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Best 6 Otter AI Alternatives | 20+ Personally Tested Apps (2026)

Aron Kantor — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:48:10 +0000

Looking for the best Otter AI alternatives in 2026, but don’t know what recommendation you should trust or what options you have.

I totally understand you guys. There are way too many options out there, and it is really tough and overwhelming trying to find a safe, reliable, and accurate alternative to Otter AI. Honestly, I had the same feeling as well.

So, I decided to find the best Otter AI alternatives, and most importantly, the safest.

In this article, I’ll share the top 6 Otter AI alternatives I personally tested (and spoiler: I still use the #1 pick every day).

Let’s dive in!

The Best Alternatives to Otter AI at a Glance

Best Otter AI alternative overall: Fellow
Best free alternative to Otter AI: Fathom
Best for detailed AI meeting summaries: MeetGeek
Best for individuals and freelancers: tl;dv
Best budget-friendly Otter AI alternative: Fireflies AI
Best lightweight alternative to Otter AI: Bluedot

How We Test AI Note-Takers

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

We reviewed and personally tested every Otter AI alternative featured in this list, and you will find links to the full review articles for each tool. Based on our hands-on testing, we assigned an overall score using our standardized scoring system.

While these overall review scores influenced the rankings in this article, we also considered specific use cases, workflows, and standout strengths to recommend the best AI note-takers for different needs and teams.

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

A Side-by-Side Look at the Otter AI Alternatives

Best Otter AI alternatives	Better than Otter AI for	What stood out during testing	Biggest downside	Pricing starts
Fellow	Teams & professionals that need stronger collaboration and productivity features	More accurate transcription and meeting agenda feature	Limited free version	Free plan + paid from $7/user/month billed annually
Fathom	Individuals who want a free AI note-taker with the essential features	Excellent free plan and effortless setup	Lacks deeper workflow features	Free plan + paid from $15/user/month billed annually
MeetGeek	Detailed meeting summaries and analytics	Structured AI notes and conversation insights	Usage limits on lower-tier plans	Free plan + paid from $9.99/month billed annually
tl;dv	Freelancers and individuals who want simplicity	Easy-to-use interface and practical AI reports	Mobile experience still feels limited	Free plan + paid from $18/user/month billed annually
Fireflies AI	Teams & individuals who need a budget-friendly alternative	Broad platform support and well-rounded feature set	Free plan feels restrictive	Free plan + paid from $10/user/month billed annually
Bluedot	People who want lightweight bot-free recording	Simple setup and recording without meeting bots	The free plan is more like a trial	Free plan + paid from $14/user/month billed annually

If you prefer watching instead of reading, check out my video where I break down the best AI note-takers, their standout features, and the real-world workflows they are best for.

Fellow

4.5/5

Fellow is designed for organization-wide use, but it works great with smaller teams and professionals as well. It works on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and online, and supports Google Meet, Zoom, MS Teams, and Slack in over 92 languages. Personally, I have been using it for over 6 months, and it has been a game-changer for meeting notes.

Full Fellow review Visit Fellow

Best for professionals and teams

Quick verdict

Better than Otter AI for:

Professionals and teams needing strong collaboration features

Not ideal for:

If you are looking for a free Otter AI alternative

What stood out most:

More accurate transcription and meeting agenda feature

Biggest tradeoff:

The free plan is quite limited for regular use

Testing Fellow in real meetings

After testing numerous AI note-takers, Fellow earned the title of the best overall Otter AI alternative.

Based on my experience, Fellow transcribes my online meetings with 95%+ accuracy, whereas I achieved around 85% with Otter.

I also love that I can decide whether to bring my meeting bot to my calls or record without it. I value the privacy here, as internal participants always know when recording is happening, even when you use botless recording.

Its intelligent AI assistance, enterprise-grade security, and compliance make Fellow a capable Otter AI alternative for businesses and professionals who want to use AI in meetings without compromising privacy or productivity.

When Fellow makes more sense than Otter AI

Professionals with frequent meetings who want highly accurate transcriptions and summaries
Teams and organizations that need a secure AI note-taker with enterprise-grade controls
Teams that need more than basic tools to summarize meetings, such as meeting agendas, action items, and collaboration tools
Users who want both bot and bot-less recording options for different meeting environments
Organizations handling sensitive meeting data that require strong privacy and compliance standards

When another alternative may work better

Users looking for a completely free AI note-taker with generous limits
Individuals who only need basic meeting transcription features
People who want the cheapest AI note-taking option available
Users who do not want to install a desktop app for bot-less recording
Casual users with a few meetings who may not benefit from Fellow’s advanced tools

Try Fellow

Use this link to sign up and get 10% off the paid plans if you upgrade.

The Fellow Features I Used Most

Transcription & recording: Fellow automatically transcribes and records your online calls on Zoom, MS Teams, Slack, and Google in over 92 languages. It provides enterprise-grade governance, bot or botless recording options with identical security protections, and redaction tools for sensitive information.

Transcription accuracy: Based on my experience, Fellow provides quite accurate transcriptions, with an accuracy rate above 95%.

Meeting notes: The meeting notes provide you with the key points, action items, and decisions from the meeting. Using this feature, Fellows makes even the +1-hour meeting digestible in a few minutes.

Collaboration tools: Fellow has great collaboration features like collaborative agendas, but you can assign action items, give feedback to meeting participants, and easily share the meeting notes with others.

Ask Fellow: When using Fellow in my day-to-day business, one of the most useful features for me is Ask Fellow. You can get the wanted meeting information in seconds, and it can help you in numerous ways, including preparing follow-ups, finding outstanding tasks from previous calls, and more.

Mobile app: Fellow has a mobile version for iOS and Android devices, so you can use it for in-person meetings.

Integration options: Fellow provides a wide range of integrations, including Google Calendar, Slack, Jira, Monday, ClickUp, Linear, Glean, and Asana. Additionally, you can connect it to Zapier, which allows you to integrate with +7,000 third-party apps.

Fellow’s pricing

Free plan: Available
Solo plan: $19/month per user
Team plan: $7/month per user
Business plan: $15/month per user
Enterprise plan: $25/month per user

What I Liked About Fellow

Pro	Why It Matters
Accurate transcripts	It offers one of the most accurate transcriptions.
Bot-less recording support	You can choose between bot and bot-less transcription & recording
Massive feature set	Fellow provides numerous advanced tools besides the essential features
Data privacy	Data privacy is a top priority and offers an enterprise-grade security
Advanced AI summaries	The AI summaries are super helpful and include all the relevant points
Helpful integrations	Integrations with tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, and CRMs help connect meeting workflows with the rest of your productivity stack.

What Could Be Better

Con	Why It Hurts
Limited free plan	The free version could include more features and higher usage limits for regular users.

Why is Fellow the best Otter AI alternative overall?

Fellow is the best overall Otter AI alternative because it offers far more than the essentials. During my testing, it consistently delivered more accurate meeting summaries, better collaboration tools, and stronger privacy controls than Otter AI.

What really made the difference for me was how well Fellow fits into my meeting workflows. Features like collaborative agendas, action items, Ask Fellow, and bot-free recording make it a practical solution for both teams and professionals.

Read my full Fellow Review: My Thoughts After +12 Months (2026)

Try Fellow

Use this link to sign up and get 10% off the paid plans if you upgrade.

Fathom

4.4/5

Fathom suits users who need the essential features for free and a simple AI note-taker. It supports 38 languages and captures calls on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Full Fathom review Visit Fathom

Best free Otter AI alternative

Quick verdict

Better than Otter AI for:

Simple AI note-taking with free core features

Not ideal for:

If you are looking for more advanced meeting workflows and collaboration tools

What stood out most:

Accurate transcriptions and well-structured meeting notes for free

Biggest tradeoff:

The feature set feels more lightweight for teams

Testing Fathom in real meetings

When testing Fathom, I had an absolutely pleasant experience. I tried many exciting features that make this AI note-taker outstanding. While its free plan does not include too many advanced features, you can use the core tools without limits.

So, if you are looking for a simple meeting transcription software to automate your video meetings on the popular video conferencing tools, Fathom can be a practical choice.

When Fathom makes more sense than Otter AI

You want the core functions (transcription and AI notes) without paying
You prefer a simple tool with fast onboarding
Individuals and small teams looking for an AI note-taker with a short learning curve
If you require accurate transcriptions (85-90% accuracy)

When another alternative may work better

If you need advanced or more features
You have a lot of in-person meetings (it lacks a mobile app to capture discussions)
Enterprises that need a scalable all-in-one meeting management platform
Team that advanced collaboration and workflow features

Try Fathom

If you want to try out Fathom, use this link to get FREE 3 months of premium features without extra cost. This way, you can have 3X more time to test Fathom’s advanced features and decide whether to upgrade or stay with the free plan.

The Fathom Features I Used Most

Transcription & recording: After you let Fathom’s bot into the call, it will automatically transcribe and record the virtual meetings on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Fathom provides high-quality video recording that you can easily share with others.

Transcription accuracy: Based on my experience, the transcription accuracy ranges from 85% to 90%. While this also depends on the audio quality and your accent, I reached this accuracy with the built-in microphone of my PC.

Meeting notes: Fathom also summarizes your meetings and offers multi language support. These summaries cover the key points discussed during the call. I discovered that the meeting summary is shorter and follows a different structure compared to other Otter AI alternatives. Personally, I would love it if the meeting summary were a bit more detailed, like MeetGeek’s, but this short version is also quite valuable & straightforward.

Collaboration tools: With Fathom, you can structure your meeting notes and recordings into different folders that your team can access. Also, you can mention, add comments, and share the meeting notes with a few clicks. If we look at the advanced team collaboration features, you can access the coaching feature and the deal view in the higher plans, which is especially helpful for sales teams.

Ask Fathom: During my personal testing of Fathom, this feature was my favorite. I think there are numerous totally useless AI tools nowadays, but this one is different. Ask Fathom works similarly to ChatGPT, allowing you to chat with the meeting notes. For example, you can ask questions regarding your previous customer interaction or ask them to write a follow-up email. It is just super helpful after your calls to keep the ball rolling and automate repetitive tasks.

Integration options: Fortunately, Fathom has a Zapier integration, so you can integrate it with over 7000 apps. However, you can access the Zapier integration only if you purchased the Team or Business plan.

Fathom’s pricing

Free plan: Available
Premium plan: $16/month per user
Team plan: $14/month per user
Business plan: $20/month per user

What I Liked About Fathom

Pro	Why It Matters
Free plan	This AI note-taker offers the most generous free plan
Transcription accuracy	Fathom has accurate transcriptions (85-90%), and you can edit them as well
Customer support	Many users reported top-notch customer service
Simple	Fathom provides a simple, user-friendly interface

What Could Be Better

Con	Why It Hurts
Meeting templates	Meeting templates are only accessible with high-tier plans
File upload	Can only transcribe online meetings, unlike many other AI meeting assistants on this list, which can transcribe files as well
No mobile app	Fathom lacks a mobile app, so you can’t capture in-person meetings

Why is Fathom the best free Otter AI alternative?

What makes Fathom a solid Otter AI alternative is its free core features and simplicity. You can access the essential features completely free, with no limit caps.

Read my full review: My Honest Fathom Review After Using It For +3 Months (2026)

Try Fathom

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

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MeetGeek

4.4/5

MeetGeek is a robust AI note-taker with detailed meeting notes and analytics. You can use it on Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack, and more, and transcribe meetings in 50 languages. You can download it to a Mac and use it on mobile devices for in-person meetings as well.

Full MeetGeek review Visit MeetGeek

Best for detailed AI notes

Quick verdict

Better than Otter AI for:

Extensive meeting notes & meeting insights

Not ideal for:

If you need a lightweight AI note-taker

What stood out most:

Detailed AI meeting notes

Biggest tradeoff:

Limited transcription minutes in the Pro plan

Testing MeetGeek in real meetings

When using MeetGeek, you will get highly accurate transcripts and have all the advanced features you need.

My favorite feature was the AI meeting notes. I loved how MeetGeek breaks down my previous meetings into key points, and you can share these with one click in an email. This way, you can easily recall important details from your past meetings.

After investing many hours of testing in MeetGeek, I highly recommend MeetGeek to teams and individuals looking for a solid AI note-taking app to save time with online meetings.

When MeetGeek makes more sense than Otter AI

Professionals and teams who want highly detailed AI meeting notes and summaries
Sales teams that rely on conversation intelligence and meeting analytics
Users who need a feature-rich AI note-taker with extensive integrations
Users who need highly accurate meeting transcription

When another alternative may work better

Users looking for a simple, lightweight AI note-taker
Users needing unlimited transcription on lower-tier plans
People who want the cheapest AI meeting assistant available
Users who only need basic meeting summaries and transcription without advanced analytics

Try MeetGeek

The MeetGeek Features I Used Most

Transcription & recording: MeetGeek automatically records and transcribes meetings with high accuracy on Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. If you check the settings, you can also add your preferences for which meeting you want MeetGeek to join.

Transcription accuracy: During my virtual meetings, when I tested MeetGeek, I mostly used my PC’s built-in microphone and experienced over 95% transcription accuracy.

Meeting notes: Based on my 2+ years of experience with AI meeting assistants, I think MeetGeek offers one of the best AI meeting summaries. It is fantastic how it breaks down each part of the meetings into tasks, next steps, concerns, facts, and decisions. I also loved the way you can edit these meeting notes and add or remove specific points from your virtual meetings.

Collaboration tools: MeetGeek has some excellent collaboration tools. With this Otter AI alternative, you can create and share meeting snippets, add comments on meeting notes, and easily send the meeting notes to your team members. Similar to Otter, it has a searchable library where you can store and easily find your recordings and meeting transcriptions.

Conversation intelligence: MeetGeek analyzes not only what was said during meetings but also how the conversation unfolded. It provides sentiment analysis and key behavioral metrics such as silence rate, participation levels, talk time distribution, punctuality, and overall engagement.

Templates: MeetGeek automatically identifies the type of meeting, for instance, a customer call or a weekly team meeting, and prepares customized meeting notes for such a call.

Mobile app: MeetGeek offers a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. With the mobile app, you can record and get meeting notes from in-office meetings or events.

Integration options: MeetGeek supports +8000 integrations, so you can use this AI note-taking app with your favorite tools.

MeetGeek’s pricing

Free plan: Available
Pro plan: $9.99/month per user
Business plan: $17/month per user
Enterprise plan: Custom pricing

What I Liked About MeetGeek

Pro	Why It Matters
AI meeting summaries	It offers extensive and digestible AI meeting summaries that you can instantly share with others
Conversation intelligence	MeetGeek has one of the most advanced conversation intelligence features.
Transcription accuracy	It delivers highly accurate transcriptions (95%+).
Integrations	MeetGeek provides a wide range of integrations with third-party apps

What Could Be Better

Con	Why It Hurts
Free plan	Compared to other Otter AI alternatives like Fathom or tl;dv, MeetGeek has a limited free plan.
Limited Pro plan	The Pro plan does not include unlimited transcription

Why is MeetGeek the best Otter AI alternative for detailed meeting notes?

MeetGeek offers one of the most advanced and well-rounded AI meeting notes. It’s more structured and extensive than most AI meeting assistants, including Otter AI.

Also, thanks to its advanced meeting insights, it is a great tool for customer interactions and sales calls.

Read my full review: MeetGeek Review: Is It The Best AI Note-Taker For You? (2026)

Try MeetGeek

tl;dv

4.4/5

tl;dv is a straightforward AI note-taker that comes with an extensive free plan and accurate transcriptions, ideal for individuals and freelancers. It works with 30+ languages, and you can transcribe meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Full tl;dv review Visit tl;dv

Best for individuals

Quick verdict

Better than Otter AI for:

Individuals & freelancers who need a straightforward alternative

Not ideal for:

Bot-free recording

What stood out most:

Easy-to-use interface with a generous free plan

Biggest tradeoff:

Mobile app experience is limited

Testing tl;dv in real meetings

I had a very positive experience with tl;dv and used it for more than a year in my virtual meetings.

It’s easy to get started, and the whole setup took 10-15 minutes from signing up to joining a Google Meet call.

While it offers valuable features for automating your meeting workflows, like AI reports, it remains a user-friendly transcription tool.

It’s a free plan ideal for casual users to automate calls on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

When tl;dv makes more sense than Otter AI

You want an intuitive setup for your AI note-taker with frictionless onboarding
Individuals looking for a free AI note-taker
You need accurate transcriptions and solid AI summaries without complexity
Freelancers and small teams that need a tool to automate online meetings

When another alternative may work better

You need a bot-free recording experience
Large teams that need enterprise-grade permissions and features
You rely heavily on your mobile for AI note-taking

Try tl;dv

If you fall in love with tl;dv and switch to paid plans in the future, you will get a 30% discount for the first six months if you use this link for sign-up.

The tl;dv Features I Used Most

Transcription & recording: Tl;dv is a reliable transcription tool that records and transcribes your online meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. It gives IDs for different speakers, so you can easily see who said what. Furthermore, this AI meeting assistant can transcribe video and audio files as well.

Transcription accuracy: Based on my personal experience, it provides highly accurate transcriptions that you can easily access. I experienced around 90% transcription accuracy when using Tl;dv’s transcription services.

Meeting notes: I used tl;dv for quite a long time as my primary AI note-taker, and it was mostly because its meeting notes cover the key points of your discussions. Additionally, you can filter the next steps, general information, and customizable points depending on which meeting templates you use. Besides the automated transcription, I found tl;dv’s meeting notes very useful during day-to-day work.

Team collaboration tools: With a few clicks, you can easily share meeting insights, transcriptions, AI meeting notes, and recordings with your team members. Moreover, you can collect and organize your recordings and meeting notes with your team members in one single place.

AI reports: My favorite feature, besides the detailed meeting minutes, is the AI reports. The AI reports offer an easy way to collect the essential information from your previous meetings. You can generate a list of next steps or action items from your conversations.

Mobile app: Tl;dv has a mobile app for Android and iOS. However, it is only Lite, so the full experience is still desktop-first.

Integration options: Tl;dv offers seamless integrations with more than 8000 apps.

Tl;dv’s pricing

Free plan: Available
Pro plan: $18/month per user
Business plan: $29/month per user
Enterprise plan: Custom pricing

What I Liked About tl;dv

Pro	Why It Matters
Generous free plan	tl;dv offers one of the best free plans among AI note-takers, including unlimited core features for casual users.
Easy to get started	The interface is intuitive and requires only a short learning curve.
Accurate transcriptions	It delivers reliable transcriptions for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and uploaded video files.
AI reports	The AI reports help summarize meetings, action items, and recurring insights across calls.
Meeting templates	Custom meeting templates make AI notes more structured and tailored to different meeting types.

What Could Be Better

Con	Why It Hurts
Expensive Business plan	The Business plan is pricier than many other AI note-takers with similar advanced features.
Limited mobile experience	The mobile app feels more restricted compared to the desktop version and lacks the full workflow experience.

Why is tl;dv the best Otter AI alternative for individuals?

Although tl;dv is a user-friendly app, it has a well-rounded feature set suitable for individuals and freelancers.

While the paid plans are a bit pricey, the free plan includes many valuable tools that those with only a few meetings a month need.

Overall, I think tl;dv is a simple and quite good free alternative to Otter AI.

Read my full review: My Honest Tl;dv Review After Using It For +18 Months (2026)

Try tl;dv

If you fall in love with tl;dv and switch to paid plans in the future, you will get a 30% discount for the first six months if you use this link for sign-up.

Fireflies AI

4.4/5

Fireflies AI is one of the most popular AI note-takers with a budget-friendly paid plan for businesses and individuals. It supports Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, and Webex, and offers web, desktop, and mobile apps.

Full Fireflies AI review Visit Fireflies AI

Best for budget-conscious teams and individuals

Quick verdict

Better than Otter AI for:

Budget-friendly meeting transcription & note-taking

Not ideal for:

If you are looking for an extensive free plan

What stood out most:

Platform and language support

Biggest tradeoff:

Limited free plan

Testing Fireflies AI in real meetings

Fireflies AI and Otter AI are both among the most popular AI meeting assistants.

When comparing these two options, I found that Fireflies AI produced more accurate transcriptions, more structured meeting notes, and a more intuitive UI.

The only area where Otter AI performed better is in team collaboration, thanks to its chat feature.

Nonetheless, when comparing Otter AI and Fireflies AI side by side, Fireflies AI offers better value in its paid plans than Otter AI.

