Why people look past it
It's worth saying first: many people shouldn't switch. Gemini Notebook answers only from your sources, with citations that jump to the passage, and won't guess beyond them.2 Its free tier holds 100 notebooks of 50 sources each.3 Its Audio Overviews speak more than 80 languages.4 And eligible US college students can get Google AI Pro free for a year if they redeem the offer by December 31, 2026.5 For research, essays and courses built on reading, that's hard to beat.
The reasons to look elsewhere are specific, and most of them concern what happens after you understand the material.
You need to remember it on a date. Its flashcards track got-it and missed-it, but its docs describe no spaced-repetition schedule and no timed exam mode.6
You need to capture lectures. A recorder for the phone app was announced in September 2026; until it reaches you, a lecture means recording somewhere else and uploading the audio.7
You study mostly on your phone. The mobile apps take five source types and leave out notes, mind maps and reports.8
You want limits you can plan around. Usage is compute-based, refilling every five hours up to a weekly cap, and Google doesn't publish the numbers.9
You want answers past your sources. It won't answer beyond what you've added, which is the right design until you need a general explanation of something your readings assume.
We compared the alternatives below using each product's own pricing and help pages, read in October 2026. Skolight is ours, so it comes first, and its caveats are as specific as everyone else's.
All six at a glance
| Feature | Gemini Notebook | Skolight | Gemini | ChatGPT | Turbo AI | Quizgecko |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Makes study aids from your files | Gemini Notebook Yes. PDF, Word, slides, Google Docs and Sheets, images, audio, web pages and YouTube links.10 | Skolight Yes. PDFs (scanned too), Word, PowerPoint, text and LaTeX files, captioned YouTube videos, web pages, audio and live lectures.11 | Gemini Yes. Study notebooks turn your uploaded syllabus and notes into lessons and practice quizzes.12 | ChatGPT Yes. Flashcards and quizzes from uploaded documents, spreadsheets and images, up to 512 MB a file.13 | Turbo AI Yes. Lecture recordings, audio files, PDFs, Word files, slides, YouTube videos and websites.14 | Quizgecko Yes. PDFs, slides, photos, recordings, public YouTube videos, web pages, text and topics.15 |
| Answers cite your sources | Gemini Notebook Yes. Inline citations jump to the quoted passage; it won't answer beyond your sources.2 | Skolight Yes. Numbered citations that open the passage they came from. No web search.16 | Gemini No. Answers aren't limited to your files; source-only, cited answers are Gemini Notebook's job.17 | ChatGPT No. Citing your files isn't in its docs; answers can go beyond them, so check against your notes.18 | Turbo AI Partly. Answers draw on your uploads; passage-level citations aren't documented.19 | Quizgecko No. No source citations in tutor answers in its docs.20 |
| Audio / podcasts | Gemini Notebook Yes. Audio Overviews in four formats and 80+ languages; join in by voice in English.4 | Skolight Yes. Two-host podcasts on Pro and Max; talk to the hosts by voice on Max.21 | Gemini Yes. Podcast-style Audio Overviews of your files and reports, to play or download; 18+ only.22 | ChatGPT No. Voice chat, but no podcast-style audio made from your files in its docs.23 | Turbo AI Yes. Podcasts generated from your notes.14 | Quizgecko Yes. Two-voice AI podcasts in a choice of length and style; 30 a month on Premium, 50 on Ultra.24 |
| Flashcards | Gemini Notebook Yes. Made from your sources; pick the count, difficulty and focus, and export to CSV.6 | Skolight Yes. Decks written from your material, graded Again, Hard, Good or Easy.25 | Gemini Yes. Flashcards on any topic you ask for, with hints, shuffle and text-to-speech.26 | ChatGPT Yes. In-chat decks you flip and mark known or missed, saved to your Library.18 | Turbo AI Yes. Generated from your notes; you choose how many.27 | Quizgecko Yes. Generated with each course; editable, with hints, memory tips and images.28 |
