DecksWhat Is Ease Hell in Anki (and How to Get Out of It)?
"Ease hell" is what Anki users call cards whose ease has sunk to the minimum and stayed there, so their intervals grow very slowly and they keep coming back far more often than they should. It happens because SM-2 lowers ease on Again and Hard but never raises it on Good.
How ease sinks
Every card starts with an ease of 2.5 (250% in Anki). The ratings change it:
| Rating | Ease change |
|---|---|
| Again | −0.20 |
| Hard | −0.15 |
| Good | no change |
| Easy | +0.15 |
Ease can't drop below 1.3. A card that you've lapsed on a few times can reach 1.3, and from there only Easy brings it back up. Rate it Good every time and it stays at 1.3 forever, its interval growing by only 30% per review instead of 150%.
How to tell if you're in it
- A lot of cards come back every few days even though you keep getting them right.
- Your reviews keep growing even though you aren't adding many new cards.
- In Anki's card browser, many cards show an ease of 130%.
What fixes it
- Use Hard only for real struggles. Habitual Hard is the most common cause.
- Press Easy when a card is genuinely easy. It's the only rating that raises ease.
- Rewrite cards you keep failing. A card you've failed many times is usually a bad card: too much on it, or too similar to another card. Split it or add context.
- Switch to FSRS (in Anki). FSRS doesn't use an ease factor at all, so it can't get stuck this way. See SM-2 vs FSRS.
How bad is it really?
Usually milder than its name. When we measured ease on a real Decks collection, the average was close to the 2.5 starting value, with plenty of cards above it. It's worth checking your own cards before changing how you study.
Published 2026-10-07.