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Source-backed analysis9

Review basis

Research-based review: the AppDuo Editorial Team compiled it from official pages, documentation, app stores, press and user feedback, without hands-on testing. Every claim links to a source with the date it was checked.

9 reference sources

Information updated Nov 10, 2026

How we review
NotebookLM logo

NotebookLM Review

Google's source-grounded research assistant that answers from your own documents

Editorial Team7.5/10Write the first review

By Official AppDuo editorial team · Updated

  • Web
  • iOS
  • Android
Freemium · $4.99/mo
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Decide at a glance

Our verdict

A good fit for students and researchers who want summaries and Q&A over a fixed set of documents, with in-line source citations and a fairly generous free tier. The trade-offs: the name and limits have changed more than once, and answers stay within the sources you add.

Best for: Students and researchers who need to read and synthesise many long documents

Skip it if: People who want a general-purpose chatbot answering freely beyond their own documents

Pros

  • Answers cite sources in-line, making it easy to check against the originals
  • Free tier allows 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook per the help page
  • iOS and Android apps rated highly on both stores (4.9/5 and 4.7/5)

Cons

  • The name and limits have changed, so figures in older articles often go stale
  • The Ultra plan's USD price was not clearly published on the pages read
All pros and cons · Who is it for?

More pros

  • On Workspace, Education and Cloud, data is not used to train models

More cons

  • On consumer accounts, submitting feedback lets Google review that interaction's content
  • Consumer support is mostly the help centre and community, with no direct contact channel found

Best for

  • People who like podcast-style summaries on the go

Problems it solves

Experience & key features

What NotebookLM is

NotebookLM is Google's AI research assistant: you add PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos or text to a notebook, then ask questions and get answers with in-line source citations. Google says it began as a small Google Labs team, was shown as Project Tailwind at Google I/O 2023 and opened to the public in July 2023. On 16 July 2026 Google renamed it Gemini Notebook while calling it the same standalone product; this review keeps the NotebookLM name for searchability. Google says more than 30 million people and over 600,000 organisations use it.

Key features

Beyond Q&A, the product turns sources into other formats. According to the plans page and Google Play, users can generate podcast-style Audio Overviews with two AI hosts, Video Overviews, flashcards, slides, reports and infographics. Audio Overviews launched in September 2024 and Video Overviews on 29 July 2025. The mobile apps arrived around 19 May 2025 with background playback and offline listening for Audio Overviews. With the rename, Google added a cloud computer to each notebook for running data-analysis code. At announcement it was open to Ultra users and Workspace customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access, with Pro users on the web to follow over the next few weeks.

Pricing and limits

The free tier has standard limits: 100 notebooks per user and 50 sources per notebook. Beyond that you need a Google AI plan: Plus doubles the limits (200 notebooks, 100 sources), Pro gives four times (500 notebooks, 300 sources) and Ultra gives 5 to 20 times Pro (up to 600 sources per notebook). The US App Store lists Plus at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year and Pro at $19.99 per month; Google One's Vietnam page lists Plus at 132,000 VND, Pro at 489,000 VND and Ultra from 2,250,000 VND per month. The AI plans are sold only in some regions, and the help page marks the limits as subject to change, so check before subscribing.

More analysis

Who it suits

NotebookLM suits cases where you already hold a set of documents and want answers you can verify through citations, such as exam revision, literature reviews or long reports. General chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude fit better if you need writing, coding or knowledge beyond your documents. Note that data handling differs between consumer accounts and Workspace, Education or Cloud accounts.

Screenshots

App home screen, from the App Store listing
App home screen, from the App Store listing
Adding sources to a notebook, from the App Store listing
Adding sources to a notebook, from the App Store listing
Audio Overview feature, from the App Store listing
Audio Overview feature, from the App Store listing

Plans & pricing

Prices last verified Nov 10, 2026

Free

Personal

Free

Standard limits for chat and for generating Slides, Audio Overviews and other artifacts. Per the help page: 100 notebooks per user, 50 sources per notebook, 500 notes per notebook.

Google AI Plus

Personal

$4.99/mo

$4.17/mo billed yearly

Double the standard usage limits: 200 notebooks, 100 sources per notebook and early access to new features. US App Store price: $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, with 400 GB of Google storage.

Google AI Pro

Personal

$19.99/mo

Four times the standard usage limits: 500 notebooks, 300 sources per notebook and priority access to new features. US App Store price: $19.99 per month, with 5 TB of storage.

