NotebookLM Is Now Gemini Notebook: What Changed and What You Keep
Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026. Your notebooks, sources, and audio overviews stay put. New since: notebooks can run code for data analysis (Google AI Ultra and Workspace business first, Pro following), select Google Play Books you own can be sources, and from September 2, 2026 usage limits refresh every five hours under a weekly cap.
Google is renaming NotebookLM, one of its most popular AI research tools, to Gemini Notebook. If you use NotebookLM to study, summarize documents, or turn your notes into audio overviews, the headline you actually care about is simple: nothing you made disappears, and you do not have to move anything. This page explains what changed on July 16, 2026, what stays the same, and who gets the one genuinely new feature that came with the rename.
What Changed
NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook, and Google announced it on July 16, 2026. It is the same standalone product with the same purpose -- your research and learning tool -- now folded under the Gemini brand and wired more tightly into the rest of Google's apps. Google's VP for Labs and the Gemini app, Josh Woodward, framed it as a rename plus an upgrade, not a replacement, per Google's announcement. Two things arrive alongside the new name: notebooks can now run code for deeper data analysis, and they sync with the Gemini app.
Key Takeaways
- NotebookLM is renamed to Gemini Notebook as of July 16, 2026. It is the same standalone product, not a shutdown or a merger.
- Your existing notebooks, sources, and audio overviews stay put. There is nothing to migrate.
- New feature: every notebook is getting a "secure cloud computer" that can write and run code to analyze your uploaded sources.
- That code feature went live for Google AI Ultra users and eligible Workspace business customers on July 16, 2026. Google said the same day that it would reach all Pro users on the web "over the coming weeks" and has published no completion date since.
- Notebooks now sync with the Gemini app, and Google says they will reach AI Mode in Google Search soon.
- Since September 2, 2026, usage limits refresh every five hours under a weekly cap and weigh prompt complexity, chat length, sources and features rather than counting actions equally. Google publishes multipliers by plan (AI Plus 2x, AI Pro 4x, AI Ultra 5x or 20x higher than Pro) but no absolute numbers.
- On September 15, 2026 Google announced study tools: a spoken conversation with your notebook (Google AI Ultra first), a lecture recorder, interactive learning overviews and new quiz formats (all users, over the following weeks), and Short Video Overviews.
- Since August 27, 2026, select Google Play Books you own can be added to a notebook as sources; everyone in a shared notebook needs their own copy.
- Google says more than 30 million people and 600,000 organizations use the product, which launched at Google I/O 2023 as Project Tailwind.
The New Usage Limits (From September 2, 2026)
Since September 2, 2026, Gemini Notebook's usage limits refresh every five hours under a weekly cap, and Google's help article adds a limit the announcement never mentioned. Google's Manage your Gemini Notebook usage limits article carries a banner reading "Starting on September 2, 2026, there will be changes to usage limits for Gemini Notebook," and its body says the quota "refreshes every 5 hours until you reach your weekly limit". There is a weekly cap sitting on top of the five-hour refresh. The August 28 announcement said only that limits "refresh every five hours rather than daily" and did not mention a weekly limit at all, so the help article is the stricter and more complete surface. Three further facts Google publishes only there:
| What Google says | Where |
|---|---|
| Without a plan: standard limits. AI Plus: 2x. AI Pro: 4x. AI Ultra: 5x or 20x higher than AI Pro depending on subscription | Help article usage-limits table |
| Check your usage at Settings > Usage on the web, or your profile picture > AI usage on Android and iPhone | Same article, all three platform variants |
| "Generate later" for deferred Video Overviews and Slide Decks "is currently only available on the web", and generating later "may take a couple hours" | Same article |
Google still publishes no number for any of these limits, only the multipliers. Read on both the Android and iPhone variants of the article on September 2, 2026: the limit wording is identical on all three, only the menu path differs.
