Turn ten bilingual PDFs into a traceable Chinese evidence table
All four products have relevant file or research features, but none has been confirmed against every input, citation, export and US$20 monthly requirement for these PDFs. There is no qualified recommendation yet: search or citation support alone does not cover all ten sources.
Latest source row read 2026-11-02
The task
Use monthly billing of at most US$20 to compare ten public Chinese and English PDFs into a Chinese evidence table, with traceable citations, noted disagreements and an exportable deliverable. File sizes and scan quality are not yet known.
Candidates
Meets the documented conditions is not the same as a completed task: it means the conditions listed in the official pages are satisfied, and the limits below still apply.
Perplexity
Unconfirmed; not recommended yetThis month: The official hub lists Pro at $20 a month or $200 a year, so monthly billing fits this pre-tax budget while the annual total is a different commitment.
A qualifying price does not establish the ten-file task. File analysis and cited answers are supported; the individual Pro section of the plan page says up to 50 file uploads per project. It does not specify whether this is cumulative uploads or concurrent files; research and upload limits also apply. The evidence-table export format, locating a passage in the original PDF, and disagreement coverage were not verified.
- Do not carry over older unlimited-upload wording.
- Applicable per-file size limits were not established.
Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM
Unconfirmed; not recommended yetThis month: Standard is free with 50 sources per notebook; the checked US bundle prices are AI Plus at US$7.99 a month and AI Pro at US$19.99, and neither is a separate Notebook subscription.
Ten sources fit the count limit, but that does not prove these files meet the size and text requirements or are read in full. Known audio and slide exports do not establish export of the evidence table you need, and citation preservation with Chinese disagreement analysis remains untested.
- Each source is capped at 500,000 words and uploads at 200MB, so a large or scanned file may not qualify.
- Usage is metered by compute, with five-hour refreshes and weekly limits; older daily-count tables are not a current guarantee, and the page read on 2 November 2026 states no start date for the switch.
Kimi
Unconfirmed; not recommended yetThis month: Projects permits 50 files at 100MB each, and Free lists two projects with 500MB of project storage. The official membership table, re-read on 2 November 2026, scopes its plan prices to China - Go CNY 49, Plus 99, Pro 199, Max 699 and Ultra 1,399 a month, with annual totals billed upfront - and does not list a USD price or billing cycle. The USD monthly price remains unverified, so a US$20 budget cannot be confirmed from this page; a currency conversion would be an estimate, not an official USD price or actual charge.
Deep Research supports cited reports with PDF and Word exports, but complete transfer of ten Project files into that separate workflow is unverified, and the researcher context is 128K with input recommended below 100K. Files are read on demand rather than in full every time.
- A US$19 in-app purchase listing without a stated period is not a monthly price, so it is not used here.
- Project capacity is not researcher context.
Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365 Premium)
Unconfirmed; not recommended yetThis month: The US store lists Microsoft 365 Premium at US$19.99 a month or US$199.99 a year, and the research agent sits on Premium or Pro rather than Personal or Family: monthly billing fits this pre-tax budget, while the annual total is a different commitment.
A price that fits does not establish the ten-file task. Consumer uploads take up to 20 files per conversation at no more than 50MB each and cover PDF, grounded answers carry web citations to check, and Researcher gathers web and permitted file sources into a structured sourced report. What is not established is whether these ten PDFs are read in full, how anything like the evidence table would be exported, and how disagreements between the Chinese and English sources would be covered.
- Consumer Deep Research is retired: Researcher is the separate entry point on Premium, Pro or a qualifying work licence, and older reports being saveable as Word does not establish the same export on a new result.
- Personal and Family plans do not include Researcher, and Premium and Pro are an Extensive use band rather than unlimited usage.
- Citations are there to be checked rather than to guarantee accuracy, and uploads moving to OneDrive makes the older storage wording inapplicable.
Keep the limits separate
Gemini Notebook metering, Perplexity plan allowances, Kimi Projects storage and Copilot's research-licence gate measure four different things, and one cannot substitute for another. The education-plan prose on Perplexity plan page also differs from its own limits table, so the narrower metered wording is kept here. Copilot is not a substitute for Gemini Notebook either: its research agent needs Premium, Pro or a qualifying work licence, where the notebook's Standard tier is free with 50 sources. Capacity is never upgraded into a guarantee that the whole task fits.
