Criterion Elicit Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
CategoryAI Research ToolsAI Research Tools
In one sentenceAn AI research assistant that searches academic papers, extracts data into tables and produces research reports and systematic reviews.Google's source-grounded research notebook, renamed from NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026.
Problem it solvesLiterature reviews require finding, screening and extracting data from many papers, which takes weeks by hand.Making sense of many long documents is slow, and general chatbots may answer from outside your material.
Free planYesYes
Developer APIYes — docsNo
Open sourceNoNo
PlatformsWeb, API, MCPWeb, iOS, Android, Gemini app
Pricing (summary)Basic is free with unlimited search, summaries and paper chat. Pro is $49 per user per month on annual billing ($588/year) and Scale $169 per month on annual billing ($2,028/year). Enterprise is custom.
Checked 2026-10-19		Free with a Google account (100 notebooks, 50 sources each). Higher limits come with Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra subscriptions; Google's plan page did not display prices in the fetched version, so check Google One for current amounts.
Checked 2026-10-19
Strengths
  • Built specifically for academic literature
  • Structured extraction
  • API and MCP integration
  • Strong grounding in user-provided sources
  • Free tier is usable for real projects
  • Integrated with Google's Gemini ecosystem
Limitations
  • Basic plan limits agents and reports
  • Paid plans are relatively expensive for individuals
  • Quality depends on paper coverage and abstracts
  • Free tier capped at 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook
  • Code execution limited to higher paid tiers at launch
  • Name change may cause confusion with notebooks inside the Gemini app