NotebookLM, now Gemini Notebook, or Dalm: what you upload, or what you say

NotebookLM, which Google has renamed Gemini Notebook, answers questions from the sources you bring to it: documents, web pages, public YouTube videos and audio files you upload. Dalm makes the source itself: it records calls, meetings in the room and your dictation on a Mac. The speech is recognised on the Mac and the audio is not sent anywhere; the transcript syncs to our servers automatically, and a language model reads it to write the summary. Gemini Notebook is the stronger tool for research across many documents; Dalm is for keeping a record of what was said.

Gemini Notebook and Dalm, point by point

	Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM)	Dalm
What it works from	Sources you add: Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, PDF, Word, text and Markdown files, web pages, public YouTube videos, images and audio files	What you say: calls, meetings in the room, calls on speaker and dictation, recorded by the app
Recording a call or a meeting	Not found	Your microphone and what your Mac plays, as two streams; no one joins the call
A recording you already have	Upload it, up to 200 MB; it is transcribed when you add it, and its text becomes a source	Audio or video up to 4 hours, on the Free plan; recognised on your Mac, and the original stays where it was
Who said what	Not found	Each voice kept apart, in a call and across a table, and you can name them
Where the audio goes	You upload the file	Not sent anywhere; Dalm’s copy is deleted once the text exists, with the one exception below. The transcript syncs to our servers
Asking questions	Across all the sources in one notebook, up to 50 on the free tier; not across notebooks	One meeting per question; across every recording — in development
What it makes	Audio overviews, flashcards, quizzes, infographics and slide decks from your sources	A summary of each meeting built around your notes; action items and decisions from all meetings in two lists
Dictation into other apps	Not found	One key, into any app; no language model rewrites it, and the text syncs to our servers
Getting it out	Notebooks shared privately or publicly	summary as Markdown, Word or PDF; the macOS Share menu
Apps	In the browser on a computer; apps for iPhone, iPad and Android; Mac app: not found	Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later; iPhone app in development

The audio is deleted once the text exists. NotebookLM has been called Gemini Notebook since 16 July 2026. Not found means Google’s help does not describe it, not that it cannot be done. What Gemini Notebook does is taken from Google’s help and announcement, checked on 2 October 2026.

Where Gemini Notebook is better than Dalm

• Questions across a pile of sources. A notebook holds up to 50 sources on the free tier — documents, PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos, audio — and answers across all of them at once. Dalm answers about one meeting per question; a question across every recording is in development.
• More ways to study what you have. From the same sources Gemini Notebook makes audio overviews you can listen to, flashcards, quizzes, infographics and slide decks. Dalm writes a summary of a meeting and keeps lists of action items and decisions.
• Any computer, and phones. Gemini Notebook opens in the browser on any computer and has apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Dalm needs a Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later; its iPhone app is in development.
• Written answers on training. Google’s help says that on a personal account your data is not used to train Gemini Notebook unless you send feedback, and that on Workspace and Education accounts uploads, queries and responses are neither reviewed by people nor used to train AI models. Dalm does not train models of its own, but what the provider of its language model does with the text is not set out on this site.
• Sharing a notebook. You can share a notebook with chosen people or publicly. In Dalm a transcript or a summary goes out as a file you export or through the macOS Share menu.

Where Dalm is better than Gemini Notebook

• The source makes itself. Gemini Notebook works from what you add. Dalm records calls, a meeting across a table and what you dictate — nobody joins the call, and there is no file to upload.
• The audio stays on your Mac. To work with a recording in Gemini Notebook you upload the file, and it is transcribed when you add it. Dalm recognises speech on your Mac and sends no audio anywhere. Text does leave: transcripts and dictations are copied to our servers without a step from you, and the summary of a meeting is written by a language model that reads its transcript. What is sent, item by item.
• Who said what. Each voice in a call or a room is kept apart, and you can name them once the meeting ends.
• Typed notes decide what comes first. The summary is arranged around what you type while the meeting runs, and each of its points comes with the exact words behind it. Every quote shows you where it was said — open it and the transcript opens at that place.
• Everything said, in one place. Everything you say lands in one archive you can search: meetings, phone calls, conversations in the room, and what you dictate to a model. Asking one question across all of it is still in development. Gemini Notebook keeps each notebook separate and does not look across notebooks at once.

Starting without paying

Gemini Notebook has a free tier: up to 50 sources in a notebook, with standard usage limits that refresh every five hours up to a weekly limit. Google’s AI Plus, Pro and Ultra subscriptions raise those limits; they are Google plans that also include cloud storage, not a price for the notebook alone. Dalm has a Free plan, which is a plan rather than a trial; Pro is $16 a month or $12 a month billed annually, and Team is $40 a month for each member (paid plans are not open yet); the difference between Pro and Team is on the pricing page. Until Dalm is released, the waitlist is the way in.

Using both: a meeting as a notebook source

To work with a meeting in Gemini Notebook, you first need the meeting as a file: a recording or a transcript. Gemini Notebook takes both — audio files, which it transcribes when you add them, and text, Markdown, Word and PDF files. Dalm can be the step before. It records the call or the room, keeps the voices apart, and lets you export the summary as Markdown, Word or PDF. Add that file to a notebook and it becomes one of the sources Gemini Notebook answers from, next to your documents. If you would rather keep the recording itself on your Mac, add the transcript instead of the audio: Dalm sends no audio anywhere, while the transcript syncs to our servers.

A notebook for reading, or a record of what was said

• Gemini Notebook, if your work is reading: papers, reports, a course or a folder of PDFs and links, and you want answers, overviews, flashcards or slides across them, on any computer or phone.
• Dalm, if your work is talking: calls, client meetings across a table, calls on speaker and dictation on a Mac, and you want what was said kept, with each voice apart and the audio staying on the Mac; the text still syncs to our servers.
• Both, if your research includes conversations: record them in Dalm, then add the transcripts to a notebook.

Other comparisons and related pages

If you keep your own notes system and want what is said to reach it, here is how recorded speech fits into it. To transcribe a file without uploading it anywhere, see transcribing a recording on your Mac. For the step-by-step difference, see local and cloud recognition compared.