In this video, I compare Fireflies AI, Otter AI, and Fellow side-by-side to help you find the right AI note-taker faster

When Fireflies AI makes more sense than Otter AI

Users looking for a budget-friendly AI meeting assistant with strong core features
Teams working across multiple video conferencing platforms or require extensive language support
Sales teams or managers who benefit from conversation intelligence and meeting analytics
Users who want a balanced, beginner-friendly tool without a steep learning curve

When another alternative may work better

Users looking for a free AI note-taker
People who need top-tier transcription accuracy or highly advanced AI summaries

Try Fireflies AI

The Fireflies AI Features I Used Most

Transcription & recording: Fireflies AI can transcribe virtual meetings and audio and video files as well. When you transcribe meetings or files, you will see the meeting transcripts on the right side. Once the virtual meeting starts, Fireflies AI automatically joins and records and transcribes them if you selected the auto-join in the settings.

Transcription accuracy: In my experience, it is a reliable AI transcription tool with around 95% accuracy.

Meeting notes: Once the call is over, Fireflies AI will summarize the meetings and share the meeting notes that include an overview, key points with timestamps, and action items. These recaps have all the important details you need to quickly review what happened during the meeting.

Live assist: In addition to post-meeting summaries, Fireflies AI can also help you during meetings. This feature quickly summarizes what’s been discussed so far, points out action items as they come up, and helps you catch up if you join a meeting late. It’s a lifesaver in longer meetings, where it’s easy to lose focus or miss a few important moments.

Collaboration tools: Similar to other AI note-takers, you can organize your team’s meeting notes, recordings, and transcriptions in one app. Also, Fireflies AI allows you to share meeting notes and recordings with your team easily.

Meeting analysis: One of my favorite features was Fireflies AI’s meeting and sentiment analysis. It is very simple but includes the key metrics you need to track to improve in online calls, and shows you some data about the overall sentiment of the call.

Mobile app: Fireflies AI offers a mobile version for iOS and Android devices as well.

Integration options: You can connect Fireflies AI with thousands of the most popular apps through Zapier, including numerous project management tool integrations.

Fireflies AI’s pricing

Free plan: Available
Pro plan: $10/month per user
Business plan: $19/month per user
Enterprise plan: $39/month per user

What I Liked About Fireflies AI

Pro	Why It Matters
Broad language and platform support	Fireflies AI supports 100+ languages and works across most major meeting platforms.
Wide range of integrations	It connects easily with CRMs, project management tools, and thousands of third-party apps.
Accurate transcriptions	It provides reliable transcription accuracy (85-90%) for everyday meetings and uploaded files.
Well-structured meeting summaries	The AI summaries make it easy to review meetings and identify key points quickly.
Affordable paid plans	Compared to many competitors, Fireflies AI offers budget-friendly pricing for teams and individuals.

What Could Be Better

Con	Why It Hurts
Limited free plan	Most of the advanced AI and collaboration features are locked behind paid plans.
Bot reliability issues	During testing, the bot occasionally joined meetings late, which can interrupt recordings.

Why is Fireflies AI the best budget-friendly Otter AI alternative?

Fireflies AI is a capable meeting transcription tool with solid recaps. Thanks to its affordable paid plans, it is one of the best alternatives to Otter AI.

Read my full review: Fireflies AI Review: Why is EVERYONE using it for meeting notes?

Try Fireflies AI

Bluedot

4.4/5

Bluedot is a bot-free AI note-taker for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack calls. I found it an easy-to-use AI note-taker with bot-free recording, transcription, and summaries, but the free plan is quite limited.

Full Bluedot review Visit Bluedot

Lightweight bot-free recording

Quick verdict

Better than Otter AI for:

Users who need an easy-to-set-up AI note-taker that works without a bot

Not ideal for:

Users looking for a fully free AI note-taking solution

What stood out most:

Intuitive bot-free recording

Biggest tradeoff:

Requires cloud processing to generate meeting notes

Testing Bluedot in real meetings

Setting up Bluedot took 5-10 minutes, and after installing the Chrome extension, I jumped right into a meeting.

It joined instantly without any issues and notified the meeting participants that the call was being recorded. After the online meeting, I received the meeting notes within 15 minutes, which were well-structured and really scannable.

In addition to the essential features, Bluedot offers advanced features such as screen recording, meeting insights, and AI chat.

My experience with Bluedot was smooth and pleasant, and it’s an ideal choice for users who need a botless and simple AI note-taker.

When Bluedot makes more sense than Otter AI

Professionals who want a bot-free AI note-taker with video recording capabilities (only a few AI note-takers have this combination)
Users who want a fast setup and a minimal learning curve
Sales and customer-facing teams who benefit from AI insights and follow-up emails
Individuals and small teams that need accurate transcription and well-structured AI notes

When another alternative may work better

You need a fully free AI note-taker for long-term use
You prefer local processing instead of cloud-based note generation
You are looking for a feature-heavy, enterprise-grade AI note-taker

Try Bluedot

The Bluedot Features I Used Most

Meeting notes: Once your recording is done or the video/audio file is uploaded, you will have your meeting notes and transcript side by side. Bluedot already provides some great note templates, and you can also customize them. All in all, the notes come out very organized and structured, with perfectly identified action items for each meeting participant. Based on the notes, you can also send an automatically generated email follow-up.

Collaboration tools: You can organize your recordings into shared libraries where teammates can comment, edit, and work on meeting notes in one centralized space, eliminating the need to dig through scattered docs and email threads. You can also share your recordings externally or sync the notes with Notion and Slack.

My favorite features: Its clean and minimalistic interface made a good impression on me and helped me to use Bluedot with no learning curve at all.

Integration options: Bluedot offers a native integration with your Google Calendar and Google Drive, Hubspot, Salesforce, Slack, Notion, Zoom, but you can connect it to so many other apps via Zapier or Webhook.

Bluedot’s pricing

Free plan: Available
Basic plan: $18/month per user
Pro plan: $25/month per user
Business plan: $39/month per user

What I Liked About Bluedot

Pro	Why It Matters
Video recording support	Unlike many bot-free AI note-takers, Bluedot also supports video recording during meetings.
Easy setup process	It takes only a few minutes to get started and begin recording meetings.
AI follow-up emails	The AI-generated follow-up emails help save time after calls and keep conversations moving.
User-friendly interface	The interface is clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate even for beginners.
Screen recording features	Bluedot includes screen recording capabilities that other AI note-takers do not offer

What Could Be Better

Con	Why It Hurts
Limited free plan	The free version feels restrictive if you have frequent meetings or need advanced features.
Cloud processing dependency	Bluedot relies on cloud processing to generate AI meeting notes, which may concern privacy-focused users.

Why is Bluedot the best lightweight alternative to Otter AI?

Bluedot is a practical choice for individuals and small teams that need reliable meeting notes and a frictionless onboarding. It also focuses on privacy and transparent AI note-taking, which makes it a solid choice for teams that value visibility.

Read my full review: My Honest Bluedot Review After Testing 25+ AI Note-Takers

Try Bluedot

Wrap-up: Which Otter AI Alternative Should You Choose?

After testing 20+ AI note-taking apps, these are my best picks for these use cases. I found Fellow the best overall alternative, and this is the one I still use in my workflows.

However, if you need a lighter alternative with short onboarding, you might want to check out Fathom, tl;dv, or Bluedot.

Nevertheless, I am open to debate & happy to hear your thoughts on this. I hope I was able to find the best Otter AI alternative for you. As always, I will keep updating this list to ensure it reflects reality.

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

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At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fireflies or Otter.ai better?

My pick is Fireflies AI in this battle. It has more accurate transcriptions, the user interface seems better for me, and Fireflies AI has a recording feature as well.

You can find my full comparison here: Fireflies AI vs Otter AI: A Side-by-Side Comparison In 2026

Can I get Otter AI for free?

Otter AI has a free version, but it has some severe limits. That said, it only allows 300 monthly transcription minutes, 30 minutes per conversation, and you can transcribe 3 audio or video files lifetime per user.

Is Otter AI better than ChatGPT?

Otter AI and ChatGPT are two very different AI tools. Otter AI excels at real-time transcription and meeting management, while ChatGPT is a versatile conversational AI and knowledge source.

Can Otter AI provide human transcription services?

No, Otter AI does not offer human transcription services. With Otter AI, you will get automated transcription and meeting notes about your online meetings.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

thebusinessdive.com

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Best 9 AI Note-Takers | My Top Picks After +2 Years Testing (2026)

Aron Kantor — Mon, 11 May 2026 12:37:35 +0000

Looking for the best AI note-taker, but don’t know which one is worth checking out?

I spent over 2 years testing 20+ AI note-takers and investing hundreds of hours in reviewing them. I used some for weeks, others for months, to get a clear picture of how they actually work in real meetings, and not based on marketing claims.

After all that testing, I narrowed the list to the 9 best AI note-takers for different use cases, so you can find the one that suits your workflows.

Let’s dive in!

Quick Picks: Best AI Note-Takers

Best for teams & professionals: Fellow
Best for detailed AI meeting notes: MeetGeek
Best for noise cancellation & offline meetings: Krisp
Best for Mac users who need bot-free recording: Supernormal
Best budget-friendly AI note-taker: Fireflies AI
Best for individuals & freelancers: tl;dv
Best free AI note-taker: Fathom
Best for privacy-focused bot-free recording: Bluedot
Best for meeting inclusion & speaking analytics: Equal Time

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We reviewed and personally tested every AI note-taker featured in this list, and you will find links to the full review articles for each tool. Based on our hands-on testing, we assigned an overall score using our standardized scoring system.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

If you prefer watching instead of reading, check out my video where I break down the best AI note-takers, their standout features, and the real-world workflows they are best for.

Top AI Note-Takers Compared

Here is my list of the best AI note-takers in 2026:

AI note-takers	Ideal for	Where It Excels	Main limitation	Transcription accuracy	Pricing starts
Fellow	Professionals and teams needing strong collaboration features	High security, accurate transcription, and team collaboration	Limited free version	95% – 100%	Free plan + paid from $7/user/month billed annually
MeetGeek	Teams and professionals needing detailed AI meeting notes	AI summaries and conversation intelligence	Free plan has limited transcription hours	95% – 100%	Free plan + paid from $9.99/month billed annually
Krisp	Professionals require noise cancellation, combined with AI note-taking	Noise cancellation and bot-free recording on all the platforms	Advanced features are locked behind paid plans	95% – 100%	Free plan + paid from $8/user/month billed annually
Supernormal	Mac users wanting a free bot-free AI note-taker	Task management + AI follow-up actions	Mac only	90% – 95%	Free plan + paid from $20/user/month billed annually
Fireflies AI	Budget-conscious teams and individuals	Platform support	Limited free plan	85% – 90%	Free plan + paid from $10/user/month billed annually
tl;dv	Individuals and freelancers	Generous free plan, AI reports, easy-to-use interface	Mobile app experience is limited	95%-100%	Free plan + paid from $18/user/month billed annually
Fathom	Individuals and teams that need a free AI note-taker	Excellent free plan and simple UX	Lacks some advanced features	85%-90%	Free plan + paid from $15/user/month billed annually
Bluedot	Users who need an easy-to-set-up AI note-taker that works without a bot	Easy-to-use bot-free recording	Requires cloud processing to generate meeting notes	85%-90%	Free plan + paid from $14/user/month billed annually
Equal Time	Teams focused on meeting inclusion and speaking analytics	Advanced inclusion analysis	No free plan	90%-95%	Paid from $15/user/month billed annually

Breaking Down the Best AI Note-Takers in 2026

Fellow

4.5/5

Full Fellow review Visit Fellow

Best for professionals and teams

Quick verdict

Best for:

Professionals and teams needing strong collaboration features

Not ideal for:

If you are looking for a free & occasional AI note-taking

Biggest strength:

High security, accurate transcription, and team collaboration

Biggest weakness:

Limited free version (5 AI notes/lifetime)

Biggest productivity gain: Streamlines the entire meeting workflow from preparing agendas before the call to generating AI summaries, follow-up emails, and action items afterward.

Testing Fellow in real meetings

After testing numerous AI note-takers, I found Fellow the most accurate and safest one. It is full of AI tools to supercharge productivity and save time with your online calls.

And this is one of the main reasons why I use it as my default AI note-taker for more than a year now.

Based on my experience, Fellow transcribes my online meetings with 95%+ accuracy. After my video calls, it prepares the AI meeting summaries and transcription within minutes, so I can quickly review how it went.

One of the most underrated features of Fellow is the meeting agendas. Using this feature, you can collect all the points you want to discuss in the next meeting, and you will see them next to the meeting participants during your calls.

While Fellow just recently implemented its bot-free AI note-taker feature, it works reliably in the background and captures all the meetings effortlessly and securely, whether you’re online, in person, or somewhere in between.

Who should use Fellow?

Professionals with frequent meetings who want highly accurate transcriptions and summaries
Teams and organizations that need a secure AI note-taker with enterprise-grade controls
Teams that need more than basic tools to summarize meetings, such as meeting agendas, action items, and collaboration tools
Users who want both bot and bot-less recording options for different meeting environments
Organizations handling sensitive meeting data that require strong privacy and compliance standards

Who should avoid Fellow?

Users looking for a completely free AI note-taker with generous limits
Individuals who only need basic meeting transcription features
People who want the cheapest AI note-taking option available
Users who do not want to install a desktop app for bot-less recording
Casual users with a few meetings who may not benefit from Fellow’s advanced tools

Try Fellow

Use this link to sign up and get 10% off the paid plans if you upgrade

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack and Zoom.

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: Whenever you join online meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack and Google Meet, Fellow will automatically transcribe and record (with a bot or without a bot) such meetings in over 92 languages. With its recording library, you can organize your previous meetings into channels.

Meeting notes: The meeting notes provide you with the key points, action items, and decisions from the meeting. Utilizing this feature, Fellow makes online meetings easily digestible in a few minutes.

My favorite features: My favorite feature was Fellow’s AI assistant called Ask Copilot during the review of this AI note-taker. It is pretty efficient for getting meeting information and answers to meeting-related questions or asking it to prepare follow-up emails.

Mobile app: Fellow has a mobile version for iOS and Android devices, so you can capture key moments during in-person meetings as well.

Integration options: Fellow integrates Slack, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Microsoft Outlook, ClickUp, and over 8000 other apps with Zapier.

Plans & pricing

If you work alone, Fellow’s free plan (both for individuals and teams) gives you 5 AI meeting notes and recordings. The five-cap applies to audio and video uploads as well.

The Solo plan is $19 per month with annual billing. With this plan, you can access all features without limits and use the integrations.

If you choose the team plan for $7 per user per month, you get 10 AI meeting notes, recordings, and file uploads per user.

The Business plan is $15 per user per month for annual billing. You can use all features without limits and access additional organization-wide templates and advanced CRM integration.

Finally, Fellow offers an Enterprise plan for $25 per month that provides advanced control and security.

You will get a 2-week free trial to test the advanced features and decide whether it is worth upgrading.

Reasons to choose or skip Fellow

To make your decision easier, here are the main reasons you might choose or skip Fellow.

Reasons to choose Fellow

It offers one of the most accurate transcriptions
You can choose between bot and bot-less transcription & recording
It provides numerous advanced tools besides the essential features
Data privacy is a top priority and offers an enterprise-grade security
The AI summaries are super helpful and include all the relevant points

Reasons to skip it

It would be great if the free plan included more features
You need to install the Fellow desktop app in order to use botless recording

Read my full review: Fellow Review: My Thoughts After +12 Months (2026)

Try Fellow

Use this link to sign up and get 10% off the paid plans if you upgrade

MeetGeek

4.4/5

Full MeetGeek review Visit MeetGeek

Best for detailed AI notes

Quick verdict

Best for:

Extensive meeting notes & meeting insights

Not ideal for:

If you need a lightweight AI note-taker

Biggest strength:

Detailed AI meeting notes

Biggest weakness:

Limited transcription minutes in the Pro plan

Biggest productivity gain: Helps sales and customer-facing teams uncover patterns, decisions, and follow-ups faster.

Testing MeetGeek in real meetings

Before Fellow, I used MeetGeek as my default AI note-taking app for 20+ meetings. It offers highly accurate transcripts and has all the advanced features an individual or business might need.

It offers one of the most accurate transcriptions, and I only achieved a similar level of quality with Fellow. However, the real power of MeetGeek is its detailed AI notes & advanced meeting analytics features.

While it’s not the cheapest AI note-taker and comes at a premium price, it’s an outstanding solution for those looking for in-depth AI notes and advanced features.

Who should use MeetGeek?

Professionals and teams who want highly detailed AI meeting notes and summaries
Sales teams that rely on conversation intelligence and meeting analytics
Users who need a feature-rich AI note-taker with extensive integrations
Users who need highly accurate meeting transcription

Who should avoid MeetGeek?

Users looking for a simple, lightweight AI note-taker
Users needing unlimited transcription on lower-tier plans
People who want the cheapest AI meeting assistant available
Users who only need basic meeting summaries and transcription without advanced analytics

Try MeetGeek

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and Zoom

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: Whenever you join virtual meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, MeetGeek will automatically transcribe and record such meetings. If you check the settings, you can also add your preferences for which meeting you want MeetGeek to join. During my MeetGeek test, I used my PC’s built-in microphone and experienced over 95% transcription accuracy.

Meeting notes: Based on my two years of experience with AI note-takers, I think MeetGeek offers the best AI meeting summaries. It is fascinating how it breaks down each part of the meetings into tasks, next steps, concerns, facts, and decisions. It is also great that you can edit these meeting notes to add or remove specific points from your virtual meetings.

Collaboration tools: You can create and share meeting snippets, add comments on meeting notes, and easily send the meeting notes to your team members. MeetGeek has a searchable library where you can store your meetings, and it ultimately makes it easy to find and review previous calls.

My favorite features: Besides the AI-powered meeting notes, another excellent feature is the templates. This AI note-taker automatically identifies the type of meeting, for instance, a customer call or a weekly team meeting, and prepares customized meeting notes for such a call.

Mobile app: MeetGeek offers a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. With the mobile app, you can record and get meeting notes from in-office meetings or events.

Integration options: MeetGeek supports +8000 integrations, so you can use this AI note-taking app with your favorite tools.

Plans & pricing

The Free plan includes 3 hours of transcription per month, 3 months of transcript storage, and 1 month of audio storage.

The Business plan is ideal for teams and individual professionals who want to get the full MeetGeek experience. It offers unlimited transcription, unlimited transcript storage, and 12 months of video storage.

MeetGeek also offers an Enterprise plan that includes some extras like branded emails, organization-wide settings, a dedicated account manager, and more.

MeetGeek’s strengths and weaknesses

After using MeetGeek for 20-plus meetings, here are the biggest strengths and weaknesses I discovered.

MeetGeek’s strengths

It offers outstanding AI meeting summaries
MeetGeek has one of the most advanced conversation intelligence features
It delivers highly accurate transcriptions
This AI note-taker offers a wide range of integrations

MeetGeek’s weaknesses

Compared to other AI note-takers on this list, it has a limited free plan
The Pro plan does not include unlimited transcription

Read my full review: MeetGeek Review: Is It The Best AI Note-Taker For You? (2026)

Try MeetGeek

Krisp

4.2/5

Krisp is a voice AI platform that removes background noise from your real-time online calls, provides AI note-taking, and accent conversion. It does not use bots and works with almost all video conferencing platforms.

Full Krisp review Visit Krisp

Best for noise cancellation & AI notes

Quick verdict

Best for:

Professionals require noise cancellation, combined with AI note-taking

Not ideal for:

Users who are looking for a free AI note-taker

Biggest strength:

It works on most communication platforms

Biggest weakness:

No permanent free plan

Biggest productivity gain: Removes background noise while automatically capturing AI notes and meeting summaries

Testing Krisp in real meetings

When I joined calls through Google Meet in Chrome, the extension made it simple to capture the meeting without opening the desktop app. I feel the tool is lightweight overall, but still powerful.

For transcription accuracy and meeting notes, Krisp was solid during my testing. I was totally satisfied with the output and loved the AI chat. Also, it’s great that you can use it for in-person meetings.

As for the other features, Krisp offers some outstanding, unique tools, such as accent conversion and noise cancellation. With this extensive feature set, Krisp is an ideal choice for customer calls.

While I had a smoother experience with other bot-less AI note-takers like Granola or Bluedot, Krisp offers a more complete platform for calls.

Who should use Krisp?

Teams and professionals who want a bot-free AI note-taker that works in the background
You need both AI note-taking and noise cancellation in one tool
Customer-facing teams taking calls in noisy environment and need clear audio
You also want to capture in-person meetings, not just online calls
You value extra features like accent conversion and real-time audio enhancement

Who should avoid Krisp?

