Back to discovery
Your decision, made clearer
Compare AI tools
Compare the details that matter to your task. Unknown information is shown openly; always verify current pricing and access with the provider.
Tip: on a small screen, swipe the table sideways. Copy this page’s URL to share your comparison.
| What matters | 🔮 Perplexity | 📓 Gemini Notebook | 📊 Consensus |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | AI search and research assistant that returns source-linked answers, with free and paid research options. | Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) is Google's source-based notebook assistant for understanding documents and building research outputs. Free tier available. | AI academic search tool for finding, organising, and exploring research literature with linked evidence. |
| Best for | Source-linked web research and questions | Source-grounded study and research notebooks | Academic paper search and Research organisation |
| Pricing model | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Pricing unconfirmed |
| Free-plan limits | Standard (free): 3 Pro Searches per day, 1 research query per month, practically unlimited basic searches, limited file uploads; no advanced AI models, file/app creation, image generation or Comet Assistant queries. API is pay-as-you-go with no complimentary credits. | Free (Standard) allows up to 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook (Plus 200/100, Pro 500/300, Ultra 500/500 or 600). Since 2 September 2026 usage limits are compute-based and refresh every five hours; Google publishes no fixed daily number for free users, and its plans help page still mentions daily and monthly quotas. Limits are subject to change. | Free and paid research access should be checked in the current account interface. The public pricing page did not expose readable plan limits at the time of review (October 2026). |
| Platforms | Web | Web | Web |
| Key capabilities | Source-linked answers Web search Research tools Model choice on eligible plans | Source-based questions Document analysis Notebook organisation Research outputs | Academic paper search Research organisation Evidence exploration |
| Strengths | Source-linked answers make the verification trail easier to inspect. | A notebook organised around your own sources fits a bounded research brief A free Standard tier with 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook Included with Google AI plans and some Workspace plans, with no separate price | Search a research question, compare relevant studies, and inspect the papers behind a summary. |
| Limitations | Standard is free with basic access and limited advanced usage. Paid plans increase research and model allowances; API usage is billed separately. Citations are starting points: a real URL can still support a different claim. | No published number of free chats or Audio Overviews; limits are compute-based and refresh every five hours since 2 September 2026 Google's help pages are not fully consistent about limits, so numbers in older articles may be wrong Source selection limits the answer; missing or outdated documents remain your responsibility | Free and paid research access should be checked in the current account interface. The public pricing page did not expose readable plan limits during this review. |
| No signup required | Not verified | No | Not verified |
| No credit card required | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified |
| Open source | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified |
| Free trial | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified |
| Access details reviewed | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-06 |
| Official pricing / source | Check pricingAccess source | Check pricingAccess source | Check pricingAccess source |
| Next step | Explore Perplexity | Explore Gemini Notebook | Explore Consensus |