NotebookLM, renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026, is Google’s free AI research assistant that answers from the sources you add, with inline citations. It turns PDFs, websites, YouTube videos and audio into podcast-style Audio Overviews, videos, reports, quizzes and mind maps. It is one of the best free options for studying and source-grounded research, though heavy users will want a paid Google AI plan.
Last updated: September 2026
What is NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook)?
NotebookLM is made by Google Labs. It began as Project Tailwind at Google I/O 2023, and on 16 July 2026 Google renamed it Gemini Notebook. The app now lives at notebook.google.com and remains a standalone product. According to Google, it is used by more than 30 million people and over 600,000 organizations.
You create a notebook, add sources, and the AI answers questions grounded in them. Each notebook is independent and cannot draw on other notebooks. Notebooks now sync with the Google Gemini app, and Google says they are coming to AI Mode in Google Search.
On models: Google moved NotebookLM to Gemini 3 in December 2025. In June 2026 it began rolling out an upgrade that runs on Gemini 3.5 and Antigravity, first to Google AI Ultra subscribers and eligible Workspace business customers, with Pro users promised access in the following weeks. The help center describes model access only in relative terms: “higher access” to Gemini models on Pro and “highest access” on Ultra.
Key features of NotebookLM
Source-grounded chat with citations
Answers cite the exact passage in your sources. Supported sources, per Google’s help center:
- PDF, Word (docx), PowerPoint (pptx), CSV, TXT, Markdown and ePub files
- Google Docs, Slides (up to 100 slides) and Sheets (up to 100k tokens)
- Web URLs (text only, no paywalled sites) and public YouTube videos with captions
- Audio files, images, copied text, Play Books ebooks and Gemini chats
Each source can hold up to 500,000 words or 200 MB for uploaded files.
Audio Overviews
NotebookLM’s best-known feature turns sources into a conversation between two AI hosts. There are four formats: Deep Dive (the default), The Brief (under two minutes), The Critique and The Debate. Audio Overviews work in 80+ languages. Length controls (Shorter, Default, Longer) and the interactive mode, where you join and question the hosts, are English-only.
Video Overviews, including Cinematic and Short
Explainer videos turn sources into narrated visual summaries in 80+ languages, with styles such as Classic, Whiteboard, Watercolor, Retro Print, Heritage, Paper-craft, Kawaii and Anime. Short videos run about 60 seconds. Cinematic Video Overviews, launched in March 2026 using Gemini 3, Nano Banana Pro and Veo 3, create animated videos; they are English-only, for users 18+, and limited to Pro and Ultra. Generation can take more than 30 minutes.
Deep Research and source discovery
You no longer need sources ready before starting. Fast Research finds relevant web or Google Drive results for you to import. Deep Research (18+ only) browses up to hundreds of websites and writes a multi-page report in minutes, then imports the sources you choose.
Study tools: flashcards, quizzes and Learning Overviews
Flashcards and quizzes come with easy, medium or hard difficulty, adjustable quantity, an Explain button and progress tracking; flashcards export to CSV. A September 2026 update added short-answer, multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank quizzes, a chat that points out weak areas, and Learning Overviews that combine a summary with quizzes, flashcards and mind maps.
Reports, mind maps, data tables, slides and infographics
The Studio panel produces briefing documents, study guides and FAQs (exportable to Google Docs), data tables (exportable to Sheets), slide decks, infographics and interactive mind maps whose nodes you can click to ask follow-up questions.
Code execution and file exports
Since the June 2026 upgrade, each notebook can include a secure cloud computer that writes and runs code for data analysis, with more than 100 curated software skills, and produces downloadable PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, Markdown, CSV, JSON, PNG and SVG files. It launched on Ultra and eligible Workspace plans, with Pro following.
Mobile apps, recorder and voice conversation
The Android and iOS apps offer offline and background audio playback and sharing into a notebook from other apps. Since 15 September 2026 Google has been rolling out an audio recorder for lectures and real-time voice conversation with your notebook in nearly 100 languages (18+).
Benefits of using NotebookLM
- Fewer made-up answers: responses are grounded in your documents and cited, so you can check every claim.
- Many formats from one set of sources: audio, video, slides, quizzes and reports.
- Strong free tier: 50 sources per notebook and daily Audio and Video Overviews at no cost.