If you need a free AI note-taker
Teams or freelancers that need advanced analytics or conversation intelligence features
Teams requiring more advanced team collaboration features, like folders or chat

Try Krisp

Meeting platforms

All conferencing platforms including Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and any in-person meeting.

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: In my tests, Krisp delivered accurate transcriptions. I did not have to wait long, transcripts and recordings were available within minutes, and I could edit them directly inside the app. I also liked that I could upload audio or video files later and still get the same clean transcripts.

Meeting notes & action items: After each call, Krisp automatically generated AI-powered notes that highlighted the main discussion points and next steps. I found these summaries structured and easy to skim, which saved me time when following up with teammates. The action items were especially helpful since they were clearly assigned to specific people.

Noise cancellation: Krisp’s noise cancellation made a noticeable difference. Background chatter and keyboard sounds were filtered out, so the transcripts came out cleaner than with other tools I have tried.

My favorite features: One of the things I found unique is Krisp’s built-in AI chat. I was able to just ask Krisp questions directly in the app. For example, I tried asking, “What did we decide about timelines in this call?” and it instantly pulled the relevant part of the meeting.

Accent conversion: Krisp includes real-time accent conversion, which helps make global meetings clearer and easier to follow. It transforms strong accents into a more neutral-sounding voice without changing the meaning.

Custom vocabulary: I also appreciated that Krisp let me add industry-specific technical terms. I tested this with product acronyms, and it picked them up much more accurately once I added them to the workspace glossary.

Mobile app: Unlike most tools I have used, Krisp supports offline conversations too. Using the mobile app, I could record an in-person meeting and still get transcripts and summaries. This was a big plus for me since a lot of my quick discussions do not happen on Zoom.

Integrations: Krisp integrates directly with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce, and Zapier support allows it to connect with thousands of other apps. This flexibility makes it easy to fit into existing workflows.

Plans & pricing

Krisp offers only a 7-day free trial, and there is no free plan.

The Pro plan ($16 per user/month, or just $8 with yearly billing) gives unlimited audio and video recording, AI meeting notes and action items, AI chat, multilingual summaries, and in-person meeting support.

For larger teams, the Business plan ($30 per user/month, or $15 with yearly billing) adds features such as 4 hours per day of accent conversion, 30GB of storage, SSO/SCIM, manager view, and advanced admin controls.

Finally, Enterprise plans come with advanced security options, private on-device transcription, dedicated account managers, and usage analytics.

Krisp’s best features and limitations

Compared to other AI note-taking tools, here are the features that impressed me most during testing, along with the limitations you should know about.

Krisp’s best features

Bot-free recording that works across most communication apps
Accurate transcriptions in 17 languages
Action item extraction with speaker identification
Simple setup and easy to use for non-tech users
Relatively affordable compared to other AI note-taking tools

Krisp’s limitations

No free version
Noise cancellation is not available on mobile
You can’t create folders in your workspace to organize calls

Read my full review: My Brutal Honest Krisp Review 2026 | Is It Worth It?

Try Krisp

Supernormal

4.4/5

Supernormal (formerly Radiant) is a simple AI-powered personal assistant for Mac users that helps you capture your meetings and execute your next steps.

Full Supernormal review Visit Supernormal

Best for Mac users who need bot-free recording

Quick verdict

Best for:

Combining AI note-taking with task and workflow management

Not ideal for:

Users who need more advanced note-taking features like recording

Biggest strength:

Task management + AI follow-up actions

Biggest weakness:

Mac only

Biggest productivity gain: Turns meeting conversations into ready-to-execute tasks, emails, and follow-ups in seconds

Testing Supernormal in real meetings

Compared to other AI note-taker tools, Supernormal showed me something new, and I discovered that it’s more than just an AI meeting assistant, but a task management app as well.

Supernormal offers the perfect combination of note-taking and task management by integrating AI that suggests your next steps and prepares your drafts.

It takes you one step further toward actually getting things done, as you receive a pretty solid draft for all the tasks you have to do after your call.

So, if you want to try out something fresh with more focus on taking actions (and you have a Mac), I definitely recommend checking out Supernormal.

Who should use Supernormal?

Mac users who want the combination of an AI note-taker and task manager
Professionals who need to turn meetings into actionable tasks quickly
Teams that want to automate follow-ups (emails, scheduling, task creation)
Productivity-focused users who care more about execution than just notes
Startups that want fast AI-powered workflows

Who should avoid Supernormal?

You are a Windows user (Mac-only tool)
You need built-in meeting recording functionality
You work in multi-language environments (currently supports English only)
You prefer a traditional AI note-taker focused purely on transcription and summaries

Try Supernormal

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom.

Features that stood out during testing

Bot-less transcription: Supernormal transcribes your online and in-person meetings in real time, so you can stay present and focus on the call. Either connect your calendar for automatic meeting reminders and detection, or click on the “New Capture” button to automatically start the transcription. After your calls, you can quickly access your transcription with timestamps.

Meeting notes: When your call is over, Supernormal generates notes including action items, actionable insights, and more. If you want to add or remove some points, it’s not a problem, as Radiant allows you to edit the meeting notes before you share them.

Follow-up actions: Using Supernormal, you not only automate the note-taking process, but also task management. This AI meeting assistant suggests follow-up actions based on the action items you mentioned during your meetings. During my testing, I experienced that this feature significantly helped me boost productivity and reduce repetitive manual tasks.

My favorite features: With Supernormal’s AI chat, you can ask questions about your calls, next steps, and so on. But this feature offers many more possibilities. You can ask Radiant to adjust the draft emails it creates, such as making them shorter or longer, or help you with setting up a follow-up meeting.

Integrations: Supernormal supports integration with the most popular team collaboration tools like Slack, Notion, ClickUp, and Asana.

Plans & pricing

Supernormal offers a free plan that includes 5 daily credits, 15 monthly credits, and other features.

The Pro plan is designed for businesses and allows unlimited users to use it at once. While it starts at $18 per month with annual billing per organization, you will quickly run out of AI credits. That said, the monthly price would likely be between $54 and $90.

The Business plan starts at $40 per month and includes SSO, audit logs, data retention, and admin controls. However, the AI credits apply here as well, so it can easily cost between $120 and $200 monthly.

What stands out and what needs improvement

Here are the areas where Supernormal stood out the most and where it still needs improvement.

What stands out

It offers bot-less note-taking for your calls
Supernormal is a user-friendly and simple app
The way it generates the action items and follow-ups, or schedules meetings, is impressive
It also works as a task management app for Mac users
Since your audio is stored locally on your Mac computer, your data remains in safe hands

Needs improvement

My first con is its limited integrations with third-party apps, particularly with Zapier
Supernormal is only ideal for Mac users, as it currently does not support Windows/PC
It does not offer call recording, which might be a drawback for some of you
A broader language support would be appreciated

Read my full review: Radiant Review: Something Special? (2026)

Try Supernormal

Fireflies AI

4.4/5

Full Fireflies AI review Visit Fireflies AI

Best for budget-conscious teams and individuals

Quick verdict

Best for:

Budget-friendly meeting transcription & note-taking

Not ideal for:

If you are looking for an extensive free plan

Biggest strength:

Platform and language support

Biggest weakness:

Limited free plan

Biggest productivity gain: Speeds up post-meeting workflows with instant summaries, smart search, and shareable notes

Testing Fireflies AI in real meetings

My overall experience with Fireflies AI was solid, especially considering how easy it is to get started. Setup took only a few minutes, and it worked reliably across different platforms, which made it easy to integrate into my existing workflow.

Yes, the transcription and meeting notes are not exceptional and did not achieve the same level of accuracy as Fellow; however, it’s a well-balanced option overall.

Based on my experience, it outperformed Otter AI, another popular alternative, in both transcription accuracy and AI-generated meeting notes.

Overall, Fireflies AI is not the most advanced tool in any single category. Still, it offers a strong mix of usability, features, and pricing, which makes it a very practical choice for everyday meeting workflows.

Who should use Fireflies AI?

Users looking for a budget-friendly AI meeting assistant with strong core features
Teams working across multiple video conferencing platforms or require extensive language support
Sales teams or managers who benefit from conversation intelligence and meeting analytics
Users who want a balanced, easy-to-use tool without a steep learning curve

Who should avoid Fireflies AI?

Users looking for a free AI note-taker
People who need top-tier transcription accuracy or highly advanced AI summaries

Try Fireflies

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Blue Jeans, Skype, Dialpad, Webex, Lifesize, GoToMeeting

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: Fireflies AI can transcribe meetings and video or audio files as well. When you transcribe meetings or files, you will see the meeting transcripts on the right side. In my experience, it is a reliable transcription tool with over 85% accuracy. Once the virtual meeting starts, Fireflies AI automatically joins records and transcribes them. You can also transcribe video and audio files with this AI note-taker.

Meeting notes: Once the call is over, Fireflies AI will send you the meeting notes, which include an overview, key points with timestamps, and action items. These recaps have all the important details you need to quickly review what happened during the meeting.

My favorite features: My pick here is Fireflies AI’s analytics feature. It is very simple but includes the key metrics you need to track to improve in online calls. For example, it shows the speaker’s talk time and the sentiment of the meeting.

Mobile app: Fireflies AI offers a mobile version for iOS and Android devices as well.

Integration options: You can connect Fireflies AI with thousands of the most popular apps through Zapier.

Plans & pricing

The Free plan includes unlimited transcription and limited AI summaries with 800 minutes of storage.

The Pro plan is ideal for individuals or small teams with many meetings each month. It includes unlimited transcription minutes and meeting recaps.

If you want the conversation intelligence feature, which includes meeting analysis functions and team insights, you must go with the Business plan. The Business plan is perfect for small and large teams that can utilize these extra features.

The Enterprise plan is for large-scale enterprises. You will get a dedicated support team and an onboarding program here.

Fireflies AI’s wins and compromises

To summarize my experience, these are the biggest wins and compromises of using Fireflies AI.

Fireflies AI’s wins

Supports 100+ languages and most major meeting platforms
Wide range of integrations
Relatively accurate transcriptions
Well-structured meeting summaries
Solid collaboration features
Affordable paid plans

Fireflies AI’s compromises

Limited free plan
The bot sometimes joined late in the meeting

Read my full review: Fireflies AI Review: Why is EVERYONE using it for meeting notes?

Try Fireflies

tl;dv

4.4/5

Full tl;dv review Visit tl;dv

Best for individuals

Quick verdict

Best for:

Individuals & freelancers who need easy-to-use AI note-taking

Not ideal for:

Bot-free recording

Biggest strength:

Easy-to-use interface with a generous free plan

Biggest weakness:

Mobile app experience is limited

Biggest productivity gain: Accelerate post-meeting workflows and information collection with AI reports

Testing tl;dv in real meetings

For a long time, I used tl;dv as my default AI note-taking app, alongside MeetGeek, for business calls. During this time, I had a positive experience with tl;dv. While it has robust features to automate online meetings from A to Z, it remains a simple, user-friendly tool.

It offers accurate transcriptions, easily digestible AI notes, and features like AI reports to automate meeting workflows. I switched to Fellow after 18 months because my team started expanding, and I needed more advanced features.

Nevertheless, tl;dv a straightforward and reliable AI note-taker to manage your meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Who should use tl;dv?

You want an easy-to-use AI note-taker with a short learning curve
Individuals looking for a free AI note-taker
You need accurate transcriptions and solid AI summaries without complexity
Freelancers and small teams that need a tool to automate online meetings

Who should avoid tl;dv?

You need a bot-free recording experience
Large teams that need enterprise-grade permissions and features
You rely heavily on your mobile for AI note-taking

Try tl;dv

If you fall in love with tl;dv and switch to paid plans in the future, you will get a 30% discount for the first six months if you use this link for sign-up.

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: Whenever you join online meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, tl;dv will automatically transcribe and record such meetings. Tl;dv can transcribe meetings and video or audio files as well. Based on my experience, it provides highly accurate transcriptions you can easily access. It also gives IDs for different speakers, so you can easily see who said what. Tl;dv also records your meetings.

Meeting notes: Tl;dv’s meeting notes cover key points of your discussions. Additionally, you can filter the next steps, general information, and customizable points depending on which meeting templates you use.

Collaboration tools: With a few clicks, you can easily share meeting insights, transcriptions, AI meeting notes, and recordings with your team members. Moreover, you can collect and organize your recordings and meeting notes with your team members in one single place.

My favorite features: My favorite feature was the AI reports when testing tl;dv. The AI reports offer an easy way to collect the essential information from your previous meetings. You can generate a list of next steps or action items from your conversations.

Mobile app: Tl;dv has a mobile app for Android and iOS. However, it is only Lite, so the full experience is still desktop-first based.

Integration options: Tl;dv offers seamless integrations with more than 8000 apps.

Plans & pricing

The free plan includes unlimited video recordings and unlimited transcription, five file uploads, AI notes for up to 10 meetings and up to 10 Ask AI queries. Compared with other tools, tl;dv’s free plan is pretty generous and includes many features.

The Pro plan is ideal for individuals or small teams having many meetings in a month. It has all the features in the free plan, plus unlimited meetings with AI notes, unlimited single-meeting Ask AI, global transcript search, 8000+ integrations, and unlimited uploads & storage.

If you want multi-meeting AI insights and more advanced coaching features, you have to pay for the Business plan.

The Enterprise plan is solely for large businesses, where you get custom pricing. With this plan, tl;dv provides a dedicated customer success manager, custom invoicing, and advanced data management features.

tl;dv’s pros and cons

If you are considering using tl;dv, these pros and cons should help you decide faster.

tl;dv’s pros

One of the best free plans on the AI note-taker market
Requires a short learning curve to get started
Accurate transcriptions for Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet meetings or the uploaded video files
Outstanding AI reports feature
tl;dv offers meeting templates for more precise and structured meeting notes

tl;dv’s cons

Business plan is pricey compared to other AI note-takers on this list
The mobile experience is limited

Read my full review: My Honest Tl;dv Review After Using It For +18 Months (2026)

Try tl;dv

If you fall in love with tl;dv and switch to paid plans in the future, you will get a 30% discount for the first six months if you use this link for sign-up.

Fathom

4.4/5

Fathom suits users who need the essential features for free and a simple AI note-taker. It supports 38 languages and captures calls on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Full Fathom review Visit Fathom

Best free AI note-taker

Quick verdict

Best for:

Simple AI note-taking with free core features

Not ideal for:

If you are looking for a robust AI note-taker

Biggest strength:

Accurate transcriptions and well-structured meeting notes for free

Biggest weakness:

No mobile app

Biggest productivity gain: Finding information from past meetings is way faster with Ask Fathom

Testing Fathom in real meetings

Fathom was a pleasant surprise for me when using it for months.

After testing almost all the AI note-taking apps on the market, I found Fathom’s free plan among the best. So, if you don’t want to spend a penny on AI note-takers, Fathom is a top choice. Alternatively, you can consider tl;dv, which also offers an excellent free version.

Fathom focuses on the core features, and does it extremely well. It has solid transcription accuracy (85-90%), well-organized AI notes, and the Ask Fathom works great.

While it does not offer as many features as Fellow or MeetGeek, Fathom’s focus on the basics makes it ideal for those looking for a lightweight, free AI note-taker.

Who should use Fathom?

You want the core functions (transcription and AI notes) without paying
You prefer a simple, no-friction tool
Individuals and small teams looking for an AI note-taker with a short learning curve
If you require accurate transcriptions (85-90% accuracy)

Who should avoid Fathom?

If you need advanced or more features
You have a lot of in-person meetings (it lacks a mobile app to capture discussions)
Enterprises that need a scalable all-in-one meeting management platform
Team that advanced collaboration and workflow features

Try Fathom

If you want to try out Fathom, use this link to get FREE 3 months of premium features without an extra cost. This way, you can have 3X more time to test Fathom’s advanced features and decide whether to upgrade or stay with the free plan.

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: After you enter the meeting, you can let Fathom’s bot join the call, and it will automatically transcribe and record the conversation. Based on my experience, the transcription accuracy is between 85% and 90%. When it comes to recording, it delivers high-quality video you can easily share with your team.

Meeting notes: The meeting summaries show the key points that were discussed during the call. When I tested this AI note-taker, I discovered that the meeting summary is shorter and follows a different structure compared to others. Personally, I would love it if the meeting summary were a bit more detailed, like MeetGeek’s, but this shorter summary would also be great for many of you.

Collaboration tools: Fathom helps you to organize your meeting notes and recordings into different folders that your team can access. Also, you can mention and add comments to the meeting notes. If we look at the advanced team collaboration features, you can access the coaching feature and the deal view in the higher plans.

My favorite features: My favorite feature was Ask Fathom, which works like ChatGPT, and you can chat with the meeting notes. For example, you can ask questions regarding a Zoom call or ask it to write a follow-up email.

Mobile app: Fathom has no mobile version.

Integration options: Thanks to the Zapier integration, you can integrate Fathom with over 8000 apps. However, using the Premium plan, you only have limited access to Zapier integrations. Besides the Zapier integration, you can connect Fathom with Asana, Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Close, and more.

Plans & pricing

Fathom has a free plan and three paid subscription plans. The free plan includes unlimited recordings, storage, and transcriptions. Compared with other tools, Fathom’s free plan is outstanding thanks to the unlimited recordings, transcriptions, and storage capacity.

The Premium plan is ideal for individuals who want to utilize more features. It has all the features in the free plan. However, you can use all the AI features with this plan.

The Team plan was designed for small teams. With this plan, you will access team collaboration features like folders, comments, mentions, and keyword alerts.

If you want powerful features like AI coaching and deal view, you have to pay for the Business plan. If you choose this plan, you will have unlimited integrations, advanced security controls, single sign-on integration, and custom data retention policies.

Fathom’s strengths and weaknesses

Before adding Fathom to your tool stack, these are the pros and cons I think you should know about.

Fathom’s strengths

This AI note-taker offers the most generous free plan
Fathom has accurate transcriptions
It allows you to edit meeting transcripts
Many users reported top-notch customer service
Fathom provides a simple, user-friendly interface

Fathom’s weaknesses

Meeting templates are only accessible with high-tier plans
Can only transcribe online meetings, unlike many other AI meeting assistants on this list, which can transcribe files as well
No mobile app

Read my full review: My Honest Fathom Review After Using It For +3 Months (2026)

Try Fathom

Bluedot

4.4/5

Full Bluedot review Visit Bluedot

Easy-to-use botless AI note-taker

Quick verdict

Best for:

Users who need an easy-to-set-up AI note-taker that works without a bot

Not ideal for:

Users looking for a fully free AI note-taking solution

Biggest strength:

Easy-to-use bot-free recording

Biggest weakness:

Requires cloud processing to generate meeting notes

Biggest productivity gain: Eliminates manual CRM updates by syncing meeting insights directly into tools like HubSpot and Notion

Testing Bluedot in real meetings

After testing 25+ AI note-takers, I found Bluedot to be one of the easiest to use. While I noticed that a few users mentioned that Bluedot’s setup can be clunky and requires more manual configuration than competitors, I don’t agree with them. For me, it was really smooth to set up Bluedot and get started.

Bluedot reminded me how simple note-taking should be. It’s not trying to be an all-in-one meeting intelligence platform, despite all the advanced functionalities it has in store.

The AI summaries were impressively accurate and I loved how you get to interact with the meeting via AI chat to draw conclusions or simply get reminded of important points.

The impression I have of Bluedot is that it is a perfect match for professionals who want fast, accurate meeting notes without the hassle of bots or complex setups.

When comparing it to other bot-less AI note-takers I tried, like Granola and Krisp, I think Bluedot really finds the right balance between being a lightweight tool and offering all the necessary features. In contrast, Granola felt too basic at times, while Krips is feature-heavy but requires a learning curve.

Who should use Bluedot?

Professionals who want a bot-free AI note-taker with video recording capabilities (only a few AI note-takers have this combination)
Users who want a fast setup and a minimal learning curve
Sales and customer-facing teams who benefit from AI insights and follow-up emails
Individuals and small teams that need accurate transcription and well-structured AI notes

Who should avoid Bluedot?

You need a fully free AI note-taker for long-term use
You prefer local processing instead of cloud-based note generation
You are looking for a feature-heavy, enterprise-grade AI note-taker

Try Bluedot

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: Bluedot transcribes meetings or the uploaded audio/video files. With over 100 languages supported, the transcriptions are fast and accurate, even with diverse accents and background noise. What I also liked about this tool is the fact that you can still edit the transcription, as well as the video, though Bluedot automatically cuts your uhms and filler words, making the transcripts look way more neat and professional.

