Trying to keep up with meetings can feel like a juggling act, right? You’re supposed to listen, contribute, and somehow remember everything important. That’s where AI meeting notes tools come in handy. These helpers can record, transcribe, and even summarize your discussions, freeing you up to actually participate. We looked at a bunch of them to find the best AI meeting notes tools for small teams, focusing on how well they work and what they offer.
Key Takeaways
- AI meeting assistants record and transcribe your calls, so you don’t miss important details.
- These tools can summarize meetings, identify action items, and help you find specific information later.
- Many tools integrate with popular platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
- Consider features like transcription accuracy, AI summarization quality, and ease of use when choosing a tool.
- Some tools offer free plans, making them accessible for small teams or individuals just starting out.
1. Fireflies
Fireflies.ai has been around for a while, actually one of the first tools to join meetings and record them. It’s come a long way since those early days, evolving into more of an AI meeting assistant. They really pack a lot of features into their platform, especially since integrating AI. It feels like they’re always trying to add new spins to stand out, which is cool, but sometimes it can feel a bit much.
When you finish a meeting, Fireflies gets to work transcribing everything. It’s pretty good at picking out key details like dates, times, metrics, tasks, and questions, which you can then filter later. It even does sentiment analysis to show you the mood of the meeting and breaks down who spoke how much.
One unique thing they offer is ‘Soundbites’ and ‘Playlists’. You can clip important parts of calls, tag them, and organize them into playlists. It’s a neat idea for referencing specific moments or sharing them, though I’m not sure how often most teams would actually use it day-to-day.
Fireflies also has a bunch of integrations, connecting with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Slack. If your favorite app isn’t listed, you can usually connect it through Zapier.
The user interface, while generally clean, can sometimes feel a bit cluttered. With so many features available right on the call review page – like AI summaries, AskFred, Smart Search, or just leaving comments – it can take a little getting used to. It’s a lot vying for your attention all at once.
The accuracy of their AI-generated notes is generally quite good, often surpassing expectations. However, some users find that with so many features being added, the core user experience can sometimes feel a bit rough around the edges, with occasional bugs popping up even in basic functions. This might be due to the rapid pace of development.
When it comes to pricing, they have a free tier, but it’s pretty limited with only a few transcription credits and minutes of storage. To get integrations or more features, you’ll need to move to a paid plan. If you need video recording, which feels pretty standard these days, you’ll likely have to jump to their highest tier right away. This can make it feel like they’re pushing you to upgrade quickly, especially compared to some competitors that offer video recording on lower tiers. You can check out their meeting recorder solutions for more details.
2. Otter
Otter.ai has been around for a bit, and it’s a solid choice for teams that need reliable meeting transcriptions and summaries. It’s pretty straightforward: you can have Otter join your meetings automatically or record them yourself. Once the meeting’s done, Otter gets to work, transcribing the conversation and then creating a summary with key takeaways and action items. This automation is where Otter really shines for small teams, saving you a bunch of time on note-taking.
One of the cooler features is Otter AI Chat. Think of it like having a personal assistant who’s listened to all your past meetings. You can ask it questions like “What decisions did we make about the Q3 marketing campaign?” or “Who was assigned to follow up on the client feedback?” It pulls the answers right from your meeting transcripts, which is super handy if you missed something or just need a quick reminder.
Otter also lets you organize your meetings into “Channels,” which is great for keeping things tidy if you’re working on different projects or with different teams. It’s a nice way to group related conversations so everyone can find what they need.
Here’s a quick look at what Otter offers:
- Live Transcription: Real-time text of your meetings in multiple languages, with speaker identification.
- Automated Summaries: AI-generated summaries highlighting decisions and action items.
- AI Chat: Ask questions about past meetings and get instant answers.
- Integrations: Connects with tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, plus Zapier for more automation.
Otter’s free plan gives you a decent amount of transcription minutes each month, which is a good way to test it out. For small teams, the paid plans are pretty reasonably priced, especially when you consider the time you’ll get back from not having to manually take notes.
While Otter is generally good with transcription, it can sometimes stumble a bit with very technical jargon or fast-paced conversations. But for most day-to-day team meetings, it’s a reliable workhorse.
