Discover the best AI meeting assistants. Compare top AI notetakers like Hedy, Otter AI, and Fireflies.ai to find the right tool to transcribe meetings, extract action items, and boost productivity.
Every professional knows the frustration: you leave a meeting with a head full of ideas, but within hours, the details start to fade. Important action items slip through the cracks. Key insights get lost. What if an AI meeting assistant could capture everything, transcribe meetings automatically, and even help you contribute more effectively in real-time?
Welcome to the new era of meeting intelligence. The best AI meeting assistants go far beyond simple transcription—they're smart AI meeting companions that extract key insights, automate follow-up tasks, and turn meetings into actionable outcomes. Whether you're looking for an AI notetaker to handle your Zoom calls, a tool that integrates with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, or a solution that works for in-person meetings too, this guide will help you find the perfect fit.
In this comprehensive comparison, we'll explore the top AI notetakers, break down their features, and help you understand what to look for in an AI meeting assistant. Let's dive in and discover how these AI-powered tools can make meetings more productive and help you become the brightest person in the room.
An AI meeting assistant is sophisticated software that uses artificial intelligence to automate various aspects of meeting management. These AI tools go beyond basic recording—they provide real-time transcription, generate meeting summaries, extract action items, and integrate with your existing workflow tools.
The average professional spends over 20 hours per week in meetings, yet studies show that 71% of these meetings are considered unproductive. An AI notetaker solves this problem by handling the documentation so you can focus on the conversation. Instead of frantically scribbling notes, you can fully engage with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.
Modern AI meeting assistants offer features like live transcripts, automated meeting notes, sentiment analysis, and integration with conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Some advanced AI solutions even provide real-time coaching and suggestions during the meeting itself—turning every meeting into an opportunity to shine.
AI notetakers use advanced speech recognition and natural language processing to transcribe meetings in real-time. When you start a meeting, the AI assistant records and transcribes the audio and video, converting spoken words into accurate text transcripts within seconds.
The best AI meeting assistants don't just transcribe—they understand context. They can identify different speakers, recognize industry-specific terminology, and even handle multiple languages. Real-time transcription means you can follow along with live transcripts during the meeting, making it easier to stay engaged and catch important details.
After the meeting ends, these tools automatically generate meeting summaries and action items. The AI analyzes the entire meeting content, identifies key decisions, and creates notes and summaries that capture what matters most. This automated meeting documentation saves hours of manual work and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
When evaluating AI meeting assistants, consider these essential factors to find the right tool for your workflow:
Transcription Accuracy: Look for an AI meeting assistant that delivers high-accuracy transcription across different accents, technical jargon, and audio quality levels. The best tools offer 95%+ accuracy.
Integration Capabilities: Your AI notetaker should integrate seamlessly with the conferencing apps you already use—Zoom meetings, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and others. Also consider integration with productivity tools like Zapier, Slack, and your CRM.
Real-Time vs. Post-Meeting Features: Some tools only provide post-meeting summaries, while others offer real-time transcription and even live coaching. Decide whether you need insights during or after your meetings.
Meeting Intelligence: Advanced AI features like sentiment analysis, talk time tracking, and meeting insights across meetings can help teams improve their meeting culture over time.
Free Plan Availability: Many AI notetakers offer a free plan with basic features. This lets you test the tool before committing to a paid subscription.
Privacy and Security: Ensure the tool handles your meeting recordings and meeting transcripts securely, especially for sensitive company meetings.
After extensive testing and analysis, here are the top AI meeting assistants that stand out:
Hedy AI takes the top spot as the most versatile and powerful AI meeting assistant available. What sets Hedy apart is its unique approach: rather than just recording and transcribing, Hedy acts as your personal assistant during meetings, providing real-time coaching and intelligent suggestions exactly when you need them.
Key Features:
Hedy's approach is fundamentally different from other AI notetakers. While most tools passively record and transcribe, Hedy actively helps you perform better in real-time. It's like having an executive assistant who whispers brilliant insights in your ear during every meeting.
The free plan offers sessions up to 5 hours per month, while Hedy Pro ($9.99/month) provides unlimited meeting length, audio and video import, Topics for organizing insights across meetings, and API access.
Try Hedy for free on iOS, Android, or download the desktop app for macOS and Windows.
Otter AI is one of the most recognized names in AI transcription. It records and transcribes meetings automatically and offers Otter AI Chat, which lets you ask questions about your meeting content after the fact.
Key Features:
Otter is a solid choice for teams looking for a straightforward AI note taker. However, it lacks real-time coaching capabilities and focuses primarily on post-meeting documentation rather than in-meeting assistance. The free AI tier is generous, making it accessible for individual users and small teams.
Fireflies.ai is an AI notetaker that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings with a strong focus on sales and customer success teams. It excels at pushing meeting information directly into your CRM and other business tools.
Key Features:
Fireflies.ai is particularly strong for customer success teams and sales organizations that need to sync meeting notes directly to their CRM. The bot joins your meetings automatically, though this can sometimes feel intrusive to meeting participants.
Fathom offers one of the most generous free plans in the AI meeting assistant space. It provides meeting transcription, summary generation, and basic integrations without requiring a paid subscription.
Key Features:
Fathom is an excellent choice if you're looking for free AI notetaking capabilities. The paid tier adds team features, meeting statistics, and advanced automation. It's a solid option for individuals and small teams on a budget who primarily need post-meeting documentation.
Granola takes a unique approach as an AI-powered notepad designed specifically for Mac users. Rather than joining meetings as a bot, it works locally on your device to transcribe and enhance your notes.
