Stop re-reading dense PDFs. Watch and understand complex topics visually.
Visual learning
Complex topics explained through animated scenes, charts, and illustrations. See the concepts, not just read them.
Multi-source input
Combine PDFs, text files, images, or just type a topic prompt. Perfect for synthesizing multiple chapters, papers, or ideas from scratch.
Active recall built in
Question cards appear at checkpoints while the video keeps playing — answer them for instant AI feedback, or toggle them off anytime. Your Best and Last scores are tracked next to the questions list.
How it works
How it works
Three steps from source material to a finished video lecture.
01
1. Upload or type a topic
Drop in a PDF, textbook chapter, lecture notes, or just paste a topic prompt like "Krebs cycle" or "the French Revolution".
02
2. Pick a mode, voice, and language
Pick a teaching mode, then choose the exact narrator from 26 official Grok voices or leave it on Auto for a voice that fits the material. Set the narration language and video quality; paid plans can also set a target length.
03
3. Watch, chat, and study
Watch the animated lecture with chapters, captions, and full transcript. Ask the AI questions, then turn the content into flashcards or a quiz.
New New teaching styles
Pick a video mode
The same topic, re-taught a few different ways. Each mode is its own teaching style — its own visuals, pacing, and voice. Choose the teacher that fits the student, the subject, and the moment.
Standard
Default
A calm, editorial study lecture — a beautifully designed textbook chapter in motion.
Illustrated
Free
A hand-drawn visual story told through illustrations and sparse handwritten labels.
Short
Free
A fast vertical explainer in a short video format, built for quick review.
Manim Math Animation
Free
Precise Manim derivations with vetted scenes first and a flexible fallback for other math.
Freestyle
Free
The AI picks the style and visual tools that fit your topic best — a different look every time.
The mode shapes how your video teaches — pick the style that fits your material. Every mode is free. Short uses its own vertical short video format; lecture modes use a fixed 2-minute length on Free, with target-length control on paid plans.
Inside every lecture
Everything you need to learn visually
All the tools to create, navigate, and share your AI video lectures.
Pick Your Length
On Free, lectures use a fixed 2-minute length. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes. Short uses its own vertical short video format.
26 Voices in 27+ Languages
Choose the exact multilingual Grok narrator or use Auto to match the voice to your material. One voice stays consistent throughout the video, and custom instructions guide the lecture style.
Custom Instructions
Add freeform instructions to steer any lecture — emphasize a chapter, explain like you're a visual learner, or focus on exam-relevant material.
Textbook-Quality Visuals
Serif headlines and clean diagram-style scenes on a hand-tuned color palette drawn fresh for each lecture — soft pastels, brights, the classic cream, or a full dark theme with the Dark Mode toggle. Definitions, comparisons, step-by-step processes, equations with real math typography, animated stats, charts, and key-insight callouts — picked automatically for each topic.
Chapter Navigation
Videos are divided into chapters by topic. Jump to any section instantly.
Full Transcript
Read along with a complete transcript of the narration. Search and reference any part.
Synced Captions
Built-in captions match the narration line by line. Great for muted study sessions, libraries, or learning in a second language.
AI Chat
Ask questions about the video content. The AI uses the transcript and source materials to answer.
Interactive Questions
Question cards appear at key moments and ask about what you just watched — without interrupting playback. Built-in active recall with your Best and Last scores tracked next to the questions list, plus a full attempt history.
Flashcard Generation
Generate flashcards directly from completed video lectures or from any interactive question checkpoint.
Share & Download
Share video lectures via link or download as MP4 to watch offline. Recipients can watch without creating an account.
Topic Prompt Mode
No source file? Just type a topic — "photosynthesis", "limits in calculus", "World War I causes" — and Scholarly writes the lecture from scratch.
Every subject
Built for every subject
From cell biology to compilers — Scholarly adapts its visuals to your material.
Biology video lectures
Cellular respiration, DNA replication, the immune system. Animated cell diagrams and process flows make biology feel like a documentary.
Calculus and math
Limits, derivatives, integrals, linear algebra. Mathematical visualizations show graphs morphing as values change so you actually see what a derivative is.
History and humanities
Timelines, maps, and key figures. Whether it's the Cold War or the Renaissance, you get a narrated story instead of a wall of dates.
