AI Note Taking Tools - Comprehensive Comparison
Overview
The AI note-taking landscape spans from hardware-focused devices (Plaud) to cloud-based SaaS platforms (Otter, Fireflies, Notion AI) to open-source self-hosted solutions (Scriberr, Whisper). Tools vary dramatically in data control, API access, pricing models, and focus (meetings vs. general voice notes vs. dedicated hardware).
Spectrum: Hardware vs Software vs Open Source
HARDWARE-FOCUSED ←→ CLOUD SAAS ←→ OPEN SOURCE SELF-HOSTED
(Plaud) (Otter, Fireflies, (Scriberr, Whisper,
Jamie, Granola) aTrain)
Hardware-Focused Solutions
Plaud Note (Hardware Device)
Form Factor: Ultra-portable hardware device (3.37 x 2.13 x 0.117 inches, 30g)
Key Specs:
- Recording: 30 hours continuous, 480 hours total storage (64GB)
- Microphone: 2 MEMS + 1 VCS (Vibration Conduction Sensor) for dual-mode recording
- Effective range: 10 meters (standard) / 16.4 feet (Pro with AI beamforming)
- Battery: 400mAh, 60-day standby
- Award: 2024 IF Product Design Award
Transcription & Analysis:
- 112 languages with automatic detection
- Speaker diarization - labels who said what
- Custom glossaries for specialized industries (medical, legal, finance)
- 10,000+ professional templates for summaries
- Multimodal input: text, images, highlights during recording
- 360° summaries: Multiple perspectives on same conversation
Connectivity:
- BLE, Wi-Fi, USB-A, USB-C
- Plaud Desktop for online meetings
- AutoFlow for integration and sharing
- Unlimited cloud storage
Subscription Model:
- Device includes 300-minute monthly transcription quota
- Pay-as-you-go for additional transcription
Compliance & Security:
- ISO 27001, ISO 27701, GDPR, SOC II, HIPAA, EN 18031
- Suitable for healthcare and regulated industries
Ideal For: Professionals needing portable, always-available recording without smartphone dependence
Granola (Software, Multi-Platform)
Platforms: macOS, Windows, iOS
Key Features:
- System audio capture (Mac/Windows) - no bot needs to join meetings
- iPhone microphone recording for calls and in-person meetings
- Real-time transcription with visual feedback
- OpenAI GPT-4o integration for asking questions about meeting context
- Automatic meeting detection:
- Calendar sync sends notification 1 minute before 2+ attendee meetings
- Auto-starts transcription with single click
- Detects ad-hoc calls by monitoring microphone use
Workflow: “Set it and forget it” - continuously monitors for voice activity
Best For: Meeting capture with minimal friction, quick context questions
Cloud SaaS Solutions (Meeting-Focused)
Otter
Pricing: Freemium (Free plan + Pro tier)
Key Features:
- Real-time transcription accuracy and automated summaries
- Chatbot interface for asking questions about meetings
- Action item extraction
- Basic meeting analytics
- Notion integration: Enterprise + Zapier support for transcript export
- Collaborative features: Good for team sharing
API Access: Limited - primarily through Zapier integrations, not direct API
Data Control: Cloud-based, transcripts exportable to Notion
Limitation: Voice files not directly accessible; focused on feature lock-in
Best For: Meeting transcription with cloud collaboration, Notion integration
Fireflies
Pricing: Freemium model (specific tiers not detailed)
API: GraphQL API with real-time capabilities
Key Features:
- Real-time transcription with accuracy
- Speaker identification for Zoom/Teams (auto-labeled), other platforms as Speaker 1, 2, etc.
