Scholarly vs Turbo AI for Recording Lectures
Scholarly vs Turbo AI for recording lectures into notes and flashcards: transcripts, inputs, outputs, free plans, phone apps, and who should pick which.
Short answer: pick Turbo AI if you want a native phone app that records class and hands you notes, flashcards, quizzes, and podcasts, and you never need the word-for-word record. Pick Scholarly if you want a timestamped transcript beside your notes so you can check a doubtful line, and you want the same recording to become flashcards, a practice exam, a podcast, slides, or a narrated video lecture, in a browser with nothing to install. Turbo AI does not publish its free limits. Scholarly's free plan records 1 lecture of up to 60 minutes with the transcript and notes included, plus 1 lifetime AI creation for the flashcards.
Disclosure: Scholarly is our product, so weigh this with that in mind. Every Turbo AI fact below comes from Turbo AI's own homepage, its terms of service (effective May 27, 2026), and its App Store listing, all read on November 6, 2026. Turbo AI used to be called TurboLearn; its rebrand page says old turbolearn.ai links redirect.
Scholarly vs Turbo AI at a glance
| Scholarly | Turbo AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | One recording becoming a checkable transcript, notes, and every other study format | Quick notes and review activities from a class, on a phone |
| Records a lecture | Yes, in the browser on a laptop or phone | Yes; its App Store listing says it writes notes from a recorded lecture automatically |
| Transcript you can read | Yes, timestamped, with live lines on screen while you record | No: its terms say it neither stores lecture transcripts nor gives users access to them |
| Notes | Written automatically when you stop, at no credit cost | Written automatically from the lecture, in an editor you can change |
| Other inputs | PDF, Word, PowerPoint, images, pasted text, websites, YouTube links, Google Drive files, uploaded audio and video | Text, documents, PDFs, slides, websites, videos, and YouTube videos |
| Outputs | Notes, flashcards (SM-2), quizzes, practice exams, podcasts, slides with speaker notes, narrated video lectures, cited chat | Notes, flashcards, quizzes, practice questions, podcasts, summaries, chat about your materials |
| Phone | Mobile browser only; no native app | iPhone and iPad app, plus the website |
| Free plan | 1 recording (transcribed up to 60 minutes), 1 lifetime AI creation, 1 upload up to 8 MB | A free tier with notes, flashcards, and quizzes; no limits published |
| Paid tiers | Premium Lite (some countries only), Premium, Laureate | Free, Pro, and Unlimited, per its terms |
Recording a class
Scholarly. Open the AI lecture recorder and press record. Transcript lines appear on screen while the lecturer speaks, and the spoken language is detected for you. When you stop, you get a timestamped transcript and structured notes: a summary and the lecture's topics with their timestamps. Neither uses an AI Creation Credit. Click a line and the audio jumps to that moment, so a formula you half heard at minute 42 takes seconds to check.
Two limits are worth knowing. Scholarly records through your device's microphone and does not join Zoom, Teams, or Meet calls, so for an online class the posted recording is the better source. And the transcript does not label speakers, which matters less for a single lecturer than for a seminar.
Turbo AI. Its App Store listing says you record a lecture and Turbo writes organized notes automatically, and its homepage describes an AI notetaker that listens to your lectures. The difference is what you keep. Turbo's terms say it does not store lecture transcripts or give users access to them, and that it makes no guarantee recordings will be kept. You read the notes, but you cannot check a doubtful sentence against what was actually said.
Which matters to you: if you trust the notes and only want to review, Turbo's approach is simpler. If you study subjects where one wrong word changes the answer (drug names, legal tests, a sign in an equation), the transcript is the reason to pick Scholarly.
What else each one takes in
Both handle more than audio.
Turbo's App Store listing names text, documents, PDFs, presentation slides, websites, videos, and lecture recordings, and its homepage adds YouTube videos and your own notes.
Scholarly takes PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, images (including photos of handwritten pages), pasted text, websites, YouTube links, Google Drive files, and uploaded audio or video, as well as its own recordings. On paid plans you can combine several sources in one creation, up to 10 on Premium and 20 on Laureate, so the recording and the professor's slide deck can feed the same flashcard deck. Free allows 1 source per creation.
What you get after class
Turbo AI lists notes in a "Google Docs style" editor, flashcards, quizzes, practice questions, podcasts, summaries, and an AI chat that answers from your uploaded materials. Its homepage also mentions a library of pre-made AP study guides, and its FAQ says it keeps the formatting of math formulas, chemical equations, and code. Neither the homepage nor the App Store listing describes a spaced-repetition schedule, slide decks, narrated video lectures, or file exports.