Computer science
Data structures, algorithms, networking, machine learning. Watch a binary tree get built, a quicksort run, or a TCP handshake unfold step by step.
Honest comparison
How Scholarly compares
Other tools make great videos — but they aren't built for studying your material. Here's where each one wins.
Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
Best for source-grounded research. Video Overviews summarize your documents into a short narrated video in Explainer, Short, or Cinematic format.
Strong at citing your sources back to you.
Videos stay short overviews — no chaptered lecture up to 45 minutes, no interactive checkpoints, no math animation mode.
Its flashcards and quizzes have no spaced-repetition schedule, no graded exam, and no Anki export.
Synthesia
Best for corporate training videos. Polished AI avatars that read a script you write yourself.
Great for product walkthroughs and onboarding.
You have to write the script — it won't read your PDF for you.
No study layer: no transcript-aware chat, recall, or flashcards.
Best for students
Scholarly
Best for studying your own material. Turns your PDF, notes, or a topic into an animated, narrated lecture.
Animated diagrams, chapters, captions, and a searchable transcript.
Interactive checkpoints, AI chat, and one-click flashcards or quizzes.
Free to start, in 27+ languages, on any subject you study.
Get started
Pick the right entry point
This page is the overview. If you know exactly how you want to start, jump straight to the matching tool.
How long does it take to generate a video lecture?
Most video lectures finish in 10-25 minutes depending on your source material. A lecture on a single short topic can be ready in under 10 minutes. You can close the page — Scholarly notifies you when the video is ready.
What languages are supported?
Over 27 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Hindi, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, and more. The narration uses natural AI voices and the captions and transcript are generated in the same language.
Can I edit the video after it's generated?
You can regenerate any chapter, change the language, or switch the video mode and have Scholarly rebuild the video. Full timeline-level video editing isn't supported — but most students just regenerate sections that miss the mark.
Is the AI video lecture generator free?
Yes — it's free to try. The free plan includes a limited number of AI Creation Credits and every video mode at 720p, with a fixed 2-minute length for lecture modes. Premium adds target-length control, ongoing creation, 1080p Full HD, and MP4 downloads alongside all the other Scholarly study tools.
How is this different from Khan Academy or YouTube?
Khan Academy and YouTube give you somebody else's lecture on a topic that's often only a partial match for your class. Scholarly generates a video from your specific PDF, notes, or topic prompt — so it covers exactly your syllabus, in your language, at a source-matched length on Free or a target you choose on a paid plan. You can also chat with the video and turn it into flashcards.
Can I download the video?
Yes. Paid users can download video lectures as MP4 files to watch offline, share with classmates, or save to their phone. Free users can stream and share via link.
What's included with each video lecture?
Every generated video comes with chapter navigation, a full searchable transcript, synced captions, AI chat trained on the video and source material, optional interactive question checkpoints with Best/Last score tracking and history, and one-click flashcard generation.
Can I generate a video from just a topic prompt?
Yes. You don't need a source file. Type a topic like "Krebs cycle", "linear algebra eigenvectors", or "causes of the French Revolution" and Scholarly writes the script, builds the animations, and narrates the full lecture from scratch.
Can I turn a PDF or my notes into a video lecture?
Yes — those are the two most common inputs. Use PDF to Video to convert lecture slides or a textbook chapter into a narrated video lecture, or Notes to Video to turn typed or handwritten study notes into one. Both feed the same generator, so you get the same chaptered, narrated video with a transcript, AI chat, and one-click flashcards.
What's the best AI video lecture generator for students?
Scholarly is built specifically for studying your own material, not for marketing or corporate videos. Unlike the short Video Overviews in Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) or avatar tools like Synthesia, it reads your actual PDF, notes, or topic as a teaching source and renders an animated, chaptered lecture up to 45 minutes wired into a study loop — interactive question checkpoints, AI chat, and one-click flashcards on a spaced-repetition schedule or graded quizzes from the same source. For students, that study layer is what makes it the best AI video lecture generator in 2026.
Guides
Guides and comparisons
In-depth reads on AI video lectures — when to use them, which tools to pick, and how the workflow comes together.
Scholarly doesn't just call a model once. Each feature is run by an autonomous AI agent that reads your material, reasons across multiple models, and can research the web and run code — then hands back a finished, cited artifact.
