Last updated: 2026-10-28
What changed
Gemini Notebook is Google's AI research assistant that answers only from the documents, links and videos a user uploads, citing the passage behind each reply. It carried the name NotebookLM before July 2026. Free use is capped at 100 notebooks with 50 sources apiece, and paid Google AI plans raise those caps.
About Gemini Notebook
Gemini Notebook, known as NotebookLM until July 2026, is Google's source-grounded research assistant. It launched from Google Labs in 2023 and answers only from material a user supplies, such as PDFs, Google Docs, websites and YouTube videos, rather than the open web. Google's own FAQ says it is the same product under a new name and that existing notebooks remain fully accessible; the old notebooklm.google address now lands on notebook.google.
That design is the point. Where ChatGPT, Claude or the broader Gemini assistant will answer from general training data, Gemini Notebook cites the passage in your own sources behind each reply, which makes a claim easier to check. Beyond chat it can turn sources into Audio Overviews, reports, flashcards, quizzes, slides, mind maps, video overviews, infographics and data tables.
Free use is capped at 100 notebooks, each holding up to 50 sources. Paid access comes through Google AI plans rather than a separate subscription: Plus raises the caps to 200 notebooks and 100 sources, Pro to 500 notebooks and 300 sources, and the two Ultra tiers to 500 notebooks with 500 or 600 sources. Google says Plus doubles and Pro quadruples the usage limits of the standard plan, and it publishes daily chat and generation allowances only as standard limits that can change, so check its usage-limits page before building a workflow around a specific cap. Google's plans help page says your data is not used to train Gemini Notebook unless you submit feedback, in which case reviewers may see the full context of that interaction; for Workspace and Workspace for Education accounts, uploads, queries and responses are not human-reviewed even then. Google publishes no retention period.
Who should look elsewhere: as of our last review, Gemini Notebook is a closed workspace, with no offline mode, notebooks that do not share context with each other, and limited export of your organised research. If the job is finding new papers rather than reading the ones you already hold, Consensus or Perplexity search for sources first, and an assistant such as Microsoft Copilot if your sources live in Microsoft 365, and a notes tool such as Notion or Mem suits a long-lived knowledge base better. Our guide to what Gemini is for covers where the consumer app and Notebook fit together.
Pricing
Prices are Google's published US list prices as last verified on 21 September 2026; Google localises them by country, so your checkout may differ. Gemini Notebook (renamed from NotebookLM on July 16, 2026; existing links and the notebooklm.google URL still redirect) is free with any Google account. Higher limits come through Google's AI subscription plans: Google AI Plus at $4.99/mo (cut from $7.99 on Jun 8, 2026), Google AI Pro at $19.99/mo, Google AI Ultra at $99.99/mo (20TB storage), and Google AI Ultra Premium at $199.99/mo (30TB storage).
The Ultra Premium tier replaces the former single $249.99/mo Ultra plan Google split into two SKUs at Google I/O in May 2026.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free with a Google account: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, standard limits for chat and artifact generation |
| Plus (Google AI Plus) | $4.99/mo | Bundled with Google AI Plus ($4.99/mo, cut from $7.99 on Jun 8, 2026): 200 notebooks, 100 sources per notebook, double the standard usage limits, early access to new features |
| Pro (Google AI Pro) | $19.99/mo | Bundled with Google AI Pro ($19.99/mo): 500 notebooks, 300 sources per notebook, four times the standard usage limits, priority access to new features |
| Ultra (Google AI Ultra, 20TB) | $99.99/mo | Bundled with Google AI Ultra 5x ($99.99/mo, 20TB storage, entry-level Ultra SKU introduced at Google I/O May 2026): 500 notebooks, 500 sources per notebook, Google lists 5x the Pro usage limits |
| Ultra Premium (Google AI Ultra, 30TB) | $199.99/mo | Bundled with Google AI Ultra 20x ($199.99/mo, cut from $249.99 at Google I/O May 2026, 30TB storage): 500 notebooks, 600 sources per notebook, Google lists 20x the Pro usage limits, watermark removal (a visible watermark is still applied in India, South Korea and Vietnam) |
Feature Comparison by Tier
| Feature | Free | Pro (Google AI Pro) | Plus (Google AI Plus) | Ultra (Google AI Ultra, 20TB) | Ultra Premium (Google AI Ultra, 30TB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notebooks | 100 | 500 | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| Sources per notebook | 50 | 300 | 100 | 500 | 600 |
| Daily chats | 50 | 500 | 200 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| Daily Audio Overviews | 3 | 20 | 6 | 100 | 200 |
| Daily Deep Research reports | — | 20 | — | 75 | 200 |
| Watermark-free outputs | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
Key Features
- Source-Grounded AI: Gemini Notebook answers only from the sources you upload; when a document doesn't contain the answer, it says so instead of guessing.
- Audio Overviews: Turns uploaded documents, videos, or webpages into a podcast-style audio discussion you can listen to instead of reading.
- Interactive Chat: The primary interface for using Gemini Notebook: ask questions in chat and get answers grounded in your uploaded sources.
- Multiple Output Formats: Beyond chat and audio, Gemini Notebook can turn sources into slides, diagrams, charts, flashcards, and data tables.
- In-line Citations: Every chat answer links back to the exact passage in your source material, so claims are easy to verify.
