Software Alternatives & Startups

NotebookLM VS Explain Everything

Compare NotebookLM VS Explain Everything and see what are their differences

NotebookLM

AI-first notebook by Google, available in the U.S., blends large language models and user-chosen data. Apply for access to explore intelligent insights and enhance your note-taking experience.

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0 reviews
Explain Everything

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that...

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0 reviews
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, NotebookLM should be more popular than Explain Everything. It has been mentioned 10 times since March 2021.

social mentions
10 vs 6
AI popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 91

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

NLM
NotebookLM
Explain Everything
Website notebook.google.com explaineverything.com
Pricing —
Listed in

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

NLM
NotebookLM 4 features
Explain Everything 5 features
  • Integration with Google Workspace
    NotebookLM is seamlessly integrated with Google Workspace, allowing users to efficiently embed and access documents from Google Docs, Sheets, and other Workspace apps.
  • AI-Powered Assistance
    The platform uses AI to provide smart suggestions and insights, enhancing productivity by auto-completing tasks and reducing manual effort.
  • Real-Time Collaboration
    NotebookLM supports real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same notebook simultaneously, similar to Google Docs.
  • Flexibility and Customizability
    Users can customize their notebooks with various widgets and functionalities to suit their specific workflow needs.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Offline Access
    NotebookLM primarily operates online, which can be a limitation for users requiring offline access to their documents and tools.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with many AI-powered and cloud-based tools, there are potential privacy concerns related to data security and the handling of personal information.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The integration of advanced features might present a steep learning curve for new users unfamiliar with Google Workspace or AI functionalities.
  • Dependence on Google Ecosystem
    Users who do not regularly use Google Workspace may find limited utility in NotebookLM due to its strong integration with Google's ecosystem.
  • Versatile Toolset
    Explain Everything provides a robust set of tools for creating interactive and engaging presentations, including drawing tools, animation features, and multimedia integration.
  • Collaborative Features
    The platform allows multiple users to collaborate in real-time, making it ideal for group projects and collaborative learning environments.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    It is available on multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, and the web, providing flexibility and accessibility to a wide range of users.
  • Cloud Integration
    Explain Everything supports cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox, making it easy to store and share projects.
  • Interactive and Engaging
    The platform's tools encourage interactive and dynamic content, which can enhance engagement and retention in an educational setting.

Possible disadvantages

  • Learning Curve
    The extensive toolset may be overwhelming for new users, leading to a steeper learning curve compared to simpler presentation tools.
  • Cost
    While it offers a free version, advanced features require a subscription, which might not be affordable for all users, especially in educational institutions with limited budgets.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues, such as lagging or crashing, particularly when handling larger projects or on older devices.
  • Complex Interface
    The interface can be perceived as cluttered due to the multitude of available options, which could detract from the user experience.
  • Limited Offline Capabilities
    Certain features and functionalities are limited or unavailable without an internet connection, which can be a drawback in environments with unreliable or no internet access.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

NLM
NotebookLM
Explain Everything

Overall verdict

  • NotebookLM is a genuinely useful AI-powered research and note-taking tool from Google that excels at grounding responses in your own uploaded documents, reducing hallucinations and making it reliable for studying, research, and summarization.

Why this product is good

  • It grounds all answers in your uploaded sources, so responses cite specific documents and reduce AI hallucinations
  • Supports a wide range of source types including PDFs, Google Docs, websites, YouTube videos, and pasted text
  • The Audio Overview feature can turn your notes into a podcast-style conversation for easier learning
  • Great at summarizing, generating study guides, FAQs, timelines, and briefing documents from your materials
  • Free to use with a generous set of features backed by Google's Gemini models
  • Inline citations make it easy to verify where information comes from

Recommended for

  • Students studying from textbooks, lecture notes, and research papers
  • Researchers and academics organizing and synthesizing large volumes of source material
  • Writers and journalists managing notes and reference documents
  • Professionals who need to quickly summarize reports, contracts, or documentation
  • Anyone who wants an AI assistant that answers based on their own trusted sources rather than the open web

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Explain Everything is generally considered a good tool for educators, trainers, and professionals looking to create engaging and interactive content. Its cross-platform compatibility and cloud integration add to its appeal.

