Comparison · General-purpose AI · Verified on October 27, 2026
Summry or NotebookLM?
NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook. The product has not changed: it is Google’s assistant that talks with your documents. Summry does something else: it turns a course into a study sheet, flashcards and quizzes. Here is what each one really does, and who it is for.
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Two tools, two approaches.
Gemini Notebook starts from your sources and answers questions. You import a PDF, an audio file, a YouTube video: you get a queryable corpus, with citations. It is a good tool to understand a course, a handout, a dissertation. But what it produces are study guides and reports: texts to read on screen, not laid-out study sheets.
Summry starts from the same material, your courses, but aims at memorisation. A photo of your handwritten notes, a PDF, lecture audio: in about twenty seconds, you have a study sheet, flashcards and quizzes. The chat answers only from your documents. Anki-compatible CSV export, PDF printing. Summry is our tool: we will also say what Google does better.
Summry is our tool. We compare it with its limits, and we also say what NotebookLM does better.
What NotebookLM does well.
What really works in NotebookLM, and when it helps.
Traceable answers
The chat answers from imported sources, with citations in the text. Google’s help promises grounded, cited answers: a safeguard, not a guarantee of accuracy.
A very wide import
PDF, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Word, PowerPoint, TXT, Markdown, CSV, EPUB, audio, images, URL, YouTube, Play Books. Drive syncs every two to three minutes; each source can go up to 500,000 words.
Outputs Summry does not have
Podcast-style audio summaries, in four formats, listenable offline. Video summaries, slide decks, infographics. Summry does not offer those formats.
A usable free version
100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, 500,000 words per source, 50 chat queries and 3 audio summaries a day. Enough to test a semester, not to produce at scale.
Native apps and the Google ecosystem
iOS and Android apps, more than 80 languages including French (Europe), public notebooks. Audio summaries in the background, Workspace for Education integration.
What Summry adds.
The differences that matter when the study load grows.
The study sheet, not just the summary
Gemini Notebook produces study guides and reports, made to be read on screen. Summry produces study sheets made to be reread and printed. Over a semester, that changes how you study.
A documented Anki loop
Summry exports flashcards as Anki-compatible CSV and prints study sheets to PDF. Gemini Notebook also downloads its flashcards as CSV, but its help mentions neither Anki nor the APKG format: compatibility is not documented.
A price without a Google subscription
Free with 50 credits a month. Then €7/month, or €5.83/month billed yearly (€70/year). Major: €15/month, or €10/month billed yearly (€120/year). No Google plan to take.
No Google account, no store
Summry is a PWA: you add it to your home screen from the browser. No store, no Google account. Gemini Notebook requires a Google account, sometimes to be enabled by the administrator of a school account.
Mind maps too
Summry generates mind maps on top of study sheets. Gemini Notebook’s are useful, but missing from the mobile app: Google’s help says so.
The study load, in medicine and beyond
In the PASS or the LAS, the problem is not understanding the course: it is the volume. A semester piles up handouts, notes taken in lectures and sometimes recordings. You have to understand once, make study sheets, then review several times before the exams.
Law poses the same problem differently: PDFs of codes, case law and courses that you reread without remembering them. In preparatory classes, it is oral tests and essays that force you to know definitions and mechanisms by heart. In both cases, the useful work is not rereading one more time: it is producing short study sheets, cards to review, then bringing them back.
Gemini Notebook is good on the first step: it turns a handout into an audio summary, a quiz or a mind map. But it does not output a laid-out study sheet, and its free quotas (50 chat queries, 3 audio summaries a day) limit production before exams. Summry takes over: photo of your notes, PDF of the handout, audio of the course, a study sheet in about twenty seconds, a CSV export for Anki. The method matters as much as the tool: our PASS guide details the schedule, the law one handles large PDFs. No tool replaces that work.
The head-to-head.