Multiple models
Agents route each step to the model that does it best, instead of relying on a single one.
Live web research
When your sources aren't enough, agents search the web and cite what they find.
Runs code in a sandbox
Each agent gets its own sandbox to compute, transform data, and build your artifact.
Grounded in your sources
Every output is built from the PDFs, notes, and lectures you upload — not guesswork.
Create your first AI video lecture from a PDF, your notes, or just a topic prompt. Free to start — go Premium for longer videos, MP4 downloads, and higher limits.
Trying your first source? Start Free. Working with new material each week? Premium includes 10 AI Creation Credits a week. Need more capacity? Compare Laureate.
Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.
Pricing shown in USD by default. Local currency may be available in app or at checkout.
Compare plans
AI chat
Premium and Laureate include unlimited AI chat. GPT 5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 5 are reserved for credit-metered AI creations.
Free
3 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited
AI Creation Credits
AI Creation Credits share one balance across every creation tool. Most models use 1 credit, Sonnet and Kimi use 2, and Frontier models Sol and Opus use 3.
Free
1 total
Premium
10/week
Laureate
80/week
Podcast length
Free episodes are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target length up to 60 minutes.
Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 60 minutes
Laureate
Up to 60 minutes
Video lecture length
Free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes. Short uses its own short video format.
Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 45 minutes
Laureate
Up to 45 minutes
File uploads
Free
1 total (8MB)
Premium
Unlimited (300MB)
Laureate
Unlimited (1 GB each)
PDF to flashcards
Free
32 pages
Premium
1000 pages
Laureate
3000 pages
Sources per creation
Free
Up to 1
Premium
Up to 10
Laureate
Up to 20
Practice questions
Free
5 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited
Practice exams
Free
1 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited
Voice mode
Free
15 min total
Premium
2 hr/day
Laureate
12 hr/day
Autocomplete
Free
500 words total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited
Export to Anki
Free
—
Premium
Included
Laureate
Included
Support
Free
Standard
Premium
Priority
Laureate
Priority
Feature
Free
Premium
Laureate
AI chat
3 total
Unlimited
Unlimited
AI Creation Credits
1 total
10/week
80/week
Podcast length
2 minutes
Up to 60 minutes
Up to 60 minutes
Video lecture length
2 minutes
Up to 45 minutes
Up to 45 minutes
File uploads
1 total (8MB)
Unlimited (300MB)
Unlimited (1 GB each)
PDF to flashcards
32 pages
1000 pages
3000 pages
Sources per creation
Up to 1
Up to 10
Up to 20
Practice questions
5 total
Unlimited
Unlimited
Practice exams
1 total
Unlimited
Unlimited
Voice mode
15 min total
2 hr/day
12 hr/day
Autocomplete
500 words total
Unlimited
Unlimited
Export to Anki
—
Included
Included
Support
Standard
Priority
Priority
What customers say
Scholarly has enhanced the quality of notes and questions I administer to my tutees. Insightful, to the point.
TD Georgas
Tutor
I have very good experience with Scholarly it summarize me scientific text in hovel academic level with citation. I use this for any therapeutic area . It is great and useful tool.
Diana
Scholarly user
Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.
Briana
Scholarly user
This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.
Kelvin
Scholarly user
Your questions, answered
Is Scholarly free to use?
Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with lifetime allowances: 3 AI Chat messages, 500 autocomplete words, 5 quiz questions, 15 voice minutes, 1 practice exam, one free AI Creation Credit total, and 1 file upload. These allowances do not reset. Upgrade to Premium for 10 AI Creation Credits per week and unlimited uploads.
What uses my free AI Creation Credits?
AI Creation Credits are shared across flashcards, podcasts, videos, slides, AI Documents, Deep Research, and the Transcribe tool. The selected model determines the credit cost. Recording live audio and saving its transcript uses your file upload allowance instead; it does not use AI Creation Credits.
Can I cancel anytime?
Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.
Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?
Yes. For a school or organization-wide rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so and we'll help you find the right setup.
What happens when I hit a free plan limit?
You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free-plan allowances are lifetime credits and do not reset. Premium includes 10 AI Creation Credits per week, podcasts up to 60 minutes, video lectures up to 45 minutes, unlimited uploads, chat, autocomplete, quizzes, and exams, plus more daily voice time.