Make each citation walkable
A citation is only usable if someone else can walk from the row back to the sentence. Write each row with five fields: the claim in your own words, the source filename, the location inside that file (page number, or a short quoted passage when numbering is missing), the quoted original sentence in its own language, and the verdict - supported, partly supported, contradicted, or not found. When a claim draws on sources in both languages, keep their original passages together rather than translating first: translation can obscure a disagreement. Two checks can help reveal false confidence. First, does the cited page actually exist in the file you uploaded, at that location, with that wording - a model can summarise a passage it never received in full. Second, does the quoted sentence say what the claim says, including its scope words such as region, plan, date and 'up to'? A quotation that omits 'in China' or 'for Pro' turns a regional or tier-specific statement into a general one, which is the same defect as an invented price. When two sources disagree, record both rows and the disagreement instead of letting the table resolve it silently; a reader who needs a decision can then see which source is narrower, older or conditional.
Next check
Inventory the ten files for size, page count and whether text is selectable, then confirm that the exact account and plan can use all sources in one workflow. The output table should carry the claim, the filename, a page or identifiable passage, and where sources disagree; after export, check every row back against the original PDF. An unknown input, cost or export requirement blocks a recommendation. The presence of a citation does not prove the citation is correct.
Where every claim comes from
Each link was opened and read on the date shown. The note describes what that page actually supports.
- Perplexity hub - cost FAQ ↗
Pro at $20 a month or $200 a year. The same page markets unlimited Pro Search, which conflicts with the help centre plan table; the narrower metered wording is kept.
- Perplexity - which plan is right for you ↗
The plan table specifies Free 3 Pro Searches/day and 1 Research query/month; paid individual plans are described by weekly/monthly usage bands. The individual Pro section separately lists up to 50 file uploads per project; the page does not specify whether that means cumulative uploads or concurrent files. Enterprise numeric limits are separate.
- Perplexity - what is Pro ↗
Describes higher upload limits and Pro features, but does not state a per-project file count or establish an evidence-table export format.
- Gemini Notebook - plans ↗
Standard permits 50 sources per notebook. The paid allowances discussed here come through eligible Google AI bundles, not a standalone Notebook subscription.
- Gemini Notebook - source limits ↗
500,000 words per source and 200MB per upload.
- Gemini Notebook - usage change ↗
Compute-based metering with five-hour refreshes and weekly limits, which supersedes older daily counts.
- Google AI Plus availability - US price ↗
The US Google AI Plus price of US$7.99 a month, as a bundle rather than a Notebook subscription.
- Google AI student offer - AI Pro renewal price ↗
The regular US$19.99 monthly AI Pro renewal price; the student eligibility itself is not extended to all accounts.
- Kimi - Projects ↗
File counts, per-file size and project storage, and that files are read on demand.
- Kimi - membership pricing and plan table ↗
Read on 2 November 2026: the plan table is scoped to China and priced in CNY - Go 49, Plus 99, Pro 199, Max 699 and Ultra 1,399 a month, with annual totals 468/948/1,908/6,708/13,428 billed upfront - and the page does not list a USD price or billing cycle. Deep Research is listed inside Go, which excludes Kimi Code.
- Apple - Kimi US App Store purchases ↗
The US App Store listing shows a Plus in-app purchase for $19.00 without stating its billing period; the listing alone does not establish a monthly price or account checkout.
- Kimi - membership pricing ↗
The membership page as read; a USD monthly cycle was not verified from it.
- Kimi - Deep Research ↗
Cited reports and PDF or Word exports from the separate research entry point.
- Kimi - Deep Research limits ↗
128K context with input recommended below 100K.
- Microsoft - compare Microsoft 365 products ↗
US store prices, including Premium at US$19.99 a month or US$199.99 a year; the annual amount is not written here as a monthly price without a commitment.
- Microsoft - file upload in Copilot ↗
Up to 20 files per conversation at no more than 50MB each, covering PDF and common text formats; capacity, not proof that ten files are read in full.
- Microsoft - Researcher ↗
Available on personal Premium and Pro and with qualifying enterprise licences; gathers web and permitted file sources into a structured sourced report, and is a separate entry point from ordinary chat.
- Microsoft - Deep Research retirement ↗
Consumer Deep Research is retired and existing reports can be saved as Word, which does not establish the same export on a new result.
- Microsoft - Copilot transparency note (18 August 2026) ↗
Grounded answers carry web citations, with file analysis supported; citations are there to be checked rather than to guarantee accuracy.