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Best Fellow Alternatives

Written by Camin McCluskey

Co-Founder & CTO

Edited by Steph Leung

Product & Operations Lead

Updated onMar 14, 2025
Fellow has established itself as a prominent meeting productivity tool in 2025, offering teams ways to capture, transcribe, and organize their conversations. However, as organizations increasingly prioritize efficient meeting documentation and seamless recording experiences, several alternatives have emerged that address specific limitations in Fellow’s approach. From Fathom’s superior transcript editing capabilities to Jamie’s discreet recording functionality, Fireflies.ai’s in-person meeting capture, and Granola’s intuitive documentation interface, these alternatives provide specialized solutions that may better serve particular use cases. This comparison explores how these alternatives outperform Fellow in key areas, helping teams identify the most suitable tool for their specific meeting documentation needs.

Best alternatives to Fellow

For transcript editing and management:

Fathom product logo

Fathom

Stackfix Rating:

6.9 / 10

Fathom stands out as a transcript management solution through its editing capabilities, rapid processing, and intuitive search functionality. While Fellow offers basic transcription features, Fathom provides comprehensive transcript editing tools, allowing users to modify text, correct speaker labels, and remove sections in bulk. The platform processes transcripts in seconds rather than minutes, and its intelligent search system includes color-coded progress bars and contextual results with quick-play options. Notably, Fathom offers more reliable transcript management for maintaining accurate meeting records.

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For discreet meeting recording:

Jamie product logo

Jamie

Stackfix Rating:

3.7 / 10

Jamie stands out as a superior choice for discreet meeting recording compared to Fellow, primarily because it allows users to capture meetings without displaying a recording bot to participants. While Fellow requires a visible bot to join and record meetings, Jamie operates invisibly in the background, maintaining meeting privacy and natural conversation flow. Additionally, Jamie’s desktop app integration with Google Meet on Chrome automatically detects and records meetings without drawing attention, making it an ideal solution for situations requiring subtle documentation.

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For recording in-person meetings:

Fireflies.ai product logo

Fireflies.ai

Stackfix Rating:

6.9 / 10

Fireflies.ai stands out for recording in-person meetings through its mobile app’s one-click functionality, while Fellow lacks direct in-app recording capabilities. This contrast in mobile recording approaches highlights how Fireflies.ai enables seamless in-person meeting capture, whereas Fellow requires users to copy meeting links into the app for the bot to join calls. This fundamental difference makes Fireflies.ai more practical for teams needing to record face-to-face discussions.

Jump to product

For quick and intuitive meeting documentation:

Granola product logo

Granola

Stackfix Rating:

7.0 / 10

Granola excels over Fellow in making meeting documentation quick and intuitive through three key advantages. Its streamlined interface offers remarkable ease of use, eliminating the confusion of Fellow’s cramped navigation. Granola generates meeting notes in seconds rather than minutes, with fast performance. Additionally, its discreet recording approach, which doesn't require a bot to join calls, creates a more natural meeting experience while still maintaining high-quality documentation.

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CM

Meet your expert: Camin McCluskey

Stackfix Co-Founder & CTO

Having worked as a software engineer and CTO in enterprise and startup environments, I've been on both sides of the software buying journey. I'm excited to help you find the right software for your business, as well as supporting our partners to communicate what makes their software unique.

Fellow logo

Fellow

Fathom logo

Fathom

Jamie logo

Jamie

Fireflies.ai logo

Fireflies.ai

Granola logo

Granola

Our rating
Functionality
7

Functionality

7/10

<p>Fellow offers most of the core AI notetaker features, including audio/video recording, customisable templates for summaries, meeting analytics, and an AI assistant. It includes an integrated calendar synced with your connected account, allowing you to view and schedule events directly. However, it has limitations, such as the inability to edit transcripts or speakers. Additionally, the app cannot record in-person meetings and only allows the bot to join impromptu meetings through a meeting link.</p>
9

Functionality

9/10

<p>Fathom is one of the most feature-rich AI notetakers we’ve reviewed—it took a while to test everything.</p><p><br></p><p>It’s clear why there’s a “Give Feedback” option in so many places throughout the app: if you’re trying to accomplish something, there’s a good chance Fathom has either already built it or optimised it for quick use.</p>
4