My favorite features: Apart from the obvious answer, which would have to be the way less intrusive no-bot recording, what made me believe Bluedot might really be the best AI note-taker currently on the market is the clean, minimalistic interface and the customized meeting notes for all lines of work and meeting-styles.

Mobile app: Currently, Bluedot does not offer a mobile app. All functionality runs through your browser and browser-based extension, but a mobile app is in the making.

Plans & pricing

Bluedot offers a flexible pricing structure that scales with your team’s needs, starting with a forever-free plan that lets you record and transcribe up to five meetings. It’s a great way to test the waters if you’re curious about bot-free AI note-taking.

From there, the Basic plan ($14–18/user/month) unlocks unlimited audio recordings and core features like Slack integration and Chrome-based capture.

If you need video support, longer recordings, and custom meeting templates, the Pro tier ($20–25/user/month) offers a more complete toolkit for collaborative teams.

For growing businesses that rely on CRM workflows, the Business plan ($32–39/user/month) adds valuable integrations with platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce, plus bulk import options and topic tracking.

Larger organizations can opt for Enterprise pricing, which includes features like SSO, custom retention policies, and advanced admin controls.

What it does well and where it struggles

After testing Bluedot in real meetings, these were the biggest things it did well and where it struggled.

Does well

Unlike many other bot-free AI note-takers, Bluedot offers video recording
It is super easy to set up
The AI follow-up email generation is valuable after your calls
Bluedot has a user-friendly interface
This AI note-taker offers screen recording features as well, which is quite unique
Well-structured meeting notes with timestamps

Struggles

Limited free plan
Bluedot needs the cloud to create meeting notes

Read my full review: My Honest Bluedot Review After Testing 25+ AI Note-Takers

Try Bluedot

Equal Time

3.7/5

Equal Time is an AI-powered meeting assistant for Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams calls. During my testing, it stood out as a straightforward AI note-taker with an excellent inclusion analysis feature, but it lacks a free plan and a desktop and mobile version.

Full Equal Time review Visit Equal Time

Best AI note-taker for meeting inclusion

Quick verdict

Best for:

Teams focused on meeting inclusion and speaking analytics

Not ideal for:

If you need an AI note-taker that has a desktop and mobile version as well

Biggest strength:

Advanced inclusion analysis

Biggest weakness:

No free plan

Biggest productivity gain: Helps teams identify speaking imbalances, interruptions, and monologues automatically

Testing Equal Time in real meetings

When testing this AI note-taker, I really loved its simplicity. I found everything easily and encountered no technical issues.

After using Equal Time for a few calls, I concluded that it offers accurate transcription. But what impressed me most was its inclusion analysis features.

It shows you the participation rate, monologues, mansplaining, and the number of interruptions. Also, Equal Time breaks down your online call and provides a more detailed overview of the conversation patterns.

On the other hand, the user interface is a bit old-fashioned and lacks a free plan. Also, it’s the least versatile AI note-taking app on this list, since it only has a web version.

However, it was great to see that there are no fluffs, it does its job reliably, and it is one of the most straightforward AI note-takers I have used in recent years.

Who should use Equal Time?

Professionals who need reliable transcription and quick summaries
Teams that value meeting insights like participation and inclusion analysis
Users who prefer clarity and simplicity over feature-heavy tools
Companies looking for a straightforward team solution with admin visibility

Who should avoid Equal Time?

Users looking for a free AI note-taking tool
Power users who want deep customization or advanced AI summaries
People who rely on a mobile app for managing meetings on the go

Try Equal Time

Meeting platforms

Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom

Features that stood out during testing

Transcription & recording: Based on my experience, Equal Time offers high transcription accuracy even if you use only your PC’s built-in microphone. For me, it took approximately five minutes to get the transcription after my calls, so it’s quite fast.

Meeting notes: After your meeting is over, Equal Time sends you the meeting summary via email, but you can also access it in the app. Such meeting notes are pretty simple and give you a quick picture of what happened during the call. If you enter the app and click on the “Summary” tab of a specific meeting, you can find a quick meeting summary with the decisions and conclusion. With one click, you can export the meeting details to a Google Doc.

Collaboration tools: You can export the meeting details to Google Docs or send them to your custom webhook.

My favorite features: Equal Time offers speaking time analysis by gender, so you can see how much of the meeting was dominated by men (or women, or nonbinary folks). This feature is also a special one, as I did not see anything similar in the past when reviewing other tools.

Mobile app: It does not have a mobile version.

Integration options: You can connect Equal Time to thousands of apps via Zapier, Make, or your custom webhook. These integrations allow you to automatically send all your meeting summaries at the end of your meeting to your CRM, issue tracker, chat tool, and more.

Plans & pricing

Although EqualTime has no free plan, it offers a 7-day trial for the Premium and Team plans.

With the Premium Plan, you can use the AI meeting notes, transcription, meeting analysis, and global search features, and add a custom vocabulary of up to 1000 terms.

You can get the Premium plan for $15 monthly per user if you choose the annual billing. Alternatively, you can go for the monthly billing for $18 per user per month.

The Equal Time Team plan includes all the features that you can access in the Premium, but it was designed for teams.

The Team Plan is $75 per month with yearly billing and covers 5 Premium Seats. You can add additional seats for $18 monthly. If you want to have monthly billing, the Team Plan will cost you $90 per month, but you can add additional seats at the same price.

Equal Time applies customized pricing for the Company License. Compared to the Equal Time Team plan, it includes company-wide deployment, user management features, advanced reporting and security, and you can access additional integrations here with tools like Notion, Jira, Salesforce, and more.

Equal Time’s advantages and drawbacks

During my testing, these were the biggest advantages and drawbacks I noticed with Equal Time.

Equal Time’s advantages

It has easy-to-use features with no fluff, and you can implement it without a learning curve
It offers accurate meeting transcription
Equal Time provides numerous useful insights into your meeting effectiveness and speaking patterns
It has reasonable pricing for teams compared to other apps

Equal Time’s drawbacks

While Equal Time has a seven-day trial, it does not offer a free plan with limited features
Equal Time does not have a mobile app or a desktop version
I would appreciate more advanced features, such as a meeting agenda or collaboration tools
The UI is not visually appealing

Read my full review: Equal Time Review: More Than A Simple AI Note-Taker (2026)

Try Equal Time

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A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

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Wrap-up: Best AI note-taker for 2026

Taking notes is a burdensome task, especially if you are alone in the call and you need to focus on every task at once, like listening or asking the right questions. Fortunately, this is for the past, and AI note-takers have completely changed how we participate in online meetings.

I hope I was able to find the best AI note-taker for you. As always, I will keep updating this list to ensure it reflects the reality.

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the best AI meeting assistant for online meetings?

After testing numerous AI note-takers, I found Fellow the best. It is a safe AI note-taking app that follows industry standards for data protection and also offers great features to improve productivity.

How much does a Fathom AI note-taker cost?

Fathom has four pricing plans. The free plan includes unlimited recordings, storage, and transcriptions. It also gives you some integrations, and you can use some basic features like clips.

The Premium plan is ideal for individuals who want to utilize more features. It has all the features in the free plan. However, you can use all the AI features with this plan and connect Fathom to Zapier.

The Team plan was designed for small teams. With this plan, you will access team collaboration features like folders, comments, mentions, and keyword alerts.

You can read the full Fathom review here: My Honest Fathom Review After Using It For +3 Months (2026)

Is there a free AI Note-taker for Zoom?

All the AI note-takers I collected in this post have free plans for calls on Zoom. To capture conversations on Zoom for free, I recommend trying MeetGeek.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post Best 9 AI Note-Takers | My Top Picks After +2 Years Testing (2026) appeared first on .

Granola Review 2026: Why It Won’t Work for Everyone

Aron Kantor — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:10:51 +0000

During my Granola review, I had many ups and downs. After testing more than 20 AI note-takers, Granola felt completely different from almost every tool I tried.

Instead of offering dozens of features, Granola focuses on one thing: lightweight, bot-free AI note-taking.

Sometimes, that simplicity genuinely impressed me. Other times, it felt far too limited compared to tools like Fellow, Fireflies AI, or MeetGeek.

In this Granola review, I’ll break down where the minimalist approach works surprisingly well, where it becomes frustrating, and whether Granola is actually worth paying for in 2026.

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Simple, bot-free AI note-taking
Not ideal for: Teams or users who need more advanced features
Biggest strength: Ability to incorporate your own notes into AI-generated summaries
Biggest weakness: Limited feature set

Verdict: A minimal, bot-free AI note-taker that covers the essentials, but is best suited for individuals with simple needs.
Score: 3.6 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Granola Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

Meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Granola is the most minimal AI note-taker I tested — it skips recording entirely and focuses on capturing conversations as clean, searchable transcripts. To summarize my experience, Granola is great if you want simplicity — but if you need recordings, team features, or deeper insights, it falls short quickly.

3.6

pros

	A lightweight AI note-taker with a simple user interface
	Accurate live transcript
	No meeting bots
	The free tier includes numerous features
	I loved how it incorporated my notes into the AI summary

cons

	There is no meeting recording
	No video or audio upload
	Feels too basic

Try Granola

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Granola

What is Granola?

Granola is a lightweight and minimalistic bot-less AI note-taker for online meetings. This is one of its main strengths, but also a weakness, and later I will tell you exactly why I come to this conclusion.

It works on all the video conferencing platforms, including Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. To utilize Granola, you need to download its desktop app (Windows or Mac).

Ultimately, it was designed for people with back-to-back meetings, helping them stay engaged and focus on the discussion rather than taking notes.

How Granola performed in my daily workflow

In this YouTube video, I compare Granola to Krisp, Tactiq, and Bluedot

During my Granola review, I had some ups and downs. Let me break this down.

From the positive side, Granola provided accurate transcriptions. It impressed me with the meeting notes and the way it converts my own notes into AI-generated summaries. The desktop app is intuitive and straightforward, and the meeting tool ultimately has a short learning curve.

On the other hand, Granola lacks workflow depth. The missing recording feature was probably the biggest downside for me.

Granola’s pricing feels fair, but not especially competitive. Don’t get me wrong, it provides a good value for this money, but still, there might be some better options out there for the same price.

To summarize, Granola is a lightweight AI note-taker for those who only need transcription and AI notes. After using it for weeks, Granola fell short for me due to its feature depth and did not make it to the list of best AI note-takers.

Why Granola scored 3.6 out of 5

Granola delivers solid core performance, with good ratings in meeting notes (4/5). It also stands out with a clean user interface (4.5/5) and strong integrations (4.5/5), making it very easy to use in day-to-day workflows.

However, the biggest drawback is its limited feature depth, reflected in lower scores for collaboration features (2.5/5) and especially other capabilities (2/5). Missing features, such as recording or advanced analytics, reduced Granola’s overall score.

When Granola makes the most sense

You want a simple, bot-free AI note-taker with no meeting interruptions
You are an individual user or freelancer with basic note-taking needs
You prefer a lightweight tool with a clean and intuitive interface
You want to combine your own notes with AI-generated summaries

When to consider alternatives to Granola

You need video or audio recording capability
You need advanced features
You work within a team and are looking for collaboration tools
You need more powerful and structured meeting notes
You want file uploads or transcription beyond live meetings
You are scaling and need enterprise-level functionality

Try Granola

The parts of Granola that mattered most

What using Granola actually felt like in meetings

Bot-free transcription

The reason why I loved Granola is that this AI note-taking app does not use meeting bots to transcribe calls. Essentially, it means that it only listens to your device’s audio, and no bots join your meeting.

I noticed people acted more naturally during meetings because there wasn’t another “participant” sitting silently in the call, so the bot-less approach is definitely the right approach for many cases.

The meeting transcript is very simple, as you can see. Granola transcribes meetings in real time. That said, you only need to hit the button to see the live transcript. The transcript looks similar to Krisp, but Granola feels more basic and offers fewer options to work with the transcription.

Once someone else starts to talk, speaker recognition is turned on, and it will organize transcripts accordingly. However, there is no advanced speaker identification, and the real-time transcription will identify speakers as Speaker A, Speaker B, and so on.

If I compare it with other bot-less options, for instance, Bluedot, Granola seems too minimalist. While I understand it was designed as a lightweight AI note-taker, there are certain features that are a must-have for me.

So, first, when I reviewed a past meeting with Granola, I looked for the recording, but did not find it. I said “okay, it’s quite a frustrating one, but I will survive”.

After working with the transcript, I noticed it lacked advanced speaker differentiation, which made the review process more burdensome.

To wrap it up, Granola only earned 3 stars out of 5 due to limited options for working with the transcript and the missing video recording feature.

AI notes

Granola’s AI-generated notes work a bit differently compared to other meeting tools. Besides analyzing the transcript, it converts your own notes from the meeting into an AI-generated summary.

If you take a closer look at the picture, you will see text in black. Now, that’s my own notes, while all the other bullet points are written by Granola.

To convert your own notes into AI-generated notes, you only need to click on the “Enhance notes” option, and Granola will take care of the rest.

This was probably the moment where Granola impressed me the most. I often write messy shorthand notes during meetings, and Granola surprisingly turned them into structured summaries that actually sounded usable afterward.

Granola’s lightweight approach also narrows its use cases compared to tools like Fellow or MeetGeek, where I get more advanced meeting notes and can get more value from them.

That said, giving 4 stars out of 5 is a fair approach here, I think.

Try Granola

Ask Granola

The Ask Granola feature works like an AI chatbot for your meetings. In day-to-day use, I asked questions, asked to write follow-ups, or identify action items.

Ask Granola provided me with relevant outputs, and it was pretty fast. It was great to see that Granola included this feature in the Free plan.

Ultimately, it is a helpful feature to quickly access the key points about your meetings or perform some meeting-related tasks faster.

Templates

With Granola, you can choose from numerous meeting templates. Based on the template you choose, it will organize your meeting notes accordingly.

That said, it offers meeting templates for 1:1 meetings, customer calls, and more. An additional plus for me is that you can add and remove sections when customizing or creating a new meeting template.

This way, you can fully personalize the templates for your meetings. It is definitely a useful feature for many users!

Team features

Finally, Granola has some team features for small businesses. It is useful that you can share the meeting notes with a few clicks through email, Slack, a link, or by copying the text.

Also, you can create shared folders with your teams, so you can centralize your meeting summaries in one place and organize them into different folders, like sales calls or team meetings.

However, I would still not recommend Granola for teams, as it lacks advanced team collaboration features such as chat, advanced permissions, roles, and more. While it is ideal for individuals, if you need an AI note-taker for teams, I would consider Fellow, MeetGeek, or Fireflies AI.

Given the available collaboration features, Granola earned 2.5 stars out of 5.

Try Granola

Granola’s integrations and compatibility

In the course of my Granola review, I discovered that it is excellent in terms of integrations, as you can connect it with some of the most popular apps like Google Workspace, HubSpot, Slack, and Zapier.

Also, I recommend adding Granola to your Google Calendar & your Google Workspace account for a better user experience.

Granola’s design and usability

In short, Granola has a simple and intuitive user interface. On the left side, you will access your notes, folders, account information, and more.

Probably, one of the most straightforward interfaces I saw in the past three years was when testing AI note-taking apps.

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A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

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What does it cost?

Granola offers a Basic plan (i.e., Free plan) and two paid plans.

Let me break them down for you!

Basic plan

Granola provides a free Basic plan with features like AI meeting notes, Ask Granola, shared folders, customized note templates, and multi-language support. However, your meeting notes will stay viewable for a limited time.

The free tier is ideal for those who want to give Granola a try but are not sure if it is for them.

Business plan

The Business plan is $14 per user per month, and includes everything in the Basic plan. Additionally, you will get unlimited meeting history and notes, consolidated billing, access to the advanced AI models, and you can connect Granola with Slack, Hubspot, Notion, Zapier, Attio, and Affinity.

Enterprise plan

Finally, Granola offers an Enterprise plan for larger companies for $35 per user per month. It covers enterprise-grade security, SSO, priority support, usage analytics, and more. So, this plan is for businesses with higher compliance and security requirements.

With these pricing plans, I expected more features and functionality, such as recording. That’s where Granola became difficult for me to justify compared to tools like Fireflies AI or Fellow.

Try Granola

Granola’s security

After using Granola for several meetings, I took a deep dive into its security and privacy policy. Also, I did some research on the web to see if there are any red flags about this AI note-taking app.

Granola is SOC 2 and GDPR compliant, and it does not allow third parties to use your data to train their AI models. So, all looks good on paper.

However, I found some past reports of Granola allowing anyone to download other users’ transcripts without authentication. It was around May, but since then, I have not found any red flags.

Personally, I wouldn’t consider this a dealbreaker today for most of you, but it did make me pause before trusting the platform with sensitive meetings.

Where It Excels & Where It Falls Short

To summarize my experience, these are the biggest wins and compromises when using Granola day-to-day.

What Granola does well

A lightweight AI note-taker with a simple user interface
Accurate live transcript
No meeting bots
The free tier includes numerous features, so you can test it extensively before buying it
I loved how it incorporated my notes into the AI summary

Where Granola still feels limited

It does not offer meeting recording capabilities
There are no video or audio upload features
Compared to other AI note-takers, it feels too basic sometimes

Try Granola

Granola alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Granola is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quick tl;dv overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

Granola vs alternatives

Granola VS Fellow

Granola vs Fellow

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

My final thoughts on Granola

After my Granola review, it became clear to me that it intentionally sacrifices depth for simplicity.

I can absolutely see why some people love Granola. If all you want is lightweight, distraction-free AI note-taking, it does a great job.

However, as someone who has tested numerous AI note-takers, I kept running into moments where I wanted Granola to deliver more.

So while Granola is a solid minimalist AI note-taker, I personally wouldn’t replace my current setup with it.

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Granola AI safe?

Granola is SOC 2 and GDPR compliant, and does not allow AI model training on your data. Nevertheless, I found some reports from the past when Granola allowed anyone to download other users’ transcripts without authentication.

Does Granola AI work in person?

If you turn on your desktop app, then yes, you can utilize Granola AI for in-person meetings.

Is Granola AI free?

Granola has a free tier with extensive features, but it’s not unlimited. It is sufficient to test Granola for yourself before purchasing it. With the paid plans, you will access unlimited meetings, integrations, and more.

Is Granola better than Otter?

It is a tough question. While Otter AI offers a more robust feature set, I preferred using Granola. That being said, if you need a simple solution without a bot, Granola is a better choice for me. Alternatively, if you need something more robust, Otter AI could be the right choice.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post Granola Review 2026: Why It Won’t Work for Everyone appeared first on .

Otter AI Review | My Brutal Honest Take (2026)

Jovana Simić — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 10:06:55 +0000

Looking for an honest Otter AI review to see how it actually performs in real meetings?

You’re in the right place. I tested Otter AI across multiple calls to see how reliable it is for transcription, meeting notes, and everyday use.

So, what did I find?

Based on my testing, it fell short of my expectations in a few key areas: inconsistent transcription accuracy, no video recording, and occasional speaker identification issues.

That said, it’s not all bad. There were a few things that genuinely surprised me.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Teams that need a relatively affordable tool for transcribing English meetings
Not ideal for: Users who need video recording
Biggest strength: Strong collaboration features for team workflows
Biggest weakness: No native call recording functionality

Verdict: A popular AI note-taker with solid collaboration features, but in my testing, transcription accuracy was less reliable than competitors and language support is still limited
Score: 3.8 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Otter AI Review

Jovana Simić

Transcription & recording

Meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Otter AI is a smart meeting assistant that automatically transcribes and summarizes conversations in real time. My overall experience with Otter AI during my meetings was mostly okay. A few limitations remain, but it’s still a solid AI note-taker available today.

3.8

pros

	Automatic meeting summaries, action items, and key points discussed
	Convenient Chrome extension for instant meeting recording
	Clean, beginner-friendly dashboard and intuitive design
	Integrations with Zoom meetings, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams

cons

	No built-in call recorder
	Language limitations: only English, Spanish, and French languages supported
	Automatic speaker identification may give inconsistent results

Try Otter

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Otter AI

What is Otter AI?

Otter AI is an AI-powered transcription tool and AI meeting assistant that automatically turns speech into text.

The tool works across web and mobile, integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and syncs in real time with Google Calendar. Its purpose is simple: to replace manual note-taking with automatic real-time transcription.

You can record live, upload an audio or video file, and Otter will automatically create meeting summaries, key takeaways, and action items.

It’s worth noting that language support is still limited. Otter currently transcribes only in English, Spanish, and French, and you need to pick the language manually.

