NotebookLM or ChatGPT? A Full Feature Comparison

NotebookLM vs ChatGPT is a choice many researchers face when picking an AI tool. Both handle research tasks well, but they approach the work differently. NotebookLM focuses on files you upload and gives you precise answers from those documents. ChatGPT works better when you need broad searches across many topics or want help building out ideas. Both offer free versions and paid plans with more features.

This article breaks down what each tool does, where they come up short, and introduces a third option that fixes the gaps both tools leave open.

What Is NotebookLM?

Google built NotebookLM as a research tool that works only with your uploaded files. It runs on Google's Gemini AI model in the background. You can drop in PDFs, Google Docs, web links, or YouTube videos, and the tool turns them into a searchable knowledge base.

When you ask a question, NotebookLM pulls answers directly from your documents and adds citations that point back to the exact passages. Its biggest strength is accuracy. It sticks close to what you gave it and avoids making things up.

• Free plan allows up to 100 notebooks, with 50 sources per notebook and 50 chat queries per day.
• Plus plan ($19.99/mo via Google One AI Premium) raises the source limit to 300 per notebook. Students can get it for $9.99/mo.
• Ultra plan ($249.99/mo) pushes the source cap to 600 and allows up to 1,000 reports, flashcards, and quizzes per day.
• Audio Overviews turn your uploaded sources into podcast-style audio in 50+ languages.

What Is ChatGPT?

OpenAI made ChatGPT, and it has become one of the most widely used AI tools around. It pulls from a huge amount of training data and can search the web in real time. You can upload files too, but ChatGPT also goes beyond them by tapping into its broader knowledge. Its strength lies in creative thinking, idea generation, and research that spans many topics. The tool runs on GPT-5.2, which comes in different versions depending on which plan you pick.

• Free tier gives roughly 10 messages every 5 hours before dropping to a lighter model.
• Go plan ($8/mo) adds more messages and file uploads but still shows ads. Plus plan ($20/mo) removes ads and adds GPT-5.2 Thinking mode.
• Deep Research feature can browse 50+ web sources in one go and put together a full summary with citations.
• Pro plan ($200/mo) gives unlimited access to the most powerful GPT-5.2 model and up to 250 Deep Research runs per month.

How NotebookLM Works (The Basics)

The workflow is straightforward. You create a notebook and upload your documents into it. Each notebook acts like its own private knowledge base. Once your files are in, you can ask it anything about those files.

NotebookLM pulls answers directly from what you uploaded and adds citations so you can check the source. It also creates different types of outputs like summaries, timelines, and audio overviews from your materials. Each notebook stays separate from others, so your topics stay clean and organized.

• Each source file can be up to 200MB or 500,000 words.
• Deep Research and Fast Research modes (added in late 2025) can pull in 5-10 extra web sources per query to fill gaps. Deep Research takes 3-5 minutes and synthesizes 15-25 sources. Fast Research finishes in 30-45 seconds with 10-15 sources.
• Notebooks cannot be duplicated, and deleted notes cannot be recovered.
• Studio Panel can generate multiple outputs at once (like a mind map, quiz, and timeline) from a single prompt.

How ChatGPT Works (The Basics)

ChatGPT works through a chat-based setup. You type a message and it responds. You can upload files and ask it to work with them, or you can let it search the web on its own. Projects let you keep a running context across multiple chats, so it remembers what you have worked on before.

It creates a wide range of outputs (from written drafts to mind maps to code). Citations exist but are not as tight as other tools. It blends uploaded files with its own training data, which can speed things up but also mix information.

• Projects can hold over 1 million tokens of context across multiple sessions.
• Deep Research takes up to an hour to run but reads 50+ sources and delivers a full written summary.
• File upload types include CSV, PDF, images, and code files across all paid plans.
• Custom GPTs let you build focused research tools with saved settings and instructions.

NotebookLM vs ChatGPT: The Key Differences

The biggest difference is where each tool gets its information. NotebookLM only uses what you upload. ChatGPT mixes uploaded files with web searches and its training data. This makes NotebookLM more precise for document-heavy work. ChatGPT is faster for broad topics where you need a quick overview.

On accuracy, NotebookLM stays much closer to your source material. ChatGPT is stronger when you need creative output or need to explore ideas in many directions. Both run online and need an internet connection. Neither keeps your data fully on your own device by default.

• NotebookLM hits 98% citation accuracy on documents. ChatGPT lands around 67% on the same type of tasks.
• NotebookLM's hallucination rate sits at about 0.2%. ChatGPT's is closer to 5.1%, dropping to 3.6% when Deep Research is turned on.
• NotebookLM can create Audio Overviews and podcast-style content. ChatGPT cannot do this.
• ChatGPT scores 92% on creative tasks like writing and idea generation. NotebookLM scores 65% on the same type of work.
• NotebookLM uses only Google's Gemini model. ChatGPT runs on GPT-5.2 with no option to swap in other AI models.

Pricing: NotebookLM vs ChatGPT

Both tools offer free plans to start, but the best features on each are behind a paywall. The gap between free and paid is bigger than most people expect. Here is how the plans stack up side by side.

For someone who uses these tools once a week, the free plans on both are fine to start. For daily research work, the mid-tier plans give the best value without going overboard.

Where NotebookLM Falls Short

NotebookLM is strong on accuracy, but it has some real drawbacks. The biggest one is the source limit. On the free plan, you can only add 50 files per notebook. That fills up fast on big research projects. It also only works online (there is no way to use it without an internet connection).