Key Features:
Granola is ideal for Mac users who want a more subtle approach to AI meeting assistance. It's less feature-rich than other options but excels at its core use case of smart AI note-taking without the complexity of full meeting intelligence platforms.
Modern AI meeting assistants use advanced AI to go beyond simple transcription. Meeting intelligence refers to the AI's ability to analyze meeting content, identify patterns, and extract meaningful insights that help teams improve.
Here's how the best tools extract key insights:
Automatic Action Item Detection: AI identifies commitments, tasks, and followup items mentioned during the conversation and compiles them into actionable lists.
Key Decision Tracking: The AI recognizes when important decisions are made and highlights them in your meeting summaries.
Topic Extraction: Advanced AI features can identify the main topics discussed and organize your meeting notes accordingly.
Insights Across Meetings: Some tools, like Hedy's Topics feature, let you connect related meetings and chat with AI about patterns and information spanning multiple conversations—creating a single source of truth for ongoing projects.
Sentiment Analysis: AI can analyze the tone and sentiment of discussions, helping managers understand team dynamics and meeting effectiveness.
Yes—integration with major conferencing apps is a standard feature for most AI meeting assistants. Here's how integration typically works:
Bot-Based Integration: Tools like Otter AI and Fireflies.ai send a bot to join your Zoom meetings, Google Meet calls, or Microsoft Teams sessions. The bot records and transcribes the meeting automatically.
Native Integration: Some AI assistants integrate directly with conferencing platforms through official APIs, providing a more seamless experience without a visible bot.
Device-Based Capture: Tools like Hedy and Granola capture audio directly from your device, meaning they work with any conferencing app—and even in-person meetings—without requiring a bot to join.
Beyond conferencing apps, the best AI meeting assistants also integrate with your broader workflow. Look for Zapier integration to connect with thousands of apps, direct CRM integration for sales teams, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace compatibility for enterprise environments.
Most AI meeting assistants offer some form of free plan, though features and limitations vary significantly:
Hedy AI: Free plan includes up to 5 hours of sessions per month with full AI coaching, transcription, and meeting summaries.
Otter AI: Free plan offers 300 transcription minutes per month with basic features.
Fireflies.ai: Limited free plan with basic transcription and storage limits.
Fathom: Generous free plan with unlimited meeting notes for individual users.
Granola: Free tier available with basic AI note-taking features.
When evaluating free plans, consider not just the time limits but also which features are included. Some tools restrict their best AI features—like real-time coaching, advanced integrations, or meeting intelligence—to paid tiers.
AI meeting assistants dramatically improve meeting productivity in several ways:
Eliminate Manual Note-Taking: When AI handles transcription and note-taking, participants can fully engage in discussions rather than splitting attention between listening and writing.
Automate Followup: AI tools automatically extract action items, generate followup tasks, and can even draft followup emails—saving hours of post-meeting work.
Reduce Meeting Time: With real-time AI assistance (like Hedy's coaching features), discussions stay focused and decisions happen faster. Teams report reducing meeting time by up to 30%.
Never Miss Important Details: AI captures the entire meeting, ensuring key insights, decisions, and commitments are documented even if participants are multitasking.
Streamline Information Sharing: Meeting summaries and transcripts can be automatically shared with team members, stakeholders, or anyone who couldn't attend—keeping everyone aligned.
Build Organizational Knowledge: Over time, your meeting transcripts become a searchable knowledge base, making it easy to reference past discussions and decisions.
While most AI meeting assistants focus on virtual meetings and online meetings, some tools excel at both digital and physical environments:
Virtual Meetings: All major AI notetakers support Zoom meetings, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other conferencing apps. Most can join meetings automatically and transcribe in real-time.
In-Person Meetings: Tools like Hedy AI shine in physical meeting rooms. Since Hedy captures audio through your phone or laptop rather than requiring a bot, it works seamlessly for in-person meetings, conferences, and even one-on-one conversations.
Hybrid Scenarios: For meetings with both in-room and remote participants, look for tools that can handle audio from multiple sources or that work independently of the video conferencing platform.
If you frequently attend in-person meetings, company meetings, or events where traditional bot-based AI notetakers don't work, Hedy's device-based approach offers a significant advantage.
Here's a summary of the most important things to remember when selecting an AI meeting assistant:
Ready to transform your meetings? Download Hedy AI today and experience the only AI meeting assistant that makes you smarter in real-time. Available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.
What is the best AI meeting assistant?
Hedy stands out as the best AI meeting assistant due to its unique real-time coaching capabilities, cross-platform support, and ability to work in both virtual and in-person meetings.
Are AI meeting assistants secure?
Reputable AI meeting assistants prioritize security with encryption for data transmission and storage. Always review the privacy policy before adopting any tool for sensitive company meetings.
Can AI meeting assistants transcribe in multiple languages?
Yes, leading tools like Hedy AI support 30+ languages for transcription and AI chat, making them ideal for global teams.
Do I need technical expertise to use an AI meeting assistant?
No—modern AI notetakers are designed to be user-friendly. Most require just a few clicks to set up and start capturing meetings automatically.
Can AI completely replace human note-takers?
AI meeting assistants handle most note-taking needs excellently. However, for highly specialized or sensitive meetings, some organizations prefer human review of AI-generated summaries and action items.
How accurate are AI meeting transcripts?
The best AI meeting assistants achieve 90-95%+ accuracy. Factors like audio quality, accents, and technical terminology can affect accuracy, but most tools allow editing of transcripts when needed.