Functionality

4/10

<p>It lacks many features, such as audio/video recording and automatic email drafting. This means you have to rely on the transcript for more detailed information if needed.</p>
8

Functionality

8/10

<p>Offers the standard AI notetaking functionality - including recording on mobile app, global search &amp; AI chat across meetings. Meeting notes and transcripts are generally of high quality. Also has some additional functionality, such as conversation intelligence (analyse talk time distribution). However, the Chrome Extension that allowed users to record without a meeting bot is no longer available.</p>
6

Functionality

6/10

<p>Granola is a very simple AI notetaker that doesn't offer much beyond transcribing and summarizing meetings. But the fact that it doesn't join your calls is a 'feature' that we - and many users - highly value.</p>
Ease of Use
4

Ease of Use

4/10

<p>Fellow's navigation can be initially confusing, with an interface that’s less intuitive than other AI notetakers. While its core functionality is easy to use and comparable to similar tools, the abundance of options can feel overwhelming at first.</p>
7

Ease of Use

7/10

<p>Although Fathom offers a ton of features, it does an excellent job of onboarding users with demo and explanation videos. There isn’t a mountain of settings to configure and learn before getting started—everything is either well-explained or easy to understand.</p>
3

Ease of Use

3/10

<p>Jamie is clunky and lacks many quick-access features found in other AI notetakers, such as the ability to click on a point in the summary for more AI-generated detail or be directed to its source in the transcript. As a result, much of the editing for summary notes is manual, as summary regeneration is not possible.</p>
7

Ease of Use

7/10

<p>Key workflows such as recording meetings, inviting the bot to meetings is generally intuitive and straightforward. Especially on the paid tier, where you can see at a glance all the action items from your meetings. There are some unmarked elements / icons over the web app which will take a bit of getting used to. The UX of beta AI features is also underwhelming e.g When searching across meetings, you're only able to ask AI assistant question one-by-one, instead of asking follow up questions.</p>
9

Ease of Use

9/10

<p>Granola was incredibly easy to set up. We loved the handy pop-up that appears when joining calls. No bots join the call—just press "Take Notes" and it handles the rest.</p>
Look and feel
4

Look and feel

4/10

<p>The navigation feels cramped and confusing at first, with some buttons appearing in multiple places. The overall layout is untidy and slightly overwhelming compared to other AI notetakers with cleaner, more organised interfaces.</p>
4

Look and feel

4/10

<p>Fathom’s extensive feature set comes at a cost—everywhere you move your mouse, a tooltip appears, or there’s an option to click something. This can get overwhelming when you’re just trying to accomplish simple tasks.</p><p>During setup and early use, they heavily promote their “Point” system (feedback in exchange for points) and frequently send feedback emails and questions, which can become a bit intrusive.</p>
2

Look and feel

2/10

<p>The design feels clunky and unintuitive. The dark mode UI lacks contrast, making it difficult to distinguish between elements. Navigation is confusing; for instance, clicking the chat button in the navigation bar prompts users to open the Jamie sidebar with a keyboard shortcut—what's the point of that? These kinds of things are common across the app.</p><p><br></p><p>The Meetings overview and the Decisions/Tasks/Participants sections feel cramped, with no option to open meetings on a separate page or view in full-screen mode.</p><p><br></p><p>The sidebar's theme is stuck on dark, even when the rest of the app is on light mode.</p><p><br></p><p>The sidebar itself lacks a close icon, forcing you to use keyboard shortcuts. Additionally, the persistent sidebar is annoying, as it stays above other apps and offers no quick-hide option. Overall, the interface needs significant improvement.</p>
5

Look and feel

5/10

<p>Modern and visually acceptable. But the amount of AI features/ Ask Fred that appear upon hover can be quite distracting. Page loads can be slow (3-5 seconds) when clicking into meeting notes, waiting for AI response takes up to 10 seconds, but that's to be expected.</p>
9

Look and feel

9/10

<p>Granola's minimalist aesthetic is visually appealing, and it has a lightning fast load time.</p>
Customisability
7

Customisability

7/10

<p>Fellow offers highly customisable note templates, similar to Notion, with AI insights. The meeting bot's name and background are also customisable.</p>
8

