Google has rolled out NotebookLM Plus, a premium version of its AI-enhanced note-taking and research tool, to individual users subscribed to the Google One AI Premium plan. This expansion comes nearly two months after its launch for enterprises via Google Cloud and Google Workspace.
First unveiled in December following an earlier pilot phase, NotebookLM Plus delivers increased usage limits and advanced features—offering five times the usage capability compared to the free version, which includes 500 notebooks and 300 sources per notebook, along with a maximum of 500 chat queries and 20 audio generations daily.
Users subscribing to the Google One AI Premium plan, priced at $20 monthly, can access all these features. Furthermore, Google has implemented a 50% discount for students over 18 in the U.S., allowing them to subscribe to the AI Premium plan for just $9.99 a month.
“Our goal has always been to make NotebookLM Plus available to both enterprises and consumers, and we’ve received considerable interest from consumers, especially students, from the start,” said Kelly Schaefer, director of product and domain lead at Google Labs, during an interview.
Initially launched as a project in 2023, NotebookLM gained notable attention after introducing its Audio Overviews feature last September. This capability, which allows users to create podcast-like audio discussions from uploaded content, has inspired other firms such as ElevenLabs and Meta to follow suit.
Meanwhile, Google’s product has maintained its relevance with frequent updates, including functionalities to steer AI-generated audio dialogues.
Schaefer informed TechCrunch that improvements for Audio Overviews are in the works, aiming to incorporate support for additional languages beyond English.
“We’re considering how to prioritize which languages to support and, most importantly, how to ensure they feel authentic and just as fluid and natural as our existing Audio Overviews,” she stated.
While Schaefer did not reveal the specific Gemini AI models powering NotebookLM, she mentioned that the model utilized is currently the same for both Plus and standard users. Google Labs continuously experiments with various iterations of Gemini, always employing the “latest and most appropriate Gemini models for each task,” she remarked.
The development team is also focused on creating a mobile app for NotebookLM, although no specific release date has been provided.
“We aim for the mobile experience to resemble the desktop functionality in many ways, while also customizing it for the most frequent mobile use cases,” Schaefer commented.
Additionally, the company is investigating how NotebookLM might utilize emerging reasoning models to enhance cognitive and reasoning tasks.
Although NotebookLM Plus is now available to individual subscribers on the Google One AI Premium plan—granting access to Gemini Advanced, Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and 2TB of cloud storage—Schaefer emphasized that the team is committed to supporting non-paying users as well.
“We want everyone to have a wonderful experience with NotebookLM, whether they are using the free version or paying. It’s crucial to us that the free experience is outstanding. Our focus is on enhancing what we offer Plus users without compromising the experience for free users,” she stated.
While Google has not disclosed how many users are on NotebookLM or the size of its team, they indicated that the team has expanded over time.
However, data from market intelligence firm Similarweb reveals that the AI assistant has recorded 28.18 million visits in the past three months, with nearly 9 million in January alone.
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