Key Takeaways
- This page routes, it does not rank. One table, a short verdict per tool, then a head-to-head for six of the seven. For a ranked list, read our best AI note taker roundup.
- The category splits on one question: bot or no bot. Otter, Fireflies and Read AI send a bot into your calls. Granola, ChatGPT Record Mode and meetergo Log capture audio on your machine.
- Bot-free plus EU-processed: meetergo Log. Widest languages and integrations: Fireflies. Unmetered free: only Log.
- Free rarely means free. Minute meters (Otter), storage meters (Fireflies) and meeting counts (Read 5/month, Granola ~25) hide in most free tiers.
Three meetergo pages cover this category. The best AI note taker roundup ranks nine tools by where your audio goes; best AI note taker apps is the shorter app-first list. This page ranks nothing: it hands you the right head-to-head. Figures as of August 2026.
The comparison table
Seven tools on the four axes that decide the purchase: how audio is captured, what the free tier really allows, what the first paid step costs, and whose servers process the recording.
| Tool | Capture | Free tier | Paid entry | Languages | Data processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Otter.ai | Bot (OtterPilot) | 300 min/mo, 30 min/meeting | $8.33 to $16.99/user/mo | 6 | US cloud (AWS US-West) |
ToolOtter.ai CaptureBot (OtterPilot) Free tier300 min/mo, 30 min/meeting Paid entry$8.33 to $16.99/user/mo Languages6 Data processingUS cloud (AWS US-West) | |||||
Fireflies.ai | Bot (Fred) | Unlimited transcription, 400 min team storage | $10/user/mo annual | 100+ | US cloud |
ToolFireflies.ai CaptureBot (Fred) Free tierUnlimited transcription, 400 min team storage Paid entry$10/user/mo annual Languages100+ Data processingUS cloud | |||||
Granola | Bot-free, on device | Limited history, widely documented as ~25 meetings | $14/user/mo | Multi | US cloud transcription |
ToolGranola CaptureBot-free, on device Free tierLimited history, widely documented as ~25 meetings Paid entry$14/user/mo LanguagesMulti Data processingUS cloud transcription | |||||
Read AI | Bot (Read Assistant) | 5 transcripts/mo, 1 h cap | $15/user/mo annual | 16+ | US cloud |
ToolRead AI CaptureBot (Read Assistant) Free tier5 transcripts/mo, 1 h cap Paid entry$15/user/mo annual Languages16+ Data processingUS cloud | |||||
Zoom AI Companion | Inside Zoom | Not included on free Basic | Included with paid Zoom | Not published | Zoom cloud |
ToolZoom AI Companion CaptureInside Zoom Free tierNot included on free Basic Paid entryIncluded with paid Zoom LanguagesNot published Data processingZoom cloud | |||||
ChatGPT Record Mode | Bot-free, on device (macOS only) | Not on free plan | Inside ChatGPT Plus $20/mo | Many | OpenAI cloud, audio deleted after transcription |
ToolChatGPT Record Mode CaptureBot-free, on device (macOS only) Free tierNot on free plan Paid entryInside ChatGPT Plus $20/mo LanguagesMany Data processingOpenAI cloud, audio deleted after transcription | |||||
meetergo Log | Bot-free, on device | Unlimited; recording, transcription, dictation and export need no account | Light 9.90 EUR/user/mo | 40+ | Local by default, EU cloud optional |
Toolmeetergo Log CaptureBot-free, on device Free tierUnlimited; recording, transcription, dictation and export need no account Paid entryLight 9.90 EUR/user/mo Languages40+ Data processingLocal by default, EU cloud optional | |||||
Otter.ai: the incumbent
Otter is the best-known name, with the most mature live collaboration in the category: shared transcripts, highlights, comments and AI chat across your archive. It shipped live transcription years before this wave of tools.
The catch: meters and geography. Basic stops at 300 minutes a month and 30 per conversation; Pro raises that to 1,200 and 90, per Otter's plans. Six languages is the narrowest coverage here, and storage is AWS US-West with no EU residency.
Best for US-based, English-first teams that collaborate inside the transcript. Full comparison: Otter.ai vs meetergo Log. Tier detail: Otter.ai pricing. Wider field: Otter alternatives.
