5 apps you should use instead of NotebookLM

NotebookLM is one of the best AI research assistants and note-taking apps, but it’s far from the only option. I decided to start researching some of the best alternatives and found no shortage of them. Of course, not all options are created equal, nor will they all have the same core focuses and features.

Whether you are just looking for an alternative that isn’t made by Google or you have more specific needs that NotebookLM doesn’t properly address, below are five NotebookLM alternatives I recommend. Keep in mind that while some of these apps work well as full replacements, it’s also possible to combine some of these tools with NotebookLM to get even more out of the experience.

Without further ado, let’s dig in.

Just like NotebookLM, Notion makes it easy to upload PDFs, pasted text, and web articles, which can then be used to create a knowledge database. That said, there are some big differences in how the platforms work.

First off, NotebookLM is great for single-topic research, but Notion is better for larger connected databases and note-taking that cover multiple topics. It’s also great for personal organization and works well, making it sort of an “everything” app.

While NotebookLM can be used to create single-project databases, it’s much better for analyzing research and extracting core points. It can also take this information and create a handy audio breakdown, something Notion can’t do. It’s also much easier to trust the analysis given to you by NotebookLM, as it restricts its answers to the sources you upload, which can be both an advantage and a limitation.

The fact that NotebookLM only relies on user-inputted sources means you don’t have to worry about major hallucinations or inaccuracies that a generalist AI chatbot might produce. It also limits the tool, as you can’t connect it to broader points beyond your sources.

Notion is a bit more flexible, as it can pull from a wider internal knowledge system, which means you can expand beyond your initial sources, which is useful for some types of projects. It also means you’ll need to more carefully verify everything it tells you, as hallucinations are more common here.

At the end of the day, NotebookLM and Notion intersect in many areas. Still, if you’re more focused on building knowledge databases than breaking down research information, Notion might be a better fit. Many users also find the tools complement each other, so you don’t have to pick one or the other.

Obsidian is a highly customizable, local-first knowledge base designed to help you manually organize and connect your ideas. While NotebookLM is better suited for research analysis and custom AI podcast summaries, Obsidian stands out as a “second brain” that helps you better manage long-term projects.

This might sound pretty similar to Notion, and in some ways it is. That said, Notion is a cloud-based workspace for wikis, databases, and team collaboration, while Obsidian is a more locally focused personal knowledge management tool designed to help you build a web of knowledge. There’s even a knowledge graph feature that visually maps how your notes connect, and much more. Personally, I liked Notion a bit better overall, as Obsidian felt more complicated.

Ultimately, Obsidian won’t replace tools like NotebookLM for audio breakdowns or some of its other core features, but there’s plenty of overlap. As with Notion, some users also find luck combining Obsidian with NotebookLM.

While NotebookLM is primarily a research assistant that lets you chat with your sources around a specific topic, Recall is a self-organizing personal knowledge database that you can use to save whatever you consume, from articles to podcasts, PDFs, and even YouTube videos. It will then connect this information to a knowledge base to keep track of it all, so you can quickly recall details you might not remember vividly enough on your own.

Recall summarizes your personal information into searchable cards and lets you chat with your saved content as well. Both Recall and NotebookLM serve as places to aggregate information that you can then interact with quickly via voice; they just take slightly different approaches. I really love Recall’s quiz-making features, which are great if you want to work on committing knowledge to long-term memory.

While pretty much every app on this list has a paid version, Recall Plus is the one I feel adds the most. From expanded summaries to a better knowledge base chat system, there’s a fair amount of functionality behind a paywall. You could say the same about NotebookLM to some degree, but the free version feels a bit more complete than Recall AI’s free tier, at least in my experience.

NotebookLM is useful in both personal and professional contexts, while Atlas is clearly focused on academic-level research papers and other educational uses. Like others on this list, Atlas isn’t a 1:1 functional replacement for NotebookLM, but they overlap in many ways.

Both let you upload PDFs and ask questions, but Atlas focuses on building visuals from what you feed it, including a knowledge map that deconstructs each uploaded PDF into core points like claims, evidence, definitions, and more. There’s also a Semantic Map for the whole project, its sources, notes, chats, and citations.

Although tools like NotebookLM also include your sources in notes and summaries, Atlas puts greater detail into ensuring the accuracy of source citations. Probably the biggest difference is that the knowledge database is persistent and continues to link together long-term research in a way NotebookLM isn’t suited for.

Okay, OpenNotebook isn’t technically available directly as an Android app, but I’d be remiss not to include it. Unlike the other options on this list, OpenNotebook is about as close to NotebookLM as you’ll find. Just like NotebookLM, you upload sources, and the AI only uses what you provide to answer your questions. It also produces audio summaries, though they are typically a bit shorter and less detailed than those from NotebookLM.

The big difference with OpenNotebook is that you either need to host it locally on your computer or over the web. You can still interact with it via your Android device, but there’s no official app. This makes OpenNotebook a better choice if you don’t want to store your information on Google’s servers, but it also means this is a much more DIY-level experience that requires some technical skill to install.

If you don’t mind getting your hands a bit dirty, this is a great open-source option that can truly replace NotebookLM, though how well it does so will largely depend on your needs. It is also technically possible to change out what AI engine it uses, such as ChatGPT or Claude.

I have personally begun testing this platform in more detail and will be following up soon with a more detailed look at how it compares with NotebookLM.