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NotebookLM for studying
NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook. Google renamed it on 16 July 2026, and it remains a product of its own.1
You can study with it: it makes flashcards, quizzes and study guides from the sources you add, and Google describes it as a research tool. Below is how it compares with SymbioLearn, and when Gemini Notebook is the better choice.1, 5
Side by side
- What you study from
Gemini Notebook
Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, text and Markdown, images, ePub, audio, web pages, public YouTube videos with captions, and pasted text, up to 500,000 words or 200MB a file. It can also find sources for you.4
SymbioLearn
Your own study material: PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, Markdown notes, websites, YouTube videos and past papers. A file can be up to 50 MB and 1000 pages or slides, and a video up to four hours.
- What it makes
Gemini Notebook
Chat answers, study guides, briefings, reports, Audio and Video Overviews, mind maps, flashcards, quizzes, infographics and slide decks.5
SymbioLearn
The concepts in your material, and for each one a spoken Lesson, a Quick Quiz and Flashcards. Questions you miss are kept in Mistakes, and past papers are worked through a line at a time.
- Voice
Gemini Notebook
Audio Overviews, where AI hosts discuss your sources, and in English you can join in with questions. Google said on 15 September 2026 that real-time voice conversation in its mobile app is rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers (18+) first.6, 10
SymbioLearn
Live Voice Lessons: 15 minutes of spoken teaching on one concept, from the passages behind it. You can interrupt it or ask it to draw. 30 minutes free, once, and 300 a month on Pro.
- Review scheduling
Gemini Notebook
You mark each flashcard as known or missed, then practise all of them or only the ones you missed, or download them as a CSV file.7
SymbioLearn
Today picks the concepts that need attention and says why: a review is due, one has caught you out, the exam is close. Flashcards you keep missing come back sooner.
- Where answers come from
Gemini Notebook
Your sources, with “clear in-line citations” in its chat answers.5
SymbioLearn
Your own study material. Every question, correction and explanation is written from a passage in it and shows you which one. Lessons add their own examples to make an idea concrete.
- Price
Gemini Notebook
Free with a Google account. Google AI Plus is $4.99, AI Pro $19.99 and AI Ultra from $99.99 a month in the US, with higher limits.2
SymbioLearn
Free, or Pro at $19 a month or $190 a year. Extra Lesson minutes are 60 for $5 or 180 for $12.
- Free plan
Gemini Notebook
Up to 100 notebooks with 50 sources each, 50 chats a day and 3 Audio Overviews a day.3
SymbioLearn
One module with five Sources in it at a time, five quizzes a week, one past paper, flashcards, and 30 Live Voice Lesson minutes, once. No card.
- What happens to your uploads
Gemini Notebook
Google says content in it “will not be used to directly train our foundational AI models” unless you give feedback. Feedback, with what it includes, can be reviewed by people once disconnected from your account, and is kept for up to three years.8
SymbioLearn
Its Privacy Policy says “We do not train any model on your material” and that deleting a Source “removes the stored file and its passages”.
When Gemini Notebook is the better choice
You want a lot for free
Its free plan allows up to 100 notebooks with 50 sources each, 50 chats a day and 3 Audio Overviews a day. SymbioLearn's Free plan is one module with five Sources.3
You qualify for Google's free year for students
Eligible students at US colleges can get Google AI Pro free for a year, and students in over 140 other markets Google AI Plus, if they redeem by 31 December 2026. A payment method is needed, and the plan renews at the normal price after the year unless you cancel.11
Your sources are in Google Drive, or are audio, images or ebooks
It reads Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, audio files, images and ePub, and it can search the web or your Drive for sources.4
You would rather listen
Audio Overviews turn your sources into a discussion between AI hosts, in over 80 languages. It also makes Video Overviews, mind maps, infographics and slide decks.5, 6
You want an app
It has apps for iPhone, iPad and Android as well as the web. SymbioLearn runs in a browser.9, 10
Your school uses Google Workspace for Education
Google says uploads, queries and responses in Workspace and Workspace for Education accounts are not reviewed by people or used to train AI models, even when you give feedback.8
When SymbioLearn is the better choice
You want to be taught out loud now
SymbioLearn's Live Voice Lessons are on the Free plan (30 minutes, once) and on Pro (300 minutes a month): 15 minutes of spoken teaching at a time, on one concept from your own study material. Gemini Notebook's real-time voice conversation was announced on 15 September 2026 for Google AI Ultra subscribers first, from $99.99 a month. Its Audio Overviews are discussions you listen to and, in English, can join.2, 6, 10
You want to be told what to review, and when
Today picks the concepts that need attention and says why, from how your quizzes, flashcards and Lessons went. Gemini Notebook's help page describes marking flashcards and practising the ones you missed.7
Prices
Gemini Notebook
SymbioLearn
- Free
- $0. One module with five Sources in it at a time, five quizzes a week, one past paper, flashcards, and 30 Live Voice Lesson minutes, once. No card.
- Pro
- $19 a month, or $190 a year, which works out at $15.83 a month. No limit on modules, Sources, quizzes or past papers, and 300 Live Voice Lesson minutes a month.
- Top-ups
- 60 Lesson minutes for $5, or 180 for $12. They never expire, and are used after your included minutes.
Try it on your own study material.
One module is free. No card required.
Sources
- Google, “NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook” (16 July 2026) · blog.google
- Google, Gemini subscriptions (US) · gemini.google
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Upgrade Gemini Notebook” · support.google.com
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Add or discover new sources for your notebook” · support.google.com
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Learn about Gemini Notebook” · support.google.com
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Generate Audio Overview in Gemini Notebook” · support.google.com
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Generate Flashcards or Quizzes in Gemini Notebook” · support.google.com
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Privacy and Terms of Use in Gemini Notebook” · support.google.com
- Gemini Notebook Help, “Get started with the Gemini Notebook mobile app” · support.google.com
- Google, “Sharpen your study routine with new Gemini Notebook tools” (15 September 2026) · blog.google
- Google, “Start the semester with one year of Gemini, on us” (19 August 2026) · blog.google