> NotebookLM answers questions over sources you upload and makes Audio Overviews. Caddie makes notes from your meetings and videos, explains them with narrated visuals, and keeps them with your day.

# Caddie vs NotebookLM

NotebookLM (Google's research notebook, now also called Gemini Notebook) is built for studying a set of sources: upload documents, links and videos, ask questions with citations, and generate Audio Overviews and study aids. Caddie is built for your own work: it makes notes from your meetings and from YouTube or X videos, turns any note into a narrated explainer with visuals, and keeps everything beside your tasks and calendar. Pick NotebookLM for research over many documents; Caddie for notes you'll act on.

Updated 31 October 2026. Facts about NotebookLM come from its own website (sources at the end); Caddie is free while in beta.

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## Caddie vs NotebookLM at a glance

| | Caddie | NotebookLM |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Platforms | Mac (Apple silicon, macOS 13.3+); notes, tasks and calendar in any browser; iPhone in beta | Web, iPhone, Android |
| Price | Free while in beta, then $10 a month for everything | Free; more with Google AI plans |
| Free plan | Everything, while in beta | 100 notebooks, 50 sources each |
| Meeting notes | Records on your Mac, no bot on the call; live transcript in the notch; notes when the call ends | No |
| Meeting promises become tasks | Yes: every promise becomes a task on your day; Linear issues created live on the call | No |
| Dictation in any app | Yes: hold fn in any app; learns names from your notes and calendar; English and Hinglish | No |
| Notes | Yes: notes that sort themselves, search, journal; imports from Notion, Obsidian, Evernote, Apple Notes | Notebooks of sources, with notes and chat |
| Tasks and calendar | Yes: tasks and Google Calendar in one day view, with a Planner that plans your morning | No |
| Booking links | Yes | No |
| AI agents | Yes: agents with routines, running on your own Claude Code or Codex | Chat over your sources |
| MCP server for agents | Yes: usecaddie.app/mcp | Not listed |

## Which should you choose?

### Choose NotebookLM if

- You research across many PDFs, docs and links at once.
- You want quizzes, flashcards and audio overviews to study.
- You're on Windows, Android or a Chromebook.

### Choose Caddie if

- Your material is meetings and videos you want as notes.
- You want visuals with the narration, on a page you can share.
- Notes should turn into tasks on your calendar.
- You're on a Mac.

## What goes in?

NotebookLM takes uploaded sources: PDFs, docs, websites, YouTube videos with captions. Caddie makes notes from what you already have: calls it records with no bot, YouTube and X links, your own notes.

## Audio Overviews vs explainers

NotebookLM's Audio Overviews are a spoken conversation about your sources. Caddie's explainers narrate one note with a visual drawn for each idea, and play on the note's shared page.

## What happens after?

In NotebookLM you read, ask and study. In Caddie a note's promises become tasks, and your agents can read the notes through Caddie's MCP server.

## How much do Caddie and NotebookLM cost?

NotebookLM is free with limits (100 notebooks, 50 sources each), with more through Google's AI plans. Caddie is free while in beta, then $10 a month for everything; explainer narration after your first one uses your own ElevenLabs key.

## Questions people ask

### Is Caddie a NotebookLM alternative?

For notes from videos and meetings, and narrated explainers, yes. For research across dozens of uploaded documents, NotebookLM is stronger.

### Can Caddie make audio overviews?

It makes narrated explainers of a note, with visuals. They're shorter and visual rather than a two-host conversation.

### Does Caddie work with YouTube?

Yes: paste a YouTube or X link for notes chapter by chapter, with a transcript that follows the video.

## Sources

- [NotebookLM](https://notebooklm.google)
- [Caddie explainers](https://usecaddie.app/explainers/)
- [Caddie video notes](https://usecaddie.app/youtube-summarizer/)
- [Caddie features and pricing](https://usecaddie.app/)

Checked 31 October 2026. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, email harsha@usecaddie.app and we'll fix it.

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