Why this product is good

  • Explain Everything is a versatile interactive whiteboard app that allows users to create presentations, animations, and screencasts with a wide range of multimedia elements. It's popular for its collaborative features, enabling real-time group participation, and its intuitive design, which makes it accessible for users of varying skill levels.

Recommended for

  • Educators who want to enhance classroom presentations and lectures.
  • Students for creating dynamic projects and presentations.
  • Corporate trainers designing interactive training modules.
  • Content creators seeking tools for producing educational videos or tutorials.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

NLM
NotebookLM 2 videos + Add
Explain Everything 3 videos + Add

Google made a new AI note app - NotebookLM review

More videos

  • - Don't Pay for NotebookLM Plus Until You Watch This!

Explain Everything - Whiteboard, Annotation and a Touch of Awesome

More videos

  • - EdTech Showdown: Educreations vs. Explain Everything
  • - Explain Everything Whiteboard and Explain EDU – Which version to get for your school?

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
NLM
NotebookLM
Explain Everything
100% 100%
AI
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using NotebookLM and Explain Everything. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

NLM
NotebookLM no reviews yet
Explain Everything no reviews yet

We have no reviews of NotebookLM yet. Be the first one to post

  • 5 Best Microsoft White­board Alternatives
    www.guidingtech.com · May 2020

    Explain Everything works a little like the whiteboard option in Zoom or Meet, where you will create a whiteboard and send an invite code to others. There are no desktop apps, but it works on any browser and has...

  • The 11 best online whiteboards
    zapier.com · Mar 2019

    As a whiteboard, Explain Everything lets you draw, add text, upload files, and create basic shapes. All fairly standard. But because it offers video recording capabilities, it allows you to record your whiteboard—and...

  • 6 Jamboard Alternatives to Interactive Whiteboard
    blog.heyhi.sg · Oct 2016

    Known to have similar features to our traditional Microsoft Paint, Explain Everything is a jamboard that allows you to draw, add text, upload files, and create basic shapes while teaching. Without paying, you will be...

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

NLM
NotebookLM 10 mentions
Explain Everything 6 mentions
  • Associate Cloud Engineer Certification Path
    Gemini Notebook only generates content based on your sources and will not hallucinate or provide false or unrelated information. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this platform while following through with this certification... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • How to Summarize PDFs Locally with Open-Source LLMs (No API, No Data Leaving Your Machine)
    You just need a few summaries occasionally. Standing up Ollama, a model, and an extraction pipeline to summarize five PDFs is overkill. If privacy isn't the constraint, a free web tool does it in seconds — ChatPDF and NotebookLM if you... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Tools I'm Using in 2026 (and what I've stopped using from 2025)
    Last year I was heavily into Perplexity but for most of 2026 I've actually been using NotebookLM a lot more. Perplexity is still useful for just daily news, but when I want to research, when I want to summarise, when I want to learn...... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago

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  • Use cases for the Canvas
    Logseq even has a Beta Canvas (whiteboard). There's even a Microsoft Windows Whiteboard app on my computer. Here's an app called "Explain Everything" that's on my tablet. It lets us, on a whiteboard, 'explain everything" just like a... Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Apple removes headphone jack from new 10th generation iPad
    Like any other tool, it's in how you use it. If it's just a case of, "Go play games to learn how to spell!" then yes, I agree (and is why I never installed Angry Birds, much to some teacher's chagrin). But you have some pretty neat... Source: almost 4 years ago
  • What is the best simple setup for recording high quality audio on an iPad with the Explain Everything app?
    I am helping a friend out who makes educational YouTube videos on their iPad Pro (2018 model with USB-C) with the Explain Everything app. It's a whiteboarding app that allows you to make videos by whiteboarding and talking at the same time. Source: almost 5 years ago

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Alternatives to NotebookLM and Explain Everything

When comparing NotebookLM and Explain Everything, you can also consider the following products.