You are locked into Google's Gemini model with no option to plug in other AI tools. If your notes live in apps outside of Google, you have to manually copy and re-upload everything.

• Deleted notes cannot be recovered, and notebooks cannot be duplicated (there is no backup built in).
• The mobile app is still in beta and does not have all the features the desktop version offers.
• Accuracy starts to drop when a single notebook has too many sources, especially with spreadsheets or dense tables.
• No public API exists, so you cannot connect NotebookLM to other tools automatically.

Where ChatGPT Falls Short

ChatGPT is great for ideas and broad searches, but it struggles in a few important areas. The biggest issue is accuracy. It can make up citations, references, and even statistics and present them as real.

Studies show that over half of its generated citations contain errors or are completely fake. On the free and Go plans, your data may be used to train future models, which is a privacy concern. Memory across sessions is limited and unreliable unless you are on a higher plan.

• Deep Research hits a rate limit of about 10 runs per day on the free plan.
• Long-form structured content often repeats earlier points, especially without specific instructions to avoid it.
• File uploads in Projects do not persist as cleanly as notebooks do in NotebookLM. Context can get diluted beyond 500,000 tokens.
• The Go plan ($8/mo) still shows ads, so paying does not guarantee a clean experience.

Why Both Tools Have the Same Problem

Despite being very different tools, NotebookLM and ChatGPT share some core weaknesses. Both need an internet connection to work. Neither is a native app built for Mac or iPhone (they both run in a web browser).

Your data goes to their servers, not your own device. The best features on both are locked behind monthly subscriptions that add up over time. These shared gaps matter, especially for anyone who cares about privacy or wants to work without depending on the internet.

• Both tools store your uploaded files on external cloud servers, not on your own device.
• Free plans on both cut off important features quickly. NotebookLM caps at 50 sources and 3 audio outputs per day. ChatGPT caps at roughly 10 messages every 5 hours.
• Neither tool lets you bring your own AI model or API key. You are locked into the provider's own model.

Meet Elephas: A Smarter Way to Handle Your Knowledge

Elephas is a Mac-native AI knowledge assistant. It was made for people who want research power without giving up control over their data. At its core is a feature called Super Brain (a personal knowledge base that lives entirely on your Mac). You feed it files, notes, and web content, and it indexes everything locally. No data leaves your device unless you choose to connect to an outside AI service.

It gives you the research strength of tools like NotebookLM and ChatGPT but keeps everything private and offline.

Elephas vs NotebookLM and ChatGPT: The Real Differences

NotebookLM caps your sources at 50 to 600 depending on the plan. ChatGPT limits context to around 1 million tokens per project. Elephas puts no cap on the number of files in Super Brain. NotebookLM and ChatGPT both need the internet to work. Elephas runs fully offline with built-in local AI models.

Both competitors store your data on their own servers. Elephas keeps everything on your Mac. NotebookLM uses only Gemini. ChatGPT uses only GPT-5.2. Elephas lets you choose (local AI for full privacy, or connect your own API keys to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or Perplexity).

• NotebookLM free plan allows 50 sources per notebook. ChatGPT free gives about 10 messages every 5 hours. Elephas has no source or message cap.
• NotebookLM Plus costs $19.99/mo. ChatGPT Plus costs $20/mo. Elephas is just $8.99/month, or you can get a one-time purchase with lifetime options starting at $299.
• Both NotebookLM and ChatGPT are web-based tools. Elephas is a native Mac, iPhone, and iPad app.
• NotebookLM and ChatGPT each lock you into one AI provider. Elephas supports local AI plus API keys for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity.
• ChatGPT's free and Go plans may use your data for model training. NotebookLM sends data to Google's servers. Elephas processes everything on your own device.

What Elephas Has That the Others Do Not

Some features in Elephas simply do not exist in NotebookLM or ChatGPT. Elephas has built-in workflow automation powered by AI agents. You can set up multi-step tasks and let it run them for you (things like summarizing files, finding documents by topic, or drawing charts).

It connects directly to note-taking apps like Obsidian, Notion, Apple Notes, and others. No manual copying needed. It also supports over 20 file formats, including code files that other tools skip.

• Workflow types include mind maps, Gantt charts, timelines, and flowcharts (all triggered from the chat by typing "@").
• Auto-sync keeps files updated across your devices without manual action. YouTube transcripts and full website sitemaps can be pulled directly into Super Brain.
• Writing features include four rewrite modes (Zinsser, Friendly, Professional, Viral), Smart Write, Continue Writing, and Grammar Fixes. Neither NotebookLM nor ChatGPT offers this built in.
• Local AI runs via Ollama support, meaning no data leaves your Mac at all when using offline mode.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is how all three tools stack up when you look at them feature by feature. This table shows what each one does and where they differ.

NotebookLM and ChatGPT are solid for what they do, but they both leave gaps in privacy, offline use, and flexibility. Elephas fills all three.

Which One Should You Pick?

Pick NotebookLM if your main goal is to dig into a set of documents you already have. It is the best tool for getting cited, accurate answers from PDFs and reports. Google Workspace users will find it fits well into their existing setup.

Pick ChatGPT if you need to explore broad topics quickly and generate creative content along the way. It works best when you do not already have a specific set of documents and want the AI to find information for you. The Deep Research feature is strong for this kind of work.

Pick Elephas if privacy matters to you and you want everything to stay on your device. It combines research power with writing tools and works fully offline. Starting at just $8.99/month (or a one-time purchase from $299), it gives you flexibility that the other two do not.

Try Elephas for free