- Advanced meeting analytics: Speaking time, words-per-minute, sentiment analysis
- Custom NLP layer extracting: pricing mentions, sentiment, next steps, dates, deadlines
- CRM integration: Auto-logs to Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive (fills call logs, notes, transcript links)
- Platform integrations: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack, Asana
- Real-time API: WebSocket connections for live transcription events
- Transcript management: Fetch, delete, aggregate control
API Details:
- REST endpoints for transcription, user management, metadata
- Real-time WebSocket API for live captioning/overlays
- Speaker arrays, email, calendar event IDs, recurring event detection
- Custom topic extraction and filtering
Data Control: Cloud-based, integrations handle export
Best For: Teams needing advanced analytics, CRM integration, or real-time transcription API
Jamie
Pricing: Free / Pro (29/month) / Enterprise ($39/month)
Key Features:
- GDPR-compliant with EU hosting (Frankfurt, Germany)
- Bot-free transcription
- Full transcript access - editable directly in interface
- Action item extraction and assignment
- Multilingual support
- Privacy: Audio files automatically deleted after transcription
- Integration via webhooks for Zapier, Make automation
Integrations & Export:
- CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Attio, Asana
- Notes: Notion (dedicated database), OneNote
- Custom integrations via webhooks
API Access: Webhooks for automation, not full REST API
Data Philosophy: “Privacy-first” - audio deleted, EU storage, no third-party model training
Best For: Privacy-focused teams, CRM-integrated workflows, GDPR compliance
Notion AI
Pricing: Free plan / Plus (15/user/month)
Key Features:
- AI Q&A across shared workspaces
- Content summarization
- Knowledge base creation
- Excellent collaboration in shared workspaces
- Cross-team integration
Limitation:
- No direct voice input
- Not meeting-specific (primarily document/database AI)
- Receives content from other tools (Otter, Jamie exports)
- Steeper learning curve
API Access: Limited - primarily destination for imported content
Best For: Team knowledge bases, collaborative Q&A, not primary note-taking tool
Reflect
Pricing: £10/month
Key Features:
- Encrypted cloud storage - privacy focused
- Daily note structure for organizing transcripts
- Simplicity emphasis - minimal interface
- Fast performance
- Backlink AI for knowledge connections
API Access: Minimal
Collaboration: Limited features
Best For: Individual note-taking with encryption, simplicity preference
Open Source / Self-Hosted Solutions
Scriberr
Model: Open-source, MIT license (free)
Stack: React frontend + Go backend (single binary)
Features:
- Core transcription: Audio upload, recording, YouTube video transcription
- Transcript management: Multiple export formats (JSON, SRT, TXT)
- AI integration: Summarization using preferred LLM provider
- Custom prompts for specific processing
- Full REST API with JWT and API key management
- Programmatic integration for custom workflows
API Access: ✅ Full REST API coverage
Data Control: ✅ Complete - all processing local, data never leaves your infrastructure
Deployment:
- Local installation (Homebrew for macOS/Linux)
- Docker/Docker Compose
- GPU support (experimental CUDA for Nvidia)
Cost: Free (open source)
Best For: Organizations needing full data control, custom workflows, self-hosting
Whisper + Variants
Model: Open-source, free (OpenAI model)
Technology:
- Whisper: OpenAI’s open-source speech-to-text model
- WhisperX: Optimized variant balancing quality and speed
- Whisper.cpp: C++ implementation for efficiency
- Whisper WebUI: Streamlined interface for Whisper
Features:
- Multilingual: Automatic language identification
- Phrase-level timestamps
- Translation to English capability
- Subtitle generation: SRT, WebVTT formats
- No domain-specific fine-tuning required
- Robust: Works across varied audio types and accents
Accuracy: WER (Word Error Rate) 14.7% (lower is better)
Deployment:
- CPU/GPU flexible (CPU capable, GPU accelerates)
- Docker with CUDA support for Nvidia GPUs
- Cloud or on-premises
API Availability:
- Whisper API (OpenAI Cloud): 0.36/hour)
- Self-hosted REST API: Full control
Cost Comparison (26.3-minute podcast):
- OpenAI Whisper API: $0.16
- Self-hosted T4 GPU: $0.07
- Self-hosted medium model: $0.044
Data Control: ✅ Complete with self-hosting
Best For: Cost-sensitive high-volume transcription, privacy-critical requirements, customization
Other Self-Hosted Options
Whisper WebUI
