tl;dv Alternatives (2026): 9 AI Meeting Notetakers to Try

If you run client calls on Zoom, Google Meet or Teams, a meeting notetaker earns its place fast. You stop scribbling while someone talks, the follow-up email writes itself, and nobody argues later about who promised what. The trouble starts when the tool you picked no longer fits the way your calls run, or the way your clients feel about being recorded.

The nine notetakers below are listed in no particular order. They're aimed at small teams and solo owners who talk to clients all day, and I've grouped them by how they get into the meeting and what they do with the notes afterwards, because those two things matter far more on a client call than a long feature list.

Bot or no bot: decide this before anything else

This is the choice most people skip when they compare meeting recorders, and it's the one your clients notice. Some tools send a bot into the call. It turns up as an extra participant with its own name tile, everyone on the call can see it, and in many meeting setups the host has to let it in. Other tools never join the meeting at all. They run on your own computer or phone and record the audio coming through your speakers and microphone.

Here's the part that gets missed. A bot-free app isn't a quieter or more private way to record. It still captures every voice on the call, your client's included. The only difference is that nobody sees a recorder arrive. So your duty to the other people on the call stays exactly the same whichever route you take: they should know they're being recorded.

Rules on recording conversations vary by country, and sometimes by region within a country, so check what applies where you and your clients are, with your local regulator or an adviser. What doesn't vary is the courtesy. Tell people at the start, give them a chance to say no, and you'll rarely have an awkward moment.

Several tools on this list let you choose per meeting, with a bot or without one. That's handy if some clients are relaxed about a visible recorder and others aren't. So the real question isn't which method is better. It's how your clients react when they see a bot, and whether you'd rather be upfront through the bot's presence or through what you say at the start of the call.

Three kinds of meeting recorder for client calls

Bot-free notepads. Granola is the clearest example. It's a notepad first: you type your own rough notes during the call, and it uses your computer's audio to turn them into fuller notes and actions afterwards, with no bot invited. It works alongside Zoom, Meet, Teams and other meeting apps, on Mac, Windows and phones. Krisp comes at the same problem from a different side. It's known for noise cancellation, which helps if you take calls from a busy house or a shared office, and its meeting assistant records from any app, with or without a bot.

Sales and client-call recorders. These care most about what happens to the notes after the call. Grain gives growing teams summaries, account insights and coaching suggestions, and syncs notes to the two big CRMs. Claap records sales calls, meetings and email and fills your CRM, and its page says it can record without joining as a participant. Fireflies.ai sits at the bot-based end: a notetaker bot joins your calendar meetings, then notes and tasks flow out to email, chat and your other apps. Spinach is built for team meetings that end in tasks, turning action items into tickets and recap emails. Supernormal has moved towards agencies, using meetings, docs and email as raw material for client work rather than plain notes.

Compliance-minded assistants. If your clients are in regulated work, or simply ask where their words end up, start here. Fellow offers a bot, a botless route or in-person capture, lists several security and privacy standards on its page, and says it never trains AI models on your meeting data. Noota can join as a bot or record without one across video calls, phone and in-person meetings, with data hosted in Europe, according to its page. It also screens job candidates, which is useful if you hire as well as sell.

All nine notetakers in one table

Tool	Kind of notetaker	Good for
Claap	Sales call recorder with CRM fill	Sales calls captured with or without a bot
Fellow	Compliance-focused meeting assistant	Regulated teams choosing bot, botless or in-person capture
Fireflies.ai	Bot-based notetaker and workflow assistant	A visible bot on every calendar meeting
Grain	Notetaker for sales and customer teams	Account insights and coaching for growing teams
Granola	Bot-free notepad	Back-to-back calls with no bot in the room
Krisp	Noise cancellation plus notes	Noisy rooms, plus notes from any meeting app
Noota	European-hosted bot-optional assistant	European data hosting, plus candidate screening
Spinach	Agile team meeting assistant	Turning action items into tickets and recaps
Supernormal	Notes and client work for agencies	Turning meetings and docs into agency client work

A line on each notetaker

Alphabetical, in no particular order.

