NotebookLM
Google's research notebook that turns your sources into audio overviews and mind maps.
Overview
NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook): Google's Source-Grounded AI Research Notebook
NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook. Google announced the rename on 16 July 2026; Josh Woodward, VP of Google Labs, described it as the same standalone product, better connected to the rest of the Gemini ecosystem. Existing notebooks, sources, and shared links keep working, notebooklm.google redirects to notebook.google, and nothing about the product needs relearning. Google puts usage at more than 30 million people and over 600,000 organisations.
The pitch has not changed: upload the documents, links, and media you already trust, and get an assistant that answers only from those sources, with inline citations back to the passage it used. Upload PDFs, Google Docs and Slides, Sheets, websites, YouTube videos, and audio, and it reads all of it for you. Because it is scoped to your material, the hallucination class that plagues general chat is structurally absent — which is what makes it usable for students, researchers, analysts, and anyone who cannot afford invented facts.
The rename came with a real capability change: every notebook now gets a secure cloud computer, so the assistant can write and run code against your sources — analysis and deliverables, not just summaries. The Studio panel still turns a notebook into Audio Overviews, Video Overviews, mind maps, study guides, briefing documents, flashcards, quizzes, timelines, and slide decks, each citing the original sources.
Key Features
- Source-grounded chat with inline citations linking every claim back to your uploaded material
- A secure cloud computer per notebook, able to write and run code for analysis and deliverables
- Audio Overviews: podcast-style conversation between two AI hosts, generated from your sources
- Video Overviews and narrated visual summaries; Cinematic Video Overviews on the top tier
- Mind maps, study guides, briefing docs, flashcards, quizzes, timelines, and slide-deck export
- Deep Research for multi-step research workflows, on every tier
- Broad source support: PDFs, Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, .docx, websites, YouTube, audio
- Multilingual support across more than fifty languages
- Team sharing with role-based controls, plus source-read analytics on shared notebooks
Pricing
There is no standalone subscription — access rides on Google AI plans:
- Free — 100 notebooks, 50 sources each, 50 chat questions a day, no time limit.
- Google AI Plus — $4.99/month; higher source and generation limits, early feature access.
- Google AI Pro — $19.99/month.
- Google AI Ultra — $99.99 or $199.99/month; the only tiers with Cinematic Video Overviews.
- Workspace and Enterprise — Workspace Business Standard from $14/user/month; Enterprise licensing via Google Cloud.
Ideal Use Case
Students working through lecture notes and PDFs, researchers comparing dozens of papers, analysts digesting earnings calls and filings, lawyers and consultants reviewing case files, and product teams turning user interviews into themes. Anywhere reading volume outpaces available time, and citations matter more than fluency.
How Gemini Notebook differentiates
General assistants retrieve invisibly and ask you to trust the answer. This one inverts that: it reads only what you give it, and every claim points back at a passage you can check. With the cloud computer added, it now also does the analysis step inside the same grounded context. Two honest limits remain. It does one job — you will keep a general assistant open alongside it. And the pricing is a maze: no standalone plan, capabilities scattered across Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra, with the flagship Cinematic Video Overview locked to Ultra.
FAQ
Is NotebookLM being discontinued? No. It was renamed to Gemini Notebook on 16 July 2026. Same product, same notebooks, same sources; notebooklm.google now redirects to notebook.google and shared links keep working.
What does Gemini Notebook do? You upload sources — documents, slides, sheets, web pages, YouTube videos, audio — and it answers questions using only those sources, citing the passages it drew from. It also generates Audio and Video Overviews, mind maps, study guides, slide decks, and now runs code against your material.
Is NotebookLM free? Yes, there is a free tier: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, and 50 chat questions a day with no time limit. Higher limits come through Google AI Plus at $4.99/month, Pro at $19.99/month, or Ultra at $99.99–$199.99/month. It cannot be bought on its own.
What changed besides the name? Each notebook gained a secure cloud computer, so the assistant can write and run code to analyse your sources and produce deliverables rather than only summarising them, along with deeper integration into the Gemini app.
How does it compare to a general AI assistant? It is narrower on purpose. A general assistant answers from everything and can invent details; Gemini Notebook answers only from your uploaded sources and cites them. For literature reviews, case files, or exam prep, that constraint is the feature.
tl;dr
Google's source-grounded research notebook, renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026 (30M+ users, 600k+ organisations). Upload sources, get cited answers, generate Audio and Video Overviews, mind maps, study guides, and slide decks — and now run code against your material via a secure cloud computer per notebook. Free tier covers 100 notebooks and 50 questions a day; paid access rides on Google AI Plus ($4.99), Pro ($19.99), and Ultra ($99.99–$199.99).
Related
Looking for more options? Browse the Education & Learning directory or read our best AI education tools listicle. NotebookLM has a Wikipedia entry and is tracked on Crunchbase.
Why Use NotebookLM
Editorial Review
Our take on NotebookLM.
Renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026, and the rename carried substance: every notebook now gets a secure cloud computer, so it analyses and builds rather than only summarising. Still the best source-grounded research tool. Google’s pricing maze is the weak point.
What works
- Source grounding is watertight: every claim cites a passage you can check
- A secure cloud computer per notebook now runs code against your own sources
- Free tier is generous and uncapped in time: 100 notebooks, 50 questions a day
What doesn't
- No standalone plan; capabilities scatter across three consumer tiers plus enterprise
- Cinematic video output is reserved for the most expensive tier
The core contract has not changed and remains the reason to use it: upload your sources, get an assistant that answers only from those sources, with citations back to the passage it used. The hallucination class that plagues general chat is structurally absent, which is why it holds up for literature reviews, case files, and exam prep.
July 2026 brought the rename to Gemini Notebook and a real capability with it. Each notebook now has a secure cloud computer, so the assistant can write and run code against your material — analysis and finished artefacts, not just prose summaries. Google puts usage above thirty million people and six hundred thousand organisations, and existing notebooks, sources, and shared links carried over untouched, with the old domain redirecting to the new one.
Two reservations stand. It still does one job, so a general assistant stays open alongside it. And access is a maze: there is no standalone subscription, capabilities are scattered across three consumer tiers plus Workspace and enterprise licensing, and the flagship cinematic video output is locked to the most expensive plan — a steep jump for one feature.
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