- Arabic support: Audio and Explainer Video Overviews in Modern Standard and Egyptian Arabic.
- Clear data terms: personal data is not used for training unless you send feedback.
NotebookLM use cases by role
- Students: turn lecture recordings and readings into flashcards, practice quizzes and Audio Overviews for revision.
- Teachers: build study guides and quizzes from curriculum documents; free in every Workspace for Education edition.
- Researchers and analysts: gather sources with Deep Research, then query them with citations and data tables.
- Marketers and consultants: turn market reports into briefing documents and slide decks.
- Business teams: share notebooks of policies or meeting transcripts so colleagues can ask questions.
How much does NotebookLM cost?
For individuals, higher limits come through Google AI plans, which also include the Gemini app and cloud storage. Prices are US list prices as of September 2026.
| Plan | Price (USD) | Storage | Notebook access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (free) | $0 | 15 GB | Core features with base limits |
| Google AI Plus | $4.99/month | 400 GB | Double the free notebook and source limits |
| Google AI Pro | $19.99/month | 5 TB | Higher model access, Cinematic Video Overviews, earlier access to key features |
| Google AI Ultra (20 TB) | $99.99/month | 20 TB | Highest model access, 5x Pro usage limits |
| Google AI Ultra (30 TB) | $199.99/month | 30 TB | Highest model access, 20x Pro usage limits |
| Google AI Pro for Education | $15/user/month (annual) or $24 (monthly) | Not listed | Premium tier for schools; base access is free |
Google AI Plus dropped from $7.99 to $4.99 in June 2026, and Google advertises a free year of Google AI Pro for eligible college students. The Ultra multipliers are Google’s general usage claims versus AI Pro.
NotebookLM limits by plan
Per Google’s help center (subject to change):
| Limit | Free | Plus | Pro | Ultra 20 TB | Ultra 30 TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notebooks | 100 | 200 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| Sources per notebook | 50 | 100 | 300 | 500 | 600 |
| Chats per day | 50 | 200 | 500 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| Audio / Video Overviews per day | 3 | 6 | 20 | 100 | 200 |
| Cinematic Video Overviews per day | None | None | 2 | 10 | 20 |
| Reports, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps (each, per day) | 10 | 20 | 100 | 500 | 1,000 |
| Deep Research | 10/month | 3/day | 20/day | 75/day | 200/day |
Workspace, education and enterprise
Gemini Notebook is included as a core service in most Google Workspace editions, including Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and all Education editions. Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and the AI Expanded Access and AI Ultra Access add-ons get higher limits. In schools it is available to users of all ages once an admin turns it on, with extra guardrails for under-18s. Gemini Notebook Enterprise on Google Cloud adds VPC Service Controls, customer-managed encryption keys and US or EU data residency.
NotebookLM pros and cons
Pros
- Answers are grounded in your own sources and cited
- Free tier covers most personal study and research
- Wide range of outputs: audio, video, slides, infographics, quizzes, data tables
- Audio and video in 80+ languages, including two Arabic varieties
- No human review or model training on data from Workspace editions with enterprise-grade protections, including Education; free for schools
Cons
- Grounding reduces errors but does not remove them; summaries can still misread a source
- Several features are English-only or 18+ (Cinematic video, interactive audio, Deep Research)
- The mobile app lacks notes, mind maps, reports and data tables
- Newest capabilities, such as code execution, arrive on Ultra first
- Voice dispute: former NPR host David Greene sued Google in February 2026, alleging the male Audio Overview voice copies his; Google says it is based on a paid professional actor
How to use NotebookLM
- Go to notebook.google.com or install the Gemini Notebook app, and sign in with a Google account.
- Select Create new notebook and upload sources: PDFs, Docs, links, YouTube videos or audio. No sources yet? Use Fast Research or Deep Research to find them.
- Ask questions in the chat and click the citations to check each answer against the original passage.
- Open the Studio panel to generate an Audio Overview, Video Overview, report, mind map, data table, slide deck or quiz.
- Customize: choose the output language (for example Arabic), an Audio Overview format, a video style or quiz difficulty, and add a prompt describing your focus.
- Share the notebook with collaborators, or download audio, video and files.
NotebookLM alternatives
- ChatGPT: pick Projects in ChatGPT if you want one assistant for writing, images and web search plus files and memory; the free plan allows 5 files per project.