Testing Otter AI in everyday use

If you prefer to see this Otter AI review in video format, check out my YouTube video where I compare it to Fireflies AI and Fellow

My experience with Otter AI was okay overall. I tested it on a Windows laptop using the web app and Chrome extension. It worked flawlessly through Chrome: one click in a Google Meet or Zoom meeting, and it started recording.

For my simulated meetings, Otter’s AI transcription tool captured everything in real time. Speaker identification was mostly correct, and only a few lines needed manual editing. The transcription accuracy was around 85%, which matches what most reviews and user tests report online.

Although my experience with Otter AI was mostly positive, I would have expected more from a leading AI note-taker.

It provided me with less accurate transcriptions than Fireflies AI or Fellow, for example, it transcribed Fireflies AI as Fireplace AI or best regeneration tools instead of best lead generation tools. Also, there were times when it identified a third person during calls, whereas we were only two.

Overall, the lack of video recording, inconsistent transcription, and other issues did not justify its place on my list of the best AI note-takers.

Why Otter AI didn’t score higher (and where it loses points)

Despite its popularity, we encountered some negative issues when testing Otter AI’s features. We experienced only an “okay” level of transcription accuracy (3/5). It did not identify the meeting participants correctly and did not find the right feature depth.

Furthermore, its free plan is limited (3/5) and is not ideal for those who need a free AI note-taker.

Nonetheless, for team collaboration, Otter AI is an outstanding AI note-taker with its chat, channels, and task management features (5/5).

Who gets the most value from Otter AI

You’re part of a team that needs strong collaboration features
You’re a professional or small team working mostly in English meetings
You want a simple, beginner-friendly tool for real-time transcription
You want automatic summaries and action items without manual effort

When Otter AI might not work for you

You need highly accurate transcription for critical workflows
You need video recording as well
You want to use a free AI note-taker
You need to transcribe meetings in a language other than English, Spanish, or French

Try Otter

How Otter AI handled real meetings

In this Otter AI tutorial, I will show you 6 simple steps on how to use Otter AI to transcribe and summarize your meetings on Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams,

Here are the features I ended up using the most during testing and where Otter actually helped (or got in the way).

Dashboard

Otter doesn’t use a traditional dashboard. Home is the practical control room: a clean list of your transcripts with quick actions to record, upload, or reopen a conversation. Labels are clear, recent items float to the top, and there’s basically no learning curve.

If you need more control, head to Settings. There, you decide how notes are shared, how the note-taker behaves in meetings, what gets surfaced to attendees, and how your data is handled.

In short: Home keeps daily work simple; Settings is where you set the rules.

Real-time transcription

You can start recording right from Home by clicking Record, or you can take the smoother route: the Chrome extension. I installed it, pinned it, and started capturing my call with a single click.

Just keep in mind that Otter won’t capture phone or VoIP calls on its own. To record those, you’d have to invite the Otter Notetaker to Zoom/Meet/Teams or have your mic pick up the call on speaker.

Once the recording started, Otter began transcribing in real time, line by line. When I wrapped, everything was already organized with timestamps, speaker labels, and a full transcript.

For a browser-based AI tool, transcription accuracy is solid. In clear audio, it caught roughly 85% of words correctly, and even with light background noise, it stayed impressively steady. Small slips, like turning “Lisbon” into “Liston,” were easy to fix.

However, compared to my experience with other popular options like Fireflies AI, Fathom, Fellow, or tl;dv, Otter’s transcription is less accurate.

You can make edits right inside the transcript, search by keyword, jump to timestamps, or highlight key moments to build a quick summary.

Otter also does a decent job at recognizing different speakers automatically, though for longer or more chaotic conversations, you might need to step in and assign names manually.

One heads-up: the Free plan limits each recording to 30 minutes. So if you need longer sessions, the 7-day trial or a paid plan removes that cap.

Audio Uploads

If you prefer uploading recorded audio files or video recordings, Otter supports most formats (MP3, WAV, MP4). My 15-minute MP3 uploaded quickly, and within minutes, I got a formatted transcript that I could edit, export, or share.

It automatically saves your full transcript in the cloud and syncs between devices. This could be great for hybrid workers who jump between laptops and phones.

Meeting Summaries

One of the standout features in this Otter AI review is how it generates summaries. After recording, Otter AI automatically highlights key points and lists action items. In my mock meeting, it picked up things like “book flights by Friday” and “check Airbnbs under 80€” without me prompting it.

Honestly, Otter’s meeting notes feel a bit basic after testing numerous other AI note-takers. It’s nowhere close to MeetGeek or Fellow, and it’s only ideal for those who need minimalist AI meeting notes. Nevertheless, at least you don’t need to take manual notes.

Try Otter

Channels

Channels are Otter’s way to organize calls. You can create a new channel, name it, invite teammates, and choose whether it’s public (visible to everyone in your workspace) or private (only for invited members).

Each channel acts like a shared space where you can store meeting recordings, transcripts, summaries, and highlights together. Everything stays in one place, searchable and easy to revisit later.

Collaboration tools

What surprised me most that the collaboration tools are solid: you can share transcripts, add comments, and use search to find key details from past conversations. Otter supports team features like shared folders and highlights.

You can also control access (set viewer or collaborator permissions), add time-stamped comments on transcript segments, search by keyword or speaker, and export or share transcripts in standard formats (text, audio, captions).

From the Summary view, you can even turn notes into tasks: add action items, assign them to teammates, and track what’s been done.

AI chat

Another useful feature worth mentioning is Otter AI Chat, a built-in assistant that helps you interact with your meeting notes. After a meeting ends, you can ask the AI chat to summarize Otter’s transcripts, extract key action items, or answer specific questions.

It’s not just for critical meetings, though. You can use it to recall facts from older transcripts or clarify what someone said without reading the whole file. In my tests, Otter’s AI chat responded fast and accurately.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

Explore Apps directory

The integrations that mattered during testing

Otter AI integrates seamlessly with tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, making it easy to record and transcribe conversations directly within your preferred platform.

Once connected, it can automatically join scheduled sessions from your Google Calendar, capture everything in real time, and generate searchable meeting summaries for your entire team.

Beyond live calls, Otter also supports importing audio files and video recordings from cloud services such as Dropbox, giving users the flexibility to transcribe both live and pre-recorded content.

For these reasons, it’s a reliable AI tool for individuals and teams that rely on smooth team collaboration and taking notes accurately across platforms.

Try Otter

Security & Privacy

Security is critical for a transcription service, especially one that records meetings. Otter uses encryption in transit and at rest, and lets users delete any recording or transcript at any time.

That said, it always notifies participants that the meeting is being recorded. I saw a few users on Reddit note concerns around automatic meeting recording without explicit consent. That’s something teams should think about before enabling automatic recording.

Otter AI pricing

Otter offers four pricing plans: Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Let’s break down what you get with each.

Basic plan

The Basic plan is actually a Free plan that gives you 300 minutes per month with a 30-minute cap per recording. It’s a great way to try Otter as a transcription tool: you can record virtual meetings, upload an audio file or two, and see real-time transcription in action.

Limits kick in quickly if you run longer Zoom or Google Meet calls, but it’s enough to understand the workflow before paying.

Pro plan

If you outgrow the entry tier, the Pro plan steps in at $8.33/month when billed annually or $16.99/month. You get 1,200 minutes per month and a 90-minute session limit, plus features that help solo users move faster, like richer meeting summaries and more flexible exports.

For freelancers, creators, and interview-heavy roles, this plan is the best option.

Business plan

For teams, the Business plan costs $30 per user per month and is designed for teams with collaborative tools. However, it is only $19.99 with annual billing and expands capacity to 6,000 minutes per month.

You also unlock team collaboration features, admin controls, shared spaces, and custom vocabulary to improve transcription accuracy on brand names or domain terms.

If several people rely on the same transcripts and speaker identification, this plan is the practical choice.

Although the 6,000 minutes will be sufficient for most of you guys, none of Otter’s plans offer unlimited transcription minutes, which is a limitation compared to some competitors.

Enterprise plan

Finally, the Enterprise plan has custom pricing and provides access to advanced features, so it’s geared toward larger organizations. It’s the route for companies standardizing on an AI meeting assistant across departments, especially when compliance and provisioning matter.

There’s also a 7-day Business trial, but it requires entering payment details upfront. It’s useful if you want to evaluate advanced collaboration and admin features in real projects, just set a reminder to cancel if you’re only testing.

What worked well (and what didn’t)

Some parts of Otter AI made my workflow easier. Others became frustrating pretty quickly.

What worked better than I expected

Automatic meeting summaries, action items, and key points discussed
Convenient Chrome extension for instant meeting recording
Clean, beginner-friendly dashboard and intuitive design
Integrations with Zoom meetings, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams

Where Otter became frustrating

No built-in call recorder
Language limitations: only English, Spanish, and French are supported
Users have reported that Otter’s automatic speaker identification feature produces inconsistent results during multi-speaker interactions.

Otter AI alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Otter AI is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quick tl;dv overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

Otter AI vs alternatives

MeetGeek VS Otter AI

MeetGeek vs Otter AI

Otter AI VS Fellow

Otter AI vs Fellow

Notta VS Otter AI

Notta vs Otter AI

Fireflies AI VS Otter AI

Fireflies AI vs Otter AI

Otter AI VS Fathom

Otter AI vs Fathom

Otter AI VS tl;dv

Otter AI vs tl;dv

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Wrap up: Otter AI review

I went in expecting a quick experiment, and this Otter review puts Otter exactly where I didn’t expect it: in my everyday toolkit. What surprised me most is how broad its use can be.

It streamlines the entire process of capturing what was said, from casual trip planning to real meetings, and it can even transcribe lectures when you need clean notes fast. In short, it offers some impressive features for many use cases and captures spoken words accurately.

It isn’t perfect, though. There were moments when Otter failed to catch every word, especially with a messier meeting audio. That said, transcriptions can become less reliable in meetings with background noise or crosstalk, and often require manual corrections.

Also, it has no recording, just the live transcription and meeting notes.

Despite the frustrations, I can still see why people stick with it. Even with its limitations, for freelancers, students, and small teams, it’s a game-changer that helps you stay present in online or in-person meetings while the notes take care of themselves.

Hope I was able to help you find the best AI note-taker for you. As always, I will update this Otter AI review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this AI note-taking app.

Try Otter

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Otter AI completely free?

No. The free plan offers around 300 minutes/month and 30-minute limits per recording. For longer or multiple meetings, you’ll need a paid plan like Pro or Business.

Ultimately, compared to other AI note-takers, Otter AI is an excellent entry-level tool for individuals and small teams needing to capture and summarize meetings in clean audio environments.

Other users and I found the interface easy to navigate, with a clean layout allowing for seamless use of features like recording and accessing past conversations.

Is Otter AI better than ChatGPT?

It depends on what you need. Otter is an AI meeting assistant for transcription and meeting summaries, while ChatGPT is an AI chat tool for writing and idea generation.

What is Otter AI Chat?

Otter AI Chat is a built-in feature that lets you talk to your meeting notes. You can ask it questions, get quick summaries, or clarify parts of a conversation without reading the entire transcript.

What is Otter AI used for?

Otter AI is a transcription service used to record, transcribe, and summarize Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams calls. People love Otter AI, as it generates automatic summaries, outlines, and action items for every meeting, helping users catch up on discussions.

Otter AI is best suited for students, journalists, and solo professionals who need quick, searchable notes from interviews, lectures, or internal meetings.

Is Otter AI trustworthy?

Yes. It’s widely used by teams and individuals alike. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and you can delete any meeting transcripts or audio recordings anytime.

Does Otter AI support real-time transcription and speaker identification?

Yes. It supports real-time transcription, speaker identification, and meeting management features like automatic meeting summaries and AI chat for follow-ups.

Jovana Simić

Hey! I’m Jovana, a content writer who loves writing, researching, and testing new productivity apps. With a background in philosophy, I bring a thoughtful but no-bullshit approach to everything I do. Let’s connect on Linkedin!

The post Otter AI Review | My Brutal Honest Take (2026) appeared first on .

Notta Review | A Unique AI Note-Taker (2026)

Aron Kantor — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 09:06:29 +0000

In this Notta review, I will share every important detail that you should know about this AI-powered tool. I will show you the key features, user interface, pricing, and pros and cons and give some insights into whether this is the tool you are looking for.

I spent more than 18 months trying and testing AI note-taking apps on the market to find the best ones. In this article, I will reveal what I found after testing Notta and why I say it is a unique AI note-taker.

Let’s dive in!

Best for: Multi-language transcription
Not ideal for: If you only need the regular AI note-taking features like transcription or meeting summaries
Biggest strength: A bilingual transcription tool
Biggest weakness: Aggressive billing practices

Verdict: While it offers a unique set of features, its aggressive billing practices and limited free plan make it ideal only for use cases when people speak in different languages during calls
Score: 3.7 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Notta Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

AI meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Notta is an AI note-taker that automatically transcribes, records, and summarizes meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. What makes Notta special is its multi-language transcription, which allows people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Overall, I had an okay experience with Notta during my testing. It has a unique set of features that no other tools currently offer in the AI note-taker market.

3.7

pros

	Automatic translation for meetings and files
	Mindmap feature
	A bilingual transcription tool
	Meeting scheduler feature
	Clean user interface

cons

	Limited free plan
	Customer complaints about aggressive billing practices

Try Notta

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Notta

What is Notta?

On paper, it is an ideal option for remote and multicultural teams, as it supports 58 languages for transcription. With its +10 million users globally, Notta is currently one of the most popular options when it comes to AI note-takers.

Besides the live transcription, you can use Notta’s Chrome extension to summarize YouTube videos and record web pages. Notta has a mobile version for iOS and Android devices, so you can utilize its features for in-person meetings as well.

What I learned using Notta over time

After my Notta review, I discovered that it is a special AI note-taker. It can not only transcribe meetings and files but also offer additional tools to enhance productivity, which I did not see in other AI note-takers. For example, a meeting scheduler tool or a mind map feature.

During my testing, I experienced high transcription accuracy, and the multi-language transcription and translation tools stood out. Thanks to these features, Notta offers numerous additional use cases for international teams and professionals.

On the other hand, I noticed that Notta offers too basic AI notes, and its free plan is limited. That said, if you want to upgrade, numerous users complained about its aggressive pricing model, which impacted our final scores for Notta.

What led to Notta’s 3.7 / 5 rating

While Notta earned 4.5 out of 5 for other capabilities like mind maps, meeting scheduling, and translation tools, it underperformed in pricing, the free plan, and AI meeting notes (3/5 for all of them).

To get a higher ranking, I would love to see more structured AI notes and, more importantly, less predatory billing practices.

When to choose Notta

Professionals or global teams that need multi-language or bilingual transcription during meetings
You work with international teams or clients speaking different languages
You want extra productivity features like meeting scheduling or mind maps for brainstorming

When you should skip Notta

Teams, professionals, and freelancers that need structured AI meeting notes
You need top-tier transcription accuracy for critical workflows (better options: Fellow, MeetGeek)
You’re a budget-conscious user sensitive to pricing and billing practices
You need a free AI note-taker

Try Notta

Notta’s key features

Here, I collected the key features I tried during my Notta review.

AI Transcription tool

One of Notta’s most solid features is its transcription. It provides transcription for numerous use cases.

Automatic transcription

Notta offers real-time transcription for your meetings on popular video conferencing platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex) in 58 languages. You only need to join the meeting, and Notta will start the transcription process right away.

For Google Meet calls, it makes sense to download its extension to capture and transcribe your meetings smoothly.

If you click on the “Meeting bot” option in the top right corner, you can control when you want Notta to join your meetings and share the AI notes. After the general settings, you will still have the option to change your preference on an individual basis when you want Notta’s note-taker to join your meetings.

Once you finish the meeting, Notta will send you the video transcription in 5-10 minutes. I found that Notta generally okay accurate transcription services. It’s not as accurate as Fellow, MeetGeek, or even Fathom transcription, but it does the work.

The transcription is divided into different parts based on the timestamps and speaker identifications. Essentially, Notta transcribes your meetings so that you can easily see who said what during the call.

I appreciated that you could edit the transcriptions with a few clicks during my Notta review. Also, you can change the speaker if Notta identifies the wrong person.

Try Notta

Multi-language transcription

With Notta, you can transcribe bilingual meetings in +10 languages. After testing almost all the AI note-takers on the market, I can say that not too many apps offer such multi-language support.

It is also great that you can use this feature for real-time transcription when the meeting participants speak different languages. This AI tool can identify and automatically transcribe text into a language of your choice.

Using this feature, you can effectively deal with the language barriers inside your organization or when discussing with clients.

File transcription

Moreover, Notta can transcribe audio or video files in multiple languages. To do this, you only need to go to the dashboard, click on “Upload and transcribe file,” and upload your recording.

Notta supports numerous file formats, including MP3, M4A, WAV, and WMA. I spent around 5-15 minutes transcribing a video or audio file.

Once you can access the generated transcript, you can edit it similarly to the transcription of online meetings. If you are satisfied with it, Notta allows you to export transcripts in TXT, SRT, and PDF formats.

Based on my experience, Notta offers generally accurate transcriptions for the uploaded audio or video files.

Meeting recording

After your online meetings, Notta will send you the recorded audio and video about your call. You can find it alongside the meeting transcription and summary.

The recordings give you an opportunity to review your or your team members’ previous meetings. You can revisit them anytime and playback them at flexible speeds.

AI notes

In addition to the transcription and recordings, Notta will share the AI summaries after your calls. It helps to get a quick understanding of your previous online meetings.

Typically, Notta breaks down your meeting into a summary, chapters, and action items. Nevertheless, you can change the default template anytime. It offers templates for team meetings, interviews, sales, HR, and more, so you can get customized key points for all the meeting types.

The AI meeting summary also includes timestamps, so you can quickly jump on the part where the specific point was discussed. Similarly to the transcripts, you can edit the summaries as well.

Another special feature of Notta is the mindmaps. I really enjoyed using this feature, especially for calls when brainstorming, as it helps to visually connect ideas.

Overall, I found the AI-powered notes felt too basic for me compared to other options on the market. However, its mindmaps feature worked great for me.

Translation feature

With Notta, you can translate audio or video files and online meetings. It supports more than 50 languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, French, and Chinese.

While I run my meetings solely in English, this can be an essential feature for multi-language teams.

Meeting scheduler

Notta offers a simple meeting scheduler feature to remove unnecessary back-and-forth emails when setting up a call. You can create more scheduling events, let’s say one for quick meetings and another one for 1:1s, and easily share the meeting link with others.

It is a straightforward but efficient feature that allows you to automatically find availability and send confirmation emails and meeting reminders to others. This feature is also something that most AI note-taking apps do not offer.

Try Notta

Team collaboration features

Notta offers some useful team collaboration features. With this AI note-taker, you can add bookmarks and comments to the meeting transcription. Also, I experienced that you can easily share the meeting transcription, AI meeting notes, and recordings with others.

With both the free and paid plans, you can organize your transcripts into different folders. However, if you use Notta’s Business plan, you can access the collaborative workspace feature, which helps you to share the transcripts seamlessly with others.

Conversation insights

Next to the meeting recording and transcription, you can find Notta’s conversation insights feature. It helps to analyze your meetings and track some of the most essential aspects like speaker time, silence duration, and more.

With the Business Plan, you can access more details about your online meetings, such as talk radio, monologues, long monologues, or sentiment analysis.

AI chatbot

If purchasing the paid plans, you can use Notta’s AI-powered chatbot for your meetings. Using this AI tool, you can chat, summarize, and analyze your previous calls. It is a valuable tool to get answers quickly about your meetings or create follow-up actions like emails.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

Explore Apps directory

Integrations

You can connect Notta directly with many third-party apps like ClickUp, Notion, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Google Calendar, or Slack. Moreover, Notta supports the Zapier integration, so you can connect it with an additional +7,000 third-party apps.

User interface

Notta has a clean and straightforward user interface. From its homepage, you can easily find the tools you want to utilize.

Even beginners who have never used an AI note-taker before can smoothly navigate its pages. So, ultimately, the learning curve is quite short.

Try Notta

Pricing

Free plan

Notta’s free plan was designed for individuals getting started with this AI transcription tool. It includes 120 transcription minutes monthly, up to 3 minutes of transcription per recording, 50 file transcription, and 10 AI summaries per month.

Furthermore, you can use Notta’s bilingual transcription and translation tool four times and the monolingual real-time translation two times.

Pro Plan

The Pro plan is $8.17 per month if you choose the annual billing. In the case of monthly billing, Notta offers this plan for $13.49.

This plan covers 1,800 transcription minutes monthly, up to 90 minutes per conversation, 100 file transcriptions, and 30 AI summaries monthly. In addition, you can access the customized AI templates, translation, all the editing and playback features, and the AI chatbot.