Fireflies.ai: the integration machine
Fireflies pairs a calendar-driven bot with the deepest integration list here and 100+ languages with auto-detect from Pro. For a revenue team that wants every call in the CRM without anyone remembering to press record, nothing else is this complete.
The catch: read the meters, not the headline. Transcription is unlimited on every tier; storage is not, at 400 minutes per team free and 8,000 per seat on Pro (pricing). Everything runs through the US cloud, and Fred sits visibly in every call, which regulated counterparties do refuse.
Best for sales teams that want calls pushed into CRM automatically. Full comparison: Fireflies vs meetergo Log. Wider field: Fireflies alternatives.
Granola: the bot-free notepad
Granola records mic and system audio on your machine, blends your typed fragments with the transcript into one clean document, and offers the category's best chat over past meetings. It is the most refined product here and the one Log is closest to.
The catch: bot-free is not the same as local. Granola removes the bot but still streams audio to a cloud transcriber while the meeting runs, processed in the US with no EU residency. The free tier is limited history, widely documented as roughly 25 meetings, before the $14 Business plan.
Best for note-takers on back-to-back calls. Full comparison: Granola vs meetergo Log. Wider field: Granola alternatives.
Read AI: the analytics engine
Read adds what nobody else here does: engagement scores, sentiment curves and coaching metrics in a manager's dashboard. If meetings are a performance surface your organisation reviews, this is the specialist.
The catch: the most invasive posture in the category. Measuring engagement means watching participants, which in German workplaces makes it monitoring technology subject to works-council co-determination. Processing is US cloud, and the free tier is five transcripts a month (pricing).
Best for coaching-driven revenue teams that will use the dashboards weekly. Full comparison: Read AI vs meetergo Log.
Zoom AI Companion: the included one
If you already pay for Zoom, its meeting summaries and in-meeting questions are included at no extra cost from Pro upward, centrally managed, with nothing to install. For a Zoom-first company that is hard to beat on price or effort.
The catch: the boundary is the platform. Nothing is produced outside Zoom-hosted meetings, so Teams calls, Meet calls, phone conversations and in-person meetings are uncovered, and the AI features are not included on free Basic. Export is weak because the notes are built to stay in Zoom.
Best for Zoom-only organisations. Full comparison: Zoom AI Companion vs meetergo Log.
ChatGPT Record Mode: the ad-hoc brilliance
Press record in the Mac app, get a transcript and an excellent summary, included in paid ChatGPT from Plus at $20 a month. The summaries are among the best here, because the model behind them is.
The catch: the limits are structural, not qualitative. It runs only in the macOS desktop app, recordings are capped per session, and there is no calendar awareness, minute template or meeting search, so everything after the summary is manual prompting. Processing happens on OpenAI's servers; raw audio is deleted after transcription.
Best for Mac-based ChatGPT subscribers with occasional recordings. Full comparison: ChatGPT Record Mode vs meetergo Log.
What reviewers say
G2 averages as of August 2026, with sample sizes, because a score without one is noise: Otter.ai 4.4/5 (504 reviews), Fireflies.ai 4.7/5 (752), Granola 4.7/5 (36), Read AI 4.0/5 (44), Zoom Workplace 4.5/5 (56,598), for the whole product rather than the AI notes, and ChatGPT 4.6/5 (2,972), for ChatGPT overall rather than Record Mode. The two most instructive numbers are the small ones: Granola and Read AI are young products whose averages can move a full star with a dozen reviews.
Where the scores disagree, read the sampling. Read AI holds 4.0/5 on G2 and 1.3/5 from about 107 Trustpilot reviews (checked September 2026): G2 collects buyers who chose it, Trustpilot people who met its bot in someone else's meeting. Otter (3.6/5, 623) and Fireflies (4.4/5, 746) sit close to their G2 scores; Granola has no Trustpilot listing at all.
Each head-to-head linked above carries the capture for its own tool and a short read of what the reviews actually say.