3. Fathom
Fathom is a pretty solid option if you’re just starting out with AI meeting notes, especially because it has a really generous free plan. Seriously, you can transcribe all your meetings without paying a dime. It’s a great way to see if this kind of tool even fits into your workflow before you commit to anything.
Once a meeting wraps up, Fathom can whip up a summary and send it off to your CRM or a Slack channel. It also has this neat trick where if you copy text from Fathom and paste it somewhere else, it keeps its formatting. No more fiddling with how it looks later!
If you decide you need more, Fathom has paid plans. The Team plan, for instance, lets you organize calls in a special tab, check out meeting stats for your team (which is handy for coaching sales calls), set up alerts for keywords, and automate connections to other apps. You can also connect Fathom to Zapier to send recordings, transcripts, and action items to your other software. It’s a good way to test the waters with AI meeting assistants and see if it boosts your productivity. You can check out the different Fathom pricing tiers to see what fits best.
Fathom really hits a sweet spot for teams that want to try out AI meeting notes without a big upfront investment. The free version is quite capable, and the paid options add useful features for collaboration and automation.
4. Fellow
Fellow is a pretty solid option if you’re looking for a tool that helps manage your meetings from start to finish. It’s not just about taking notes; it’s about organizing your whole meeting life. You can set up agendas, jot down notes during the call, and then easily assign action items to team members afterward. One of its standout features is how it helps you keep track of information related to specific projects or topics. This means you can look back and see all the discussions and decisions tied to a particular subject, which is super handy for staying organized.
Fellow also lets you create your own meeting templates, which can save a lot of time if your team has recurring meeting types. Plus, they have a good library of templates already built-in. It integrates with a bunch of other apps you probably already use, and if it doesn’t have a direct connection, you can usually link it up through Zapier to automate tasks like sending meeting notes to your project management tool.
While Fellow is great for managing the meeting lifecycle, it’s worth noting that its desktop app can sometimes be a bit clunky. It’s a small trade-off for the overall organization it provides, but something to be aware of.
Fellow offers a free plan, which is nice for trying it out, and their paid plans start at a reasonable price per user per month when billed annually. It’s a good choice for teams that want a structured approach to their meetings and need to keep project-related information easily accessible.
5. Krisp
Sometimes, even with the best intentions, your meeting audio can be a real mess. Maybe your dog decided to bark during a crucial point, or perhaps the construction next door decided to start jackhammering. That’s where Krisp comes in. It’s designed to clean up your audio in real-time, making sure everyone can hear you clearly, no matter the background noise.
Krisp works by installing a small application on your computer. This app acts like a virtual microphone and speaker, filtering out unwanted sounds. You’ll need to select Krisp as your audio input and output in your video conferencing software, like Zoom or Google Meet. While this setup might seem a little more involved than just clicking a button, Krisp provides helpful guides to get you through it. The upside is that because it runs locally on your machine, it doesn’t need to add a bot to your calls, which can sometimes feel intrusive.
Here’s a quick look at what Krisp offers:
- Noise Cancellation: Filters out background sounds like barking dogs, keyboard typing, or loud colleagues.
- Voice Clarity: Helps make your voice sound clearer and more distinct.
- Transcription: It also offers a transcription feature, turning your spoken words into text after the meeting.
Krisp is pretty good at removing distractions without making your voice sound robotic. It uses a modest amount of your computer’s processing power and RAM, so it shouldn’t slow down your video calls too much. Plus, you can connect it to Zapier to automate tasks with your meeting transcripts.
While Krisp is fantastic for improving audio quality, it’s worth noting that its effectiveness can sometimes depend on your specific hardware. Occasionally, it might slightly alter your voice, but for most users, the benefits of a clear call far outweigh this minor possibility.
Krisp has a free plan that gives you unlimited transcriptions and 60 minutes of noise cancellation each day. Paid plans start at $8 per user per month when billed annually.
6. tl;dv
Remember when online forums had those “too long, didn’t read” (tl;dr) notes? The team behind tl;dv clearly does, and they’ve applied that idea to meeting recordings. Their main goal is to help you get the important stuff without having to watch the whole thing. tl;dv is particularly good at making meeting recordings searchable and shareable.
