Recall Engine vs Panic Bank: an honest comparison

Recall Engine has two parts. The first is a prepared library: questions, topic notes, and clinical skills guides for all five years of medical school. You can open it before you upload anything. The second is a generator. Upload a lecture PDF or PowerPoint up to 100 MB and it makes SBAs, MCQs, flashcards, and high-yield notes from the pages you pick. Some plans add Weakness Packs built from the questions you missed.

Panic Bank starts from your upload. Its site says it writes "about 25" SBA questions from a typical lecture, plus flashcards and full notes. Its llms.txt says questions are scheduled on SM-2 and flashcards on FSRS. That means reviews come back on their own with nothing to set up. It also keeps a library by year and block "of lectures your classmates already uploaded." A lecture someone already deposited "comes back instantly, free."

The core difference: Recall Engine hands you a written bank on day one. Panic Bank builds your bank from the lectures you and your year upload.

Our counts are read from the live database. The facts page shows each exact number with the time it was counted (28 Oct 2026) and a definition of what counts as published. Today that is 31,840 questions, 1,512 notes, and 343 clinical skills guides across 1,739 topics.

Panic Bank publishes its own figures. Its llms.txt lists "4,300+ lectures deposited" and "75,000+ exam questions written" as of 4 October 2026. These count questions written from uploaded lectures rather than a bank written in advance. Its about page says: "The library is still small." The two sets of numbers measure different things.

Recall Engine library content follows its source lectures and is reviewed under clinician oversight. Every question, note, and guide has a report option. A correction is published as a new version. For sets made from your own lectures, each answer names the lecture page it came from. Check it against your slides before you rely on it.

Panic Bank describes its own process on its home page. "Questions are written only from your lecture." Flashcards pass through "a second, text-only editor." When a student reports a wrong question or card, it is hidden "for your whole year." Its App Store listing adds that "every question and card cites the exact slide it came from."

Recall Engine plans come from the same settings the checkout uses. Plans start at 399 EGP or 9.99 USD for 30 days. Yearly plans save more. US dollar prices are before tax. Tax is added at checkout.

Library questions use no credits. Credits are for sets made from your own lectures. A failed generation costs nothing. A plan never renews by itself. There is nothing to cancel. A plan payment is non-refundable once you have opened library content or spent plan credits under that plan. If you have done neither, email support within 48 hours of payment and we will review your request. Unused days and unused plan credits are not refunded when a plan ends. See the refund policy.

Panic Bank's free start is in the table above. It names three paid plans: Teller, Vault, and Treasury. We did not find their paid plan prices on the public pages we opened. Its App Store listing links its terms at app.panicbank.com/terms. That page did not load for us. We could not check its refund terms.

This is the biggest practical difference.

On Recall Engine: Only you can see your lectures and study sets. To make a set, the lecture's pages are sent to our AI providers for processing. Deleting your account removes your lectures, files, and study sets. See the privacy policy.

On Panic Bank, its llms.txt says: "Lectures you upload are shared." They go into a shared library for your faculty or into a public pool for classmates to reuse. They "stay there if you delete your account, because other students depend on them." Its Ink notes and notebooks stay private.

Panic Bank's sharing is also a feature: your year builds one library together. Recall Engine keeps your lectures to yourself. Either way, upload lectures you have the right to use.

Recall Engine is a web app. It runs in your phone's browser.

Panic Bank has a web app and "an iPhone and iPad app on the App Store." Its site lists Home Screen widgets and Apple Pencil writing on your slides on iPad. On Android its llms.txt says it is "an installable web app, not a native app."

Panic Bank has an AI patient for OSCE history-taking. You talk out loud and the patient answers. It "speaks Egyptian colloquial Arabic by default" and English when you ask. Your mark scheme is graded when you finish. Its OSCE page says this "is part of the paid plans."

Recall Engine has no AI patient. Its library has written clinical skills guides and OSCE stations. Egyptian Arabic appears in their patient phrases.

Panic Bank also has spotting decks for X-ray, CT, MRI, histology, ECG, and clinical photos. You see the image and name the finding. Its own page calls them "Fixed decks, not your faculty's own spotter images." Recall Engine has no spotting decks.

Panic Bank fits better if any of these matter most to you:

• ·You want a native iPhone or iPad app. It has one on the App Store with Home Screen widgets and Apple Pencil writing on your slides.
• ·You want to rehearse OSCE history-taking out loud. Its AI patient speaks Egyptian Arabic by default.
• ·You need spotting practice. Its image decks cover six image types.
• ·You want spaced repetition on questions as well as flashcards. It schedules questions on SM-2 and flashcards on FSRS. There is nothing to set up.
• ·Your year already uses it. Lectures your classmates deposited are ready to study.
• ·You like studying with friends. It has a leaderboard for your year group and live one-on-one question duels.
• ·You want to ask about any slide. Its Teller explains anything you circle or any question you ask. It comes with paid plans and the trial.

• ·You want questions before you upload anything. The library covers all five years of medical school.
• ·You want library content reviewed under clinician oversight.
• ·You want your uploads kept to your account. Only you can see your lectures and study sets.
• ·You want to see prices before you sign up. Plans are listed in EGP and USD and never renew by themselves.
• ·You want MCQs or Weakness Packs from your own lectures. Both apps write SBAs, flashcards, and notes. Recall Engine also makes MCQs. Some plans add Weakness Packs built from the questions you missed.