Head to head · Chat & research · updated Oct 25, 2026
NotebookLM vs AskYourPDF
NotebookLM scores 17 to AskYourPDF's 10 on public evidence for chat with PDFs & documents, and they rank #2 and #4 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
NotebookLM
A grounded research notebook that answers only from the sources you upload and can turn them into Audio Overview podcasts.
+ Answers are grounded strictly in your uploaded PDFs, Docs, URLs and YouTube videos with citations, and Audio Overviews turn them into a two-host podcast.
− Sources are capped per notebook and the free tier limits daily queries and audio generations.
AskYourPDF
Chat with PDFs and other documents via web app, Chrome extension, ChatGPT plugin or API.
+ Available almost everywhere, including an API for developers who want document Q&A inside their own product.
− Answer quality is middling on long documents and the free tier is restrictive on uploads and questions.
Side by side
public evidence| NotebookLM | AskYourPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 17 | 10 |
| GitHub stars | closed source | closed source |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 1 | 0 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Last activity | – | – |
| Pricing | Free tier · Free; NotebookLM Plus via Google AI Pro $19.99/mo | Free tier |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | web, chrome-extension, api |
| Maker | AskYourPDF |
Which one?
Pick NotebookLM if
- you want the stronger public evidence (17 vs 10)
- you need it on android, ios
Best for studying a fixed set of documents.
Pick AskYourPDF if
- you need it on api, chrome-extension
Best for document Q&A with an API option.