The Pro plan is ideal for professionals who have more meetings and want to utilize Notta’s advanced features.

Business plan

Notta’s Business plan is ideal for small businesses thanks to its collaboration and admin features. It is $16.67 monthly per seat if you opt for the annual billing. Otherwise, it is $27.99 per month per seat.

This plan has unlimited transcription for up to five hours per conversation. Also, the Business plan includes 200 file uploads and 50 AI summaries monthly. With this plan, you access the collaborative workspace that allows you to share the generated transcripts, recordings, and AI summaries with your team members seamlessly.

Moreover, you can control the sharing permissions, user roles, usage analytics reports, and more.

Enterprise plan

Lastly, Notta offers an Enterprise plan for organizations with custom pricing. This plan starts with 51 seats and provides more advanced security, controls, and support for the customers.

Add-on services

Notta provides add-on services for Pro, Business, and Enterprise plan users. The monolingual translation is $6 monthly when billed annually.

If you want to use the bilingual transcription & translation features, you need to pay an additional $9 monthly per year.

Try Notta

Pros and cons I found during my Notta review

It is time to summarize the pros and cons I discovered during my Notta review!

Pros of Notta

First, Notta is not just a transcription tool. It also offers automatic translation for meetings and audio or video files.
Second, I enjoyed using Notta’s mindmap feature. I think it is particularly valuable for brainstorming sessions.
Moreover, Notta is a bilingual transcription tool that converts audio and video files and meetings into shareable text in the languages you want.
Furthermore, Notta has a meeting scheduler feature as well. By sharing your meeting link, you can set up calls with ease.
Lastly, this transcription tool has a clean user interface.

Cons of Notta

Where Notta falls short for me is its free plan. The 3 minutes of transcription per conversation makes Notta’s free plan quite limited.
Furthermore, I found numerous customer complaints about aggressive billing practices.

Try Notta

Notta alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Notta is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quicktl;dv overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

Notta vs alternatives

Notta VS Otter AI

Notta vs Otter AI

Notta VS Fireflies AI

Notta vs Fireflies AI

Wrap-up: Notta review

To wrap this Notta review up; I think it is a solid choice to transcribe meetings and video or audio recordings. Notta has all the features a professional or a small team might need to work in an international environment.

Hope I was able to help you find the ideal AI note-taker for you. As always, I will update this Notta review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this AI transcription tool.

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Notta app good?

After my Notta review, I discovered that it has great features to improve your workflows related to online meetings. It offers accurate transcriptions and has some excellent collaboration tools for teams.

Is Notta AI safe to use?

I know that security is an important aspect when using a transcription tool. So, after doing my homework on Notta’s safety, I found that it is SOC2 Type II certified. It means that an independent auditor confirms that it stores and processes client data in a secure manner.

Furthermore, Notta is ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliant, so you can safely use it in any field.

Is Notta better than Otter AI?

While Otter AI has decent pricing, it can not record the calls, has less accurate transcriptions, offers no meeting analysis tools, and has a clumsy user interface.

On the other hand, Notta can record your meetings, provide meeting analysis, and have meeting analysis tools. The user interface is super clean. Also, it has some additional tools like meeting scheduling, translation, or mindmaps.

Therefore, my pick would probably be Notta if I had to choose between these two transcription tools, but its billing practices would make me think twice about using it.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post Notta Review | A Unique AI Note-Taker (2026) appeared first on .

MeetGeek Review: Is It The Best AI Note-Taker For You? (2026)

Aron Kantor — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:26:41 +0000

In this MeetGeek review, I will share every crucial information you need to know, from features, pricing structure, and pros and cons to decide whether this is the right AI note-taking app for you.

I spent hundreds of hours testing and reviewing almost all the AI note-taking apps on the market in the past two years, including MeetGeek.

So, one thing is sure: By the end of this MeetGeek review, you will see a clear picture of whether this AI-powered meeting assistant is for you or whether you should look for other tools.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Extensive meeting notes & meeting insights
Not ideal for: If you need a lightweight AI note-taker
Biggest strength: Detailed AI meeting notes
Biggest weakness: Limited transcription minutes in Pro plan

Verdict: A robust AI note-taker offering excellent AI meeting notes, accurate transcription, and conversation intelligence features.
Score: 4.4 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

MeetGeek Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

AI meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

MeetGeek is a free AI meeting assistant that transcribes, records and summarizes online meetings and audio or video files. After investing 30-40 hours of testing in MeetGeek, I highly recommend it to small teams and individuals looking for a solid AI meeting assistant to save time with online meetings.

4.4

pros

	Fantastic AI summaries
	Accurate transcriptions
	Advanced features in free plan
	Wide range of integrations

cons

Limited transcription minutes and storage capacity

Try MeetGeek

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of MeetGeek

What is MeetGeek?

MeetGeek is a free AI meeting assistant that transcribes, records and summarizes online meetings and audio or video files. MeetGeek supports numerous languages, and you can transcribe meetings using Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

It uses technologies like natural language processing and speaker recognition. Natural language processing helps you understand what you are saying during online meetings. At the same time, speaker recognition gives a speaker ID for each participant in the online meetings so you can track who said what.

Testing MeetGeek in everyday use

In this video, I also cover MeetGeek among the best AI note-takers

Over the past three years, I have tried Meetgeek numerous times while updating my list of the best AI note-takers. And it always proved that it should be at the top of my list.

It offers one of the most accurate transcriptions, and I only achieved a similar level of quality with Fellow. However, the real power of MeetGeek is its detailed AI notes & advanced meeting analytics features.

While it’s not the cheapest AI note-taker and comes at a premium price, it’s an outstanding solution for those looking for in-depth AI notes and advanced features.

Why MeetGeek earned a 4.4 / 5

MeetGeek offers an extensive feature set, including one of the most advanced AI note-taking and transcription capabilities. That said, it earned almost the most points from a features and functionalities perspective.

The downside of MeetGeek is its pricing (3/5) and free plan (3/5). It applies a premium pricing, and the free plan is only ideal for occasional AI note-taking.

When to choose MeetGeek

Professionals and teams want highly detailed AI meeting notes, not just basic summaries
You need top-tier transcription accuracy (95%+ in real use)
Sales teams rely on meeting insights and analytics
You value advanced features over simplicity, including AI chat, templates, and integrations
You’re fine paying a bit more for a premium, feature-rich solution

When you should skip MeetGeek

You’re looking for a lightweight, simple AI note-taker
You prefer a budget-friendly solution (better options like Fireflies AI exist)
You need an outstanding free plan with high transcription volume
You want unlimited usage on lower-tier plans

Try Meetgeek

Key features

Here, I break down the key features I used when utilizing MeetGeek for my meetings.

Transcription

Whenever you join virtual meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, MeetGeek will automatically transcribe such meetings. It supports more than 60 languages and can be an ideal tool for teams using multiple languages. If you check the settings, you can also add your preferences to which meeting you want MeetGeek to join.

MeetGeek can transcribe meetings and files as well. Whether it is a file or a virtual meeting, it provides accurate transcriptions based on my experience. Just like with any other AI meeting assistant, the audio quality impacts the transcription accuracy.

During my MeetGeek review, I used my PC’s built-in microphone and experienced over 95% transcription accuracy. That said, MeetGeek is definitely among the most accurate AI note-takers I’ve tried. I only had similar results with Fellow, Fathom, and Bluedot.

MeetGeek divides the transcription into different parts using speaker ID-s and uses timestamps to easily track who said what and when.

Recording

MeetGeek auto-records meetings using AI voice agents that join calls on your behalf. You can easily share the video recording alongside the transcriptions and meeting notes with your team members. It can be particularly useful during a recruitment process, for instance.

These agents attend scheduled calls, listen to the conversation, record the meeting, and generate transcripts and AI summaries without requiring any manual action once they are set up.

Voice agents are especially useful for recurring meetings or busy schedules, as they ensure that every conversation is captured even when you do not actively manage recordings. They work quietly in the background and handle the entire note-taking process from start to finish.

In addition to the voice agents, MeetGeek records your calls whenever you join the meetings. It also offers a bot-less recording option if you don’t want a bot to occupy a space.

AI meeting summaries

On the left, you can see the transcription, while you can access the AI summaries on the right.

Based on my two years of experience with AI meeting assistants, I think MeetGeek offers the best AI meeting summaries. It is fascinating how it breaks down each part of the meetings into tasks, next steps, concerns, facts, and decisions.

This is the shareable AI summary in email format.

The automated summaries help you quickly scan the key points that were discussed during the call without reading the whole transcription. Furthermore, if you click on the “summary” tab, you access the shareable meeting summaries that you can forward to your team members with one click. You can edit these meeting notes to add or remove specific points from your virtual meetings.

AI chat

AI chat in MeetGeek works like a shortcut to your meeting history.

I mostly used it to double-check details from past meetings, especially when I could not remember where something was mentioned. Once you have more meetings stored in MeetGeek, this feature becomes genuinely useful, as it helps you find information without reopening multiple transcripts.

Meeting folders

MeetGeek calls the folders sections, but the purpose is the same. It helps you to structure your virtual meetings into different folders. For example, you can create a section for team meetings, another one for customer feedback calls, and one for 1:1 meetings.

Whenever you click on one of the sections, you will access all the meetings collected in that place and their transcriptions, recordings, and meeting notes.

Conversation intelligence

MeetGeek’s meeting insights feature, now referred to as conversation intelligence, analyzes not only what was said during meetings but also how the conversation unfolded. It provides sentiment analysis and key behavioral metrics such as silence rate, participation levels, talk time distribution, punctuality, and overall engagement.

Utilizing this feature will help you get an idea of your and your team’s meeting culture while also assisting you in increasing your meeting efficiency. Nevertheless, this feature can be critical for sales teams. By analyzing your past meetings, MeetGeek provides key insights and data, enabling you to improve your sales pitch and close deals faster.

Compared to the AI note-takers I tried so far, MeetGeek offers the most advanced meeting analytics features.

Meeting templates

MeetGeek allows you to use the default meeting templates or create new ones. Each meeting template has a different structure. Whether it is a weekly team meeting, project management, or 1:1 call, you can create different meeting templates.

I did not really use this feature because I do not have many different types of meetings. But I can see how it could be useful.

Team collaboration features

First, you can consolidate all your virtual meetings into one searchable and secure location. This is a great way to create transparent team communication. By automatically sharing knowledge with others, you can minimize the number of meetings you participate in, as you can go through the meeting notes whenever you have time for it.

Additionally, you can share meeting notes, transcription, and recordings with a few clicks so you can keep your team members in the loop effortlessly. Compared to the traditional way, when you have to upload the meeting recordings, it is way faster.

MeetGeek’s integrations

MeetGeek supports +8000 integrations, so you can use this AI meeting assistant with your favorite tools. It is great that you can connect MeetGeek to HubSpot. It automatically syncs your client’s meeting content and key highlights with HubSpot, so you do not need to switch between the two apps.

Also, you can connect MeetGeek with Slack, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and many other third-party apps.

MeetGeek’s user interface

MeetGeek has a user-friendly interface, and you can quickly find every key feature you need to use this tool effectively daily. I really loved that only the main features are displayed on the homepage. So, thanks to this intuitive layout, the learning curve is pretty fast.

Try Meetgeek

MeetGeek’s pricing

MeetGeek offers four pricing plans.

The Free plan includes 3 hours of transcription per month, 3 months of transcript storage, and 1 month of audio storage. While many AI note-taking apps offer unlimited transcription in the free version, MeetGeek compensates for the limited transcription minutes with numerous available features.

If using the free plan, you will access the AI summaries, meeting insights, folders, file uploads, and searching functions. So, in terms of features, MeetGeek has a quite generous free plan. When it comes to meeting insights, most of the AI note-taking apps offer this feature in paid plans.

The Pro plan is for professional and small teams that have more meetings. It includes all the features in the free plan, plus 20 hours of transcription per month, 1 year of transcript storage, and 6 months of video storage. Besides the features you can use in the free plan, you will get access to meeting templates, AI tools, and integrations.

The Business plan is ideal for teams and individual professionals who want to get the full MeetGeek experience. It offers unlimited transcription, unlimited transcript storage, and 12 months of video storage. With the business plan, you will access some team collaboration features, a personalized bot name, a custom dictionary, and meeting insights for the whole team.

MeetGeek also offers an Enterprise plan that includes some extras like branded emails, organization-wide settings, a dedicated account manager, and more.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

Explore Apps directory

Pros and cons I discovered during my MeetGeek review

Pros of MeetGeek:

The best, well-structured AI meeting summaries
Highly accurate transcriptions
Wide range of integrations
Affordable paid plans
Generous free plan with advanced features access

Cons of MeetGeek:

Limited transcription minutes and storage capacity on Pro plan

MeetGeek alternatives

If you are still unsure whether MeetGeek is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quicktl;dv overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

MeetGeek vs alternatives

MeetGeek VS Otter AI

MeetGeek vs Otter AI

Fireflies AI VS MeetGeek

Fireflies AI vs MeetGeek

Fathom VS MeetGeek

Fathom vs MeetGeek

tl;dv VS MeetGeek

tl;dv vs MeetGeek

Wrap-up: MeetGeek review

So, it was my honest review regarding MeetGeek. There are many meeting management tools, but I think MeetGeek is among the best options on the market. It is a valuable tool to streamline meeting processes and make your online meetings more productive on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Try Meetgeek

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is MeetGeek safe to use?

After digging into safety questions during my MeetGeek review, I found that it is a completely safe tool. They have completed SOC 2 Type II compliance, which is the highest level of information security, particularly for cloud-based operations.

How does MeetGeek work?

MeetGeek’s bot will automatically join your virtual meetings to prepare recordings, transcripts, and meeting notes. Once you connect to an online meeting on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet, you can let MeetGeek’s bot join the meeting. After this, you have nothing to do, and you will receive the meeting minutes 10-15 minutes after the call.

What language does MeetGeek support?

The default language is English, but MeetGeek supports different languages, from Spanish to Portuguese. Essentially, all the main languages work on MeetGeek.

How do you connect to video meetings with MeetGeek?

You just need to click on the meeting invite and join the call. After, you can allow MeetGeek’s bot to join the meeting, and it will do the rest.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post MeetGeek Review: Is It The Best AI Note-Taker For You? (2026) appeared first on .

Fireflies AI Review 2026: My Opinion After 10+ Meetings

Aron Kantor — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:26:27 +0000

After using Fireflies AI for 10+ meetings for more than three years, I realized something interesting: it’s probably one of the most balanced AI note-takers on the market.

It’s not the most advanced. It doesn’t have the best transcription accuracy. And it’s certainly not the most generous free tool either.

But compared to 20+ competitors I tested, Fireflies AI consistently delivered where it mattered most: reliable transcriptions, solid meeting summaries, broad platform support, and pricing that actually makes sense.

In this Fireflies AI review, I’ll break down where it genuinely impressed me, where it still falls behind compared to some of its alternatives, and whether it’s worth paying for in 2026.

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Budget-friendly meeting transcription & note-taking
Not ideal for: If you are looking for an extensive free plan
Biggest strength: Language and platform support
Biggest weakness: Limited free plan

Verdict: A versatile AI note-taker with reasonable pricing and reliable core features
Score: 4.4 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Fireflies AI Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

AI meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Fireflies AI provides automated note-taking for over 10 million people on platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and others. Fireflies is one of the best AI note-takers you can find. Whether you have internal or external meetings, Fireflies is an ideal addition to your tool stack to save time and money.

4.4

pros

	Supports 100+ languages and most major meeting platforms
	Accurate transcriptions
	Well-structured meeting summaries
	Solid collaboration features
	Affordable paid plans

cons

	Limited free plan
	Fireflies AI’s bot joined late in the meeting sometimes

Try Fireflies AI

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Fireflies AI

What is Fireflies AI?

Fireflies AI provides automated note-taking for over 10 million people on platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and others.

It utilizes technologies like natural language processing and speaker recognition. Natural language processing helps you understand what you are saying during online meetings.

At the same time, speaker recognition gives a speaker ID for each meeting participant so you can track who said what in the meeting transcription.

Besides the extensive meeting platform support, it understands and transcribes most languages in the AI note-taker market. Normally, the best AI note-takers can take notes in 20-30 languages; in contrast, Fireflies transcribes online meetings in over 100 languages.

How Fireflies AI performed in my daily workflow (3 years of experience)

If you prefer to see this Fireflies review in video format, check out my YouTube video where I compare it to Otter AI and Fellow

The transcription accuracy wasn’t on the same level as Fellow in my testing. Still, it consistently outperformed one of its most popular alternatives, Otter AI, in both transcript reliability and summary quality.

For me, Fireflies AI stands out because it balances usability, transcription quality, integrations, and pricing better than most competitors, including Otter AI.

How we arrived at Fireflies AI’s final rating

Fireflies AI performed well in terms of features. The only area where it gets only 4 points out of 5 is its other capabilities, because I would expect more from a leading AI note-taker, for example, meeting agendas.

It received the maximum score for the paid plans, as it is one of the most budget-friendly solutions for professionals and teams. Nevertheless, its free plan is only mediocre (3/5).

Who Would be a Good Fit for Fireflies AI?

Users looking for a budget-friendly AI meeting assistant with strong core features
Teams working across multiple video conferencing platforms or require extensive language support
Sales teams or managers who benefit from conversation intelligence and meeting analytics
Users who want a balanced, easy-to-use tool without a steep learning curve

Who Would be a Bad Fit for Fireflies AI?

Users looking for a free AI note-taker
People who need top-tier transcription accuracy or highly advanced AI summaries

Try Fireflies

The features that mattered most during testing

These were the parts of Fireflies AI that mattered most in real meetings.

In this video, I show you how to use Fireflies AI step by step.

Transcription tool

Fireflies AI can transcribe meetings and video or audio files. When you transcribe meetings or files, you will see the meeting transcripts on the right side. It also supports bot-less video capture, which is a useful addition.

In my experience, it is a reliable transcription tool with between 85% and 95% accuracy. Compared to Fellow, it did not achieve the same level of transcription accuracy, but it was found to be less error-prone than Otter AI, another popular choice.

Once the virtual meeting starts, Fireflies automatically joins and transcribes it. The meeting transcription is divided up using the speaker IDs, making it easier to review and track the key topics discussed.

In the settings menu, you can select when you want Fireflies AI to join your meetings or send you AI summaries. This high-level customization option lets you fully control when you want Fireflies AI to join your meetings.

You can also transcribe video and audio files. It takes around 10-15 minutes, and you will have access to an accurate transcription of the file with a summary.

Automated meeting summaries

Once the virtual meetings are over, Fireflies AI will send you the meeting recaps, which include an overview, key points with timestamps, and action items. These recaps have all the important details you need to quickly review what happened during the meeting.

Fireflies AI’s smart search feature can filter specific points from the meeting, such as questions, key metrics, dates, and more. This allows you to quickly filter on topics that interest you.

Additionally, you can easily edit and share meeting notes with a few clicks. Besides the meeting notes, Fireflies AI will also send the meeting recording and transcription.

Compared to other AI note-takers, Fireflies AI’s meeting notes are among the better ones for sure. However, if you need detailed AI notes, you might want to check out MeetGeek, as, based on my experience, it provides more extensive meeting notes. But if you are looking for customization, Fellow could be a good choice.

Live assist

In addition to post-meeting summaries, Fireflies AI can also help you during meetings with its Live Assist feature.

For example, this feature can quickly summarize what’s been discussed so far, point out action items as they come up, or help you catch up if you join a meeting late. This is a lifesaver in longer meetings, where it’s easy to lose focus or miss a few important moments.

It’s not a feature I used in every single meeting. But when I needed it, it saved me from rewatching the whole meeting later.

Recordings

Fireflies AI will automatically join and record meetings when they start. The meeting recording is easily accessible after the meeting. You just click on the meetings tab to find the recording with the transcription and the notes.

Collaboration features

One of the main reasons Fireflies AI is one of the best note-taker apps for teams is the collaboration features. You can organize your team’s meeting notes, recordings, and transcriptions in one single place.

Also, you can easily share and edit your meeting notes with others, so you will not miss any important details from voice conversations. Team members can also leave comments and reactions on specific parts of the transcript.

Conversation intelligence

Analytics is an excellent feature to improve your meeting performance or coach teammates. You can track speaker talk time and access other key metrics like the sentiment of the meeting.

This feature can be particularly useful for sales calls. Accessing and analyzing these valuable insights will make you and your entire team more efficient.