| Spaced repetition | Gemini Notebook No. You mark cards Got it or Missed it; no spaced-repetition scheduling in its docs.6 | Skolight Yes. SM-2-style scheduling. Review what's due, the whole deck, or only your misses.25 | Gemini No. Hint, shuffle and restart only; no spaced-repetition scheduling in its docs.26 | ChatGPT No. Known or missed marking and scheduled practice; no spaced-repetition scheduling in its docs.18 | Turbo AI No. You sort cards into New, Learning and Mastered yourself; no review scheduling in its docs.29 | Quizgecko Yes. SM-2-based scheduling, adjusted by your confidence ratings.30 |
| Timed mock exams | Gemini Notebook No. No timed mock exam in its docs.6 | Skolight Yes. A server-kept clock that survives reloads, autosave, flagging and a written analysis.31 | Gemini Partly. Timed SAT, JEE Main and NEET UG practice tests, but not built from your own material.26 | ChatGPT No. No timed mock exam in its docs.32 | Turbo AI No. No timed mock exam in its docs.14 | Quizgecko Yes. A timed exam mode for practice under time pressure; timer settings aren't documented.33 |
| Records lectures | Gemini Notebook Partly. Phone-app lecture recorder announced September 2026; audio files can be uploaded.7 | Skolight Yes. Records in the browser with a live English transcript, up to 90 minutes a session.34 | Gemini No. No lecture recorder in its docs; audio uploads cap at 10 minutes free, 3 hours on Pro.17 | ChatGPT Partly. Record mode transcribes up to 4 hours, only in the Mac desktop app on paid plans.35 | Turbo AI Yes. Records in the app. No published length cap or monthly minutes.14 | Quizgecko Yes. Record a lecture or spoken notes in the app as a course source.15 |
The alternatives
Skolight
Best for turning readings into exam prep
Skolight starts where Gemini Notebook does - your PDFs, slides, readings, recordings and captioned YouTube videos, gathered in one space per course - and spends its effort on the run-in to the exam. Skolar answers from those sources with numbered citations. The same material becomes flashcards on a spaced schedule, quizzes, and timed mock exams that end with an analysis of your weak points.
The pieces Gemini Notebook leaves to you are built in: a study plan that counts back from your exam date, a lecture recorder in the browser with a live transcript, and groups for studying with classmates. Its podcasts use the same deep dive, brief, critique and debate formats, and on Max you can interrupt the hosts by voice or by typing.
Why pick it
- Spaced-repetition review and timed mock exams, both built from your own sources.
- A browser lecture recorder with a live transcript, up to 90 minutes a session.
- Study plans that work back from your exam dates, with a calendar view from Starter.
Before you do
- The Free plan is far smaller than Gemini Notebook's free tier, with tight caps on file size and storage.
- Podcasts start on Pro, while Gemini Notebook's Audio Overviews are free.
- Live transcripts are English-only, and there's no native phone app or offline mode.
Gemini
Best for Google's tutor, not just its notebook
Gemini, Google's assistant app, is the other half of the same ecosystem, and its notebooks now sync both ways with Gemini Notebook.37 Where the notebook keeps to your sources, the Gemini app's Guided Learning tutors more broadly: it builds a study path, asks questions, checks your understanding and recaps.38
Its study notebooks turn an uploaded syllabus and notes into lessons and practice quizzes, and can add exam and due dates from the syllabus to Google Calendar - the nearest thing to a planner on Google's side.1239 It also offers full-length, timed SAT, JEE Main and NEET UG practice tests, though those aren't built from your own material.26
Why pick it
ChatGPT
Best for explanations beyond your sources
If what you miss in Gemini Notebook is an answer that goes past your readings, ChatGPT is the natural move. Its Study mode, free on every plan, tutors by asking questions and giving hints.32 It can make flashcards and quizzes from files you upload, at up to 512 MB a file.1318
What you give up is the grounding. Its answers can go beyond your files, and OpenAI suggests checking its flashcards against your notes.18 Our Skolight vs ChatGPT page goes further into using it well for studying.