They offer a solid AI-powered search that digs through your meetings to find exactly what you’re looking for. Just type in a keyword, and it’ll show you relevant parts of your transcripts. Plus, you can add your own notes with timestamps, which is handy for keeping track of key moments. You can also organize your calls into folders, making it easier to find what you need later.
Need to share a specific point? tl;dv lets you create short video clips from your transcript. You can then share these clips directly or send them to other tools like Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, or Slack. This is super useful for quickly sharing updates or specific insights with your team.
For teams that rely heavily on video, tl;dv started out focusing on video recording from the get-go. This means it’s built to capture screen shares and video content effectively, which is a big plus if you often share your screen during calls.
Here’s a quick look at their pricing:
| Feature | Free Plan | Paid Plans (from) |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom/Meet Trans. | Unlimited | Included |
| Video Recording | Included | Included |
| AI Summaries | Limited | Advanced |
| Integrations | Basic | Extensive |
| Price | Free | $18/user/month |
tl;dv is a good choice if you want to easily find information in your past meetings and share specific moments without making people watch long recordings. It’s built with video recording in mind, which is a nice bonus for many teams.
7. Avoma
Avoma really shines when you’re trying to get a handle on what’s actually happening in your customer-facing conversations, especially for sales and support teams. It goes beyond just transcribing; it digs into the data.
Think about it: you get a dashboard that shows you how many conversations are happening, how long people are talking, and even how often filler words pop up. This stuff is gold for coaching your team. You can see who’s dominating the talk time and who might need a little more space to contribute. Plus, it tracks how often competitors are mentioned, which is pretty neat for understanding your market position.
Here’s a quick look at what Avoma offers:
- Conversation Analytics: Tracks talk-to-listen ratios, filler words, and monologue times.
- Topic Tracking: Identifies the most discussed keywords across all your meetings.
- Competitive Intelligence: Monitors mentions of competitors and correlates them with deal outcomes.
- Coaching Tools: Includes AI scoring to help train new sales reps.
- CRM Integrations: Connects with Salesforce, HubSpot, Copper, and Pipedrive, plus Zapier.
Avoma’s strength lies in its ability to turn raw meeting data into actionable insights, particularly for teams focused on customer interaction and sales performance. It’s not just about recording; it’s about understanding and improving.
While it can be a bit on the pricier side, if you’re serious about improving sales performance or customer support through data-driven insights from your meetings, Avoma is definitely worth a look. It’s built for teams that want to get more out of every single call.
8. Granola
Granola is a pretty neat AI tool if you like to take notes yourself but still want the AI to fill in the gaps. It works by transcribing your meetings, and then you can add your own notes. Granola then takes what you wrote and pulls in details from the actual meeting transcript to make your notes more complete. It’s like having a collaborative memory for your team.
This tool doesn’t join your calls directly. Instead, it records audio from your device, so it’s compatible with pretty much any video conferencing software out there. It can’t do phone calls yet, but you can use its iPhone app for in-person meetings. Granola also connects with other apps like HubSpot, Slack, and Notion. Plus, its Zapier integration opens up a ton of possibilities for automating workflows.
Here’s a quick look at what Granola offers:
- Automatic transcription and summarization: Captures the spoken word and condenses it.
- Live notepad feature: Allows you to add your own notes during the meeting.
- Contextual enhancement: AI pulls relevant details from the transcript to enrich your notes.
- Wide app integration: Connects with popular tools and thousands more via Zapier.
Granola’s approach is interesting because it doesn’t try to replace human note-takers entirely. Instead, it supports them, making sure that even quick notes taken during a busy meeting are backed up with accurate details from the conversation.
Granola has a free plan that gives you 25 meeting transcripts. If you need more, paid plans start at $18 per month and offer unlimited transcripts.
9. Equal Time
Ever feel like some people dominate meetings while others barely get a word in? Equal Time is designed to tackle exactly that. It’s a tool that keeps an eye on who’s talking and for how long, aiming to make sure everyone gets a fair shot at contributing.
When you hook Equal Time up to your Zoom or Google Meet calls, it shows you a sidebar with some pretty neat info in real-time:
- Speaking Time: See what percentage of the meeting each person has spoken.
- Inclusion Score: A score that tells you how balanced the speaking time is across the group.
