Best AI Meeting Note-Takers in 2026

What is an AI meeting note-taker?

An AI meeting note-taker records your meetings and writes the notes for you. It captures your audio and everyone else's. It turns that into a transcript, then uses AI to shape it into a summary with action items. The idea is simple: you stay in the conversation instead of typing through it.

New to all this? Our step-by-step guide on how to choose an AI meeting note-taker walks through it in five steps.

What they actually do

Most work with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, plus plenty of other meeting apps. The better ones go further. They can tailor notes for sales or product teams, and connect to your other apps to handle tasks once the call ends. Some also work away from a call, on your phone. Our guide to AI note-takers for in-person meetings covers those.

Bot or no bot?

There are two ways to capture a call. Some tools send a bot that joins as a participant, so everyone can see it. Others are bot-free. They listen through your computer's audio, and nothing appears in the call.

Who uses them?

Anyone with a busy calendar, from sales teams and consultants to engineers and remote team leaders. The draw is time. Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index found people using its apps are interrupted every two minutes by a meeting, email or message. In our experience, each meeting can add 10 to 30 minutes of prep and note-writing around it. That's the time an AI note-taker wins back. The notes can be more accurate too, because the AI captures context you'd miss while you're talking.

The three types

We sort AI meeting note-takers into three groups.

Privacy: check the policy

These tools hear everything said in your meetings. That's private information, for you and for the people you're talking to. Some tools train their AI on your meetings unless you opt out, so check each policy against your own rules or your team's. It isn't a theoretical worry: in 2025, Otter was hit with a class action claiming it recorded meetings without everyone's consent. The case is still open. Security levels vary a lot. Fellow sits at the top end.

It's also good manners to tell people at the start of a call that you're taking AI notes. In some places the law requires it: recording laws vary, and some need everyone's consent. That matters most with a bot-free tool, because nobody else can see it.

What they cost

Pricing usually comes down to limits. Fathom's free plan records and transcribes without a cap. Others meter you. Otter's free plan stops at 300 transcription minutes a month, and Fireflies gives free teams 400 minutes of storage.

So count your meetings first. Five a week? A free plan will probably cover you. Twenty a week? Paying starts to make sense, because that's hours of note-writing saved every week.

Should you use one?

Our rule of thumb: if you have more than one meeting a day, you need one. If not, you can skip it. The exception is sales and customer service, where calls are the job. Still curious? Start with a free plan and see how much time it gives back.

Best for Bot-Free Notes: Granola

Granola skips the bot. It listens through your computer's audio, so nothing joins the call. The notepad is what we like most. You type your own notes as you go, which helps with the jargon an AI won't catch straight away, and Granola builds its notes around yours.

It now covers the whole meeting. Briefs read your calendar and prep you on who you are about to meet. Afterwards, Recipes and the AI chat turn the call into follow-ups. MCP lets you pull your meetings into apps like Claude, so you can ask what was said and draft the follow-up email straight away.

Granola pros

Granola cons

Granola pricing

Who Granola is best for

Solo professionals on back-to-back calls who want nothing in the meeting and their own thinking in the notes.

Not quite right for you? See our best Granola alternatives.

Best for Teams and Privacy: Fellow

Fellow has moved towards enterprise and finance teams, but smaller teams still get on well with it. It covers the whole meeting: agendas before, notes during and action items after. The action items are the highlight.

Privacy is the big difference. Many note-takers only stop training on your data if you flip a switch. Fellow does it by default, and it holds SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance. A bot can join your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call, or you can go bot-free.

Fellow pros

Fellow cons

Fellow pricing

Who Fellow is best for

Regulated or security-focused teams that want meeting notes to feed their CRM and task tools.

Want to compare before you commit? Read our guide to Fellow alternatives.

Best for Design and EU Privacy: Jamie

Jamie is the pick if you want your data kept in the EU. It skips the bot, and it's one of the best-looking apps on this list.

