Gemini Notebook vs Otio
We give Gemini Notebook a 4.0 GPA and Otio a 3.2, out of 4.0. Gemini Notebook grades higher on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Gemini Notebook
Google's AI research assistant that answers from your own sources
How we grade them
| 4.0GPAGemini NotebookExcellent | 3.2GPAOtioVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AMore room comes with Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month, well under what paid assistants usually start at: 200 notebooks, 100 sources in each and double the usage limits. It isn't sold on its own, though. You're buying a Google AI plan, and the next one up, Pro, is $19.99. | ALite is $7 a month, the same on monthly or annual billing, where most tools here start around $12. No features are held back: every model and Deep Research are on every plan. You're paying for volume, and Lite's is 50 uploads a day, 250 MB of storage and 2 spaces. Go is $18 billed annually. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree with a Google account: 100 notebooks with 50 sources in each, and a source can hold up to 500,000 words. Most students and researchers could stay here. Usage is metered, mind, with a quota that refreshes every 5 hours until you reach a weekly cap. | BFree includes every model and Deep Research, which is unusual. The room is small, though: 25 MB per file, 50 MB in total, 1 space and 2 parallel chats. The FAQ puts a day's use at about 1 to 2 deep searches, 10 premium-model chats or 50 standard chats. |
| Features | AIt does one job in full: answers grounded in your own sources, with in-line citations. Sources can be PDFs, Google Docs, Word files, web pages, YouTube videos and audio. From them it makes Audio and Video Overviews, mind maps, reports, flashcards and quizzes, and Deep Research adds a report from the web. | BIt takes PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos, podcasts, audio and spreadsheets, and cites answers to the page or timestamp. You can set two models side by side and watch Deep Research reason step by step. It works from your sources and the open web, though. The listing shows no paper database of its own. |
| Ease of use | A4.9 from about 62,100 App Store ratings. Drop in your sources and start asking. On a phone you can share a web page, PDF or YouTube video from another app straight into a notebook. | BNo App Store rating on record, so B is as high as we go. Drop your sources into a space and ask. The plans are easy to follow too, since they differ in volume, not in which features you get. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, plus apps for iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. It pulls in Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, YouTube videos and Google Play Books. One gap: the mobile app can't yet generate or view notes, mind maps, reports or data tables. | BWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and a Chrome extension, with Zotero, Mendeley, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box hooked up, and results sent out by email or Telegram. The one hole is Android: no app is listed. |
| Best for | answers drawn from your own documents | asking across PDFs, videos and podcasts |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Gemini Notebook and Otio. How we grade
Where they differ
- Gemini Notebook starts at $4.99 per month (Google AI Plus). Otio starts at $7 per month (Lite), billed monthly or $84 per year.
- Only Gemini Notebook lists an Android app.
- Only Otio lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- Only Otio lists a browser extension.
- Otio also covers AI agents, research and citations.
At a glance
| Gemini Notebook | Otio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4.99 per month (Google AI Plus) | $7 per month (Lite), billed monthly or $84 per year |
| Free plan | Standard tier, free with a Google account: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook and standard usage limits that refresh every 5 hours up to a weekly cap. | Limited AI usage with every model, 10 uploads a day, 25 MB per file and 50 MB in total, 1 space and 2 parallel chats. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Frontdoor Labs Limited | |
| Price read from | gemini.google | otio.ai |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Gemini Notebook
- Students and researchers working from a set of their own documents
- Turning long documents or lecture material into audio summaries
- Answers that cite the source passage they came from
Otio
- Researchers synthesizing dozens of papers into a literature review
- Consultants, lawyers and analysts working across many client documents
- People who want several AI models under one subscription
- Learning from videos and podcasts as well as PDFs
Worth knowing
Gemini Notebook
- Paid tiers are not sold on their own: higher limits come with a Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra subscription.
- The free Standard tier allows 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook.
- Usage limits are compute-based. The quota refreshes every 5 hours until a weekly limit is reached.
- The mobile app cannot yet generate or view notes, mind maps, reports or data tables.
