Best AI meeting assistants and transcription software in 2026

Two questions sort the meeting tools: does a bot join the call, and where is the audio processed? Everything else is a feature list. This article covers five tools and says where each answer falls.

Quick comparison

Everpaper

Everpaper is our product. Press ⇧⌘M and it records your microphone and the call’s system audio as separate tracks. Transcription runs on the Mac with NVIDIA’s Parakeet model, speaker labels appear live, and no recording is uploaded. A saved meeting has Transcript, Overview, Ask and Speakers tabs, and exports as text, Markdown, SRT, WebVTT or JSON. With an AI provider set up it writes a summary, and a digest of topics, decisions and next steps while the meeting runs.

Limits: macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon, no mobile app, private beta with no public price. Nobody sees a bot, so you tell people you are recording. Summaries need an AI provider, and a cloud provider needs a switch that is off by default.

Granola

Granola captures device audio with no bot and works across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Apple Watch. Every plan lists “audio deleted after transcription”. Its security page says it uses transcription providers such as Deepgram and AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and that on non-Enterprise plans it trains on anonymized data unless you opt out in Settings. Basic includes 30 days of meeting history. Integrations, API access and pre-meeting briefs are on paid plans.

Pick it for good notes without a bot, if cloud processing is acceptable.

Otter

Otter’s notetaker joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls. Basic is free with 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime imports and 20 AI Chat queries a month. It transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. List prices are $16.99 a month for Pro ($8.33 a month billed annually) and $30 for Business ($19.99 billed annually). The page also shows promotional discounts, which are left out here.

Otter is also the defendant in a consolidated class action, In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, in the Northern District of California. On 13 August 2026 the judge granted Otter’s motion to dismiss in part and let the federal wiretap, California privacy and Illinois biometric claims proceed, while dismissing others. That ruling does not decide whether Otter broke the law.

Pick it for a team that wants live transcripts across the big three platforms.

Fireflies

Fireflies also sends a bot into the call. Its pricing page names English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian and says 100+ other languages are in beta, and it lists no rate limit on the meeting bot or Chrome extension. A proposed class action filed on 18 December 2025 in the Central District of Illinois alleges its speaker recognition creates voiceprints without adequate disclosure. We found no ruling as of October 2026, and these remain allegations.

Pick it if you want the bot, many languages and team features.

Screenpipe

Screenpipe records meetings along with your screen and audio, on macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows 10 and 11, and Linux. Capture stays on your device by default. Free is one device. Basic is $21 a month or $250 a year, and Business is $42 per seat a month. See Limitless and Rewind alternatives for more.

How to choose

1. A bot is acceptable and the team lives in Zoom, Teams or Meet: Otter or Fireflies.
2. No bot, cloud is fine, best notes: Granola.
3. No bot, and audio and transcript must stay on the Mac: Everpaper.
4. You are on Windows or Linux and want local capture: Screenpipe.
5. You work in several languages: read transcribing meetings in 25 languages.

Where the audio goes is covered in who hears your meetings.

Apply for the Everpaper private beta.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI meeting assistant without a bot?

Granola and Everpaper both record without a bot joining the call. Granola captures device audio and uses cloud providers for transcription and notes. Everpaper records and transcribes on your Mac, and sends text to an AI only if you set up a provider.

Which meeting tools transcribe in other languages?

Otter lists English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. Fireflies names English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian and says 100+ more are in beta. Granola says multi-language support is included on all plans without listing the languages. Everpaper transcribes 25 European languages with automatic language detection.

Is there a free meeting transcription tool?

Otter's Basic plan is free with 300 minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation and 3 lifetime imports. Granola's Basic plan is free with 30 days of history. Screenpipe is free on one device.

Do I have to tell people I am recording?

Yes. A visible bot tells them for you, but a bot-free tool does not. Laws on recording consent differ by place, so tell the other people before you record.

Are Otter and Fireflies facing lawsuits?

Both face proposed class actions. In In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation a judge granted Otter's motion to dismiss in part on 13 August 2026 and let wiretap, California privacy and Illinois biometric claims proceed. A class action against Fireflies was filed on 18 December 2025 in the Central District of Illinois. These are allegations, not findings.

Sources

1. Granola pricing
2. Granola security
3. Otter pricing
4. Fireflies pricing
5. Screenpipe pricing
6. UC Today on the Otter ruling
7. Epstein Becker Green on the Fireflies case
8. NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 model card
9. Everpaper docs: meetings