NotebookLM
ActiveGoogle · founded 2023
Ground AI answers in your own documents, free.
NotebookLM lets you upload documents, URLs, and notes, then ask questions grounded only in those sources (with citations). It is free and excellent for reading and synthesizing large document sets, though it is not a general web-research tool.
At a glance
- Category
- AI Research Tools
- Primary use case
- Source-grounded document Q&A
- Entry price
- Free
- Free plan
- Free (Google account)
- API
- No
- Open source
- No
- Evidence level
- Research / specifications only
- Last checked
- 20 Aug 2026
Pricing
Last checked 20 Aug 2026
| Free plan | Free (Google account) |
|---|---|
| Trial | None |
| Usage limits | Source limits per notebook |
Free; part of Google ecosystem.
What it does
Secondary use cases
- Study guides
- Summarization
- Audio overviews
Input types
Document, URL, Text
Output types
Text, Audio
Models used
Gemini
Platforms
✓ Web — Windows — macOS — Linux — iOS — Android — Browser extension — API — CLI — VS Code — Self-hosted
Integrations
Google DriveGoogle Docs
Privacy & commercial rights
Data retention
Per Google policy
Trains on your data
No (per stated policy)
Enterprise privacy
Not disclosed
Self-hosting / local
Not available
SSO
Not disclosed
Compliance
Not disclosed
Commercial use
Permitted — Commercial use permitted
Pros & cons
Pros
- Free
- Grounds answers in your sources
- Citations
- Audio overviews
Cons / trade-offs
- Not for open-web research
- Source limits
Alternatives to NotebookLM
Considering a switch, or comparing before you buy? See the full alternatives guide.