- Claude: pick Claude Projects for careful long-document analysis and writing; free accounts get up to five projects.
- Perplexity: pick Perplexity Projects when you need live web research alongside your files, with up to 5,000 files per project.
- Microsoft Copilot: pick Copilot Notebooks if your work lives in Microsoft 365 and OneNote; it gathers files, meeting notes and chats and also offers audio overviews.
- Elicit: pick it for academic literature reviews across more than 138 million papers; Basic is free and Pro costs $49 per month billed annually.
Frequently asked questions
Is NotebookLM still free?
Yes. The free Standard tier, now under the Gemini Notebook name, needs only a Google account and allows 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, 50 chats a day, three Audio and three Video Overviews a day and 10 Deep Research runs a month. Google AI Plus ($4.99), Pro ($19.99) and Ultra (from $99.99 a month) raise those limits.
Is NotebookLM the same as Gemini Notebook?
Yes. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on 16 July 2026. It is still a standalone research tool, now at notebook.google.com. The new name reflects tighter links with the Gemini app, where the same notebooks sync, and with AI Mode in Google Search, where Google says notebooks are coming.
How many sources can I add to a notebook?
It depends on your plan: 50 sources per notebook on the free tier, 100 on Google AI Plus, 300 on Pro, 500 on Ultra (20 TB) and 600 on Ultra (30 TB). Each source can hold up to 500,000 words or 200 MB for uploaded files, according to Google's help center.
Does NotebookLM support Arabic?
Yes. Gemini Notebook supports more than 80 languages, and Google's help center lists both Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Egyptian Arabic for Audio Overviews and Explainer Video Overviews. Some options are English-only: choosing a shorter or longer Audio Overview, the interactive mode where you question the hosts, and Cinematic Video Overviews.
Does Google train AI on my NotebookLM uploads?
For personal accounts, Google says your data is not used to train Gemini Notebook unless you submit feedback. For Workspace editions with enterprise-grade protections, including Workspace for Education, uploads, chats and responses are not reviewed by humans or used to train AI models. Google Cloud's Enterprise edition keeps data inside your own Cloud project.
Which Gemini model does NotebookLM use?
Google moved NotebookLM to Gemini 3 in December 2025. In June 2026 it began rolling out an upgrade built on Gemini 3.5 and Antigravity, starting with Google AI Ultra and eligible Workspace customers, and said in July that Pro users would get it in the following weeks. The help center does not name the model used on each tier.
Verdict
Under its new Gemini Notebook name, NotebookLM remains one of the strongest free tools in September 2026 for learning from your own documents. Its cited answers, Audio and Video Overviews and study tools are hard to match, and Arabic support is a real advantage for MENA users. Google AI Pro at $19.99 is the sweet spot for regular research; Ultra only pays off for very heavy use. Check citations before relying on any summary.
Sources
- NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook (Google)
- Do your best research with NotebookLM (Google)
- Cinematic Video Overviews in NotebookLM (Google)
- Upgrade Gemini Notebook: usage limits (Help)
- Learn about Gemini Notebook (Help)
- Add or discover new sources (Help)
- Create a notebook (Help)
- Generate Audio Overview (Help)
- Generate Video Overviews (Help)
- Generate flashcards or quizzes (Help)
- Use Mind Maps (Help)
- Gemini Notebook mobile app (Help)
- Use Gemini Notebook with a work or school account (Help)
- Google AI plans and pricing
- Back-to-school features in Gemini Notebook (Workspace Updates)
- Notebooks in Gemini for schools and organizations (Workspace Updates)
- Gemini Notebook for education (Google)
- Gemini and Gemini Notebook for Education quickstart (Workspace Help)
- What is Gemini Notebook Enterprise? (Google Cloud)
- Google turns NotebookLM into Gemini Notebook (TechCrunch)
- NotebookLM Gemini 3.5 and Antigravity upgrade (9to5Google)
- NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook (9to5Google)
- NotebookLM now uses Gemini 3 (9to5Google)
- Google clarifies its two AI Ultra plans (9to5Google)
- Google AI Plus drops to $4.99 (9to5Google)
- David Greene sues Google over NotebookLM voice (TechCrunch)
- Projects in ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- What are projects? (Claude)
- What are Projects? (Perplexity)
- Get started with Copilot Notebooks (Microsoft)
- Elicit pricing
