Plum vs NotebookLM
Updated · We make Plum, and have tried to be fair.
NotebookLM, renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026, is a research workspace for many sources. Plum is a Mac reader for the papers themselves.
| Plum | NotebookLM | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Mac | Web |
| A full reader for long papers | Yes | No |
| Answers with citations | Yes, highlighted in the reader | Yes, inline |
| Questions across many documents | One paper at a time | Yes, per notebook |
| Use your own AI provider | Yes | No |
| Where documents are processed | On your Mac | Uploaded to Google |
| Pricing | Subscription with a 7-day free trial | Free tier; higher limits with Google AI plans |
Where NotebookLM is better
- Grounded answers across dozens of sources in one notebook.
- Audio Overviews and other study formats.
- A generous free tier, in any browser.
Where Plum is better
- A native, keyboard-first Mac reader built for long papers, with citation previews and equations that copy as LaTeX.
- The assistant works inside the reader: it turns to the page and highlights the exact lines it used, and only text it actually found.
- Your PDFs are processed on your Mac; only the passages the assistant reads go to the AI.
- Bring your own key for any OpenAI-compatible provider, or connect Claude Code or Claude Desktop over MCP.
Which should you choose?
Choose NotebookLM to synthesize across many sources at once, or if you want Audio Overviews and a free, browser-based tool.
Choose Plum to read each paper closely in a native Mac reader, keep files on your Mac, and use your own AI.
Weighing other tools too? See the best AI PDF readers.
Questions
Is NotebookLM the same as Gemini Notebook?
Yes. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026; existing notebooks carried over.
Can I use both?
Yes. Many researchers synthesize across sources in a notebook and read the papers themselves in a dedicated reader like Plum.