NotebookLM

Not really a note app. It reads your sources and studies them with you.

By Google · since 2023 · notebooklm.google.com

7.4

B · out of 10

You give NotebookLM documents, PDFs, videos and pages, and it answers only from those sources with citations. It also generates mind maps, flashcards, quizzes, slide decks, podcast-style audio overviews and narrated video summaries. As a place to write, it is thin. As a place to understand a pile of material, nothing else is close.

How it scores

  • Features25% of score

    5.8

    Depth and breadth of what the app can do.

  • Ease of use20% of score

    8.2

    Speed, polish and how long it takes to feel at home.

  • AI15% of score

    9.3

    Quality and usefulness of the built-in AI, not just its presence.

  • Sync & reliability15% of score

    7.0

    How dependably notes move between devices.

  • Value15% of score

    8.4

    What you get for what you pay.

  • Platform coverage10% of score

    6.0

    How many places you can actually use it.

Pricing

$19.99/month · $239.88/year

Free tier: A solid daily allowance of notebooks, sources and generations.

Higher limits come with a Google AI Pro subscription rather than a NotebookLM plan.

Platforms

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Linux
  • Web

33 tracked features supported

What it does well

  • Answers are grounded in your sources with clickable citations
  • Audio Overviews turn a reading list into a commute
  • Flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and slide decks generated from real material
  • The free tier is unusually generous

Where it falls short

  • Weak as an editor: this is not where you write
  • No offline access at all
  • Your notes live inside Google, with the usual caveats
  • Notebooks do not link to each other

Our take

Pair it with a real notes app rather than replacing one. On that job it has no serious competition.

Best for: Studying, research and making sense of documents you did not write.

AI-firstStudents & study

Feature by feature

YesPartlyVia pluginNo

Capture & input

How notes get into the app in the first place.

  • Voice recordingPartly
  • Audio transcription
  • Speaker identification
  • Meeting recording
  • Handwriting / stylus
  • Drawing canvas
  • OCR / handwriting search
  • Web clipper
  • Share extension
  • Quick capture
  • Images
  • PDF & documents
  • Document scanning

Organization

How notes are structured, linked and found again.

  • Tags
  • Folders / notebooksPartly
  • Multi-level folders
  • Internal links
  • Backlinks
  • Graph view
  • Databases / boards
  • Daily notes / journal
  • Note templates
  • Saved searches
  • Pins / favorites
  • Merge notes

AI

Assistants, generators and meaning-based search.

  • AI chat / writing assistant
  • AI agent with tools
  • Custom AI agents
  • Semantic search
  • AI web search
  • Connected apps for AI
  • Prompt templates
  • Custom AI instructionsPartly
  • AI memory
  • Scheduled AI tasks
  • Flashcard generator
  • Spaced repetitionPartly
  • Quiz generator
  • Fill in the blankPartly
  • Mind maps
  • AI image generationPartly
  • Infographic generatorPartly
  • Slide deck generatorPartly
  • AI mini apps
  • Brainrot video generatorPartly
  • AI audio overview
  • Bring your own model
  • AI job notifications

Writing & editing

What the editor itself can actually do.

  • MarkdownPartly
  • Rich textPartly
  • Code blocks
  • Math / LaTeX
  • Tables
  • Find and replace
  • Version history
  • Note info

Sync & data ownership

Where your notes live and how easily they leave.

  • Cloud sync
  • Sync through your own cloud
  • Offline support
  • Offline-first / own your data
  • Self-hosting
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Locked notes
  • Daily backup
  • Import
  • ExportPartly
  • Public API
  • Command line tool
  • Remote MCP server
  • Plugins / extensions

Sharing & collaboration

Working with other people inside your notes.

  • Share with people
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Comments
  • Public sharing

Experience

The everyday polish around the writing surface.

  • Dark mode
  • Custom themes
  • Multi-language
  • Command palette
  • Split view
  • Focus mode
  • Home screen widgets
  • Apple Shortcuts

Compare with

All NotebookLM alternatives

NotebookLM vs Grape

Adds: AI agent with tools, AI memory

9.0

NotebookLM vs Notion

The all-in-one workspace that swallowed the note app category.

8.5

NotebookLM vs GoodNotes

Handwriting on a tablet, done better than anyone else.

8.0

NotebookLM vs RemNote

Take notes and generate the flashcards in the same keystroke.

7.9