AI Research & Search Published 2026-10-27

Gemini Notebook (Formerly NotebookLM) Pricing and Limits (2026): Free vs Plus, Pro and Ultra

How we checked: plan prices come from Google's official Google AI plans page (US prices, before tax), and every limit comes from the Gemini Notebook Help Center and Google's own blog announcements, all checked on October 27, 2026. Sources are listed at the end. We have no affiliate relationship with Google. Google labels its limits "subject to change", so confirm in the app (Settings, then Usage) before you upgrade for one specific feature.

The short answer

  • NotebookLM and Gemini Notebook are the same product. Google renamed it on July 16, 2026. Old links redirect, and the free version still exists.
  • Free is enough for most students and casual researchers: 100 notebooks, up to 50 sources each, and every output type (Audio and Video Overviews, reports, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps, slide decks) at standard limits.
  • There's no standalone Gemini Notebook subscription. Higher limits come bundled with a Google AI plan: Plus at $4.99/mo (2x standard limits), Pro at $19.99/mo (4x), or Ultra at $99.99 or $199.99/mo (5x or 20x the Pro limit). Work and school accounts get their limits from their Workspace edition instead.
  • Upgrade to Pro if you hit the 50-source cap, make Audio or Video Overviews every day, or need more than 10 Deep Research runs a month. Pro is also the cheapest plan that lets you turn off the visible watermark on generated images and videos (outside India, South Korea and Vietnam).
  • Plus is the budget middle step, doubling the free allowances. It's worth it mainly if you also want the 400 GB of storage and other Google AI Plus perks it comes with.

What changed in 2026

Two changes matter if you last looked at NotebookLM's pricing in 2025.

1. The new name (July 16, 2026). Google says Gemini Notebook "remains a standalone product" focused on research, but now works across Google's ecosystem. You can create notebooks inside the Gemini app, and they sync both ways with the standalone app. Google also said notebooks are coming to AI Mode in Search. In the same announcement, Google started giving each notebook a secure cloud computer that writes and runs code to analyze your data. It launched for Google AI Ultra and for Workspace customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access, with a rollout to Pro users on the web promised "over the coming weeks".

2. Compute-based usage limits (rolling out from September 2, 2026). For personal accounts, Google moved from simple daily quotas to a single usage budget that:

  • counts how heavy each request is, factoring in prompt complexity, chat length, the number of sources, and which feature you use. A long chat over 200 sources costs more than a quick question over three.
  • refreshes every five hours, up to a weekly limit, instead of once a day.
  • shows your remaining usage under Settings, then Usage, and in messages at the bottom of the chat (for example, "Limit reached. All features are available after 3:00 PM").
  • lets you pick Generate later (web only) when you're out of usage. Gemini Notebook queues the output, such as a Video Overview or slide deck, and notifies you when it's ready, which "may take a couple hours".

Google describes paid allowances only as multiples: Plus is 2x the standard limit, Pro 4x, and Ultra 5x or 20x the Pro limit, depending on the Ultra tier. It doesn't publish the size of the 5-hour or weekly budget itself.

Plans and prices

US prices from Google's AI plans page, October 27, 2026. Prices may differ in other countries.

Standard (free) Google AI Plus Google AI Pro Google AI Ultra (5x) Google AI Ultra (20x)
Price $0 $4.99/mo $19.99/mo $99.99/mo $199.99/mo
Usage limit Standard 2x standard 4x standard 5x Pro 20x Pro
Notebooks 100 200 500 500 500
Sources per notebook 50 100 300 500 600
Visible watermark removal No No Yes* Yes* Yes*
Feature access Standard Early Priority Priority Priority
Cloud storage included 15 GB (Google account) 400 GB 5 TB 20 TB 30 TB

*A visible watermark is applied automatically if you live in India, South Korea, or Vietnam. All images and videos made with Veo, Omni, or Nano Banana also carry an invisible SynthID watermark.

Google's Help Center calls the two Ultra tiers the "20 TB plan" and "30 TB plan". On the Google AI plans page, they're the $99.99 "Ultra 5x" and $199.99 "Ultra 20x" plans.

Every plan, including free, gets custom chat (setting how the notebook responds) and notebook analytics. Advanced sharing is for paid users only.

Feature limits, plan by plan

Google's upgrade page still publishes a per-feature table alongside the newer compute-based system. It notes that plans "on daily quotas" reset after 24 hours and monthly quotas after 30 days. Treat these numbers as the ceilings Google publishes for each plan.

