S
SConsensus vs NotebookLM
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
C
Choose Consensus if…
- you need an API to build on
- you're in its core audience: students, academic researchers
N
Choose NotebookLM if…
- you're in its core audience: students, researchers
Side by side
Feature Consensus NotebookLM
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price$20/mo—
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryResearch AssistantsResearch Assistants
CompanyConsensusGoogle
Based in——
Founded——
Part of——
Key features
C Consensus
- Search across 400M+ scientific papers
- Pro Search and Deep Search synthesized answers
- Ask Paper chat with a single study
- Consensus Meter for scientific agreement on yes/no questions
- Study Snapshots summarizing findings and methods
- Citation Graph of paper relationships
- Citation export in RIS, BibTeX and CSV
- API and MCP access
N NotebookLM
- Notebooks organized around your uploaded sources
- Answers questions using a Gemini model
- Up to 600 sources per notebook on top tiers
- Notebook sharing, with advanced controls on Enterprise
- Workspace and Workspace for Education access
- Enterprise security controls via Google Cloud
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Consensus
Free$0
Pro$20/mo or $144/year (~$12/mo billed yearly)
Deep$65/mo or $540/year (~$45/mo billed yearly)
TeamsCustom
EnterpriseCustom
NotebookLM
StandardFree
Plus (Google AI Plus)Price not stated
Pro (Google AI Pro)Price not stated
Ultra (Google AI Ultra)Price not stated
EnterpriseCustom
Strengths and limitations
Consensus
- Free plan includes unlimited Papers searches
- Indexes over 400 million scientific papers
- Citation export to RIS, BibTeX and CSV
- API and MCP calls included on every plan
- Free plan limited to 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep reviews a month
- Pro plan includes only 15 Deep reviews a month
- No mobile apps listed; web only
- Support offered in English only
NotebookLM
- Free Standard tier allows 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook
- Paid tiers raise limits to as many as 600 sources per notebook
- Available through Workspace, Workspace for Education and Google Cloud
- NotebookLM help page gives no prices; they sit on separate Google AI plan pages
- Watermarks stay on output in India, South Korea and Vietnam even on paid plans
- Google labels plan limits as subject to change
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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy