Turning a meeting into notes people will actually use involves three separate jobs: capturing the audio, transcribing it, and turning the transcript into something short enough to read, such as a summary, a list of decisions and a list of action items with owners. The AI tools in our Productivity category split these jobs in different ways, and the differences matter more than any single feature.
This guide sets out the decisions that separate the options, compares six tools on the facts their vendors publish, and ends with a short trial plan and the questions to ask before you pay.
How we put this together
This is an evidence-based guide, not a hands-on review. Every product fact below comes from that tool's listing in our directory, which is compiled from the vendor's own website and pricing page. Each listing names its sources and the date we read each one. We don't rank tools and nobody paid to be included. Some outbound links may be affiliate links; see our disclosure. Plans and prices change often, so confirm the details on the vendor's site before you commit.
Decision 1: how will the audio be captured?
This is the question that narrows the field fastest.
A bot joins the call. Otter.ai offers a notetaker for Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, and Fireflies.ai joins calls to record and transcribe them. The bot appears as a participant, which makes the recording visible to everyone. That is useful for transparency, but it only covers online calls.
Device audio, no bot. Granola records audio from your own computer or phone instead of sending a bot into the meeting. Its listing says it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Huddles, and with in-person meetings, and it has apps for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android.
You already have a recording. If the meeting was recorded elsewhere (a webinar export, a voice memo, a call recording), you need a tool that accepts uploads. Fireflies accepts MP3, MP4, WAV and M4A files. Otter's free plan allows three lifetime file imports. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) accepts audio as a source alongside documents. Descript transcribes recordings as part of its editing workflow.
Whatever you choose, recording rules differ by country and by employer. Tell participants, follow your organization's policy, and don't treat a tool's default settings as permission.
Decision 2: where should the notes end up?
Notes that stay inside a separate app often go unread. Decide the destination first:
- A CRM. Otter lists CRM sync with Salesforce and HubSpot. Fireflies lists HubSpot and Salesforce integrations and AI skills for tasks such as CRM updates and follow-up emails.
- Your team workspace. Notion AI includes AI Meeting Notes with summaries and action items, so notes live next to the related project pages.
- Chat. Fireflies lists a Slack integration.
- Other AI apps. Granola has an MCP connector, Otter and Fireflies list MCP servers, and Fireflies also has an API, so meeting history can be queried from other tools.
Six tools compared on published facts
| Tool | How it captures | What it produces | Pricing | Stated plan limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Notetaker for Zoom, Teams and Meet; Mac, Windows, iOS, Android apps and a Chrome extension | Transcripts, summaries with action items, chat across meetings | Freemium, paid from $8.33/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Free plan: 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports |
| Fireflies.ai | Joins calls; file uploads | Transcripts with speaker recognition in 100+ languages, summaries with action items, talk-time and sentiment tracking | Freemium, paid from $10/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Not recorded in our listing; check the vendor's pricing page |
| Granola | Device audio, no bot; online and in-person | Notes that combine yours with the transcript, action items, follow-up drafts | Freemium, paid from $14/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Free plan keeps 30 days of history; API and most integrations are paid |
| Notion AI | AI Meeting Notes inside Notion | Summaries and action items in Notion pages | Free trial; full access with the Business plan | Free and Plus plans get only a limited trial of the main AI features |
| Gemini Notebook | Uploaded sources, including audio | Answers with citations to your sources, summaries, audio overviews, mind maps | Freemium; included in Google Workspace plans | Usage limits refresh every 5 hours up to a weekly cap; up to 500,000 words or 200 MB per uploaded file |
| Descript | Records screens and remote guests; transcribes recordings | An editable transcript, captions, short clips | Freemium, paid from $16/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Free plan: 60 media minutes a month; exports at 720p with a watermark |
Starting prices are the lowest paid price recorded in each listing on the date shown. Check whether a price is billed monthly or annually, and whether tax is included, before you compare.
Which approach fits which situation
- Sales and customer calls that feed a CRM. Otter and Fireflies both describe CRM features directly. Compare them on the integrations you already use.
- Back-to-back calls, in-person meetings, or groups that object to bots. Granola's device-audio approach is the documented fit. Its free plan keeps 30 days of history, so plan for that if you need an archive.
- Teams that already work in Notion. Notion AI keeps notes beside the work, but full access comes with the Business plan, so check your plan first.
- Interviews, lectures or research sessions you want to question later. Gemini Notebook answers from the sources you upload and cites them, so you can check a summary against the original.
- Recordings that will become published content. If a webinar or interview will be edited into a podcast or clip, Descript is a different kind of tool: you edit the media by editing the transcript, and it can remove filler words. That is publishing, not note-taking. Our Audio and voice category covers more tools for it.
When not to use an AI note-taker
- Sensitive conversations such as HR, legal or medical discussions, where policy rules out recording or sending audio to a third party.
- Meetings that depend on candor, where a visible recorder would change what people say.
- When nobody will read the output. Unread transcripts still have to be stored, secured and eventually deleted.
- When exact wording matters. Treat AI summaries as drafts and check commitments, numbers and names against the transcript before you send them on.
A two-week trial plan
- Agree the ground rules for consent and retention before anyone switches a tool on.
- Choose the capture method (bot, device audio or upload). That usually leaves two or three candidates.
- Use the free plans on your real meeting mix for one to two weeks and note where the limits bite. For example, Otter's free plan stops at 30 minutes per conversation.
- Check the first few summaries line by line against the transcript: speaker names, figures, dates and who owns each action item.
- Connect only the integrations you need, starting with the destination you chose in decision 2.
- Set a retention period and delete recordings you no longer need.
Questions to ask before paying
- Does it support every meeting platform we use, and in-person meetings if we need them?
- How long does the plan we would buy keep meeting history?
- Are there monthly minute caps or per-meeting length caps?
- Which integrations and API features are paid-only?
- Where is audio stored, who on our team can see it, can we delete it, and is it used to train models? Our listings don't cover this, so ask the vendor in writing.
- Is the listed price per user, billed monthly or annually, and does it include tax?
Related pages
- Browse all Productivity tools and Audio and voice tools.
- Search the directory for transcription or meeting notes.