- Mobile Apps: Dedicated Android and iOS apps add Material You theming and gesture-based navigation for managing notebooks on the go.
- Gemini 3.5 + Antigravity Upgrade: Upgraded June 8, 2026 to run on Gemini 3.5 with Google's Antigravity coding tool integrated, adding agentic research steps and more visibility into how an answer was reasoned out.
Pros
- Citations make it easy to trust Gemini Notebook's answers without re-reading the whole source, a rare trait among AI research tools.
- The Audio Overviews feature stands out versus rivals: turning a folder of PDFs into a listenable podcast is not something most research tools offer.
- The free tier is unusually generous compared to competing research assistants, which tend to cap uploads and chats much lower.
- As NotebookLM, it was independently recognized: a Time Best Invention pick in 2024 and a 2025 Webby Award winner for Technical Achievement.
Cons
- No offline mode on any plan: every action needs an active internet connection, so there's no working from a plane or a cafe with unreliable WiFi.
- Content stays locked inside Gemini Notebook: there's no meaningful way to export a notebook and take your organized research elsewhere.
- Notebooks are siloed from each other, so overlapping sources or repeated questions across projects don't get connected or deduplicated.
- Users report limited language support, including missing subtitles and regional accent options in the audio and chat features.
Product Information
- Cloud
- Yes
- Self-Hosted
- No
- On-Premise
- No
- Languages
- English, Afrikaans, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Bengali, Catalan, Cebuano, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, Spanish (European), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Mexico), Estonian, Hindi, Turkish
- Training
- Documentation (Gemini Notebook Help Center), Google Workspace Updates blog walkthroughs, Google One community forum
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- Training happens only on feedback you submit; Workspace and Education accounts are excluded from human review and training (Google help page, read 2026-10-28)
- Compliance
- Privacy-focused; does not train on user data
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Gemini Notebook the same product as NotebookLM?
Yes. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026, and its own FAQ confirms it is the same product with all existing notebooks still accessible. The old notebooklm.google address now redirects to notebook.google.
What are Gemini Notebook's pricing plans in 2026?
Anyone with a Google account can use Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) at no cost. Higher usage limits come through Google's paid AI plans: Google AI Plus adds mid-tier limits for $4.99/month, Google AI Pro raises them further for $19.99/month, and Google AI Ultra unlocks the highest limits at $99.99/month (20TB storage) or $199.99/month (30TB storage) -- the latter replacing the former single $249.99/month Ultra plan after Google split it into two tiers in May 2026. Prices are Google's US list prices as last checked on 21 September 2026.
Can you use NotebookLM without paying?
Yes. Any Google account works at no charge, with room for 100 notebooks and 50 sources in each. Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra raise the notebook and source caps and the usage limits rather than adding separate core features.
Which tools compete with Gemini Notebook in 2026?
Perplexity AI is a good alternative if you want cited answers pulled live from the web rather than only your uploaded documents. Otter.ai fits better for live meeting transcription and notetaking. ChatGPT suits users who want a general-purpose assistant instead of a tool scoped to a fixed set of sources.
Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) or ChatGPT: which should you pick?
ChatGPT draws on broad training data and can converse on almost any topic for $20/month on the Plus plan, while Gemini Notebook is free and answers only from documents you upload, cutting the risk of an invented fact for research work. ChatGPT also generates images and searches the live web, features Gemini Notebook does not offer.
Top Alternatives
- Consensus: Pick Consensus if you want AI search across a live academic paper database; pick Gemini Notebook if you're synthesizing documents you already have on hand.
- Glean: Pick Glean if you need enterprise-wide search across your company's existing tools and drives; pick Gemini Notebook for a focused notebook built from a set of sources you choose yourself.
- Claude: Pick Claude if you want a general-purpose assistant for writing, coding, and open-ended reasoning; pick Gemini Notebook when the job is answering strictly from a fixed set of uploaded sources.
Hokai guides covering Gemini Notebook
- Best AI for Writing Research Papers in 2026: Find, Read, Then Draft: Best AI for writing research papers: Consensus and Gemini Notebook find and read sources while you write the argument. Prices and rules, checked 20 Oct 2026.
- Best AI Tools for YouTube Research in 2026: TubeAI, Gemini Notebook, AI Summarizer, Glasp, and Genspark compared for YouTube research: real 2026 pricing, free-tier limits, and who should pick each one.
- Best AI Note-Taking Tools in 2026: Brain2, Glasp, Mem, and Gemini Notebook Compared: Brain2, Glasp, Mem, and Gemini Notebook solve four different note-taking jobs, not one. Real 2026 pricing, free-tier caps, and which one to skip entirely.
- Best AI for Research in 2026: Specialist Tools for Papers, Law and Medicine: Consensus, Elicit, Gemini Notebook, Humata, Harvey and OpenEvidence compared by research job, with prices read from each vendor pricing page on 8 Nov 2026.
Also mentioned in
- The Best AI to Use for School in 2026, and What It Actually Costs: Nine AI tools students actually use for school in 2026, priced with real student discounts, plus the academic-integrity risk most roundups skip over completely.
- Best AI for Deep Research in 2026: What Each One Can Actually See: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok each ship Deep Research, but they read different data and cap runs differently. Here is how to pick the right one.