The NotebookLM alternative for video & audio
Love asking questions of your sources, but your sources are recordings — not documents? That's exactly what Silestis is for.
NotebookLM is a great research notebook for documents. But if the content you want to question lives in lectures, webinars, YouTube, and podcasts, you need a tool built around media — not files.
Silestis is that alternative: paste a supported link or use the browser extension on a supported page, create a transcript, and ask questions with [mm:ss] citations when the selected mode provides timestamps. Add speaker labels, semantic search across your transcripts, and EU-configured storage.
| Silestis | NotebookLM | |
|---|---|---|
| Ask questions, get grounded answers | ||
| Built for video & audio sources | ||
| Transcribe supported web videos (YouTube, many supported sites) | ||
| Browser extension for supported video pages | ||
| Timestamped [mm:ss] answers | ||
| Speaker diarization | ||
| Export SRT / VTT / TXT / PDF / DOCX | Limited | |
| Data storage | EU-configured | Google Cloud |
When to use which
- Pick Silestis when your knowledge lives in recordings you want to search, quote, and study from.
- Stay with NotebookLM when you're synthesizing across documents and PDFs you've already gathered.
Prefer a side-by-side? See the full Silestis vs NotebookLM comparison, or how it works for lectures and podcasts.
Comparison based on publicly available information; competitor features may change over time.
NotebookLM alternative — FAQ
What's the best NotebookLM alternative for YouTube and lectures?
Silestis is built for exactly that: paste a supported YouTube link or upload a lecture, choose a timestamp-capable mode, and ask questions with answers that cite the relevant moment. NotebookLM is primarily document- and source-notebook-oriented rather than a general web-video transcription service.
Is it private / EU-stored?
Account data, transcripts, and retained playback media use EU-configured storage. AI processing may use vetted providers outside the EU under appropriate safeguards. Source media is deleted after transcription by default.
Can I still use it for documents?
Silestis focuses on audio and video. Many people pair it with a document tool — Silestis turns recordings into clean, exportable transcripts you can take anywhere.
Start from the supported lecture page you already use.
Open the video and click Silestis to start a transcript, summary, and notes workflow on the page. Timestamp-capable modes can also return cited answers, including when no source transcript exists.
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