Gemini Notebook review
8.8/10★★★★★Google's source-grounded research notebook (formerly NotebookLM) with audio overviews
- Best for
- Students and researchers who already have their sources and want to understand, question and summarise them
- Price
- Freemium · from $4.99/month
Free: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook and standard usage limits - Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
- Made by
- App store ratings
- iOS 4.9★ (62K) · Android 4.7★ (334K)
What it is
Gemini Notebook, called NotebookLM until July 2026, answers questions using only the documents, links and notes you add to a notebook, with citations that open the quoted passage. From the same sources it can produce reports, Audio and Video Overviews, quizzes, flashcards and slide decks, and the rename added code execution for data analysis.
Latest: Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026 and moved it to compute-based usage limits in September 2026.
What the AI does
- Answers grounded only in your sources, with clickable citations
- Audio Overviews and Video Overviews
- Reports, quizzes, flashcards and slide decks from your sources
- Code execution for data analysis on uploaded data
- Notebooks synced with the Gemini app
Pros and cons
- Low hallucination risk because answers come only from your sources
- Citations jump straight to the quoted passage
- Generous free plan and very cheap paid entry
- Turns the same sources into audio, video and study formats
- Not a discovery tool: you have to collect the sources first
- Slide-deck revisions don't consult your sources, per one review
- Usage is now compute-based, so it's hard to predict how much you get
How it scores
The most trustworthy way to work with a set of sources, at a very low price; it doesn't find literature for you.
Feature checklist · 3 of 9
- Searches a large database of academic papers (no)
- Answers from your own uploaded PDFs and documents (yes)
- Inline citations linked to the exact source (yes)
- Multi-step deep research reports (no)
- Extracts details from papers into tables (no)
- Shows whether studies support or contradict a claim (no)
- Discovers related papers through citations or recommendations (no)
- Exports citations or connects to Zotero (no)
- Useful free plan (yes)
Alternatives
See all Gemini Notebook alternatives, ranked →
- Perplexity 8.4/10Fast cited overviews of a topic across the web and academic sources
- Consensus 8.3/10Students, clinicians and anyone checking what the research says about a specific question
- ChatGPT deep research 8.0/10Professionals who want a thorough written briefing on a complex topic
- Elicit 7.8/10Researchers running systematic reviews or extracting data across many studies
Gemini Notebook vs PerplexityGemini Notebook vs ConsensusGemini Notebook vs ChatGPT deep researchGemini Notebook vs ElicitGemini Notebook vs UndermindGemini Notebook vs Semantic ScholarGemini Notebook vs ResearchRabbitGemini Notebook vs SciSpaceGemini Notebook vs Scite
Sources
- NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook (Google)
- NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook: what changed (Chrome Story)
- Gemini Notebook plan limits (Google Help)
- Gemini Notebook usage limits update (tbreak)
- Gemini Notebook review 2026 (SaaS CRM Review)
- Google AI Plus price cut to $4.99 (TechEconomy)
- Best AI tools for academic research in 2026 (Rework)
- Gemini Notebook on the App Store
- Gemini Notebook on Google Play