How Google described the change on August 28. Google's announcement says it is introducing "new flexible, compute-specific usage limits," with two changes you will feel. Limits refresh every five hours rather than daily, so a heavy morning no longer costs you the rest of the day. And your overall limit "will factor in prompt complexity, chat length, number of sources, and the features you use," rather than counting actions equally -- so a short question costs less than a Video Overview. Google says the notebook will track your usage for you and "suggest alternative outputs if your first choice surpasses your limit," and that if you do hit the limit you can defer generating things like Video Overviews or Slide Decks, which then "generate automatically" with optional notifications. Google states plainly that "you'll continue to have access to all the features that you use and love." Google's own words were that the updates "are rolling out to consumer accounts on web and mobile starting on September 2," and on that date its help article confirmed the change, with the weekly cap described above.
Your Google Play Books Can Be Sources (From August 27, 2026)
Your Google Play Books are now sources. On August 27, 2026 Google launched Expert Intelligence, which lets you add select ebooks you have purchased from Google Play Books straight into a notebook and ask questions answered from the book. More than 100,000 titles are eligible at launch. You have to own the book, and everyone in a shared notebook needs their own copy.
New Study Tools (From September 15, 2026)
Google added a set of study features on September 15, 2026, alongside "a fresh new look." Most of them are not in your notebook yet, and the one that is furthest along is on the most expensive plan. Here is each one with the audience Google's own footnotes give it; "this week" and "next week" are Google's words as of September 15.
| Feature | What it does | Who gets it, and when |
|---|---|---|
| Talk to your notebook | A real-time spoken conversation in the mobile app, "in nearly 100 languages," grounded in your sources; you can interrupt by speaking | "Rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers (18+) this week and coming to Google AI Pro and others soon" |
| Audio recorder | Record lectures or your own thoughts in the mobile app; the notes sit next to your sources | "Starting next week"; web and mobile, English output language only, under-18s included |
| Interactive learning overviews | Found under Reports; combines summaries with infographics, quizzes and flashcards | "Rolling out to all users in the next few weeks" |
| New quiz formats | Short answer, multiple select, fill in the blank | "Coming to all users in the next few weeks" |
| Short Video Overviews | Roughly 60-second animated summaries in more than 80 languages, shareable | No plan or date qualifier in the post |
Re-checked on September 22, 2026, the week Google's "next week" points to: the announcement is unmodified (dateModified 2026-09-15) and still reads "Starting next week," and Gemini Notebook's help centre publishes no article for the audio recorder. Neither the mobile app article nor Create and add notes mentions recording. Treat the recorder as announced but undocumented rather than confirmed shipped.
The practical reading: if you use Gemini Notebook for free, the quiz and learning-overview changes are coming to you, and the voice conversation is not yet. Google names no date for Pro. The same post repeats Google's student offer: a free year of Google AI Pro for US college students (4x Gemini Notebook usage limits) or Google AI Plus in over 140 other markets (2x), redeemable until December 31, 2026, with a payment method required and automatic billing after the year.
Does Anything You Made Disappear?
No. This is a rename, not a reset. Google is explicit that Gemini Notebook "remains a standalone product focused on being your premier research tool," so the notebooks, uploaded PDFs and links, generated summaries, and audio overviews you already created stay in the same place. You do not have to export, re-upload, or recreate anything. In practice, the app you open does the same jobs it did yesterday -- it just carries a new name and connects to more of Google's ecosystem.
What Is Actually New: Running Code in a Notebook
The real upgrade under the new name is that each notebook is getting a secure cloud computer, which lets Gemini Notebook write and execute code on its own to analyze the sources you put in. In plain terms: instead of only summarizing or answering questions about your documents, a notebook can now crunch numbers, build charts, and do deeper data analysis grounded in your own material. Google says this "enables entirely new output formats and deeper analysis." If you have ever pasted a spreadsheet into a chatbot and asked it to find the trend, this is that idea built into your research tool.
This is the one part that depends on your plan. Here is who gets code execution and when, per Google's announcement.