- Monologue Counter: Helps you spot when conversations might be going on too long without input from others.
- Speaking Balance Pie Chart: Visually breaks down who’s talking, which can be useful for seeing if different teams or roles are getting their fair share of airtime.
After the meeting wraps up, you’ll get an email with all these details. It breaks down talking time for everyone and even points out if someone didn’t speak at all, if they joined late, or if they tend to dominate the conversation. You also get an AI-powered summary and some pointers on how to make your meetings better.
While the interface might not be the slickest compared to some other tools, the core features are really solid. If you’re struggling to get everyone involved, Equal Time can be a big help.
Equal Time offers a free plan that allows for 40 minutes of transcription per meeting. Paid plans start at $15 per month when billed annually.
10. TeamsMaestro
TeamsMaestro is an AI meeting assistant that integrates directly into Microsoft Teams. It’s designed to automatically join your scheduled meetings to transcribe calls and generate summaries. You can also add it to spontaneous meetings by pasting an invite to the bot.
After a meeting wraps up, your notes are saved within the app and also sent to your inbox. These notes come with an AI-generated summary and key takeaways. The setup is pretty simple: add the app, sign in with your Microsoft account, and you’re good to go. However, getting it connected to your calendar can be a bit of a process, especially if you’re not using Microsoft Calendar. If you use Google Calendar, for instance, you’ll need to copy the meeting link and paste it into TeamsMaestro, which can add a few minutes to the bot’s join time.
Here’s a quick look at what it offers:
- Automated Transcription: Captures the spoken word during your meetings.
- AI Summaries: Provides concise overviews of the discussion.
- Speaker Identification: Differentiates between who said what.
- Note Export: Download your notes in TXT, DOC, or PDF formats.
One thing to keep in mind is that TeamsMaestro isn’t always the quickest to join, especially for unscheduled calls. If a meeting starts unexpectedly, you might miss the first few minutes while the bot gets up to speed. Also, accessing your notes requires opening a separate browser tab or the Teams app, which isn’t quite as smooth as having everything right there.
While TeamsMaestro offers native integration and useful AI summaries, its user experience could use some polish. The onboarding process, particularly calendar syncing for non-Microsoft users, and the clarity around storage can be improved. Pricing can also become a factor for larger teams needing multiple licenses.
Wrapping Up Your Meeting Notes
So, we’ve looked at a bunch of AI tools that can help with meeting notes. It’s pretty clear that these assistants can save a lot of time, especially for small teams juggling a lot of tasks. No more scribbling down notes while trying to listen, or spending ages trying to remember what was said. Picking the right one really depends on what you need – maybe you want something super simple, or perhaps you need advanced features for tracking conversations. Whatever your team’s workflow, there’s likely an AI helper out there that can make your meetings more productive and less of a headache. Give one a try and see how it fits into your day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is an AI meeting notes tool?
Think of an AI meeting notes tool as a super-smart assistant for your online meetings. Instead of you frantically typing notes, this tool listens in, records the conversation, and then writes down everything that was said. It can even create summaries and point out important tasks, saving you tons of time and making sure you don’t miss anything important.
Why are these tools helpful for small teams?
Small teams often juggle many tasks, and spending time taking notes can pull people away from important work. AI tools automate this, freeing up team members to focus on their main jobs. Plus, everyone gets a clear record of what was discussed, which is great for staying on the same page, especially with remote or hybrid work.
Do I need a special computer or software to use these?
Most of these tools work right within your existing video call platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. You usually just need a computer or device that can run those platforms, and a stable internet connection. Some might have a small app to install, but generally, they’re easy to set up.
Can these tools understand different people talking?
Yes, many of them are designed to figure out who is speaking and label the notes accordingly. This is super helpful because you can see exactly who said what, making it easier to follow conversations and assign tasks later on.
Are these AI tools expensive?
The cost can vary a lot. Many offer a free version that’s perfect for trying them out or for very basic needs. For more advanced features like longer recordings or more detailed summaries, there are usually paid plans that are often quite affordable, especially for small teams.
What happens if I miss part of the meeting?
That’s where these tools really shine! Since they record and transcribe the entire meeting, you can always go back and read the transcript or listen to the recording later. You can easily find the exact part you missed or review anything you need to remember.