Customisability

8/10

<p>Fathom provides control over many aspects of the transcript, summary notes, speaker tags, and highlighting. If other AI notetakers often mis-transcribe or misidentify speakers without allowing edits, Fathom could be the solution for you.</p>
3

Customisability

3/10

<p>Jamie offers limited customisability. You can create templates with custom sections for summary notes, but there's no guarantee they'll appear in the final summary. Beyond that, there’s little control over what Jamie generates.</p>
6

Customisability

6/10

<p>You can freely edit meeting notes and transcripts, and organise your meeting notes into channels. However, the only major let down is you're unable to set up custom meeting note templates. Though you are able choose from a large selection of templates.</p>
5

Customisability

5/10

<p>Meeting notes are fully editable, with nearly 30 templates to choose from—or you can create your own. Granola does a solid job of understanding the meeting content and automatically tailoring the summary with its “Auto” template.</p>
Ease of Setup
6

Ease of Setup

6/10

<p>Self-serve, no sales calls. Over 25 editable note templates with guided input creation. Basic setup takes&nbsp;10-15 minutes. Advanced workflows require Zapier but lack a rich library of Zapier templates, taking&nbsp;1-2 hours.</p>
6

Ease of Setup

6/10

<p>Self-serve, no sales calls. Provides 15 note templates, customizable but without guided input creation. Basic setup takes&nbsp;10-15 minutes. Advanced workflows require Zapier but lack a rich library of Zapier templates, taking&nbsp;1-2 hours.</p>
7

Ease of Setup

7/10

<p>Self-serve, no sales calls. No editable note templates, but template creation includes guided input boxes. Basic setup takes&nbsp;10-15 minutes. No advanced workflows supported, no Zapier integration or native workflow builder. Requires desktop app installation.</p>
8

Ease of Setup

8/10

<p>Self-serve, no sales calls. Over 70 editable note templates with guided creation. Basic setup takes&nbsp;10-15 minutes. Advanced workflows are seamless with native integrations and a rich library of Zapier templates, taking&nbsp;just 30-40 minutes.</p>
8

Ease of Setup

8/10

<p>Self-serve, no sales calls. Provides nearly 30 editable note templates with guided input boxes for customization. Basic setup takes&nbsp;10-15 minutes. No advanced workflows supported, no Zapier templates or native builder.</p>
Customer Support
7

Customer Support

7/10

<p>Has a Help Centre with a wide range of self-help articles, along with an in-app chat for speaking to a human agent, with typical response times of a few minutes.</p>
8

Customer Support

8/10

<p>They offer an FAQ help centre and the option to send messages directly on their website. We received responses within a few minutes at best, and within a couple of hours at worst, though replies can take up to 24 hours. They answered our questions thoroughly and provided additional details for reassurance.</p>
5

Customer Support

5/10

<p>There's a "Jamie Help Center" with some quick guides.</p>
6

Customer Support

6/10

<p>Help centre was of decent quality and depth, offering step by step instructions. Offers personalised live chat with an AI chatbot. It was relatively quick to be connected with a human agent (within minutes), however, the help we were offered wasn't the most helpful, with irrelevant help centre articles provided.</p>
5

Customer Support

5/10

<p>They currently have limited support available. Their help page is built on Notion, and you can contact them via email for inquiries.</p>
Integratability
7

Integratability

7/10

<p>Integrates with:</p><ul><li>Native Apps: macOS, iOS, Android</li><li>Video Conferencing: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams</li><li>Automation: Slack, Zapier, ClickUp, monday.com, Trello, Asana, Linear</li><li>Knowledge Management: Notion, Confluence</li><li>CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot</li><li>Calendar Sync: Google Calendar, Microsoft 365 Calendar</li></ul>
4

Integratability

4/10

<p>Fathom doesn’t integrate with many other software platforms, but it covers the main ones.</p>
1

Integratability

1/10

<p>Only supports connecting to Google or Outlook calendars, nothing else.</p>
8

Integratability

8/10

<p>Offers good integrations with most reasonably relevant third party tools e.g. CRM, project management tool, applicant tracking systems which allows you to automatically push meeting notes and action items into those systems. Also offers an API for custom integrations.</p>
2

