Jellypod vs. NotebookLM: In-Depth Comparison for AI Podcasts

Choosing the right tool is crucial when diving into the world of AI-generated podcasts. Two prominent contenders often mentioned are Google's NotebookLM and the upstart platform Jellypod. But which one truly excels at creating compelling AI podcasts?

To answer that, we put them to the test in a head-to-head competition, evaluating them across eight categories crucial for podcast creation. We used the same topic for both: "The Future of AI Podcasting."

Watch the full comparison video here:

Here's how they stacked up in each category:

The 8 Key Categories

Research: Ability to gather and process source material.
Hosts: Voice quality, customization, and accent options.
Languages & Internationalization: Support for multiple languages.
Naturalness: Conversational flow and banter between hosts.
Interactivity: Ability for the user/listener to engage with the content.
Narrative Control: Shaping the story arc and structure.
Accuracy (Script Editing): Ability to edit the generated script precisely.
Distribution: Options for sharing the final podcast.

Let's break down the results category by category.

1. Research

NotebookLM: Showcases impressive research capabilities. You can add up to 300 sources, including PDFs, Google Docs, Slides, websites, videos, and text. The "Discover Sources" feature attempts to find related content, though its relevance varied slightly in our test. Processing numerous sources is smooth, demonstrating significant research power.
Jellypod: Offers a "Research Canvas" allowing file uploads (around 50 types, including PPT and Excel), web search, and manual source additions (text, URLs). The web search pulled in relevant sources effectively. However, it's limited to 10 sources per episode. While potentially enough for a single episode, it's significantly less than NotebookLM's capacity.

Winner: NotebookLM (Hard to argue with 300 sources)

2. Hosts (Voice Customization)

NotebookLM: Allows some guidance on host style (e.g., "British Gen Z high schoolers"). The AI attempts to adopt the persona, impacting the delivery style, but doesn't change the underlying accent or voice fundamentally. It feels more like an impression than true character embodiment.
Jellypod: Provides extensive host customization. You can choose from a large library of voices with different accents (British, Australian, etc.), clone your own voice, or even design a completely new AI voice from scratch. This allows for precise control over the podcast's sound and personality.

Winner: Jellypod (Accents, backstories, voice cloning offer far more control)

3. Languages & Internationalization

NotebookLM: Allows changing the account's primary language (e.g., Spanish), which translates much of the interface and text output. However, in our test, the actual voice output remained American English, despite the language setting change. There might be user error, but it wasn't intuitive to get non-English voice output.
Jellypod: Directly supports creating hosts and generating audio in 29 different languages. You can easily select a Spanish voice, for example, and generate Spanish audio. The ease of use for multilingual content creation is straightforward.

Winner: Jellypod (Despite Google's general strength in internationalization, Jellypod's direct voice language support was easier and more effective in this context)

4. Naturalness (Banter & Conversational Flow)

NotebookLM: Excels here. The generated conversation feels remarkably natural, like two people who know each other having a real discussion in the same room. The banter and flow are impressive, though sometimes it takes a while to get to the main topic.
Jellypod: The voices sound great, and the conversation flows logically back and forth. However, it feels slightly more like two presenters delivering information rather than best friends chatting casually. There's less "banter about nothing."

Winner: NotebookLM (The uncanny, natural conversational dynamic is hard to beat)

5. Interactivity

NotebookLM: Offers direct interaction. You can ask questions within the notebook, and the AI responds quickly and naturally, pulling you into the content.
Jellypod: Primarily a content generation and distribution tool. You can watch, read, or listen, but you cannot directly interact with or ask questions of the generated podcast content itself.

Winner: NotebookLM (Clear win due to its conversational AI nature)

6. Narrative Control

NotebookLM: Allows giving narrative guidance (e.g., "introduce yourselves," "make this point minor"). Some guidance comes through (like adding an introduction), but the AI often seems to stick to its own interpretation of the structure or focus (e.g., overemphasizing a minor example). Getting precise narrative control feels challenging.
Jellypod: Provides an explicit outline/story arc structure after research. Users can delete, add, or reorder chapters easily, defining the exact past/present/future structure desired. The generated script closely follows this user-defined outline.

Winner: Jellypod (Direct control over chapters and outline structure provides superior narrative shaping)

7. Accuracy (Script Editing)

NotebookLM: Doesn't appear to offer a way to directly edit the generated script that feeds the final audio output. While you can interact via chat, these edits don't seem reflected in the downloadable audio/transcript. You're largely stuck with the AI's initial script.
Jellypod: Provides a full transcript editor. You can change words, reassign lines to different hosts, break paragraphs, and insert specific branding or phrasing easily. The final audio generation reflects these precise edits.

Winner: Jellypod (Direct script editing capability is essential for accuracy and branding, and NotebookLM lacks it)

8. Distribution

NotebookLM: Offers sharing via a link, potentially with individuals or groups, including a welcome note. However, accessing the shared notebook requires a Google account login (gated access). It mentions analytics becoming available after four viewers.
Jellypod: Provides multiple distribution options: downloadable MP3 audio, MP4 audiogram video, and captions. It generates an ungated share page (no login required), a custom subdomain website for the podcast, an embeddable player, and direct integrations/RSS feeds for platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Winner: Jellypod (Ungated sharing, multiple formats, embeddable players, custom website, and direct platform integration offer far more comprehensive distribution)

Final Score & Conclusion

After tallying the wins across the eight categories:

Jellypod: 5 wins NotebookLM: 3 wins

While NotebookLM brings incredible research depth and strikingly natural conversational banter, Jellypod ultimately wins for podcast creation due to its superior voice customization, narrative control, script editing accuracy, and robust distribution options – features critical for producing polished, professional-sounding podcasts.

It honestly feels like comparing apples and oranges:

NotebookLM is a powerful tool for the mind – excellent for research, learning, and interactive exploration of information.
Jellypod is purpose-built for AI-powered storytelling and podcast production, offering the controls needed for crafting a specific audio narrative.

The choice comes down to a fundamental question: Who do you want telling the story – you or the AI? If you want deep interaction and natural AI conversation based on vast research, NotebookLM is compelling. If you want to shape a specific narrative with customized voices and distribute it widely as a polished podcast, Jellypod currently holds the edge.

The future of AI podcasting won't be one-size-fits-all, and these two tools clearly demonstrate different strengths for different goals.

Try Jellypod for free.