Google AI Ultra

Personal

Contact sales

5 to 20 times Pro usage limits: 500 notebooks and 500 sources per notebook on the 20 TB tier or 600 on the 30 TB tier. Google One's Vietnam page lists it from 2,250,000 VND per month; an official USD price was not verified for this review.

Workspace, Education, Enterprise

Business

Contact sales

Businesses, schools and organisations get it through Google Workspace, Workspace for Education or Google Cloud. Google says organisational data is not used to train models.

Free plan limits
The free tier uses Gemini models at standard access, with up to 50 sources per notebook.
Free trial
No free trial
Cancellation & refunds

The plans page and help page state no refund policy. Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra are billed through Google One or the app stores under their own terms.

Privacy

Per Google's help page, consumer data is not used to train Gemini Notebook unless you provide feedback, in which case Google may review the full context of that interaction, including queries, uploads and model responses; Google may also process data to prevent fraud, abuse and technical issues. For Workspace and Workspace for Education, uploads, queries and responses are not used for training and are not seen by human reviewers, even when you give thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback. For Google Cloud, files, chats and outputs are not used to improve models and uploaded files stay within your GCP project. The page does not state a retention period.

Official pricing page

NotebookLM alternatives

Perplexity logoVSNotebookLM logoPerplexity vs NotebookLM
Gemini logo7.5/10

Gemini

Google's AI assistant, tied into Gmail, Drive, Android and Google storage plans

Freemium
ChatGPT logo7.5/10

ChatGPT

OpenAI's flagship AI assistant for writing, research, coding, images and voice

Freemium
All alternatives

Frequently asked questions

Is NotebookLM free?

Yes, there is a free tier with standard limits: 100 notebooks per user and 50 sources per notebook per the help page. For more, you need Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra.

Is NotebookLM the same as Gemini Notebook?

Yes. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on 16 July 2026 and calls it the same standalone product, now with deeper Google integration.

Does Google train AI on my documents?

Per the help page, not on consumer accounts unless you submit feedback. For Workspace, Education and Cloud, content is not used for training.

Is there a mobile app?

Yes, iOS and Android apps launched around 19 May 2025. On Google Play the app is rated 4.7/5 with over 50 million downloads.

Review evidence & sources9

Scores

Ease of use
8.2
Why this score

Simple flow: add sources, then ask or generate summaries. Mobile apps exist, though a Google Play reviewer asked for multi-select when adding sources from Google Drive.

Features
8.0
Why this score

Per the plans page: in-line citations, Audio and Video Overviews, flashcards, slides, reports, infographics, Source Discovery and Deep Research. The scope is research over your own sources, not a general assistant.

Value for money
8.3
Why this score

A broad free tier and a $4.99 per month Plus on the US App Store, well below the usual $20 per month AI plans. Points off for the unclear Ultra USD price and region-limited AI plans.

Performance
7.6
Why this score

Ratings of 4.7/5 on Google Play and 4.9/5 on the App Store indicate high satisfaction. Usage is capped by plan, and one Google Play review says Audio Overviews max out at 20 minutes.

Support
5.8
Why this score

A detailed help centre and a user community, but the pages read list no direct contact channel for consumer accounts. That puts it level with other consumer AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini.

Privacy & security
7.0
Why this score

No training on consumer data unless feedback is sent; no training or human review for Workspace, Education and Cloud. Better than many chatbots' defaults, but points off for no stated retention period and possible human review of consumer feedback.

What users say

Sources

Specs & compatibility
Developer
Google
Headquarters
United States
Launched
2023
Category
AI

Capabilities

  • AI features
  • Mobile app
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Works offline

Platforms

  • Web
  • iOS
  • Android

Interface languages

  • English
  • Vietnamese
  • Japanese
  • Chinese
  • Spanish
  • French
  • Korean
  • German
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Thai
  • Indonesian

Integrations

  • Gemini app
  • Google Drive
  • Google Workspace
  • Google Cloud

Support

  • Help center
  • Community forum

Change history

  1. Company.Google renames NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook and adds a cloud computer for running code in each notebook.
  2. Feature.Video Overviews launch, turning documents into visual presentations.
  3. Launch.NotebookLM apps released for Android and iOS.
Full change history (6)
  1. Feature.Audio Overviews launch, podcast-style conversations between two AI hosts.
  2. Launch.Public launch as NotebookLM.
  3. Launch.Project Tailwind, the forerunner of NotebookLM, is shown at Google I/O 2023.
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