Integratability

2/10

<p>Natively integrates with Slack, HubSpot, and Affinity, but its major drawback is the lack of a Zapier integration. While many AI notetakers compensate for limited native integrations with Zapier, Granola doesn't, leaving fewer options for connecting with other tools. In most cases, you're left with emailing, copying notes, or posting them to Slack.</p>
Ease of Migration
6

Ease of Migration

6/10

<p>Meetings can be shared via email or link with access controls, and there are quick send options for Slack, Zapier, and exporting to Google Docs. The transcript and AI recap can be downloaded as .txt files, while the video is available for download as .mp4.</p>
9

Ease of Migration

9/10

<p>Fathom allows you to share a meeting recording via a link and control access, including the ability to revoke an attendee's access to play the recording after sharing. You can download the video recordings too.</p><p>The “Copy Follow-up Email” button is very handy after short meetings.</p><p>For the action items, it offers specific “Copy for…” options for Asana, Google Docs, Gmail, Todoist, and Microsoft Word, ensuring links and formatting are optimized for each platform. This feature is also available for summaries, with options for Google Docs, Gmail, Notion, and Microsoft Word.</p>
4

Ease of Migration

4/10

<p>You can copy and paste or share the summary notes and transcript via a link.</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>You're able to download transcript, meeting summaries and audio in various formats. For transcripts, you can also include timestamp and speaker names.</p>
6

Ease of Migration

6/10

<p>Easily export transcripts and meeting notes with a single click via link, email, or Slack.</p>

Fathom: Fellow alternative for transcript editing and management

Fathom product logo
Fathom

Stackfix Rating:

6.9 / 10

Visit website

Updated onMar 14, 2025
Fathom stands out as a transcript management solution through its editing capabilities, rapid processing, and intuitive search functionality. While Fellow offers basic transcription features, Fathom provides comprehensive transcript editing tools, allowing users to modify text, correct speaker labels, and remove sections in bulk. The platform processes transcripts in seconds rather than minutes, and its intelligent search system includes color-coded progress bars and contextual results with quick-play options. Notably, Fathom offers more reliable transcript management for maintaining accurate meeting records.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Fellow vs. Fathom.

Pros

  • Exceptional Transcription Accuracy and Editing

  • Powerful Search and Navigation Features

  • Robust Export and Sharing Options

  • Feature-Rich AI Note Generation

Cons

  • Limited Integration Capabilities

  • Limited File Upload Functionality

  • Poor User Interface Design

  • No Mobile Recording Capabilities

  • No discreet recording option

Jamie: Fellow alternative for discreet meeting recording

Jamie product logo
Jamie

Stackfix Rating:

3.7 / 10

Visit website

Updated onMar 14, 2025
Jamie stands out as a superior choice for discreet meeting recording compared to Fellow, primarily because it allows users to capture meetings without displaying a recording bot to participants. While Fellow requires a visible bot to join and record meetings, Jamie operates invisibly in the background, maintaining meeting privacy and natural conversation flow. Additionally, Jamie’s desktop app integration with Google Meet on Chrome automatically detects and records meetings without drawing attention, making it an ideal solution for situations requiring subtle documentation.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Fellow vs. Jamie.

Pros

  • Has a Free Tier

Cons

  • Severely Limited Integrations

  • Limited Customization Options

  • Poor User Interface and Experience

  • Unreliable Speaker Identification

  • Painfully Slow Note Generation

Fireflies.ai: Fellow alternative for recording in-person meetings

Fireflies.ai product logo
Fireflies.ai

Stackfix Rating:

6.9 / 10

Visit website

Updated onMar 14, 2025
Fireflies.ai stands out for recording in-person meetings through its mobile app’s one-click functionality, while Fellow lacks direct in-app recording capabilities. This contrast in mobile recording approaches highlights how Fireflies.ai enables seamless in-person meeting capture, whereas Fellow requires users to copy meeting links into the app for the bot to join calls. This fundamental difference makes Fireflies.ai more practical for teams needing to record face-to-face discussions.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Fellow vs. Fireflies.ai.