Who Gets the New Features
The rename reaches everyone; the new code-execution feature rolls out by plan. Everything in the table below comes directly from Google's July 16, 2026 announcement.
| What | Who gets it | When |
|---|---|---|
| The Gemini Notebook name + your existing notebooks | Everyone who used NotebookLM | Now (July 16, 2026) |
| Run code in a notebook (secure cloud computer) | Google AI Ultra users; Workspace business customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access | Now (July 16, 2026) |
| Run code in a notebook | All Pro users on the web | Announced July 16, 2026 as "over the coming weeks"; no completion date published |
| Notebooks inside the Gemini app + cross-app syncing | Gemini app users | Now |
| Notebooks in AI Mode in Google Search | Search users | Announced as coming "soon" |
Google did not say the code-execution feature is coming to the free tier, so if you use Gemini Notebook at no cost, treat the rename and the Gemini-app syncing as what you get today, and the code tool as a paid-plan feature for now.
Why Google Renamed It
The rename is about consolidation: Google is pulling its consumer AI products under the single Gemini name. NotebookLM had always been a slightly separate brand, and moving it to Gemini Notebook signals that it is now part of the same family as the Gemini app and Gemini in your other Google products. The practical payoff for you is the cross-app connection -- Google says you can already create and open notebooks inside the Gemini app, with full syncing between the app and the standalone Gemini Notebook, and that notebooks will show up in AI Mode in Search soon. The product is being wired into the places you already work rather than kept off to the side.
Should You Care?
Care a little, do nothing. If you already use NotebookLM, the only thing you must do is get used to a new name; your work is safe and your workflow is unchanged. If you are on Google AI Ultra or an eligible Workspace plan, it is worth trying the new code feature on a data-heavy notebook -- a spreadsheet of results, a set of survey responses -- to see the deeper analysis it can now do. If you are a Pro user, that same feature is coming to you on the web over the next few weeks. And if you have never tried it, Gemini Notebook is still the best free tool for turning your own documents into summaries and audio overviews.
For the bigger picture on how Gemini's models compare with the alternatives, see Gemini 3.1, explained and our plain-terms guide to which AI chatbot you should pay for. If you are weighing Google's assistant against ChatGPT for everyday use, start with ChatGPT vs Gemini.
The bottom line: NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook -- same tool, same notebooks, new name, and a new code-analysis feature that starts with paid plans. There is nothing to migrate and no reason to worry that your research is going anywhere.
Corrections and Updates
September 2, 2026: added the section on the new usage limits, which started that day; Google's help article adds a weekly cap that the August 28 announcement never mentioned.
August 28, 2026: added two changes: select Google Play Books you own can be notebook sources (Expert Intelligence, launched August 27), and Google's announcement that usage limits would be rebuilt from September 2.
August 19, 2026: study notebooks reached mobile, and there is now a student hub in front of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is NotebookLM going away?
No. NotebookLM is being renamed to Gemini Notebook, not shut down. Google says it remains the same standalone product focused on research. Your existing notebooks, uploaded sources, and audio overviews stay exactly where they are -- only the name and some behind-the-scenes features change.
Do I lose my notebooks in the switch to Gemini Notebook?
No. The change is a rename, not a migration you have to do. Everything you already made in NotebookLM stays in the same product, now called Gemini Notebook. Google is also adding syncing so your notebooks appear inside the Gemini app.
Does Gemini Notebook cost money now?
The renamed product is still available at no cost, same as NotebookLM. The one new paid-gated feature is running code inside a notebook: it is live for Google AI Ultra and eligible Workspace business users on July 16, 2026, and rolls out to all Pro users on the web over the coming weeks.
What is the new 'secure cloud computer' in Gemini Notebook?
It is a feature that lets a notebook write and run code by itself to analyze your uploaded sources, so you can get charts and deeper data analysis grounded in your own documents. It is starting with Google AI Ultra and Workspace business customers, then Pro users on the web.