Per user Free Plus Pro Ultra (5x) Ultra (20x)
Chats 50/day 200/day 500/day 2,500/day 5,000/day
Audio Overviews 3/day 6/day 20/day 100/day 200/day
Video Overviews 3/day 6/day 20/day 100/day 200/day
Cinematic Video Overviews — — 2/day 10/day 20/day
Reports, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps (each) 10/day 20/day 100/day 500/day 1,000/day
Deep Research 10/month 3/day 20/day 75/day 200/day
Data tables, infographics, slide decks Limited More High Higher Highest

A few details that are easy to miss:

  • Deep Research is the biggest jump from free to paid. Free gets 10 runs a month, while even Plus gets 3 a day.
  • Cinematic Video Overviews start at Pro. The free and Plus columns list none.
  • Outputs Google makes automatically don't count. When you first add sources, some users get an auto-generated report, flashcards, infographic, slide deck, or Audio or Video Overview. Google says these are generated once and don't count toward your limits.
  • Sharing doesn't pool limits. Sharing a notebook doesn't change any collaborator's source limit or allowances.
  • Per-source size limit: each source can be up to 500,000 words, or 200 MB for an uploaded file, with no page limit. Copy-protected PDFs can't be imported.

Work and school accounts

For Google Workspace and Workspace for Education, Gemini Notebook is a core service like Gmail and Docs. Your limits depend on your organization's edition, not on a personal Google AI plan. Only personal Google accounts can buy Google AI plans.

Access level Workspace editions (per Google's Help Center) Sources per notebook Audio Overviews
Standard (additional service) Business Base, Essentials Starter, Workspace Individual, G Suite, Cloud Identity, Chrome Enterprise, Android Enterprise 50 3/day
Standard, with enterprise data protection Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials and Essentials Plus, Frontline Starter/Standard/Plus, Nonprofits, Education Fundamentals and Standard 50 3/day
More Education Plus, Teaching and Learning add-on 100 6/day
Higher Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Google AI Pro for Education 300 20/day
Expanded AI Expanded Access add-on 400 40/day
Highest AI Ultra Access add-on 600 200/day

On every edition above the first row, Google says your files, chats and outputs aren't reviewed by humans or used to train AI models. For personal accounts, Google says your data isn't used to train Gemini Notebook unless you send feedback. If you do, it may review the whole interaction, including your uploads. Larger organizations can also get Gemini Notebook for Enterprise through Google Cloud. Google lists 5x or more output limits there, plus VPC-SC and IAM controls, and says data stays in your Cloud project.

Which plan should you pick?

  • Stay on free if you study or research in bursts. 50 sources per notebook covers a course's lecture notes or a stack of papers, and 3 Audio Overviews a day is plenty for occasional listening.
  • Plus ($4.99/mo) suits regular students who keep running into the free caps: 100 sources per notebook, twice the usage, and 3 Deep Research runs a day instead of 10 a month.
  • Pro ($19.99/mo) suits researchers, writers, and analysts who work in big notebooks (300 sources) and generate outputs daily. It also adds Cinematic Video Overviews and the watermark toggle, plus the rest of Google AI Pro (5 TB storage, Gemini Pro models, Google Flow credits). If you already pay for Pro, you already have this.
  • Ultra ($99.99+/mo) only makes sense for Gemini Notebook if you produce Audio or Video Overviews at scale, or if you're buying Ultra for other Google tools anyway. Ultra users were also first to get the code-running cloud computer.
  • On a work account? Check the badge next to your profile picture in Gemini Notebook (Pro, Plus, Expanded or Ultra). If there's no badge, your admin controls any upgrade.

Gemini Notebook vs a general AI assistant

Gemini Notebook answers from the sources you add, with citations, and Google says it won't answer if the information isn't in your sources. That's the point: it's built for studying and synthesizing your material, not for open web search. If you mainly want cited answers from the live web, an answer engine like Perplexity fits better. If you want a general-purpose assistant, see our ChatGPT vs Claude vs Perplexity pricing comparison. Many people use both: a web research tool to find sources, and Gemini Notebook to work through them.

FAQ

Is NotebookLM still free? Yes. NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook, and the free Standard tier is still available to anyone with a personal Google account who meets the age requirement in a supported country. It includes 100 notebooks with up to 50 sources each.

How much does NotebookLM Plus or Pro cost? There's no separate subscription. Higher limits come with Google AI plans: Plus is $4.99/mo, Pro $19.99/mo, and Ultra $99.99 or $199.99/mo (US prices).

When do Gemini Notebook limits reset? For personal accounts on the new compute-based system, usage refreshes every five hours until you reach a weekly limit. Google's plan page notes that daily quotas reset after 24 hours and monthly quotas (like free Deep Research) after 30 days.

How many Audio Overviews can I make for free? Google's published table lists 3 a day on the free plan, 6 on Plus, and 20 on Pro. Under the compute-based limits, longer or more complex generations use more of your budget.

What happens when I run out? On the web, you can choose Generate later, and the output is created automatically once you have usage again. You can also wait for the 5-hour refresh or upgrade your Google AI plan.

Sources

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