Nine criteria, the same for every tool. A “—” means “not verified”, not “no”.
| Criterion | Summry | NotebookLM |
|---|---|---|
| AI study sheets | Yes | — |
| AI quizzes | Yes | YesGemini Notebook sets the difficulty and tracks progress. Summry generates quizzes from the imported course. |
| Mind maps | Yes | YesAt Gemini Notebook, the mind map exists on the web only, not in the mobile app. |
| Multi-format import | Yes | YesSummry: PDF, photos, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, audio, YouTube, text. Gemini Notebook: EPUB, images, URL and Play Books too, up to 500,000 words per source; Excel does not appear in its list of formats. |
| AI chat on your course | Yes | YesSummry answers only from your documents. Gemini Notebook cites its sources in the text. |
| Anki export | Yes | — |
| PDF export / printing | Yes | — |
| 100% in French | Yes | YesGemini Notebook covers more than 80 languages, including French (Europe); part of its help is machine-translated. |
| Based on neuroscience | Yes | — |
When to choose which?
Two different uses. See which one looks like yours.
Choose NotebookLM
Choose Gemini Notebook if you already have a corpus to understand: a semester of law, a dissertation, articles. You want to ask questions, get cited answers and listen to a summary while walking.
Choose Summry
Choose Summry if your problem is repetition: medicine, PASS, LAS, preparatory classes, law. Your courses are long, sometimes handwritten, and you want printable study sheets and flashcards that go into Anki.
Pricing.
Prices listed on the official sites, with no sponsored offer.
Summry
- Free (50 credits/month)
- Essentiel €7/month (€5.83/month billed yearly, €70/year)
- Major €15/month (€10/month billed yearly, €120/year)
NotebookLM
- Free (standard quotas)
- Google AI Plus €9.99/month (€99.99/year, i.e. €8.33/month)
- Pro €21.99/month
- Ultra from €99.99/month
Summry is free with 50 credits a month; the number of courses depends on their size. Then: Essentiel €7/month, or €5.83/month billed yearly (€70/year); Major €15/month, or €10/month billed yearly (€120/year).
Gemini Notebook is free in its standard version. For extended quotas: Google AI Plus at €9.99/month, or €99.99/year, i.e. €8.33/month; Pro at €21.99/month; Ultra from €99.99/month. Summry’s Essentiel stays below that price, but Gemini Notebook’s free version is often enough: the Google plan lifts quotas, it does not unlock the tool.
Two official Google pages gave, on October 27, 2026, two prices for AI Plus: €9.99/month for 2 TB on Google One, €4.99/month for 400 GB on the Gemini Subscriptions page. We keep the first, which mentions Gemini Notebook. The gap is unresolved.
Reviews.
Our Trustpilot rating and NotebookLM’s ratings, with their sources.
Summry
Read Trustpilot reviews
Rating checked on October 27, 2026.
NotebookLM
4.8/5 on Google Play (about 347,000 reviews) and 4.8/5 on the French App Store (7,312 ratings). Those ratings are about the mobile app, not the study sheets produced on the web.
Frequently asked questions.
Answers to the most common questions about NotebookLM and Summry.
Are NotebookLM and Gemini Notebook the same tool?
Yes. Since July 2026, NotebookLM is called Gemini Notebook, and notebooklm.google.com redirects to notebook.google.com. Existing notebooks remain accessible: older comparisons talk about the same product.
Summry or Gemini Notebook: which one should you choose to study?
Both, often. Gemini Notebook to understand a corpus and listen to a summary; Summry for printable study sheets, flashcards exportable to Anki and quizzes. If the goal is to remember a long course, Summry is more wired for revision.
Is Gemini Notebook free?
Yes, with quotas: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, 500,000 words per source, 50 chat queries and 3 audio summaries a day. Those limits refresh every five hours, up to a weekly cap. Google AI plans lift them.
Does Gemini Notebook export to Anki?
Not in a documented way. The official help describes downloading flashcards as CSV, with no mention of Anki or the APKG format. Summry offers Anki-compatible CSV.
Is Gemini Notebook suitable for medicine, the PASS and law?
Partly. It turns a handout or a legal PDF into an audio summary, a quiz or a mind map. It does not replace a flow of structured study sheets or spaced repetition, and daily quotas slow production before exams.
Sources.
Information collected from the official sites of NotebookLM and from review platforms on October 27, 2026.
Compare further.
2 more tools for the same use case.
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