Scholarly writes the notes for free, then turns the same recording into whatever you choose, each using AI Creation Credits (1 per creation on the default model):
- Flashcards, reviewed on an SM-2 spaced-repetition schedule.
- A practice quiz or exam from the lecture content.
- A study podcast for the commute.
- Slides with speaker notes on every slide.
- A narrated video lecture that re-teaches the class with chapters and a transcript.
- A chat grounded in the transcript.
If flashcards, quizzes, and a podcast are all you want, both cover that. If you also want slides or a video lecture from the class, only Scholarly makes them.
Languages
Turbo's pages do not say which languages it can transcribe, and its App Store listing names English as the app's language.
Scholarly detects the spoken language when it transcribes and writes the notes in that language. Anything you create from the recording can be written in Auto (matching your source) or in any of 71 named language options, counting regional variants, and the app itself is available in 38 interface languages.
Free plans and paid plans
Scholarly free: 1 recording in total, which does not reset, transcribed up to 60 minutes, with the transcript and notes included. On top of that, 1 lifetime AI creation (for example, flashcards from that recording) and 1 lifetime upload of up to 8 MB. Quiz practice stops at 5 answers, and downloads are paid.
Scholarly paid: Premium is $30 a month or $180 a year, with 20 recordings a week of up to 10 hours each and 15 AI Creation Credits a week. Laureate is $99 a month, with 100 recordings a week and 80 credits. Premium Lite is sold only in certain countries, not the US, and includes 7 recordings and 5 credits a week. Weekly allowances reset on Monday at 00:00 UTC. See pricing.
Turbo AI free: its homepage FAQ calls the free tier generous and says it includes note generation, flashcards, and quizzes, with upgrades that unlock unlimited features. It does not publish how much you can record for free, and we found no pricing page on its site. Its terms list three tiers (Free, Pro, and Unlimited), and current prices are shown in the app and on its App Store listing.
What that means in practice: with Turbo, you find the free cap by reaching it, so test it on a short class first. With Scholarly, you know the cap before you start, and it is small: one full lecture.
On a phone
Turbo AI wins here. It has a native iPhone and iPad app (iOS 16.4 or later, per the App Store), and its homepage says notes sync across web, tablet, and mobile.
Scholarly has no app in the App Store or Google Play. It runs in the phone's browser, where recording, the live transcript, notes, and flashcard review all work, but you need to keep the tab open and the phone awake while recording. Running your phone's built-in voice recorder as a backup is a sensible habit with any app.
Where each one wins
Pick Turbo AI if:
- You want a native phone app for recording in the lecture hall.
- You care about the finished notes and cards, not the word-for-word record.
- You want its pre-made AP study guides.
- You are happy to discover the free limit by using it.
Pick Scholarly if:
- You want a timestamped transcript to check notes against.
- Your lectures run long: paid recordings go up to 10 hours each.
- You want the recording to become slides, a narrated video lecture, or a graded practice exam, not only cards and quizzes.
- You want to combine the recording with the slide deck or the textbook chapter.
- You want published limits before you commit.
Whichever you use, ask before you record. Whether you may record a class depends on your school's policy, the course, and local law, and some places require every speaker's consent.
Frequently asked questions
Is Turbo AI the same as TurboLearn?
Yes. Turbo AI is the new name for TurboLearn, and its rebrand page says old turbolearn.ai links redirect to turbo.ai.
Does Turbo AI give you a transcript of the lecture?
Not according to its terms of service, which say Turbo AI does not store lecture transcripts or give users access to them. You get the notes and study activities built from the lecture. Scholarly keeps a timestamped transcript of every recording.
Is Turbo AI free?
It has a free tier that its FAQ says includes note generation, flashcards, and quizzes. It does not publish the free tier's limits. Scholarly's free plan is 1 recording of up to 60 minutes with transcript and notes, plus 1 lifetime AI creation.
What is the best app to record lectures and turn them into notes and flashcards?
For a native phone app and quick review, Turbo AI. For a transcript you can check plus flashcards, quizzes, a podcast, slides, or a video lecture from the same recording, Scholarly. Our ranking of AI lecture recording apps also covers Knowt, StudyFetch, Otter, and Gemini Notebook.
Can Scholarly record a lecture on my phone?
Yes, in the phone's web browser. There is no native app, so keep the tab open and the screen awake while you record.
How long a lecture can each one record?
Scholarly transcribes up to 60 minutes of the one free recording, and paid plans record up to 10 hours per recording. Turbo AI does not state a recording length on the pages we read.
Which is better for STEM lectures?
Turbo's FAQ says it keeps the formatting of formulas, chemical equations, and code in its notes. Scholarly gives you the transcript to check what was said, and its video lectures and slides typeset equations. For either one, photograph the board: a recording captures what was said, not what was written.
