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The Stack / Research
Gemini Notebook (was NotebookLM)
01 IntelligenceYes, and it's free to start — NotebookLM's constraint (answers only from your sources) is exactly what makes it trustworthy for real research. Audio Overviews turn dense material into listenable briefings, and the 1M-token context window now runs on every plan including Free. The sleeper pick in the research category.
The job in the stack
The source-grounded seat: synthesizing your documents, transcripts, and research into answers that cite themselves.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Generous notebook/source limits; full 1M-token context window included |
| Plus (via Google AI Plus) | $4.99/mo | Mid-tier limits bump. Cut from $7.99 on June 8, 2026 ($49.99/yr) |
| Pro (via Google AI Pro) | $19.99/mo | Higher limits, bundled with the Google AI Pro plan |
| Ultra (via Google AI Ultra) | $99.99–$200/mo | Only tier with Cinematic Video Overviews; split into entry ($99.99) and high-limit ($200) tiers May 2026 |
Pricing verified 2026-08-22. Plans change — the source of truth is Gemini Notebook (was NotebookLM)'s own pricing page.
Models & versions
- Gemini 3.5Became the default model June 8, 2026 (was Gemini 3 from Dec 2025, then 3.1 Pro for some features) — source-grounded answers throughout
- Audio OverviewsTwo-host podcast-style briefings from your sources
- Cinematic Video OverviewsLaunched March 2026 — animated, narrative-led video from source material; English only, 18+, Ultra plan only
- Deep ResearchAdded Nov 2025 — builds a cited source list from the open web on its own, on top of your loaded sources
- Native code executionAdded with the July 2026 rename — writes and runs code against your loaded sources for data analysis
- Studio artifactsThe Studio panel now generates Infographics and Slide Decks alongside Audio and Video Overviews, Study Guides, Flashcards and Quizzes — and a notebook can be copied whole, artifacts included. Generation is Gemini Notebook only: the Gemini app can open these notebooks but cannot make Studio artifacts from them
- NotebookLM EnterpriseGenerally available to Gemini Enterprise Business edition users, with slide-deck and infographic generation included. Relevant only if your org already buys Gemini Enterprise — there is no standalone enterprise seat
The honest read
What works
- +Answers cite the exact passage in your sources — hallucination boundary built in
- +Audio Overviews are a genuinely new way to absorb dense material
- +Free tier is generous enough for serious personal research
What breaks
- −Default answers still only draw on what you feed it — Deep Research is an opt-in add-on, not a mode switch
- −Source limits force curation on big projects
- −Collaboration features are thin compared to a real workspace
Use it for
- →Digesting reports, transcripts, and papers into working notes
- →Building a queryable base from your own content archive
- →Turning research into audio briefings for commute-time review
Skip it if
- ×You need open-web research — that's Perplexity's job
- ×Your sources are scattered and unexportable — garbage in, garbage out
Questions operators ask
?NotebookLM or Perplexity?
Still different jobs, even after NotebookLM added Deep Research (Nov 2025), which builds its own cited source list from the open web on request. Perplexity's default posture is open-web search; NotebookLM's default posture is your documents, with open-web research as an opt-in layer on top. Research stacks that publish carry both.
What changed
- Freshness sweep, first full re-verification since the rename. Consumer pricing holds: Free, Plus $4.99 via Google AI Plus, Pro $19.99, Ultra $99.99-$200. What grew is the Studio panel — Infographics and Slide Decks joined Audio and Video Overviews, Study Guides, Flashcards and Quizzes, and a whole notebook can now be copied with its artifacts. The enterprise version went generally available inside Gemini Enterprise Business edition. Google's help centre now lives at support.google.com/gemininotebook, which settles the rename: NotebookLM is the old name, not an alternate one.
- Price correction carried over from the Gemini sweep: the Google AI Plus tier NotebookLM rides on dropped from $7.99 to $4.99/mo ($49.99/yr) on June 8, 2026. Corrected here without a full re-verification of the rest of the entry — last_verified stays at July 24 until the next sweep reaches this tool.
- Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026 (per Google's own announcement) — same product, new name and logo, existing links auto-redirect. The rename shipped with native code execution: the notebook can now write and run code against your sources for data analysis. Keeping the old name in parentheses until the new one settles in search.
- Freshness sweep, real changes found: Gemini 3.5 is now the default model (June 8, 2026); 1M-token context opened to every plan including Free; Deep Research (open-web source building) and Cinematic Video Overviews (Ultra-only) shipped; a new $7.99 Plus tier sits below Pro; AI Ultra split into $99.99 and $200 tiers in May 2026. Softened the 'zero general-knowledge fallback' framing since Deep Research is now a real, if opt-in, open-web layer.
- Seeded from January 2026 baseline; limits and plan bundling pending fresh verification by the update loop.
Give Gemini Notebook (was NotebookLM) a job
The source-grounded seat: synthesizing your documents, transcripts, and research into answers that cite themselves.
Try Gemini Notebook (was NotebookLM) →Alternatives with different jobs
Perplexity
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Notion
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