Is Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) Free for Students?

Short answer: yes. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) is free for students, and for anyone else with an eligible Google account. However, the better question is whether you can get the paid tiers free too. That depends on where you study, how old you are and which account you use. Below is every student offer we could confirm on official Google and Jio pages, plus what the free tier already gives you.

Key Takeaways

• Gemini Notebook’s free tier is open to any student with an eligible Google account.
• Eligible US college students can get Google AI Pro free for 12 months if they claim by December 31, 2026 (Google, 2026).
• Students in 140+ other markets can get Google AI Plus free for a year.
• School accounts get Gemini Notebook at no cost once an admin turns it on.

Is Gemini Notebook free for students?

Yes. Any eligible personal Google account gets Gemini Notebook free, students included, with up to 100 notebooks and 50 sources in each (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). In fact, there’s no student edition and no trial clock. Flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and Audio Overviews all come with the free tier. That matters more than it sounds, because practice testing is one of only two study methods a major review rated “high utility” (Dunlosky et al., 2013). In other words, the most useful study tools sit on the free plan. The free plan also includes several quiz formats, editable flashcards, interactive learning overviews and roughly 60-second Video Overviews, and all of them work on personal Google accounts (Google Workspace Updates, 2026). Our guide to Gemini Notebook flashcards and quizzes shows how to use them. Thus, for most students, free covers the whole semester.

The questions students type show where the confusion is. When we analyzed 1,451 Google autocomplete suggestions for Gemini Notebook topics in October 2026, we found “notebooklm free for students 1 year”, “notebooklm plus free for students” and “is notebooklm free for students in india” among them. Accordingly, this post answers all three.

Those tools are only as good as what you feed them, however, and getting lectures, readings and the AI chats you studied with into a notebook is the slow part.

Can students get Gemini Notebook Pro free for a year?

Yes, if you’re an eligible US college student. Google’s student offer gives you a free year of Google AI Pro if you claim it by December 31, 2026 (Google, 2026). Google AI Pro is Google’s $19.99-a-month plan, and it includes 4x higher usage limits in Gemini, 5 TB of storage and Pro-level Gemini Notebook. Specifically, in Gemini Notebook that means 500 notebooks, 300 sources per notebook and four times the standard usage allowance. Meanwhile, students in more than 140 other markets get a free year of Google AI Plus instead, with 2x higher usage limits and 400 GB of storage. Notably, the Plus offer excludes the US, Albania, Bolivia, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau and Tunisia. Had a Pro trial in 2025 that expired? You can claim again, according to Google’s student page (Gemini for Students, 2026). However, you need a valid payment method at sign-up, and the plan renews at full price when the year ends unless you cancel. Studying in Spain or Mexico? Our Spanish guide has the local terms and prices.

Here’s how the three student routes compare. Importantly, the prices are the renewal rates Google states, so check them on the day you sign up.

Offer	Who can get it	What’s included	After the free period
Google AI Pro, 12 months free	US college students aged 18+	4x Gemini usage, 5 TB storage, Pro-level Gemini Notebook.	$19.99 a month unless you cancel.
Google AI Plus, 12 months free	Students in 140+ markets, excluding the US, Albania, Bolivia, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau and Tunisia.	2x Gemini usage, 400 GB storage, Plus-level Gemini Notebook	$4.99 a month or the local equivalent.
Google AI Pro + YouTube Premium bundle	Students in select markets	Up to 70% off, for up to 4 years	Renews at the standard monthly price when student status ends.

At those list prices, the Pro year is worth $239.88 and the Plus year $59.88. That’s 12 months at the renewal prices Google states. In other words, it’s also what a forgotten cancellation costs you next year. Who remembers a renewal date a year out? Set a calendar reminder the day you claim.

How to claim the free student year

Claiming needs three things: a personal Google account, a school email address and a payment method. Google One’s help center lists 4 steps (Google One Help, 2026). SheerID is the verification service that checks your school email.

1. Sign in with a personal Google account, not your school one.
2. Go to one.google.com/ai-student and pick the offer shown for your country.
3. Verify with SheerID using your school email address.
4. Add a payment method and confirm.

Some students can’t claim it, however. Check these before you start:

• Family group members must leave their shared plan first.
• Memberships through third-party partners, Pixel Pass or Google Fi don’t qualify.
• Re-verification through SheerID is usually due every 12 months, for up to 4 consecutive years (Google One Help, 2026).

Is Gemini Notebook free with Jio in India?

Yes, though the Jio offer isn’t student-only. Jio’s page lists a free 18-month Google AI Pro plan for Jio users aged 18 and over (Jio, 2026), and its benefits list includes NotebookLM with more Audio Overviews and notebooks. To qualify, however, you need an active unlimited 5G plan of Rs 349 or more. Then you claim it in the MyJio app by tapping the Google Gemini banner and registering your Gmail ID. The offer comes from a Google and Reliance partnership (Google India, 2025), and it covers every eligible Jio user over 18. There are two catches. First, your 5G plan must stay active for all 18 months. Second, each mobile number can claim only once. Jio’s page calls this an “exclusive limited-time offer” with no end date, so confirm the banner in MyJio before you count on it.

In addition, generated visuals such as infographics and videos get a visible watermark if you live in India, South Korea or Vietnam, even on Pro (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026).

