A NotebookLM alternative to read and remember
NotebookLM, now called Gemini Notebook, answers questions about your sources. It turns them into summaries and overviews. Winda is made to read the sources themselves. AI explains the hard parts as you read. The flashcards and quizzes you make come back for review on a schedule.
NotebookLM checked on Sep 26, 2026
Who should pick which
Stay with NotebookLM if you want answers about your sources
- You ask questions across many sources at once and want answers with citations
- You like to listen, and Audio Overviews turn your sources into a conversation
- You want mind maps, reports and slide decks made for you
Try Winda if you need to understand and remember what you read
- You want to read the whole text yourself, with an explanation under the sentence
- You want flashcards and quizzes from what you read, each one linked to its passage
- You want each card to come back on a schedule, not only when you redo a set
What NotebookLM does well
NotebookLM is one of the best tools to ask questions about many documents. Google keeps adding new ways to present them.
Answers with citations
You can ask about all the sources in a notebook at once. Each answer cites the passages it used. Hover over a citation to read the quote. Select it to see the quote in its source.
Many formats from one notebook
NotebookLM turns your sources into Audio Overviews in more than 80 languages. It also makes Video Overviews, mind maps, reports, slide decks and infographics.
Takes almost any source
One notebook can hold PDFs, Google Docs and Slides, Word files, web pages, YouTube videos, audio, images and EPUBs.
Flashcards and quizzes on request
NotebookLM makes a set of flashcards or a quiz from your sources. You pick the difficulty and the length. You can go back over the cards you missed. You can download the flashcards as a CSV file.
Where NotebookLM gets harder to use
Problems start when you must read the material closely and remember it weeks later.
You read about the source, not the source
Sources open in a viewer next to an AI summary. Google's help says that they can look different from the original file. NotebookLM keeps only the text of a web page, and only the transcript of a YouTube video. Answers and summaries are a good way into a document. They cannot replace the document itself.
Flashcards without a schedule
NotebookLM has no spaced repetition. You mark each card Got it or Missed it. You can redo the cards you missed. Nothing brings a card back just before you forget it.
Nothing on the page you are reading
Google has no official browser extension for NotebookLM. To study a web page, you first paste its link into a notebook.
How Winda does it
In Winda, you read the web page, PDF or video itself. AI helps as you read. Winda makes flashcards and quiz questions from what you read. It brings them back for review on a schedule.
Read the whole page, not a summary
Winda opens web pages, PDFs, YouTube videos with their transcripts, Word and PowerPoint files, and images in one reader. The Chrome extension brings the same tools to any web page. Select a line to explain it, ask about it or turn it into cards.
Every card links back
Each card keeps the passage it came from. When an answer stops making sense, you can go back to that page.
Reviews come back on a schedule
Winda schedules every card with FSRS, the same algorithm Anki uses. A card you miss comes back the same day. A card you know waits longer each time.
NotebookLM and Winda, side by side
| AI notebookNotebookLM | ReaderWinda | |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | ||
| Reading the original | A source viewer with a summary, web pages as text, YouTube as a transcript | The page, PDF or video itself, with the transcript next to a video |
| Help while you read | Ask in chat, with answers that cite the passage | Select a line for an explanation or a translation in place, or ask about the whole document |
| Browser extension | No official extension | Chrome extension: select a line on any web page to explain it, ask about it or make cards |
| What you can add | PDFs, Google Docs and Slides, Word, web pages, YouTube, audio, images, EPUBs | Web pages, PDFs, YouTube, Word, PowerPoint, images and text |
| Remembering | ||
| Flashcards and quizzes | Sets for each notebook | Flashcards, fill in the blank and multiple choice, from a selected passage or a whole document |
| Review schedule | No: you mark Got it or Missed it, then redo the missed ones | FSRS across all your cards, with cards due each day |
| Exporting cards | Flashcards as a CSV file | Decks to Anki, Quizlet or a spreadsheet |
| Making other things | ||
| Audio and video overviews | Yes | No |
| Mind maps, reports, slides | Yes | No |
Checked on Sep 26, 2026 at support.google.com/gemininotebook, Gemini Notebook Help: flashcards, blog.google. If something has changed, write to hi@winda.app, and we will correct it.
Questions
Yes. Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. It is the same product, and old NotebookLM links take you to it.
No. NotebookLM does not have spaced repetition. You mark each card Got it or Missed it, and you can go back over the cards you missed. Nothing schedules a card to come back later. In Winda, every flashcard and quiz question goes on an FSRS schedule. It comes back when it is due.
A summary tells you what a text says. You understand a text when you follow it yourself: the argument, the examples and the exceptions a summary leaves out. Winda keeps you in the text. It explains the hard parts. Then it helps you remember what you understood.
Yes. A PDF opens as its pages. A web page opens as the article. A YouTube video plays with its transcript next to it. Select any line for an explanation or a translation in place, or turn it into cards. With the Chrome extension, you can do the same on any web page.
NotebookLM makes audio and video overviews, mind maps, reports and slide decks. It answers questions across many sources at once. If you use it for that, NotebookLM is the better fit. Winda helps you read one text closely and remember it.