You might be revising your own notes for your final exams at school, or working through a term's worth of lecture slides and old exams before your January exams at university. Studyflash and NotebookLM, the AI notebook at notebook.google.com that is now called Gemini Notebook, both turn that material into flashcards and quizzes. This NotebookLM review looks at which of them gets you ready for the exam.
The short answer: For learning your own notes, lecture slides and old exams for an exam, Studyflash is the better choice. Our test in October 2026 gave both apps the same four lecture presentations, 140 slides in all, and Studyflash made 258 flashcards from them where NotebookLM made 55. Studyflash also schedules your reviews up to the exam date. Its mock exam follows the shape of your own old exams.
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| Studyflash | NotebookLM | |
|---|---|---|
| Flashcards | 258 cards from the same lectures, in the card types and detail you pick | 55 cards, fewer than there were slides |
| Reviews | Each card's next review set by how well you know it, up to your exam | No review schedule, so you pick when to go back |
| Mock exam | A timed, graded mock exam shaped like your old exams, with Premium | Quizzes only, no mock exam |
| Free plan | Cards, quizzes, spaced repetition and unlimited chat with Max, Studyflash's AI tutor | Cards and quizzes with a Google account, within usage limits |
| Price | Free plan with no time limit; Premium's price shows in the app. See what each plan includes | Higher limits with a Google AI plan, from €4.99 |
| Platforms | Web and apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, with offline study in the apps | Web and apps for iPhone, iPad and Android |
| Best for | Your own slides and notes on cards, and every tool whenever you want | Quick look at a few sources, no exam ahead |
Prices and features checked 28 October 2026; prices vary by country and store.
Studyflash puts every relevant point on a card, NotebookLM's flashcards make a short deck
Studyflash, like NotebookLM, makes flashcards from your uploads, but only Studyflash is built to cover all your material: everything relevant in your slides becomes a card.
You set how detailed the cards are and choose which of Studyflash's six card types to make. If a deck still isn't how you want it, regenerate it with a note to Max, and the cards you wrote yourself stay.
From the same four lectures, NotebookLM made 55 cards to Studyflash's 258, fewer cards than slides, though many slides hold more than one point to learn. Your Studyflash deck works through each lecture point by point.
Some of NotebookLM's cards also gave the answer away in the picture on the front. Studyflash's image occlusion works the other way round: it hides part of the diagram, so the label is what you recall.
With Studyflash, every card's review is planned up to your exam date
Spaced repetition is what carries a whole term of material to the exam. In Studyflash, it times each card's next review by how well you know that card. Studyflash brings back the cards you missed, and NotebookLM can too, but only Studyflash puts every card on a schedule.
You add your exam date to each course and get a countdown, plus a suggested daily count of new cards set by the days left.
The study plan opens with an overview, then goes topic by topic, showing how well you know each. Its last step is a mock exam. The plan suggests an order for the topics; you don't have to follow it.
No review schedule is the gap in NotebookLM for students with a term to learn: without one, cards from earlier lectures come back only if you remember to open them again. In Studyflash, every day until the exam, that day's due cards are waiting.
A graded mock exam shaped like your real exam, or a quiz alone
A rehearsal of the exam itself tells you more than any single question. Studyflash builds one for the whole course from every deck and source you have added. Both apps make quizzes with as many questions as you choose, but the mock exam is Studyflash's alone.
Upload your old exams and the mock exam follows their structure and question style. Studyflash has eight question types for it, essay and calculation among them. It is timed and graded on your country's scale. Without old exams, you set the number of questions, the time limit and the question types yourself. You can sit one whenever you like, as often as you like.
NotebookLM made quizzes from the same lectures but no mock exam, so the nearest thing to a full written exam was a quiz with no clock and no grade. With Studyflash, you sit a mock exam shaped like your real one before your January exams or final exams at school.
Which one to pick
NotebookLM suits you when there is no exam to learn for and you only want a quick look through a few sources.
- Your own notes and slides, all of it on cards: Studyflash turns everything relevant into a card, in the types and level of detail you choose.
- Reviews planned up to the exam: Studyflash schedules each card by how well you know it. Set the exam date on a course to get a countdown, and every course has its own study plan.
- A rehearsal shaped like your exam: Studyflash builds a timed, graded mock exam from your old exams.
- A free start: Studyflash's free plan covers flashcards, quizzes and spaced repetition, with no ads. You can chat with Max, Studyflash's AI tutor, as much as you like.
How we tested
Maximilian S. from the Studyflash team ran the test in October 2026. He uploaded the same four master's-level lecture presentations to both apps, unchanged: 140 slides heavy on images and charts, formulas, definitions and worked examples, with many notes a student had typed onto the slides. He counted the cards each app made and checked what they showed. He also looked at whether reviews were scheduled and whether a mock exam could be built.
Questions and answers
If you study from your own slides and notes, yes: when we gave both apps 140 lecture slides in October 2026, Studyflash came back with 258 flashcards against NotebookLM's 55. That makes Studyflash the stronger app for exam prep from material you already have, since its decks are built to go through each lecture in full.
Yes, NotebookLM costs nothing if you sign in with a Google account, with an allowance that renews every few hours and a weekly maximum. Higher limits come with the Google AI Plus and Google AI Pro plans. Studyflash's free plan gives you flashcards, quizzes and spaced repetition, and chat with Max, Studyflash's AI tutor, has no limit. New material comes from a monthly allowance of AI generations; Premium adds unlimited generations, a podcast of your material and the mock exam.
Not on its own for learning for an exam: NotebookLM plans no reviews, so you decide yourself when each set of cards comes back. Studyflash plans them for you: each card returns on a schedule that follows how well you know it.
Quizzes from your sources are where NotebookLM stops; it builds no mock exam. Studyflash builds one from your old exams, with a timer and a grade on your country's scale.
For your own slides, notes and old exams, no: some NotebookLM cards had the answer visible in the image on the question side, so you could get them right without remembering a thing. Studyflash is the stronger choice here, because every relevant point of your slides ends up on a card, at the detail you set.
NotebookLM and Gemini Notebook are the same product. Google gave NotebookLM its new name in July, and notebooklm.google.com takes you to the new address.
NotebookLM is a notebook that holds your sources, while Studyflash is built to get that material learned for an exam, and Max answers your questions on it with the passage cited. Studyflash puts each relevant point of your lectures on a card, schedules every card's review up to the exam and shapes its mock exam like your own old exams.
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