Can students under 18 use Gemini Notebook?

Yes, in most cases. Personal accounts work for users above the age of consent in their country, and users under 18 get stricter content policies (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Some features are for adults only. For example, real-time voice conversation with notebooks is limited to users 18 or older (Google Workspace Updates, 2026). Similarly, discounts add their own age rules. The US Pro year is for college students aged 18 and over (Gemini for Students, 2026), and Jio’s offer is also for users 18 and over. Consequently, a student under 18 usually can’t use either discount on a personal account. Are you under 18? Then your school account is usually the better route, because Google makes Gemini Notebook available to Workspace for Education users of all ages (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). That said, your school’s admin still has to switch it on. If notebook.google.com won’t open with your school email, ask your school’s IT team whether Gemini Notebook is enabled.

Do school accounts get Gemini Notebook for free?

Usually, yes. Google says Gemini Notebook is “included in all Google Workspace for Education editions free of charge,” and that it’s available to users of all ages once a school admin enables it (Google for Education, 2026). It’s a core service in Education Fundamentals, Standard and Plus, so it comes with your school account at no cost to you (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Schools also get stronger privacy. Uploads, chats and responses aren’t reviewed by humans or used to train AI models, unless you send feedback, when Google may review the full context. Similarly, the data falls under the Workspace for Education privacy notice rather than consumer terms. On the other hand, the student discounts need a personal Google account, so they don’t work on school-issued ones (Google One Help, 2026). In particular, which limits you get depends on your school’s license, as the table below shows. Teachers setting this up can start with our Gemini Notebook for teachers guide.

School license	Gemini Notebook level	Same limits as
Education Fundamentals or Education Standard	Standard access	Free.
Education Plus or Teaching and Learning add-on	More access	Plus.
Google AI Pro for Education	Higher level access	Pro.

Free vs Plus vs Pro: what do students get?

The free tier covers most coursework, such as readings, lecture notes and past papers, and paid tiers mainly add room. Plus doubles capacity to 200 notebooks with 100 sources each. In contrast, Pro raises it to 500 notebooks with 300 sources (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Usage refreshes every five hours up to a weekly cap, and Pro gets 4x the standard allowance (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026). Google’s plan comparison lists no daily count for any single feature, Deep Research included (Gemini Notebook Help, 2026).

Study need	Free	Plus	Pro
Notebooks	100	200	500.
Sources per notebook	50	100	300.
Usage allowance	Standard	2x	4x.
Flashcards, quizzes, mind maps, Audio Overviews	Included	Included	Included.
Visible watermark removal	No	No	Yes, outside India, South Korea and Vietnam.

Taking one or two courses a term? Then 50 sources per notebook is often plenty, and a free year mostly buys headroom for exam week. Our student workflow and guide on how to study with Gemini Notebook show how to stay inside free limits. For every tier side by side, see our plan comparison.

How does Kortex help students on the free plan?

Kortex is a free Chrome extension we built to stretch the free tier rather than replace it. Its free plan includes 10 exports and 10 imports a day, plus 10 saved prompts, and Pro costs $9.99 a month or $4.92 a month billed yearly (Kortex pricing, 2026). It runs in Chrome, Edge, Brave and other Chromium browsers. Three features matter most for studying. First, an import button inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity sends a chat to a notebook as a labelled source. Second, one table collects every study guide, flashcard set and quiz across your notebooks. Third, export saves notes as PDF or Markdown for revision anywhere. Nevertheless, one caveat applies to younger students: per its privacy policy, Kortex “is not designed for anyone younger than 18 and should not be used by a minor.” Study inside ChatGPT or Claude? Kortex Pro and Lifetime include Kortex MCP, and our guide to making flashcards, quizzes and Audio Overviews from chat shows how it works.

Free Gemini Notebook plus one of Google’s student years covers most course loads. What’s left is getting material in and revision notes out.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini Notebook free for students?

Yes. Gemini Notebook is free for anyone with an eligible Google account, students included, with up to 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook. There’s no separate student version and no trial period. Flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and Audio Overviews are all part of the free tier.

Is there a Gemini Notebook student discount?

Yes, through Google AI plans. Eligible US college students aged 18 and over can get Google AI Pro free for 12 months, which includes Pro-level Gemini Notebook. Students in more than 140 other markets can get Google AI Plus free for a year. Both offers must be claimed by December 31, 2026 (Google, 2026).

How do I claim the Google AI student offer?

Go to one.google.com/ai-student with a personal Google account, choose the offer for your country, verify your student status through SheerID with your school email, and add a payment method. The plan renews at the regular price after 12 months unless you cancel before then.

Does the Jio offer include Gemini Notebook?

Yes. Jio’s offer gives eligible users 18 months of Google AI Pro, which includes expanded Gemini Notebook access. You need to be 18 or older with an active Jio unlimited 5G plan of Rs 349 or more, and you claim it in the MyJio app. Jio describes it as a limited-time offer.

Can students under 18 use Gemini Notebook?

Often, yes. Personal accounts work above the age of consent in your country, with stricter content rules for users under 18 and some features limited to adults. School accounts on Workspace for Education can use Gemini Notebook at any age, once the school’s admin turns it on.

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Editorial note: fact-checked against the official help pages and docs linked above on October 26, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Contact us and we will fix it, or read more about Kortex.