- Streamlined UI for Whisper
- Subtitle generation (SRT, WebVTT, txt)
- Multiple input sources (files, YouTube, microphone)
aTrain
- Whisper-based transcription
- Local processing, full user control
- File-based workflow
Meetily
- Privacy-first, Rust-based
- On-device processing
- Meeting-specific focus
Hyprnote
- Multi-model LLM support (OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, Ollama)
- Manual annotation + AI transcripts
- Enterprise self-hosting
- REST API for integrations
Comparative Analysis Matrix
| Feature | Plaud | Granola | Otter | Fireflies | Jamie | Scriberr | Whisper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware Device | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cloud SaaS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Self-Hosted | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Direct API Access | ❌ | ❌ | Limited | ✅ GraphQL | Limited | ✅ REST | ✅ REST |
| Voice/Audio Export | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Auto-delete | ✅ | ✅ |
| Transcript Export | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ Notion | ✅ CRM | ✅ CRM/Notion | ✅ Multiple | ✅ Multiple |
| Free Option | Paid | ❌ | ✅ Freemium | ✅ Freemium | ✅ Free tier | ✅ Free | ✅ Free |
| GDPR/Privacy | ✅ | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ Strict | ✅ Full | ✅ Full |
| Real-time Transcription | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ Batch |
| Multilingual | ✅ 112 languages | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Speaker Diarization | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom Glossaries | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ | ❌ |
Decision Framework
Choose Plaud if:
- You need a portable, always-available recorder
- You want hardware independence from smartphones
- You work in sensitive industries (HIPAA, legal)
- You value design and physical usability
- Budget: ~$300-500 device + transcription fees
Choose Granola if:
- You focus exclusively on meeting transcription
- You want automatic meeting detection
- You need quick context questions about meetings
- You prefer simplicity and low friction
- Budget: Minimal, works with existing calendar
Choose Otter if:
- You want mature meeting transcription
- You need Notion integration for team collaboration
- You accept cloud-based processing
- Budget: Free or Pro subscription
Choose Fireflies if:
- You need advanced analytics (speaking time, sentiment)
- You want CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- You need real-time transcription API for developers
- You’re building products that need transcription
- Budget: Freemium or business plans
Choose Jamie if:
- Privacy and GDPR compliance are critical
- You need CRM integration (especially Salesforce, HubSpot)
- You want the strictest data handling (auto-delete audio)
- EU hosting is a requirement
- Budget: $18-39/month for pro features
Choose Scriberr if:
- You need complete data ownership
- You want full REST API for custom workflows
- You’re comfortable managing infrastructure
- You want cost control at scale
- Budget: Infrastructure only (free software)
Choose Whisper (Self-Hosted) if:
- You have massive transcription volume
- You need maximum privacy and data control
- You have engineering resources
- You want cost optimization at scale
- Budget: Cloud infrastructure costs only
Choose OpenAI Whisper API if:
- You need simple, quick transcription setup
- You have moderate transcription volume
- You accept cloud processing
- You want minimal infrastructure management
- Budget: $0.006/transcribed minute
Key Tradeoffs
SaaS Tools (Otter, Fireflies, Jamie, Granola):
- ✅ No infrastructure needed
- ✅ Polished user experience
- ✅ Real-time transcription
- ❌ Limited API access
- ❌ Vendor lock-in
- ❌ Voice files not accessible
- ❌ Recurring costs
Self-Hosted (Scriberr, Whisper):
- ✅ Complete data control
- ✅ Full API access
- ✅ Lower long-term costs
- ✅ Voice files accessible
- ❌ Infrastructure management required
- ❌ Batch processing (no real-time)
- ❌ Engineering resources needed
Hardware (Plaud):
- ✅ Physical portability
- ✅ No smartphone dependency
- ✅ Multi-modal input (audio, images, text)
- ❌ Highest initial cost
- ❌ Cloud dependency for processing
- ❌ Limited customization
Related Tools and Concepts
- Claude Code - Development environment
- Notion AI - Knowledge base and collaboration
- Fireflies API - Advanced transcription API
- Whisper - Open-source transcription model
- ChatPRD - Product management with AI
- AIUP - Requirements-driven AI development
Last updated: 2026-01-23