Pros

  • Exceptional AI Meeting Notes Generation

  • Highly Accurate Transcription

  • Effective In-Meeting Search

  • Comprehensive Integration Ecosystem

  • Strong Export Functionality

Cons

  • Poor Visual Design

  • Underpowered AI Assistant

  • No Custom Templates

Granola: Fellow alternative for quick and intuitive meeting documentation

Granola product logo
Granola

Stackfix Rating:

7.0 / 10

Visit website

Updated onMar 14, 2025
Granola excels over Fellow in making meeting documentation quick and intuitive through three key advantages. Its streamlined interface offers remarkable ease of use, eliminating the confusion of Fellow’s cramped navigation. Granola generates meeting notes in seconds rather than minutes, with fast performance. Additionally, its discreet recording approach, which doesn't require a bot to join calls, creates a more natural meeting experience while still maintaining high-quality documentation.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Fellow vs. Granola.

Pros

  • Exceptional ease of use

  • Lightning-fast note generation

  • Accurate meeting theme analysis

Cons

  • No Mobile App

  • Dysfunctional Search Capabilities

  • No video or audio playback

  • Limited Integration Capabilities

How we test products

With AI Notetaking tools becoming increasingly essential for businesses, we focus on identifying the best options for small and midsize teams. Our evaluation process reflects real-world usage, prioritizing functionality, ease of use, and overall value. Here’s how we do it:

Functionality

AI Notetaking software should do more than just transcribe—it should capture key insights, summarize discussions, and enhance productivity. We start by identifying key use cases—meeting transcription, summarization, action item extraction, and collaboration—then test how well each platform delivers on these needs. Tools that provide high accuracy and useful summaries without unnecessary complexity score highest.

User Experience & Onboarding

A great AI Notetaking tool should be intuitive and frictionless. We test each platform’s interface by navigating core features without prior training and track onboarding time—from account setup to first meeting capture. Platforms that require extensive setup or manual adjustments lose points.

Accuracy & AI Capabilities

AI-powered transcription and summarization must be reliable. We evaluate speech-to-text accuracy, language understanding, and summarization quality. We also test whether AI-generated action items and key takeaways are actually useful or just generic outputs.

Integrations & Compatibility

AI Notetaking tools should work seamlessly with video conferencing platforms, project management software, and CRMs. We test how well each tool integrates with essential business systems and assess whether native integrations or third-party connectors are required.

Pricing & Value

We compare pricing across competitors, analyzing what each plan includes and whether critical features are locked behind paywalls. Hidden costs—such as per-minute transcription fees, premium AI features, or required enterprise plans—are factored into our assessment. Platforms that offer strong core functionality at a fair price score highest.

Stackfix’s Fit Score

All of these factors contribute to Stackfix’s Fit Score, a proprietary ranking system that measures how well each AI Notetaking tool aligns with a buyer’s needs. It combines two key elements:

  • Requirements Met – How many buyer requirements the software fulfills
  • Stackfix Rating – Our expert assessment of the software’s overall quality, usability, and value

The result? A clear, data-driven recommendation that helps businesses choose the right AI Notetaking software—without hours of trial and error.

FAQs

What is an AI Notetaker?

An AI notetaker is a tool that automatically transcribes, summarizes, and organizes meeting notes, helping individuals and teams capture key insights without manual effort. These platforms use AI-powered speech recognition and natural language processing (NLP) to turn conversations into structured, searchable notes—making it easier to recall action items, decisions, and important discussions. The key features of an AI notetaker usually include:

  • Real-Time Transcription: AI-powered tools that capture and transcribe meetings in real time, ensuring accuracy across different accents, languages, and speaking styles.
  • Summarization & Action Items: AI-generated meeting summaries, key takeaways, and action items to help users quickly digest discussions without reviewing full transcripts.
  • Speaker Identification: Ability to differentiate speakers and attribute statements correctly, making transcripts more readable and actionable.
  • Collaboration & Sharing: Easy sharing of meeting notes, highlights, and recordings with team members via integrations with email, Slack, or project management tools.
  • Search & Organization: AI-powered keyword detection, tagging, and smart search to help users quickly find relevant past discussions and decisions.

What should I consider when buying an AI notetaker?