Other useful features

There were also a few smaller features I ended up using more than expected. For example, it has an AI assistant called Fred. You can ask anything about an online meeting, and it will find the answer in seconds.

Also, you can create short audio clips from different parts of the call to share with your team. These audio snippets are called Soundbites, and they can be helpful when you want to share the most memorable moments of an hour-long meeting.

For example, when you want to share the key moments from an interview, such a feature can come in handy.

Try Fireflies

Connecting Fireflies AI with your existing workflow

Fireflies AI offers seamless integration with various third-party applications. The must-have integrations you need to start with are Google Calendar & Google Meet to ensure you will see the calendar events and join them easily.

Furthermore, you can connect project management tools, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, collaboration apps, and various other tools. For instance, you can integrate it with tools like Notion, ClickUp, monday.com, Slack, Google Docs, and Asana to keep meeting notes connected to your daily workflows.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

Explore Apps directory

Ease of use and navigation

Let’s talk about the user interface. Fireflies has a user-friendly interface, and you can easily access every essential feature with a few clicks. Even a beginner with these tools can smoothly navigate and utilize Fireflies AI’s function.

Fireflies is available on web, mobile, and desktop, so you can record, transcribe, summarize, and search meetings across different devices, depending on how you prefer to work.

Overall, Fireflies AI gave me a pleasant surprise in terms of user interface and accessibility.

Free plan & paid options

Fireflies AI offers four plans for individuals and small and large teams.

The free plan includes unlimited storage capacity and transcription for shared bot meetings. Fireflies AI’s free plan is usable, but not especially generous compared to tools like Fathom or tl;dv.

If you want to transcribe files, you are only allowed to transcribe three meetings for free. Also, you can transcribe recordings below 100 megabytes.

I recommend the free plan for those who have just a couple of meetings in a month and do not want to spend time on meeting notes.

Compared to many other AI meeting assistants, Fireflies’ paid plans are reasonably priced, especially if you rely on meetings every day. The Pro plan costs $10 per seat per month, the Business plan is priced at $19 per seat per month, and the Enterprise plan starts at $39 per seat per month, all billed annually.

The Pro plan is ideal for people or small teams having many meetings in a month. It includes unlimited transcription minutes and meeting recaps. You will also have access to the AI assistant feature and the smart searching filters.

The enterprise plan is for large-scale enterprises. You will get a dedicated support team and an onboarding program here.

Ultimately, Fireflies AI’s free plan is only decent compared to other AI note-takers. Most of the juice comes with the Pro and Business plans. The good news is that these plans are quite budget-friendly solutions when considering the pricing of other AI tools.

Where Fireflies AI works well (and where it falls short)

Here’s what worked well for me and where I still think Fireflies AI falls behind competitors.

Where Fireflies AI works really well

The most versatile app on the AI note-taker market
Supports 100+ languages and most major meeting platforms
Wide range of integrations
Gives accurate transcriptions
Well-structured meeting summaries
Solid collaboration features
Affordable paid plans

Where Fireflies AI still falls short

Limited free plan
The bot sometimes joined late in the meeting

Try Fireflies

Fireflies AI’s alternatives

If Fireflies AI doesn’t fully match your workflow, these alternatives are worth considering.

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quick tl;dv overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

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Notta VS Fireflies AI

Notta vs Fireflies AI

Fellow VS Fireflies AI

Fellow vs Fireflies AI

Fireflies AI VS MeetGeek

Fireflies AI vs MeetGeek

Fireflies AI VS Fathom

Fireflies AI vs Fathom

The bottom line on Fireflies AI

After testing Fireflies AI for years and seeing how this AI note-taker evolves, I think its biggest advantage is balance.

It may not dominate a single category like Fathom (free plan)or MeetGeek (AI meeting notes), but it consistently performs well across transcription, integrations, collaboration, language support, and pricing.

That combination makes it one of the easiest AI note-takers to recommend for teams and professionals who want reliability without paying too much.

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fireflies.ai free?

Fireflies AI has a free plan that includes unlimited storage capacity and transcription for shared bot meetings. Nevertheless, the advanced features come with the Pro and Business Plans. So, the free plan is ideal for those who just have a few meetings in a month and want to dedicate their full attention to the meeting participants by offloading note-taking to Fireflies AI.

Does Fireflies AI work with Google Meet?

Fireflies AI works with Google Meet, MS Teams, Zoom, Webex, GoToMeeting, Skype, Lifesize, and Dialpad Meetings. You can transcribe meetings on these video conferencing platforms with Fireflies AI in over 69 languages.

Is Fireflies.ai safe to use?

Fireflies.ai is a cloud-based tool that encrypts data both at rest and in transit to protect user privacy. As a cloud-based tool, Fireflies.ai can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. Its high data security standards ensure that all your data, including every audio recording, transcript, and meeting summary, is secured.

Is Otter AI better than Fireflies AI?

Otter and Fireflies are among the most popular meeting assistants. While Otter and Fireflies have similar technology backgrounds and can significantly increase individual and team productivity, there are differences. Fireflies offers additional features like meeting summaries and action items, which go beyond basic transcription.

In this Fireflies AI Vs Otter AI comparison, I also found that Fireflies AI has higher transcription accuracy based on user reports, and is a more versatile app.

How accurate are Fireflies AI’s meeting notes?

Personally, I experienced that the transcription accuracy is over 95%. However, it is important to remember that the accuracy may vary depending on the audio quality, background noise, and individual speaking styles.

If you are looking for some bot-free options, check out this article: 5 Best Bot-Free AI Note-Takers In 2026 (NOT What You’d Think)

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post Fireflies AI Review 2026: My Opinion After 10+ Meetings appeared first on .

My Honest Zoom AI Companion Review 2026 | Is It Worth It?

Aron Kantor — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:16:55 +0000

Zoom AI companion is Zoom’s built-in AI assistant for your online meetings. The question is whether you should upgrade your Zoom account because of this feature and how it stacks up against other AI note-takers.

Stay here, because I will share my personal experience from my Zoom AI Companion review and help you decide if it makes sense to upgrade your Zoom Workspace or not.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Zoom users who need basic AI note-taking and transcription
Not ideal for: Non-Zoom users or those who need more advanced features
Biggest strength: Seamless integration within the Zoom ecosystem
Biggest weakness: Limited feature set

Verdict: A solid option for existing Zoom users with a paid plan who need basic AI note-taking. However, it’s not worth upgrading to Zoom solely for this feature.
Score: 3.5 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Zoom AI Companion Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

Meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Zoom AI Companion is a simple and easy-to-use AI note-taker that delivers solid meeting summaries and decent transcription accuracy. While it works well within the Zoom ecosystem and offers a smooth user experience, its feature set is too basic compared to more advanced alternatives, so it may not be compelling enough to justify upgrading your plan.

3.5

pros

	It’s part of an extensive ecosystem
	Easy-to-use AI features
	You can create documents with Zoom AI Companion
	You will access numerous team collaboration features with a paid Zoom subscription
	The AI chat is fast and reliable

cons

	It offers too limited AI capabilities for meetings
	The meeting transcription is basic compared to other AI note-takers
	It would be great if the recordings, transcriptions, and summaries were located in one place

Try Zoom AI Companion

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Zoom AI Companion

What is Zoom AI Companion?

Zoom AI companion is Zoom’s AI assistant built into the workspace that provides real-time meeting summaries, action item generation, and content drafting for chat, email, and whiteboards.

Therefore, the only way to use Zoom AI Companion is if you download Zoom’s desktop app and subscribe to one of Zoom’s paid plans.

My experience with Zoom AI Companion

In this video, I guide you through the best AI note-takers to transcribe and summarize Zoom calls, including Zoom AI Companion

Zoom AI Companion is a decent AI note-taking app for those who already have a paid Zoom subscription. It is a simple app with a quite short learning curve, even if this is your first time using an AI meeting assistant.

But if you don’t have a paid Zoom plan, is it worth upgrading to the free plan just for this feature?

No.

For this money, you can find some better options out there, and the issues I found during my Zoom AI Companion review do not justify its price for me.

The first and quite obvious issue with this AI note-taker is the feature set. There are no conversational intelligence tools, no advanced library tools to structure your calls, quite a few collaboration features, and so on.

Secondly, you can not use it for in-person meetings, which can be crucial for some of you. Also, based on user reports, speaker identification is limited to Zoom users, meaning if someone outside of the meeting spoke, for example, a team member next to you, it won’t be transcribed.

Overall, Zoom AI Companion is an okay AI note-taker. However, given its pricing, feature set, and use cases, there are significantly more advanced AI meeting assistants that can transcribe, summarize, and record your Zoom calls.

Breaking down Zoom AI Companion’s final score

Zoom AI Companion delivers only decent performance when evaluating its features and functionalities. For transcription & recording and meeting notes, it gets 3.5 out of 5.

Nevertheless, it gets maximum points for integrations (5/5) and privacy & safety (5/5), mainly thanks to its deep integration within the Zoom ecosystem.

It also performs mediocre in pricing (3.5/5) and offers a limited free plan (2.5/5). However, the biggest limitations come from its feature depth and flexibility, which significantly decrease the overall score of Zoom AI Companion.

Ideal users for Zoom AI Companion

Teams already using Zoom with a paid plan
Professionals who need simple meeting summaries and transcripts
Teams working fully inside the Zoom ecosystem

Where Zoom AI Companion falls short

You need advanced AI note-taking features
You need all meeting data (recordings, transcripts, notes) in one place
You rely on in-person meeting transcription
You expect highly accurate and structured transcripts

Try Zoom AI Companion

Key Features

Below, I will guide you through the key features I tried during my Zoom AI Companion review.

In this video, I show you how to transcribe Zoom calls with Zoom AI Companion

Transcription and recording

Zoom AI Companion offers transcription and recording features for your online meetings. However, before joining a call, I recommend that you open your settings and choose when you want the AI companion to join, who can ask it questions during the meeting, and where the summaries should be shared — whether that’s by email, Slack, or not at all.

Furthermore, you can set your preferences on when you want the Zoom AI Companion to be used for some specific meetings. That said, you can adjust your preferences on a case-by-case basis on when you want it to join your calls.

When scheduling your call, you can select if you want to automatically start the AI companion, which can ask questions about the meeting transcript and what template it should follow.

When joining your Zoom calls, you can choose whether to auto-start the AI companion. But it offers possibilities to help you prepare for the meeting if you provide additional information on the call, ask for icebreakers, and tips for effective meetings. Once all set and done, you can join the call.

During the meeting, you can access the AI companion in the top-right corner. Moreover, you can also stop the AI Companion feature or ask questions like, “Was my name mentioned?” or ask for key action items, but basically anything. That said, late joiners or distracted meeting participants can ask for a recap without interrupting the meeting.

Also, you can attach files if needed during virtual meetings, which is a useful addition.

After the meeting, Zoom will send you an email about your call, including the meeting recording and transcription. Nevertheless, you can also find a list of transcripts by navigating to Recordings & Transcripts in the Zoom Web Portal.

The transcription is quite basic, nothing extra. During my Zoom AI Companion review, I discovered that it offers decent transcription accuracy between 80 and 90%. You can also download the meeting transcript in a Microsoft Word file.

Personally, I would love to see if the transcription and recording are in the same place where you can find the meeting recap. It is just more convenient to find everything in one place next to each other.

With Zoom AI Companion, it is a bit frustrating to me that if I want to review the transcription, I have to log in to the Web Portal, and I can not do it inside the app.

Overall, I felt the meeting transcripts were too basic, and I don’t see the logic for storing them in the Web portal instead of the desktop app. After testing tools like Fellow, the contrast between the transcriptions was huge.

Try Zoom AI Companion

Meeting summaries

When your meeting is over, Zoom AI companion will provide you with a meeting recap, and you can ask questions about your calls. You can access the meeting recaps in the app, the Web portal, and it is also attached to the email once your call is concluded.

If you want to access the meeting summary later, just click Docs to review your past meetings anytime, along with the other documents you created in Zoom Workspace.

Zoom AI Companion summarizes the most essential points from your entire meeting. It includes a quick recap, next steps, and a longer summary. You can create and choose from meeting templates, and it will structure the meeting summary accordingly. Also, you can write prompts and ask for more details, the key takeaways, topics, risks, action items, and more.

If Zoom AI Companion missed anything, you can add further details as it works like a block-based text editor. So, you can add bullet points, files, headings, and more. If you click the three dots, you can access additional settings such as page width, translation, link copying, and more.

Lastly, it is useful that you can add comments to the meeting summaries, mention your team members, and attach files.

In general, the meeting notes are fine but far less powerful than MeetGeek’s, so I would only recommend them to lightweight users.

AI chat

Zoom’s AI-powered assistant worked surprisingly well during my Zoom AI Companion review. It provides reliable outputs fast, and you can ask it to highlight key points, questions about your meeting notes, documents, and more.

While it is not as advanced as third-party AI meeting assistants like Fellow, it can do the work.

Tasks

This feature helps users automate the lifecycle of action items, from identification to completion. It identifies your meeting notes, recordings, and transcriptions to find the action items and collect them in one place.

It is also great that each recommended task includes a link to the original conversation to ensure you have the context.

Similar to some other previous features, if we compare this feature with Radiant or Fellow task management features, it only provides the essentials, and you won’t find advanced tools to manage your pulled-out tasks from your calls.

Try Zoom AI Companion

Docs

Zoom AI Companion offers more than just smart recording, meeting summaries, and transcription. It can help you create content in your Zoom Workspace.

Inside the Docs, you can create content like posts, forms, tables, and more. You can use Zoom AI Companion to improve drafts, prepare content from scratch, and brainstorm ideas.

If you have used Notion before, the way Docs works will be familiar. It allows users to structure content as blocks that can be dragged and dropped onto pages.

Integrations

You can connect Zoom AI Companion with numerous third-party apps, including Google Workspace, Slack, Asana, Jira, Zendesk, Notion, and more.

If you log in to your Zoom Web Portal, you can enable additional data sources like Google Docs or Microsoft 365, allowing Zoom AI Companion to access that information.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

Explore Apps directory

User interface

Zoom Workspace has a user-friendly interface where you can easily find all key features, from team chat messages to Docs. Ultimately, the whole Zoom platform requires a short learning curve, including Zoom AI Companion features.

Pricing

Zoom AI Companion is included with all paid Zoom plans, including Pro, Business, and Enterprise. However, the Free plan also covers three meetings per month where you can use Zoom AI Companion.

To utilize all the benefits, you need to purchase at least the Pro plan, which costs $14.16 per user per month with annual billing. A quick note: Zoom AI Companion is included at no additional cost for users with paid Zoom accounts and offers unlimited AI note-taking for Zoom meetings and third-party video conferencing platforms.

Try Zoom AI Companion

Pros and cons I found during my Zoom AI Companion review

Let me break down the pros and cons I found when personally testing Zoom AI Companion for my Zoom meetings.

Pros of Zoom AI Companion

It’s part of an extensive ecosystem
Easy-to-use AI features
You can create documents with Zoom AI Companion
You will access numerous team collaboration features with a paid Zoom subscription
The AI chat is fast and reliable

Cons of Zoom AI Companion

It offers too limited AI capabilities for meetings
The meeting transcription is basic compared to other AI note-takers
It would be great if the recordings, transcriptions, and summaries were located in one place

Zoom AI Companion alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Zoom AI Companion is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quicktl;dv overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Wrap-up: Zoom AI Companion review

To wrap it up, it was nice to see that Zoom finally had its own AI note-taking solution, but for me, it is just too limited. However, if you already have a Zoom subscription, it can be a good option for many of you.

Otherwise, I would not recommend buying the Pro plan just because of it, since there are way better alternatives out there for a lower price.

Hope I was able to help you find the best AI note-taker for you. As always, I will update this Zoom AI Companion review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this generative AI assistant.

Try Zoom AI Companion

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Zoom AI Companion worth it?

If you have already bought a paid Zoom plan, it can be a reasonable choice. Nonetheless, if you want to upgrade your Zoom Workspace just because of Zoom AI Companion features, I don’t think it’s worth it since there are more advanced solutions out there for less money.

What is the best AI companion for Zoom?

Personally, I use Fellow for my virtual meetings. It offers a robust feature set with numerous team collaboration features, and it works on all the major video conferencing platforms.

What are the benefits of Zoom AI Companion?

During my Zoom AI Companion review, I identified these benefits:

It’s part of the Zoom ecosystem
Offers simple AI features
It allows you to create documents with Zoom AI Companion
Besides Zoom AI Companion, you will access the Zoom Team chat and other collaboration features with the paid plans
The AI chat is fast and reliable

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post My Honest Zoom AI Companion Review 2026 | Is It Worth It? appeared first on .

My Brutal Honest Krisp Review 2026 | Is It Worth It?

Aron Kantor — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 22:46:24 +0000

Recently, when I was looking for the best botless AI note-takers, I came across Krisp. It promises a lot: AI note-taking, noise cancellation, accent conversion, and more.

So, I wanted to give it a try and see what it actually delivers to help you save time and money by testing it for yourself.

In this Krisp review, I will guide you through its main features, share my personal experience, explore pricing, and outline its pros and cons to help you decide if it is the right AI note-taker for you.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Users who need a solution for AI note-taking and noise cancellation
Not ideal for: Users who are looking for a free AI note-taker
Biggest strength: It works on most communication platforms
Biggest weakness: Noise cancellation only works on PC

Verdict: A bot-free AI note-taker with accurate transcription and real-time audio enhancements ideal for professionals
Score: 4.2 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Krisp Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

Meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Krisp is a voice AI platform that removes background noise from your real-time online calls, provides AI note-taking and accent conversion. My experience with Krisp was pleasant, and I can recommend it for those who need a versatile and simple AI note-taker with noise-cancelling features.

4.2

pros

	Bot-free recording that works across most communication apps
	96% accurate transcriptions in 17 languages, with searchable AI notes and summaries
	Action item extraction with speaker identification
	Industry-leading
	Accent AI
	Simple setup and easy to use for non-tech users
	Relatively affordable compared to other AI note-taking tools

cons

	No free version
	You can’t create folders in your workspace to organize calls
	Noise cancellation is not available on mobile

Try Krisp

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Krisp

What is Krisp AI?

Krisp was founded in 2017, and in the beginning, it was primarily designed for remote workers, call centers, and teams looking to ensure high-quality communication. However, in 2026, it will provide more than just high-quality video and audio communication.

Krisp is a voice AI platform that removes background noise from your real-time online calls, provides AI note-taking, and accent conversion. Just a heads-up: to maximize Krisp’s capabilities and features, you need to download the desktop app.

In this Krisp review, I will mainly focus on its AI note-taking features and noise cancellation function, since these are the ones that most of you are interested in.

How Krisp performed in my daily workflow

In this video, I will deploy the 4 bot-free AI note-takers including Krisp in a real meeting and compare their transcription accuracy, meeting notes, and other features.

When I joined calls through Google Meet in Chrome, the extension made it simple to capture the meeting without opening the desktop app. I feel the tool is lightweight overall, but still powerful.

While I had a smoother experience with other bot-less AI note-takers like Granola or Bluedot, Krisp offers a more complete platform for calls.

Overall, my experience with Krisp was pleasant and earned its place on my list of best AI note-takers. I can recommend it to those who need a versatile, simple AI note-taker with noise-canceling features.

Why Krisp earned a 4.2 / 5

Krisp performed well in terms of features and functionality during testing and earned strong points. The same applies to my experience and its security, where I did not find any issues.

It did not score higher because it lacks a free plan and only offers a trial, so we could only add 1 star here. If that were to change, it could easily reach a higher overall score.

When to choose Krisp

Teams and professionals who want a bot-free AI note-taker that works in the background
You need both AI note-taking and noise cancellation in one tool
Customer-facing teams taking calls in noisy environment
You also want to capture in-person meetings, not just online calls
You value extra features like accent conversion and real-time audio enhancement

When you should skip Krisp

If you need a free AI note-taker
Teams or freelancers that need advanced analytics or conversation intelligence features
Teams requiring more advanced team collaboration features, like folders or chat

Try Krisp

Key Features

Let’s see the key features I tried during my Krisp review!

Recording

Krisp also offers video and audio recording for your online meetings on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and more. However, if you need the video recording as well, you need to use Krisp’s bot for your calls.

If you click on the recording option on the homepage, you can also record and transcribe in-person meetings. When using it for an online meeting, you will access the meeting recording, along with the meeting summaries and transcription, after the call.

Transcription

Krisp works on Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet meetings, but it also supports in-person meetings through the mobile app. Krisp’s transcription supports 17 languages currently.

When using Krisp in my own business calls, it delivered accurate transcriptions. I did not have to wait long, and transcripts and recordings were available within minutes, and I could edit them directly inside the app.