Where each falls short
Every tool here has a weaknesses section in its head-to-head; the one-line versions: Otter meters minutes and stores only in the US. Fireflies meters storage and puts a bot in every call. Granola caps the free tier at roughly 25 meetings and transcribes in the cloud. Read AI scores your colleagues and starts at five free transcripts. Zoom's notes end at Zoom's edge. ChatGPT Record Mode is macOS-only, capped and unstructured. meetergo Log needs the 9.90 EUR Light plan for speaker labels, has a young review base and a short integration list, and its polish trails Granola's.
meetergo Log: the local-first suite play
Log is our own product, so read this knowing that. Its position in the table is factual: bot-free capture on Mac and Windows, transcription running locally by default, 40+ languages, nine ready-made minute templates, EU-hosted cloud where a server is involved at all. Recording, transcription, dictation and export need no account and carry no meter; summaries and search are free too. Speaker labels and custom templates come with Light at 9.90 EUR per user per month.
The honest caveat: Log's review trail is the youngest here, so it is the one entry you cannot check against a large independent sample. Its architecture is verifiable; its popularity is not.
Best for EU teams, regulated industries, heavy recorders and anyone who wants no bot and no upload. Try meetergo Log, test the engine on the free audio transcription tool, or take the output format as a free meeting minutes template.
Who is each tool for: three questions
Where may the audio be processed?
Choose meetergo Log if audio must stay in the EU or on the device: it is the only tool here that transcribes locally by default, so there is no transfer to assess. If a US cloud is acceptable, everything here is on the table and you should decide on features. The specifics are in our guide to GDPR-compliant AI meeting notes.
Bot or no bot?
Counterparties in enterprise, finance, healthcare and the public sector routinely refuse recording bots, and a host can remove one mid-call. The bot-free candidates are Granola, ChatGPT Record Mode and meetergo Log, which capture the machine's audio instead of joining the meeting. Of those three, only Log also transcribes on the device.
One case settles the question before it is asked: a meeting held in a room has no call for a bot to join. We cover what changes when the meeting is in a room separately, from microphone placement to speaker attribution.
Notes, analytics, or platform convenience?
Buying the wrong category is the most common mistake here. For finished minutes and workflow, pick meetergo Log or Fireflies. For coaching analytics about people, Read AI is the only real answer. For zero setup inside one platform, Zoom. For augmented personal notes, Granola. For collaboration inside the live transcript, Otter. See also meeting minutes software.
A related decision often lands at the same time, because teams replacing the notetaker are frequently replacing the scheduler that feeds it. Our ranked list of Calendly alternatives splits that category the same way this page does, by where the data is processed and what each tier actually costs.
FAQs
What is the best free AI notetaker?
Unmetered free: meetergo Log, with unlimited local transcription and no account needed to record, transcribe, dictate or export. Metered free tiers: Otter (300 min/month), Fireflies (400 min team storage), Read (5 transcripts), Granola (limited history, widely documented as ~25 meetings).
Which AI notetakers work without a meeting bot?
Granola, ChatGPT Record Mode and meetergo Log capture audio on the device. Of the three, only Log also transcribes on the device.
Which notetaker is GDPR-safest for EU companies?
Architecture beats certificates: local processing (meetergo Log) removes the transfer question that US-cloud tools answer with SCCs and assessments. See each head-to-head for the specifics.
Do these tools record Teams and Google Meet as well as Zoom?
The bot tools (Otter, Fireflies, Read) join all three. Zoom's AI stays in Zoom. The device-capture tools (Granola, ChatGPT Record Mode, meetergo Log) record anything your machine plays.
Which comparison should you open next?
Start from the tool you are already being sold. For Otter or Fireflies, the question is whether you can live with a bot and US processing. For Granola or ChatGPT Record Mode, you have accepted bot-free capture and the open question is where transcription runs. For Zoom, count how many meetings Zoom actually hosts. Each head-to-head answers one of those.
Booking + video conferencing in one tool.
Booking + video conferencing in one tool.
Sources
- Vendor pricing, all checked August 2026: otter.ai/pricing, fireflies.ai/pricing, granola.ai/pricing, read.ai/pricing, zoom.us/pricing, openai.com/chatgpt/pricing, meetergo.com/en/apps/ai-notes
- G2 ratings and review counts captured August 2026: Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Granola, Read AI, Zoom Workplace, ChatGPT; captures embedded in the individual comparisons
- Data-processing statements: Otter security (AWS US-West), Granola documentation, Zoom AI Companion privacy and security, OpenAI ChatGPT Record