Choosing the right AI notetaker can transform how you capture, organize, and act on information—so it’s essential to find one that fits your workflow, integrations, and budget. Here are the key factors to consider before making your decision.

  1. Your Use Case. Start by identifying how you’ll use the AI notetaker. Do you need a tool for team meetings, customer calls, brainstorming sessions, or legal/compliance documentation? Different platforms specialize in different areas, so choosing one tailored to your needs ensures better accuracy and relevant features.
  2. Ease of Use. An AI notetaker should simplify workflows, not add complexity. Look for a tool that’s easy to set up, requires minimal training, and integrates smoothly with your existing tools. Platforms that require manual corrections or frequent troubleshooting will slow you down.
  3. Integration with Your Workflow. Your AI notetaker should fit seamlessly into your workflow. If you use Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Notion, check whether the tool offers native integrations or requires manual workarounds. A good AI notetaker should automatically sync notes with project management, CRM, or documentation tools.
  4. Summarization & AI Quality. Not all AI-generated summaries are equal. Some tools produce concise, high-quality summaries, while others generate long, unstructured text that still requires manual editing. Test how well the AI captures key points, assigns action items, and differentiates between general discussion and critical decisions.
  5. Scalability & Collaboration. If you’re using an AI notetaker for a growing team, ensure it supports multiple users, shared workspaces, and role-based permissions. The best tools allow for collaborative editing, team comments, and centralized access to past notes.
  6. Pricing & Hidden Costs. AI notetaker pricing varies based on transcription limits, team seats, storage, and premium AI features. Check for hidden costs, such as:
  7. Limits on meeting hours per month
  8. Extra fees for advanced AI-generated summaries
  9. Costs for exporting transcripts or integrating with premium tools
  10. Storage limits and add-ons for long-term transcript access
  11. Customer Support & Reliability. Since AI notetakers handle critical business meetings, fast and reliable support is important. Check if the vendor offers 24/7 chat support, email response times, and self-service knowledge bases. A downtime-prone or buggy AI tool can result in lost notes and frustration.

What are the common mistakes to avoid when choosing an AI notetaker?

Avoiding common pitfalls when selecting an AI notetaker can save you time, frustration, and missed insights. Here are some of the biggest mistakes teams make - and how to avoid them.

  1. Prioritizing price over accuracy. A cheap AI notetaker with poor transcription quality will cost you more time in manual corrections than a premium tool with high accuracy.
  2. Assuming all integrations work flawlessly. Some tools claim to integrate with Zoom, Slack, or CRMs, but may require manual exports or unreliable third-party connectors. Always test integrations.
  3. Overlooking search functionality. If you plan to reference old meeting notes, look for a tool with advanced search, keyword tagging, and filters. Poor search capabilities make finding past discussions difficult.
  4. Ignoring privacy & security. AI notetakers handle sensitive business conversations, so check data encryption, compliance certifications (GDPR, SOC 2), and storage policies.
  5. Choosing a tool that doesn’t scale. A notetaker that works well for a solo user may not support team-wide collaboration, shared notes, or enterprise compliance features.


How much does AI Notetaking Software typically cost?

Most AI notetaker solutions range from $10-75 per user monthly, with entry-level options starting around $10-20 and premium solutions exceeding $75 monthly. Most vendors structure pricing in tiers based on features and meeting volume, so be sure to enter your requirements as accurately as possible in our pricing calculator.

Many providers offer free plans with core functionality for personal use and very small teams but restrict meeting length (typically 15-30 minutes), transcription hours (2-5 hours monthly), or available features. Otter, Fireflies, and Notion AI all provide capable free tiers that can handle basic note-taking needs without cost. For personal users who only need occasional meeting notes, these free tiers are often sufficient.

The free tier trend is particularly strong in this market, with most major players offering a no-cost entry point to attract individual users who may later upgrade or bring the tool into their workplace. While these free versions typically limit advanced features like custom AI analysis, speaker identification, or integration capabilities, they provide enough functionality for personal productivity.

For enterprise plans and above, you can expect to speak to sales for a bespoke price. These custom quotes typically factor in integration needs, security requirements, and user volume discounts. To skip the demo calls, be sure to check out our pricing calculator.

Compare other AI Notetakers

View our comparisons of other AI Notetaking