Krisp supports both bot-less and bot meeting transcription, which is quite good since only a few AI meeting assistants offer the same. The transcription includes speaker IDs and timestamps. If you click on the text, the recording will jump to the relevant part.

This AI meeting assistant also supports transcription editing. A small icon will come up next to the transcript. You only need to click it to make the requested changes. Also, liked that I could upload audio or video files later and still get the same clean transcripts.

One huge plus for me is that it lets me add industry-specific terms. It helps Krisp better pick up words used in your industry.

Overall, I discovered that during my Krisp review, it delivers accurate transcriptions (96%) and offers some handy tools to edit and review the transcript.

Try Krisp

AI notes

After your Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom calls, Krisp automatically generates AI-powered notes that highlight the main discussion points and next steps. I particularly found it helpful that it assigns action items to the meeting participants.

Ultimately, I found the summary well-structured and easy to skim. It captured the key action items really well, and the fact that it supports both online and offline meetings makes Krisp a powerful solution.

Moreover, if you open your meeting notes, click on the three dots, and choose “Copy Meeting Minutes”, you can copy the minutes template to your clipboard to edit. That said, you can paste the meeting minutes anywhere you want.

AI chat

Krisp has an AI chat that allows you to ask questions directly about your meetings. It provides instant answers to meeting-related questions, highlights key insights like action items and decisions, and saves time by eliminating the need to manually review transcripts.

It is a useful feature that helps you find the information you need quickly and accelerates post-meeting workflows.

Background voice and noise cancellation

Krisp has some unique features that none of the other AI note-takers offer. The first one is its noise cancellation tool that filters out the background chatter and keyboard sounds, so the transcripts are much clearer.

Imagine working in coworking spaces, where people continuously have loud conversations. This is where Krisp comes to the rescue. What the Krisp app’s background voice cancellation technology does is identify the primary speaker’s voice and remove other nearby human voices.

Given voice cancellation, meeting participants will hear only your voice when making calls. Such a feature is beneficial not only for customer support or sales teams but also for those who are working with others in the same place.

Personally, the noise cancellation worked great in my case, and it was a nice addition to my meeting workflows.

Accent conversion

Krisp includes real-time accent conversion, which helps make global meetings clearer and easier to follow. It transforms strong accents into a more neutral-sounding voice without changing the meaning.

This is another major difference compared to other AI note-takers. Based on my best knowledge, no other popular AI note-taker offers accent conversion, noise cancellation, and AI notes at the same time.

Team collaboration features

With Krisp, you can invite your team members to your workspace to collaborate and provide them with access to your recordings.

Krisp allows you to share the meeting recording, transcription, and AI notes with your team members. Just type the email address, and that’s it. Also, you can let Krisp automatically share meeting transcripts and recordings with participants from a calendar invite, so you don’t need to manually send the link.

The one thing I missed here is the folders. While Krisp offers solid search functions based on tags, date, and more, you can not create folders for different types of calls.

Ultimately, Krisp offers limited team collaboration features compared to other AI note-takers like Fellow or Otter AI.

Try Krisp

Integrations

Krisp integrates directly with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce, and Zapier support allows it to connect with thousands of other apps. Furthermore, you can connect it with almost all the video conferencing apps, which makes it a versatile AI meeting assistant.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

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Pricing plans

Now, let’s quickly break down Krisp’s pricing plans!

Free trial

Krisp does not have a free plan and only offers a 7-day trial, where you get full access to all paid features. So, if you are looking for a free AI meeting assistant, I am afraid Krisp will not be the one you are looking for.

Core plan

The Core plan is $8 with yearly billing. It gives you unlimited audio and video recording, AI meeting notes and action items, AI chat, multilingual summaries, and in-person meeting support. For individual users or small teams, this feels like the sweet spot.

Advanced plan

For larger teams, the Advanced plan ($30 per user/month, or $15 with yearly billing) layers on features like four hours per day of accent conversion, 30GB storage, SSO/SCIM, manager view, and advanced admin controls. This plan is clearly designed for companies that need structure, compliance, and collaboration at scale.

Enterprise plan

Finally, Enterprise plans come with advanced security options, private on-device transcription, dedicated account managers, and usage analytics.

Try Krisp

Security

Security and privacy are crucial questions when it comes to AI note-takers since they will access data from sensitive meetings. So, I did my research during my Krisp review.

Krisp is SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS certified, and I did not find any complaints or negative reports concerning its privacy. Based on these, I see it as a reliable and safe AI note-taker for sensitive meetings as well.

Pros and cons of Krisp

Now, take a look at the pros and cons of Krisp, focusing on how noise cancelling can improve sound quality.

Krisp’s pros

Bot-free recording that works across most communication apps
96% accurate transcriptions in 17 languages, with searchable AI notes and summaries
Action item extraction with speaker identification
Industry-leading, award-winning AI noise cancellation for noise-free and productive meetings
Accent AI that helps listeners understand accented speech in real time, and Accent Conversion that helps speakers adjust their accents for enhanced clarity
Simple setup and easy to use for non-tech users
Relatively affordable compared to other AI note-taking tools

Krisp’s cons

No free version
Noise cancellation is not available on mobile

Try Krisp

Krisp alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Krisp is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quicktl;dv overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Bluedot	An easy-to-use bot-less AI note-taker	Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. Full Bluedot review \| Quick Bluedot overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

Summary: Krisp review 2026

Krisp is a top AI meeting assistant with a unique feature set. I love that it has both bot and bot-free recording options, and you have the flexibility to switch depending on the meeting. Besides, it offers reasonable pricing plans considering the value it offers.

While it is not an ideal choice if you are looking for a free AI meeting assistant, it’s definitely worth its price if you need an accurate, bot-free AI note-taker.

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Does Krisp AI work for meetings?

Yes, Krisp supports almost all the video conferencing apps, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and more.

How effective is Krisp AI?

Krisp offers around 96% transcription accuracy. Nevertheless, this depends on the audio settings and quality as well.

Is Otter AI better than Krisp?

After testing 25+ AI meeting assistants, Krisp feels like a superior tool for me, especially for customer support teams. The area where I feel Otter AI might be better is in team collaboration features.

Is Krisp AI note taker good?

Krisp is top AI note-taker when it comes to transcribing and summarizing online meetings. It is a simple, reliable, and accurate AI note-taker for your calls.

Can Krisp remove background noises from a video?

Yes, Krisp is effective in reducing background noise. It eliminates any disruptive background noises from calls or audio recordings.

Is Krisp good for noise cancellation?

Krisp removes unwanted background noises on both incoming and outgoing audio, so there will be no background noise from your and the other meeting participants’ sides.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links through which, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post My Brutal Honest Krisp Review 2026 | Is It Worth It? appeared first on .

My Honest Bluedot Review After Testing 25+ AI Note-Takers

Aron Kantor — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:44:17 +0000

Bluedot is a bot-free AI note-taking app for Google Meet, Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams meetings. But how accurate is it? How do the meeting notes look? And what about its safety?

Stay here, because in this honest Bluedot review, I will answer all these questions based on real hands-on testing.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Best for: Users who want an easy-to-set-up AI note-taker that works without a bot
Not ideal for: Users looking for a fully free AI note-taking solution
Biggest strength: Very easy to set up and start using
Biggest weakness: Requires cloud processing to generate meeting notes

Verdict: An easy-to-use AI note-taker with bot-free recording, transcription, and summaries, but the free plan is quite limited
Score: 4.4 / 5

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

Bluedot Review

Aron Kantor

Transcription & recording

Meeting notes

Collaboration features

Other capabilities

Integrations

User interface

Paid plans

Free plan

Privacy and safety

My experience

Summary

Bluedot is a bot-free AI note-taker for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack calls. It works on any platform and auto-updates your CRM, Notion, and more. Overall, Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker. It’s safe, you can set it up within minutes, and it offers excellent meeting notes for your calls.

4.4

pros

	Video recording
	It is super easy to set up
	AI follow-up email generation
	User-friendly interface
	Screen recording
	Well-structured meeting notes

cons

	Limited free plan
	Bluedot needs the cloud to create meeting notes

Try Bluedot

How We Test AI Note-Takers

To keep our reviews and final scores fair and consistent, we evaluate every AI note-taking tool using a standardized testing framework built on real-world usage and hands-on experience.

We evaluate every AI note-taking tool using this weighted framework, based on hands-on testing in real meetings and everyday workflows.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ AI note-takers:

Features & functionality — 50%
User interface — 10%
Pricing — 20%
Security — 10%
Real-world experience — 10%

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Bluedot

What is Bluedot?

Bluedot is a bot-free AI note-taker for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack calls. It works on any platform and auto-updates your CRM, Notion, and more.

Bluedot offers a Chrome extension to quickly capture calls on all popular video conferencing platforms, while its desktop version supports Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Bluedot also supports in-person meetings via its mobile app.

My hands-on experience with Bluedot

In this YouTube video, I compare Bluedot to Krisp, Tactiq, and Granola

The transcription was accurate, and the meeting notes were well structured. It’s also great that you can create meeting templates, and Bluedot offers sufficient customization options here.

One of the main advantages of Bluedotis is that you can record calls without a bot, which most bot-less AI note-takers can’t do.

When it comes to the cons, the first thing I would mention is its free plan. The 5-lifetime limit only allows users to test Bluedot and decide afterward whether it is worth it. That said, if you are looking for a free AI note-taker, Bluedot will not be ideal for you.

Overall, Bluedot is a straightforward and easy-to-use bot-free AI note-taker that is also one of the best AI note-takers. It’s safe, you can set it up within minutes, and it offers excellent meeting notes for your calls.

Breaking down Bluedot’s final score

Bluedot delivers excellent performance across most key functionalities, with top scores in transcription & recording (4.5/5), meeting notes (5/5), collaboration features (4.5/5), integrations (5/5), and privacy (5/5). It strikes a strong balance between ease of use and a solid feature set.

I also had a great experience during my Bluedot review (5/5) and found its intuitive user interface (4/5) to be one of the easiest AI note-takers to set up and use in real workflows.

Where Bluedot loses some points is pricing (4/5) and especially its free plan (2.5/5), which is quite limited and feels more like a trial.

Ideal users for Bluedot

Professionals who want a bot-free AI note-taker with recording capabilities (only a few AI note-takers have this combination)
Users who want a fast setup and a minimal learning curve
Sales and customer-facing teams who benefit from AI insights and follow-up emails
Individuals and small teams that need accurate transcription and well-structured AI notes

Where Bluedot falls short

You need a fully free AI note-taker for long-term use
You prefer local processing instead of cloud-based note generation
You are looking for a feature-heavy, enterprise-grade AI note-taker

Try Bluedot

Key features

Now let’s take a closer look at the key features I tried during my Bluedot review!

Bot-free transcription

It was among the few AI note-takers that worked instantly after setup, without any fiddling with the settings. You only need to click on the Google Extension, and you can capture your calls in seconds. So, setting up Bluedot for my Google Meet calls was really straightforward.

You can access the automated transcription on the right side. The transcriptions are quite fast and mostly accurate.

What I also liked about this tool is that you can leave comments in the transcription and quickly clip specific moments, making it great for collaboration. With Bluedot’s speaker identification, you can also clearly differentiate who said what.

Since Bluedot supports transcription in over 100 languages, it is an ideal solution for multi-language teams.

Also, I noticed that Bluedot automatically cuts your uhms and filler words, making the transcripts look way more neat.

One small thing – it also offers a search feature, so you can quickly find the information you are looking for in the transcription.

Overall, I think Bluedot offers fine transcriptions, especially with high-quality audio. Compared to other bot-free options, including Granola, Tactiq, and Krisp, Bluedot provided me with more accurate meeting transcription.

Meeting recording

Most bot-free AI note-takers can’t record meetings. However, it’s not the case with Bluedot. Once you join a call, Bluedot offers video and audio recording. You can also import your own video and audio recordings for transcription and summarization.

After your meeting, you will find the recording alongside the transcription and meeting notes. You can also change the playback speed from 1x to 2x.

Try Bluedot

Meeting notes

The meeting notes are well structured. It covers an overview, action items, and timestamps.

If you change the meeting template, Bluedot will reorganize the meeting notes based on the selected template, but I will cover this a bit later.

Bluedot allows users to edit the meeting notes. You only need to double-click the text to change, add, or remove specific parts of the meeting notes.

Meeting templates

As mentioned, Bluedot offers some pre-built meeting templates, but you can also create custom note templates for your meetings.

When creating your own meeting template, you can add custom prompts and questions to focus on the most crucial points for that specific use case.

Once you are ready with your custom templates, just go to your meeting notes and switch the template. Bluedot will restructure the meeting notes accordingly in a few seconds to reflect on the prompts and questions you added to that specific template.

AI chat

You can use the AI chat to ask questions about a specific call or cover topics across multiple meetings. It helps to find information quickly or summarize important details or discussion points with a few clicks.

During my Bluedot review, I experienced that the AI chat is quite fast and provides correct information with timestamps.

If you want to ask questions across multiple meetings, you can select up to 10 recordings at the same time. The AI chat will then analyze all of them together and pull the relevant information to answer your questions.

This gives you a more complete and accurate response, especially when the topic or decision was discussed across several meetings rather than just one.

Meeting Insights

During my Bluedot review, I was glad to see that it offers AI insights for your calls. It covers talk ratio, longest monologues, talking speed, and the number of questions asked.

This feature is valuable for customer calls, especially if you combine it with the AI chat. With the Meeting Insights, you can get an understanding of how you communicate with your client and self-assess your questions.

To improve your sales calls, you can ask the AI Chat to identify customers’ pain points and help you increase the chance of closing deals.

Screen recording

Using Bluedot, you can record your screen and record yourself with your webcam at the same time. Your face shows up in a little camera bubble in the corner, like on Loom — a great feature for asynchronous collaboration. It’s also great that you can annotate and edit recordings.

It is a unique feature that other AI note-takers do not offer. So, if you need an AI note-taker that can record your screen as well, Bluedot is an ideal choice.

Team collaboration features

Bluedot has various collaboration features. You can organize your recordings into shared libraries where teammates can comment, edit, and work on meeting notes in one centralized space.

Furthermore, you can share your recordings with a few clicks via link or email. If you click on “Generate AI email”, Bluedot will craft a quite solid follow-up email based on the meeting notes and transcription.

Personally, I loved this feature when using Bluedot for my meetings. It helps to accelerate the follow-up actions after your calls and enhance productivity.

Try Bluedot

Bluedot integrations

Bluedot integrates seamlessly with various third-party apps, including direct integrations with tools like Slack, HubSpot, and Notion, and broader connections through Zapier. This way, you can push meeting insights into your CRM and productivity tools without manual data entry.

Bluedot user interface

The first thing that comes to my mind when taking a look at Bluedot’s user interface is simplicity. It offers a user-friendly interface with no fluff or unnecessary noise.

Explore our Apps directory

A curated directory of software tools we’ve independently reviewed, with links to full reviews, comparisons, and category guides.

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Bluedot pricing

Using its Free plan, Bluedot lets you record and transcribe up to five meetings with a maximum of 1 hour per recording. You also have access to the Slack and Notion integrations.

If you buy the Basic plan for $14 per month with annual billing, it unlocks unlimited recordings and storage. If you need longer recordings and custom meeting templates, the Pro plan could be ideal for $20 per month per user.

If you need the HubSpot and Salesforce integration, you have to go with the Business plan. It is $32 monthly with annual billing and includes these integrations, plus unlimited import options.

Larger organizations can opt for Enterprise pricing, which includes features like SSO, custom retention policies, and advanced admin controls.

Try Bluedot

Bluedot’s security

In the course of my Bluedot review, I also checked how it approaches data privacy. When taking a look at the safety policies, I found that Bluedot is GDPR and CCPA compliant, but the SOC2 certification is still pending.

The connections are encrypted using SSL, and any attempt to connect over HTTP is redirected to HTTPS. I was glad to see that all the customer data, including the recordings, transcriptions, and meeting notes, is encrypted at rest and in transit. Bluedot relies on AWS infrastructure to securely maintain cryptographic encryption keys.

Finally, I did not find any negative user reports about data security, so I can say that Bluedot is a safe AI note-taking app.

Pros and cons I found during my Bluedot review

Now, let’s break down Bluedot’s strengths and limitations.

Pros of Bluedot

Unlike many other bot-free AI note-takers, Bluedot offers video recording
It is super easy to set up
The AI follow-up email generation is valuable after your calls
Bluedot has a user-friendly interface
This AI note-taker offers screen recording features as well, which is quite unique
Well-structured meeting notes with timestamps

Cons of Bluedot

Limited free plan
Bluedot needs the cloud to create meeting notes

Bluedot alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Bluedot is the right AI note-taker for you, check out these alternatives:

App	Best for	Description
Fellow	Best overall	A top AI note-taker for professionals and teams. This is the one I use for online meetings. Full Fellow review \| Quick Fellow overview
Notta	Best for multi-language transcription	A unique AI note-taker that allows multi-language transcription, enabling people to speak two different languages during online meetings. Full Notta review \| Quick Notta overview
MeetGeek	Best for multi-language transcription	A versatile AI note-taking app with the best AI meeting summaries. Full MeetGeek review \| Quick MeetGeek overview
tl;dv	Best simple AI note-taker	A simple option for individuals with a feature-rich free plan. Full tl;dv review \| Quick tl;dv overview
Fathom	Best free AI note-taker	An accurate AI note-taker with an extensive free plan. Full Fathom review \| Quick Fathom overview
Radiant	Best free AI note-taker for Mac	It is a 100% free AI bot-less note-taker for Mac users for in-person and online meetings. Full Radiant review \| Quick Radiant overview
Otter AI	A popular AI note-taker	One of the most popular AI note-takers for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Full Otter AI review \| Quick Otter AI overview
Granola	Best for users need a simple bot-less AI note-taker	Granola is a lightweight AI note-taking app that transcribes and summarizes meetings without bots, with a generous free tier, but it’s basic and lacks advanced features. Full Granola review \| Quick Granola overview
Krisp	Best bot-less AI note-taker supporting high audio quality	Krisp is a Voice AI platform for clearer communication and more productive meetings, combining real-time audio enhancements with AI note-taking. Full Krisp review \| Quick Krisp overview
Fireflies AI	Best budget-friendly option	A popular and budget-friendly AI meeting assistant for individuals and teams. Full Fireflies AI review \| Quick Fireflies AI overview
Zoom AI Companion	Best for Zoom users needing built-in AI note-taking	A solid built-in AI assistant for Zoom that offers meeting summaries, basic transcription, and action items, but lacks advanced features. Full Zoom AI Companion review \| Quick Zoom AI Companion overview
Tactiq	Best for individuals and workflow automation	Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that provides real-time transcription, customizable summaries, and workflow automation. Full Tactiq review \| Quick Tactiq overview
Read AI	Best for teams & individuals who want an all-in-one AI meeting assistant	Read AI is an AI meeting assistant with solid transcription, summaries, and search, but limited features on lower plans and privacy concerns make it hard to rely on. Full Read AI review \| Quick Read AI overview

Wrap up: Bluedot review

Bluedot is a simple & reliable AI note-taker, excellent for professionals and small businesses. You can easily connect it with various CRMs and productivity tools, and forward your meeting documentation to the apps you use.

To summarize, my overall experience during testing was positive, and I can imagine using Bluedot in my own business in the future.

Try Bluedot

Hope I was able to help you find the best AI note-taker for you. As always, I will update this Bluedot review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this AI note-taking app.

Looking for similar tools?

Visit our AI note-takers library to explore other apps we’ve reviewed in this space and how they compare.

See overview

Why you can trust our reviews

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bluedot AI good?

Yes, Bluedot is easy to use and offers accurate transcriptions. While many users think it is only ideal for Google Meet users, it supports Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams as well.

Is Bluedot safe?

Bluedot is highly regarded as a privacy-focused AI meeting assistant favored by professionals. It uses enterprise-grade security practices to keep your data safe and secure.

All data is encrypted in transit and at rest using industry-leading best practices. At rest, data is encrypted with 256-bit AES.

Finally, it is GDPR compliant and found to be fully compliant with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as well.

Is Bluedot AI Note Taker free?

Bluedot offers a free plan. However, the free plan of Bluedot is essentially a trial and not suitable for long-term use if users plan to record meetings regularly.

Does Bluedot work with Zoom?

Yes, Bluedot works on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Google Meet. Bluedot supports transcription in over 100 languages and creates meeting summaries post-call.

Aron Kantor

thebusinessdive.com

The post My Honest Bluedot Review After Testing 25+ AI Note-Takers appeared first on .