Comparison · NotebookLM for studying
NotebookLM, renamed Gemini Notebook by Google in July 2026, is an excellent tool for understanding a body of material. Mindlet is built to make it stick over time. They complement each other more than they compete.
Mindlet NotebookLM At a glance
Checked on Gemini Notebook's help pages and Google AI's subscription page, 22 October 2026.
| Criterion | Mindlet | NotebookLM |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, no time limit: 3 collections, 100 cards. Reviewing is always free. | Yes, with a Google account: up to 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook. |
| Paid price (monthly) | From €5.99 a month on the web (€4.99 a month billed yearly). A bit more through the app stores. | Higher limits through Google AI plans: AI Plus €4.99 a month, AI Pro €21.99 a month (prices in France). |
| AI-generated cards | Yes, from your own material, in a dozen formats (flashcard, multiple choice, fill in the blank, open question…). | Yes: flashcards and quizzes from your sources, with a difficulty level. Flashcards export to CSV. |
| What you can import | PDF (even scanned), Word, PowerPoint, Excel, ePub, images, audio, video, YouTube, websites, text, Anki decks. | PDF, Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Word, PowerPoint, images, audio, web pages, public YouTube videos, ePub, text. |
| Review scheduling | FSRS-6 spaced repetition, adjusted weekly to how you forget. | No mention of spaced repetition in its help pages. Progress saved, missed cards can be replayed. |
| Platforms | Web, iPhone, Android. | Web, iPhone, iPad, Android. |
| Interface language | French only. Content generated in 9 languages, English included. | 80+ languages supported, English included. |
| What it does best | Making it stick: varied cards, scheduling, practice exams. | Making sense of sources: cited answers, audio and video overviews, reports, learning guide. |
| AI models | Mainly Mistral AI (France). | Gemini (Google). |
| Your content and AI training | Mindlet does not use your content to train models (terms of use). | Personal accounts: data not used for training unless you send feedback. Workspace accounts: not used for training. |
NotebookLM facts checked on October 22, 2026 on the publisher's own pages (listed in the sources). Offers change: tell us if something is out of date.
Its strengths
You give it a body of material (a textbook PDF, articles, a YouTube video, your notes) and it answers your questions, citing the passages. It produces written summaries, audio overviews, explainer videos, and a learning guide that asks open questions. For getting to grips with a topic or preparing a dissertation, it's a remarkable tool, and free with a Google account.
Mindlet also creates materials from your courses (study guide, mind map, two-voice podcast, slideshow, video), and its assistant answers from your documents. But that's not where it stands out.
The limits
Since September 2025, NotebookLM creates flashcards and quizzes from your sources, with a difficulty level and an optional prompt. You mark each card as got it or missed, it remembers your progress, and you can replay the cards you missed. Flashcards export to CSV.
What we found nowhere in its help pages: review scheduling. NotebookLM doesn't tell you when to see a card again, or bring it back in three days, then in ten. That's exactly Mindlet's job.
Memory
We forget quickly what we've just understood, and each review placed at the right time slows that forgetting. That's spaced repetition, one of the best-supported learning methods (meta-analysis by Cepeda et al., 2006, Psychological Bulletin).
Mindlet works out that moment for each card with FSRS-6 and adjusts its settings every week to how you forget. Each day it shows you the cards that are due, in a dozen formats, and the practice exam tells you, topic by topic, what still needs work. More on spaced repetition.
Data
Google says data from personal accounts isn't used to train Gemini Notebook unless you send feedback, in which case that exchange may be reviewed. For Workspace accounts, data isn't used to train models and isn't reviewed by humans.
Mindlet runs mainly on models from Mistral AI, a French company, and commits in its terms not to use your content to train models. Every provider, its role and its country are listed in our legal notice. See how we use AI.
Which one for you?
Using both
Many people will be better off keeping both, one after the other.
Understand with NotebookLM
Ask your questions about the chapter, listen to the audio overview, spot what matters.
Drop the same sources into Mindlet
The PDF, the YouTube link or the website: Mindlet turns them into cards in several formats.
Or import your flashcards
NotebookLM flashcards export to CSV; Mindlet's « Importer un paquet Anki » accepts CSV files and lets you pick the columns.
Review at the right time
Mindlet then schedules every card with FSRS-6, up to exam day.
FAQ
Yes. Since September 2025, NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) creates flashcards and quizzes from your sources, with a difficulty level. You mark cards as got it or missed and can replay the missed ones; flashcards export to CSV. Its help pages don't mention spaced repetition scheduling.
Yes, with a Google account: the free plan allows up to 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook. Google AI plans raise those limits: AI Plus at €4.99 a month and AI Pro at €21.99 a month in France, as of 22 October 2026.
For understanding a course, yes: it answers questions citing your sources and produces summaries and quizzes. For remembering over several weeks, it lacks review scheduling, according to its help pages. A spaced repetition app like Mindlet takes over for that part.
For exploring sources, ChatGPT with projects comes close. For memorising, Mindlet turns the same sources into cards and schedules reviews with FSRS-6, though its interface is in French; Anki does the same with hand-written cards. See Mindlet vs ChatGPT.
We found no mention of it in Gemini Notebook's help pages as of 22 October 2026. Flashcards keep your progress and let you replay missed cards, but the tool doesn't schedule reviews over time. Mindlet schedules every card with FSRS-6.
Google announced on 16 July 2026 that it was renaming NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook. It remains a standalone product, with its own iPhone and Android apps.
Checked on October 22, 2026, on the publishers' own pages and app store listings. Mindlet publishes this page and is one of the products compared: weigh it accordingly. Facts about Mindlet come from the product itself. Spotted an error? Write to support@mindlet.app.
Drop a PDF, a link or a lecture recording. Mindlet does the preparation, you do the learning.
Free to start, no credit card · Web, iPhone, iPad and Android
