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Compared · as of

Graphite and Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM), compared.

Gemini Notebook starts from sources you add — PDFs, documents, web pages, videos — and answers questions about them, in your Google account. Graphite starts from what you write down: it files it into your folders and projects, finds what's missing and arranges a first draft from your own sentences when you ask, keeps everything as plain markdown files, works with the AI you choose, and asks you to teach back what you learned.

The facts

Gemini Notebook, from the pages that describe it.

Read on 9 October 2026. Each line links to the page that says it, and things change: check there before you rely on one.

  • Google gave it this name on 16 July 2026, and says “more than 30 million people and over 600,000 organizations are using it”.

    Google, 16 July 2026

  • Google calls it “the AI research tool and thinking partner that can analyze your sources, turn complexity into clarity and transform your content.”

    notebook.google

  • A source can be a PDF, a Google Doc, Slides or Sheets, a Word or Markdown file, a web page, a public YouTube video, an audio file and more: “up to 50 sources (for Free users)”, each “up to 500,000 words or up to 200MB”. A source is “a copy or auto-synced version” of what you add.

    Gemini Notebook Help

  • Its notebooks are also in the Gemini app, kept in sync with Gemini Notebook itself.

    Google, 16 July 2026

  • Since September 2024 it can turn your sources into an Audio Overview: two AI hosts discussing them, to listen to.

    Google, 11 September 2024

  • Study notebooks in the Gemini app, since 25 June 2026, start with “a custom diagnostic quiz”, then give short lessons, and have “a personalized, skill-based progress dashboard that tracks your learning in real time”.

    Google, 25 June 2026

  • It has had apps for Android and iOS since 19 May 2025.

    Google, 19 May 2025

Side by side

How they differ.

  • Where it starts

    Gemini Notebook
    Sources you add, and your questions about them.
    Graphite
    What you write down, and the questions you ask. It doesn't read a book or a paper you drop in yet.

  • Where your notes live

    Gemini Notebook
    In your Google account.
    Graphite
    As plain markdown files: in a folder on your Mac, or kept in your browser and exported as a .zip. Open them in any editor.

  • Organizing

    Gemini Notebook
    You choose which sources go in which notebook.
    Graphite
    With File my Inbox on, Graphite files the notes waiting in your Inbox into the project or folder each belongs to, and writes each act in the Logbook, with Undo.

  • Learning

    Gemini Notebook
    Study notebooks give a diagnostic quiz, short lessons and a dashboard of your progress.
    Graphite
    Explanations you keep, connections you make in your own words, and teaching it back to a student, marked against your own notes. No scores, no streaks, no dashboard.

  • Which AI

    Gemini Notebook
    Gemini.
    Graphite
    The AI you choose: your own key from any major provider, Google's Gemini among them, or your OpenRouter account.

  • Where it runs

    Gemini Notebook
    The web, the Gemini app, and apps for Android and iOS.
    Graphite
    A Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon), and a browser on a computer or phone. No native phone, Windows or Linux app yet.

Choosing

Which to use.

When Gemini Notebook is the better choice

  • You have a pile of sources — papers, PDFs, slides, videos — and want answers grounded in them. Graphite doesn't read a book or a paper you drop in yet.
  • You'd like to listen: an Audio Overview turns your sources into a conversation.
  • You want a diagnostic quiz, lessons, and a dashboard that tracks your progress.
  • You want a native phone app.
  • You'd rather not get an AI key: it works with your Google account.

When Graphite fits

  • Your notes are your own writing, and you want them filed for you and kept as files you own.
  • You want to choose the AI, and change it when you like.
  • You want to explain it back and see where your own notes don't support you, without a score.
  • You also want your receipts read, filed and added up.

To practice explaining something from your own notes, follow the Feynman technique with AI guide.