Claap

Best for: Sales teams who want calls, meetings and email recorded, with or without a bot, and the CRM filled in from what was said.

Fellow

Best for: Regulated teams: its page lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA and says meeting data is never used to train AI models (vendor claims).

Fireflies.ai

Best for: Teams happy for a notetaker bot to join calendar meetings, then push notes and tasks out to email, chat, the CRM and other apps.

Grain

Best for: Growing customer-facing teams wanting summaries, account insights and coaching suggestions, with notes synced to HubSpot or Salesforce.

Granola

Best for: Solo owners in back-to-back calls who jot rough notes and want them turned into fuller notes and actions, using computer audio, not a bot.

Krisp

Best for: Calls from noisy homes, cafes or shared offices, where noise cancellation comes first and the assistant records from any app.

Noota

Best for: Recording Meet, Teams, Zoom, phone or in-person conversations with data hosted in Europe (vendor claim), plus AI screening of job candidates.

Spinach

Best for: Team meetings that end in work to do: per its page, it creates tickets, sends recap emails and updates the CRM from action items.

Supernormal

Best for: Agencies, plainly: its page is built around producing client work from meetings, docs and email context rather than general note-taking.

My advice for small teams recording client calls

Start with your clients, not the software. If most of them are relaxed about a recorder joining the call, a bot-based tool is simple and honest, because the bot itself tells everyone what's happening. If a bot would make your clients stiffen up, look at the bot-free notepads or the tools that let you switch the bot off, and make your spoken notice at the start of the call do the work instead.

Then match the tool to what happens after the call. If notes need to land in a CRM, the sales recorders save you copying and pasting. If you're in a regulated field or your clients ask about data, put the compliance-minded group at the top of your shortlist and read each vendor's security page in full. If you're an agency turning calls into deliverables, the agency-focused option is built for that job.

Trial two at most, on real calls, for a couple of weeks each. You'll learn more from how one client reacts than from any comparison grid. If you want to see more of this field, my lists of Fireflies alternatives and Fathom alternatives cover different tools, and if all you need is a written record of a recording, my guide to AI transcription software may be a lighter fit.

A recording notice to say before you press record

Whichever notetaker you pick, a short, consistent line at the start of every call saves you trouble. Something like this works:

• "Before we start, I record my calls so I can focus on you rather than my notes. Is that okay with you?"
• If they say yes, carry on and keep the notes for as long as you need them for the work, no longer.
• If they say no, switch the recorder off, or remove the bot, and take notes by hand for that call.
• Put a line about recording in your booking confirmation too, so nobody hears it for the first time on the call.
• If a client asks for their recording or notes to be deleted, know where they're stored and how to do it.

It takes ten seconds, and it means the bot-or-no-bot decision is about comfort, not about whether people know.

Do you make an AI meeting notetaker? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.

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Frequently asked questions

Do I need to tell people I'm recording a call?

You should always tell them, and in many places the law requires it. Rules vary by country and region, so check what applies where you and your clients are with your local regulator or an adviser.

Is a bot-free recorder more private than a bot?

Not for the other people on the call. A bot-free app still captures every voice through your computer's audio. It just doesn't show up as a participant, so you need to tell people yourself.

Why do some meeting bots need to be let in?

A bot joins the call as a participant, so it often lands in the waiting room like any guest. The host admits it, and everyone can see its name on the call.

Can a meeting notetaker update my CRM?

Several can. The sales-focused recorders sync notes or fill CRM fields from what was said on the call. Check which CRMs each tool connects to before you choose.

Do these notetakers work with in-person meetings?

Some do. A few tools on this list mention capturing in-person conversations or phone calls, as well as video meetings. If you meet clients face to face, check that option is on the vendor's own page.

Where is my meeting data stored?

It depends on the tool. Some say they host data in Europe or list security and privacy standards. Read each vendor's security page and ask if your clients have specific requirements.