Study smarter, not harder: three AI tools for understanding readings, researching topics and getting unstuck.
Researched from official sources, updated today, 2 min readAI tools can help students understand readings, research topics and work through tricky problems. This guide is for students who want useful AI help, ideally for free. We compared the AI tools in our inventory and picked three that cover different parts of studying. Prices were checked on November 1, 2026. Always follow your school's rules on AI use.
| NotebookLM | ChatGPT | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Studying your own readings and notes | Explanations, practice and all-round help | Researching topics with cited sources |
| Price | Free standard plan; higher limits with Google AI plans | Free; paid Go, Plus and Pro (prices vary by region) | Free; Pro $17/month |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web |
Studying your own readings and notes
NotebookLM, now presented by Google as Gemini Notebook, is a source-grounded research and learning tool. You add documents, websites, YouTube videos or text to a notebook, then ask questions, generate summaries and other study materials, and listen to audio overviews based on those sources. Because answers are based on what you added, it's well suited to course readings and lecture notes. The standard plan is free.
Pick it if you want help understanding and reviewing your own course material.
Explanations, practice and all-round help
ChatGPT is OpenAI's AI chatbot. OpenAI says it helps with answering questions, voice conversations, image creation, working with files, research and coding. For students, that can mean explaining a concept a different way or talking through a problem step by step. There's a free plan.
Pick it if you want a general study helper you can ask about almost anything.
Researching topics with cited sources
Perplexity is an AI search and research assistant that answers questions using web information and shows citations. You can ask follow-up questions and use voice input. Citations make it easier to find and check real sources for essays and projects.
Pick it if you're researching a topic and need sources you can look up yourself.
Also consider: Claude (writing, research and coding help, with a free plan) and Goodnotes (handwritten notes and PDF markup with AI features).
Start with NotebookLM if you have readings to get through; it keeps answers tied to your sources. Add ChatGPT for explanations and general help, and Perplexity when you need to research and cite. All three have free plans, which is enough for most students.