hill announced a collaboration that links AnKing cards to Boards & Beyond and First Aid Forward content. McGraw Hill bought Boards & Beyond in December 2022.

What does AnkiHub add to the free deck?

The core mechanism is shared editing. A deck creator publishes a deck, subscribers receive updates, and any subscriber can submit a suggested fix with a rationale, such as a grammar change or a content error. Once the creator approves, the fix reaches every subscriber (ankihub.net).

Core, the $6 tier, includes hundreds of decks including the AnKing Step Deck, plus tools for building your own deck. Premium and Lifetime add Smart Search, which matches study material to flashcards, and an AI chatbot. They also add Boards & Beyond and First Aid Forward content inside the cards. That content still needs its own subscription to those products. The AnkiHub page says a premium AnkiHub plan and a First Aid Forward or Boards & Beyond subscription are both required to view it. Optional tag groups, for example tags matched to a school curriculum, are also offered.

The AI layer is an add-on to the Premium tier. The deck itself is human-written and human-edited.

How much does it cost?

Core costs $6 per month and Premium $10 per month on ankihub.net as of October 2026. Free is $0, and Lifetime is $450, labelled an early-access rate. A second block on the page shows $66 per year. The page also still carries an older set of figures, $5 per month, $55 per year and a $240 lifetime price, which fits AnkiHub's reply on AnkiWeb that the basic tier moved once from $5 to $6. Trial and refund terms for AnkiHub are not published. Boards & Beyond and First Aid Forward each reportedly offer a 7-day trial.

Where does it fall short?

The paid layer sits on top of a free ecosystem, and AnkiWeb add-on reviewers object to that. The same reviews report occasional add-on bugs, while praise centers on the AI tools, the AMBOSS integration and continuous error fixes.

Free copies of the AnKing deck circulate as frozen snapshots. A third-party guide at studycardsai.com says these copies carry none of the later corrections. Anyone studying from one is memorizing cards that may have been corrected since.

No study of this deck is known, and the testimonials on ankihub.net are the vendor's own and unattributed.

How does it compare?

The AnKing deck is one of several Anki deck families on AnkiHub. Zanki and Lightyear are listed there too. The AnKing deck's own tie is the McGraw Hill collaboration, which links its cards to Boards & Beyond and First Aid Forward material for students who already pay for those.

Who is it for?

A medical student who reviews cards daily and wants a Step 1 deck that other people proofread is the core buyer. A student at a school with a Boards & Beyond license who wants those videos tied to cards needs Premium plus the separate B&B subscription. A first-year without an Anki habit gains little from paying yet, since the free app and a free deck snapshot cost nothing. Anyone who wants AI question writing will be disappointed, because the chatbot is a Premium add-on and the deck is not AI-made.

The verdict

Buy AnkiHub Core if you are committed to Anki through Step 1 and want errata fixes without managing them yourself. Pay for Premium only if you already own Boards & Beyond or First Aid Forward. Skip the $450 Lifetime plan until the early-access label is gone and you know you will still be using the deck in two years.