Why pick it
Turbo AI
Best for recording lectures on your phone
Turbo AI covers the gap Gemini Notebook's recorder hasn't closed yet: it records lectures in its iPhone, iPad and Android apps and turns them, along with PDFs, slides and YouTube videos, into formatted notes, flashcards, quizzes and podcasts.1419 Its chat answers using the materials you've uploaded.19
It's a note-taker first. Its docs describe no review scheduling - you sort cards into New, Learning and Mastered by hand - and no timed exam mode.29 There's no pricing page; its blog puts the paid plan at $20 a month, or $120 a year.43
Why pick it
Quizgecko
Best for teachers who export quizzes
Quizgecko turns PDFs, slides, recordings, public YouTube videos and web pages into courses that bundle quizzes, flashcards, notes, mind maps and two-voice podcasts.1524 Its quizzes span six question types, from matching to short answer, and its flashcards use SM-2-based spaced repetition.4530
Its standout for teachers is export: quizzes can go to learning management systems in formats such as QTI and Aiken, and flashcards to Anki.4647 Its site blocked our reader, so these facts come from search-engine copies of its official pages; check its current plans in a browser before paying.
Why pick it
What they cost
Gemini Notebook3
Free: 100 notebooks of up to 50 sources each, at standard usage limits that refill every 5 hours up to a weekly cap.
Google AI Plus49
$4.99 a month
200 notebooks of up to 100 sources, and twice the free usage.
Google AI Pro49
$19.99 a month
500 notebooks of up to 300 sources, four times the free usage, and watermark removal.
No standalone price: it comes with Google AI plans, shown at US prices; Google AI Ultra starts at $99.99 a month. Limits are compute-based and not published as numbers. Paid plans keep a visible watermark in India, South Korea and Vietnam. Eligible US college students 18+ can get AI Pro free for a year, and students in 140+ other markets AI Plus, if they redeem by December 31, 2026; it then renews at the normal price. A core service in Google Workspace for Education.
Skolight36
Free: 1,500 AI words, 1 generation a day and 3 flashcard sets a day, 1 space and 30 minutes of lecture transcription a month. No card needed.
Starter
$7.99 a month or $59 a year · $4.92/mo yearly
15 generations a day, 10 flashcard sets a day, 3 hours of transcription a month
Pro
$12.99 a month or $89 a year · $7.42/mo yearly
25 generations a day, 50 flashcard sets a day, 8 hours of transcription a month, 1 hour of podcasts
Max
$24.99 a month or $179 a year · $14.92/mo yearly
unlimited generations, unlimited flashcard sets, 20 hours of transcription a month, 3 hours of podcasts
Yearly billing saves at least 38%. One-time top-up packs of AI words never expire.
ChatGPT23
Free: Study mode and unlimited text chat on a lighter model, with ads and limits on uploads, images and voice.
Go50
$8 a month
More uploads and image generation than Free and longer memory, still with ads.
Plus51
$20 a month
No ads, the larger GPT-6 Sol model and higher limits.
OpenAI's pricing page couldn't be read when we checked, so these US prices come from dated press reports. Free and Go show ads; Plus and up don't. Go is sold in every country ChatGPT supports, billed in local currency in some. Pro plans run from $100 to $500 a month. Free accounts are used for model training unless you opt out.
Turbo AI14
Free: Notes, flashcards and quizzes, with limits Turbo AI doesn't publish.
Unlimited43
$20 a month or $120 a year · $10/mo yearly
Unlimited use of every feature.
There's no pricing page; this is the price Turbo AI's blog gives. In-app prices vary, and in 2025 TechCrunch reported the founders were testing different price points.
Quizgecko48
Free: 1 AI lesson a month, with its quiz, flashcards, notes and podcast. No card needed.
Premium
$16 a month
Unlimited AI lessons, 30 podcasts a month, offline mode and no ads.
Ultra
$29 a month
50 podcasts a month, custom prompts and LMS export.
Organization
Price not published
Team management, invoice billing and document security controls.
Monthly prices only: Quizgecko's own pages list different yearly prices for Premium ($72, $64 and $108). Its plans page puts Ultra at $276 a year. The 3-day free trial needs a payment method.
If cost decides it, Google and OpenAI win: both have usable free tiers, and Google AI Plus is $4.99 a month. Turbo AI is $120 a year on its yearly plan. Skolight's Starter plan is $59 a year, and Quizgecko's Premium is $16 a month. Pay for the tool whose missing piece is the one you actually need.