Our favourite feature is Ask Jamie. It shows the live transcript during the call, so you can ask what someone said 20 minutes ago without interrupting anyone.

Jamie pros

Jamie cons

Jamie pricing

Who Jamie is best for

European professionals who want a premium-feeling, bot-free app.

Best for Existing Notion Users: Notion

Notion has built a strong AI meeting note-taker, and it's worth checking before you buy anything else. If you already pay for Notion, a dedicated app could mean paying twice.

Your meetings live in Notion's Library, right next to your projects and docs. After the call, Notion's agent can start on the follow-ups across your connected apps.

Notion pros

Notion cons

Notion pricing

Who Notion is best for

Existing Notion users who want meeting notes without adding another app.

Not sold on Notion itself? These Notion alternatives cover the wider workspace.

Best for Value for Money: Fireflies AI

Fireflies is one of the best-value note-takers around, and the company says it is now valued at $1 billion. There is a free forever plan, and Pro is $10 per seat a month.

It is at its best in multilingual meetings. Transcription covers more than 100 languages, and accuracy across accents is one of its specialities. It runs almost everywhere too: Chrome, desktop, Android and iOS, plus audio and video uploads.

Fireflies pros

Fireflies cons

Fireflies pricing

Who Fireflies is best for

Individuals and teams on a budget, especially if your meetings mix languages.

On Google Meet? Fireflies also makes our list of AI note-takers for Google Meet.

Best for Call Quality: Krisp

Krisp was around before AI note-takers. It started by cleaning up call audio: background noise, echo and poor quality. Now it pairs that with an AI note-taker.

Its noise cancellation runs on a model called Viva 2.5, and it is aimed squarely at call and contact centres. If you take calls from busy cafés or on the road, it is worth a look.

Krisp pros

Krisp cons

Krisp pricing

Who Krisp is best for

Anyone who takes calls in noisy places, plus contact centres and support teams.

It also features in our Granola alternatives as the pick for noisy backgrounds.

Best for Transcript Accuracy: Otter

Otter was first to market with transcription. It started out in live events, and years of that work show in its accuracy.

It has grown into a meeting assistant too, with sales workflow features and Channels, where your team can talk through a meeting beside its transcript.

Otter pros

Otter cons

Otter pricing

Who Otter is best for

Anyone who cares most about an accurate transcript, including sales teams.

Weighing it up? Here are the best Otter alternatives.

Best for a Free Plan: Fathom

Fathom was recently acquired by Superhuman, the company behind Grammarly, Coda and Superhuman Mail. We still recommend it. So far, Superhuman has kept improving the products it buys.

Its free plan is the best on the market because it doesn't cap recordings or transcription. Fathom says more than 300,000 teams use it. We like its talk-time insights too. In one of Francesco's meetings, it showed he had done 83% of the talking.

Fathom pros

Fathom cons

Fathom pricing

Who Fathom is best for

Anyone who wants a capable note-taker without paying anything.

Need deeper call analysis for a sales team? Our guide to meeting intelligence software goes further.

Our verdict

There's no single best AI meeting note-taker. The right one depends on how you work. Here's how the eight compare, then the short version.

How we scored them

How the eight compare

Strong means it does the job well. Mixed means it works, with caveats. Weak means look elsewhere for that job. Prices are per month, billed annually where offered, and were checked in September 2026.

The short version

Still not sure you need one? If you have more than one meeting a day, or you work in sales or customer service, the answer is yes. Start with a free plan and see how much time it gives back.

Notable mentions

These didn't make our main eight, but they're worth knowing about. Some are dedicated note-takers, some are specialists for sales, and some are popular apps that have added note-taking recently.

Going deeper? See our AI note-takers for Google Meet, meeting intelligence software for sales teams, the best daily planner apps and AI email apps, our AI productivity assistants, and alternatives to Wispr Flow and Evernote.