Mindgrasp AI markets itself as a study tool, but its headline feature is an AI Homework Helper that takes a photographed problem or an uploaded assignment and returns step-by-step solutions.
NotebookLM, renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026, answers only from sources you upload, with citations, and will not hand you a worked solution to tonight's assignment.
That difference decides most of this page, so it is worth stating up front rather than at the end.
Round by round
Four jobs, and which of the two does each one better.
Round 1
Trying it at all
NotebookLM
NotebookLM is free and needs no card: 50 sources per notebook, 100 notebooks, 50 chats a day. Mindgrasp has no free tier whatsoever, and Apple’s App Store listing states plainly that a subscription is required to access its features. It also publishes no pricing page, since /pricing, /plans and /price all return 404, so the only citable figures are Apple’s in-app tiers of $12.99 to $14.99 a month or $99.99 to $131.99 a year. This round is not close.
Round 2
What you can feed it
Mindgrasp AI
Mindgrasp accepts a wider range of inputs, video lectures among them, and plugs into more places than NotebookLM does. Credit where it is due: if your material arrives as recordings and you want summaries and flashcards out of them, Mindgrasp handles that intake more comfortably.
Round 3
Daily ceilings once you are paying
Mindgrasp AI
Once you are past the paywall, Mindgrasp’s daily limits are more generous than NotebookLM’s free tier, which caps chats and generations per day. If you are working through a large volume in a short window and have already paid, you will hit fewer walls.
Round 4
Getting your money back
NotebookLM
Mindgrasp’s terms make cancellation email-only, effective within 7 business days, and exclude refunds. Its Trustpilot rating sits in the low 2-star range dominated by billing complaints, and it carries an active Better Business Bureau file with recurring themes of difficulty cancelling and charges continuing after a disputed cancellation. NotebookLM wins by not requiring any of this: no card, no renewal, nothing to dispute.
At a glance
Mindgrasp AI
vs
NotebookLM
Homework solver with summaries and flashcards
What it is
Source-grounded notebook with citations
None. Subscription required
Free tier
50 sources per notebook, 50 chats a day
$12.99 to $14.99/mo, $99.99 to $131.99/yr
Price
Free. From $4.99/mo via Google AI Plus
Yes, its headline feature
Solves homework
No
Email only, within 7 business days, no refunds
Cancellation
Standard Google subscription
Yes
Video input
Limited
Who should pick which
These are not really the same kind of product, so the question is whether you want the assignment finished or the material understood.
Pick Mindgrasp AI if
- You want worked solutions to assignments and have decided that is what you need
- Your material arrives as video lectures
- You are working through high volume and have already paid
- You have read the cancellation terms and accept them
Pick NotebookLM if
- You want to try something before entering a card
- You want every claim traceable to a passage you uploaded
- Budget is the deciding factor
- You would rather not have a homework solver in your study tool
A third option, and it is ours
Both of these are intake tools. They leave you holding a much nicer pile of material and the same original problem: at some point you have to produce this yourself, under time pressure, with nothing in front of you. Neither one ever asks you to.
That is what Akono does instead, and it is ours, so weigh this accordingly. Same input, your slides or recordings, but it builds a course from them and runs sessions where a tutor asks the questions, reads what you wrote, and picks the next question from your answer. What you misunderstand stays on file until you can state it correctly. The plan works backwards from your exam date.
Where it is honestly the wrong tool: it does not record lectures, it is built for exams weeks out rather than tonight, it is weaker for pure calculation drilling, and there is no free tier. A 3-day trial, card required, then €11.99 a month or €59.88 a year. If free is non-negotiable, take NotebookLM from this page and ignore this section.