Otio
- The Free plan allows 10 uploads a day, 25 MB per file and 50 MB in total, with 1 space and 2 parallel chats.
- The site's FAQ puts daily Free usage at about 1 to 2 deep searches, 10 premium-model chats or 50 standard chats.
- Lite costs the same on monthly and annual billing; the 50% annual saving applies to Go and Pro.
- The pricing page lists web, desktop and iPhone apps; no Android app is listed.
Key features
Gemini Notebook
- Grounded chat with citations
- Chat with a notebook to get answers based on the sources you added, with in-line citations that point back to them.
- Many source types
- Add PDFs, Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, Word and PowerPoint files, web URLs, public YouTube videos, audio files and images. A source can hold up to 500,000 words or 200 MB.
- Audio and Video Overviews
- Turns a notebook's sources into an Audio Overview or a Video Overview. In the mobile app, Audio Overviews can be downloaded for offline listening.
- Study and presentation outputs
- Generates mind maps, reports, flashcards, quizzes, infographics and slide decks from your sources.
- Deep Research
- An agentic feature that browses up to hundreds of websites, writes a multi-page report and lets you import the results and sources into a notebook.
- Mobile apps
- Apps for Android phones and tablets, iPhone and iPad. Share a website, PDF or YouTube video from another app straight into a notebook.
Otio
- Chat across your sources
- Ask one question across everything in a workspace and get an answer cited to the exact page or timestamp. Sources include PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos, podcasts, audio and spreadsheets.
- Many AI models on every plan
- ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Llama, DeepSeek and Moonshot models are available on all plans, with an Auto router and a side-by-side comparison of two models.
- Deep Research
- Multi-step research across your own sources and the open web, with each step of the reasoning visible. It is included on the Free plan within its usage limits.
- Reader and notes
- A reader view lets you highlight a passage in a source and ask about it. Notes made from a PDF or video are editable and export as Markdown.
- Spaces
- Separate workspaces keep each project's sources, chats and outputs apart: 1 on Free, 2 on Lite and 5 on Go.
- Outputs and delivery
- Generates documents, charts from spreadsheets and images, and can deliver results by email, Google Drive or Telegram.
Plans
Gemini Notebook
Standard$0
Free with a Google account: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook and standard usage limits.
Plus$4.99
per month, with Google AI Plus
200 notebooks, 100 sources per notebook and usage limits two times higher than standard.
Pro$19.99
per month, with Google AI Pro
500 notebooks, 300 sources per notebook and usage limits four times higher than standard.
UltraFrom $99.99
per month, with Google AI Ultra
500 notebooks, 500 or 600 sources per notebook depending on the Ultra tier, and usage limits 5x or 20x higher than AI Pro.
Otio
Free$0
Limited AI usage with every model and Deep Research, 10 uploads a day, 50 MB of storage, 1 space and 2 parallel chats.
Lite$7
per month, billed monthly; or $84 billed annually
50 uploads a day, PDFs of up to 500 pages, 250 MB of storage, 2 spaces and 5 parallel chats.
Go$18
per month, billed annually ($216); $36 billed monthly
3 times the chats, research and uploads of Lite: 250 uploads a day, 500 MB, PDFs of up to 1,000 pages, 5 spaces and 10 parallel chats.
Pro$45
per month, billed annually ($540); $90 billed monthly
10 times the chats, research and uploads of Lite: 500 uploads a day, 1 GB of storage and PDFs of up to 2,000 pages.
Team$25
per seat / month, billed yearly; $30 billed monthly
Everything in Pro with a shared workspace, central billing and user management, admin controls and priority support. Arranged through sales.
Ways to pay less
Gemini Notebook
- Education
Free Pro plan for college students for a year
Google's US subscriptions page says college students get a free Google AI Pro plan for one year. Google AI Pro provides the Pro tier of Gemini Notebook.
Otio
- Annual discount
Yearly billing halves the price of Go and Pro
Go is $18 a month billed annually against $36 billed monthly, and Pro is $45 against $90. The pricing page labels yearly billing as saving 50%.
