# Best AI Meeting Notes in 2026: 5 Useful Choices > Source: > Published: 2026-08-02 00:00:00+00:00 The best AI meeting-notes app depends on what you want to keep: a concise working note, a replayable recording, a shared transcript, a CRM record, or a page inside your existing workspace. I use [Granola](https://go.granola.ai/zack-proser?utm_source=zackproser&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=best-ai-meeting-notes-2026&utm_content=text-link) because most of my meetings need an edited decision record rather than an audio library. Otter, Fireflies, Notion, and Fathom are better choices for several common workflows. All five products now overlap more than the old “bot versus no bot” comparisons suggest. The short list | Best for | Product | Why it fits | Main tradeoff | |---|---|---|---| | Personal, editable meeting notes | Granola | Blends your typed notes with the transcript; no bot participant | No saved audio or file imports | | Shared transcripts and recordings | Otter.ai | Bot and bot-free capture, live transcript, saved conversations, collaboration | More recording-system overhead than a personal notebook | | Sales and CRM workflows | Fireflies.ai | Bot and bot-free modes, mobile capture, uploads, sales features, CRM tools | The full system can be more than an individual needs | | Teams already working in Notion | Notion AI Meeting Notes | Notes, transcript, summary, tasks, and projects stay in one workspace | Best experience is tied to Notion’s paid workspace plans | | Video-call recordings | Fathom | Strong recording, highlight, and video-review workflow | Bot-free capture is still rolling out and varies by platform | How I would choose Start with the artifact you need ten minutes after the meeting. - Choose a note-first tool when you will edit and send a concise recap. - Choose a recording-first tool when someone will replay or review the call. - Choose a team system when transcripts feed sales coaching, CRM records, or a shared knowledge base. - Choose a workspace-native tool when moving the result into another app creates most of the work. Capture mode matters, but it is no longer a clean dividing line. Granola was built around local app capture without a bot. Otter and Fireflies now offer bot-free desktop modes alongside their meeting bots. Fathom has a bot-free Mac experience in beta, and Notion captures system audio from its desktop app. Best personal meeting notebook: Granola Granola runs on your Mac or Windows computer and captures microphone plus system audio without joining the meeting as a participant. The app passes audio directly to cloud transcription providers and does not save the audio. Cloud AI providers help produce the enhanced note. Its best feature is the relationship between the text I type and the generated result. A few short observations during the call guide the draft afterward. The meeting ends as an editable document rather than a recording with a summary attached. Granola usually starts after you open the meeting note, click its notification, or create a new note. If an upcoming note is already open, it can begin at the scheduled start time. That small manual step is worth knowing before your first call. Use Granola when: - You attend the meeting yourself. - You want to guide the final note with your own observations. - You prefer an editable recap to a saved audio or video file. - You want the app out of the participant list. Skip it when you need file uploads, audio playback, an unattended meeting bot, or an Android in-person recording workflow. Granola’s current transcription documentation lists its desktop apps and iPhone app. Best shared transcript and recording system: Otter.ai Otter supports more capture paths than many comparisons acknowledge. Otter Notetaker can join Zoom, Meet, or Teams. Its Mac and Windows desktop app can also capture supported meetings without the bot. Browser and mobile recording cover lectures, interviews, and other in-person conversations. The resulting conversation can include live transcription, saved audio, summaries, sharing, and collaboration. Otter also supports imports and integrations such as Salesforce and HubSpot. Use Otter when the transcript is a team artifact, the original audio matters, or a Notetaker needs to attend without you. For a personal note that will be edited down immediately, the extra conversation system may feel heavy. See the current [Granola vs Otter comparison](/blog/granola-vs-otter) for the workflow differences. Best sales and CRM workflow: Fireflies.ai Fireflies can send its Notetaker bot, capture system audio through the desktop app, record in-person meetings on iOS or Android, and process uploaded files. Its bot-free desktop mode supplies live transcripts and notes without saving separate audio or video files. The bot mode supports named speakers, recordings, and sales features. That range makes Fireflies useful for sales organizations choosing capture modes across different calls. Its HubSpot and Salesforce features can connect meeting material to deals and follow-up work. An individual who only wants a clean recap may find Granola simpler. A revenue team that needs recordings, coaching, deal context, and CRM automation should evaluate Fireflies first. See [Granola vs Fireflies](/blog/granola-vs-fireflies) for a closer comparison. Best for a Notion workspace: Notion AI Meeting Notes Notion’s meeting-notes block captures the microphone and system audio, produces a transcript and summary, and keeps the result on a normal Notion page. Typed agenda items and notes can inform the summary, while page permissions control who can access it. This is the cleanest option for a team whose projects, tasks, and documents already live in Notion. The meeting artifact can stay beside the work it changes instead of being copied from a separate product. Use the desktop app for video calls. Notion’s browser mode is better suited to in-person audio because it only receives the microphone and can miss other call participants when headphones are in use. See [Granola vs Notion AI Meeting Notes](/blog/granola-vs-notion-ai-meetings) for the note-editor comparison. Best for reviewing video calls: Fathom Fathom is a strong choice when the recording itself is valuable. Its established workflow covers Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams on Mac and Windows, with summaries, clips, and a meeting library built around the call. The newer Fathom experience adds multiple capture modes. On Mac, supported users can choose bot-free transcript-only or audio-only capture, while the bot mode records audio and video. Bot-free support for additional platforms and Windows is still rolling out, so check the current availability for your setup. Use Fathom for demos, interviews, coaching, and other calls where someone will revisit the video. Use Granola when the final note matters more than the recording. See [Granola vs Fathom](/blog/granola-vs-fathom) for that decision in detail. Questions to answer during a real trial A polished sample summary tells you very little. Run each candidate on three meetings you already understand and check: - Did it start when expected, and was it obvious when capture was active? - Were names, numbers, dates, and owners correct? - Could you turn the output into the needed artifact in five minutes? - Did teammates receive the right access without exposing the note too broadly? - Did the capture mode fit the meeting without creating cleanup afterward? Tell the people in the meeting before testing any of these tools. Then measure the work after the call rather than the novelty during it. My recommendation Granola remains my choice for the meetings I personally attend. I like typing a few signals during the conversation and leaving with an editable note that already reflects my priorities. Its lack of saved audio is a reasonable trade for my workflow. Otter is my first alternative for shared transcripts and replayable conversations. Fireflies is the stronger sales-system candidate. Notion makes sense for teams already committed to its workspace, and Fathom fits video-heavy review. Granola has a free plan, and my affiliate link includes three free months if you later upgrade. Test it against the output you currently create by hand.