Cued
The best AI note takers for Mac in 2026, compared
By Harshit Maurya, maker of Cued · Updated 16 October 2026
The best AI note taker for Mac depends on two questions: will a bot join your calls, and may your audio leave your Mac? Otter and Fireflies send a bot and work in the cloud. Granola and Jamie have no bot but transcribe on their servers. MacWhisper and Meetily transcribe on the Mac. Cued records, transcribes and summarises on the Mac with no bot and no subscription, and adds a teleprompter in the notch, but it needs macOS 15 on Apple silicon.
Quick picks
- Bot-free and fully on your Mac, with the video kept and no subscription: Cued (macOS 15, Apple silicon).
- Bot-free, cloud transcription, polished notes and a free plan: Granola (the AI notes app).
- Free and open source, transcription on your Mac: Meetily.
- Pay once for a transcription app that can record meetings: MacWhisper Pro.
- Team sharing and CRM sync, and you don't mind a bot: Fireflies, Fathom or Otter.
- You already pay for Zoom, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365: try the built-in note taker first (below).
AI note takers for Mac, side by side
The table compares the questions that matter most on client and work calls: does a bot appear in the call, where is the audio turned into text, what does the free plan leave out, and what does one person pay over two years? Two-year cost uses the cheapest paid plan billed yearly.
| App | Bot joins? | Where audio is processed | Free tier catch | Paid price | Cost over 2 years | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cued | No | On your Mac; nothing uploaded | No free plan | $9 founding, then $29, one-time, no subscription | $9–$29 once | macOS 15+, Apple silicon |
| Granola | No | Its transcription provider (cloud); audio deleted after transcription | 30 days of meeting history | Business $14/user/month | About $336 | Desktop, iPhone, Android |
| Otter.ai | Yes (Otter Notetaker), can auto-join | Otter's cloud | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation | Pro $16.99/month or $8.33/month yearly | About $200 | Web and apps |
| Fireflies.ai | Yes; a Chrome extension can record without it | Fireflies' cloud | Limited free plan; unlimited transcripts on paid plans | Pro $18/month or $10/month yearly | About $240 | Web and apps |
| Fathom | Bot, or bot-free mode (beta on Mac) | Fathom's cloud | Unlimited recordings free; some features limited | Premium $20/month or $16/month yearly | About $384 | Web; bot-free mode in beta on Mac |
| Jamie | No | Its servers in the EU; audio deleted after transcription | 10 notes a month, 30-minute meetings | Plus €21/month, billed yearly | About €504 | Mac, Windows, iPhone, web |
| Krisp | No (bot-free on Core) | English transcribed on your device; summaries by Microsoft Azure | No free plan; 7-day trial | Core $16/month or $8/month yearly | About $192 | Desktop and mobile |
| MacWhisper Pro | No | On your Mac (cloud models optional) | Free version; Pro unlocks more | €64 once, lifetime updates | €64 once | macOS |
| Meetily | No | On your Mac; summaries local or with your own API key | Community edition is free and open source | Pro $120/user/year | $0 (Community) or $240 (Pro) | Mac (Apple silicon), Windows |
| Apple Notes | No | Apple's transcription; Apple Intelligence summaries | Free; transcription needs an M1 Mac or later | Free | $0 | Mac with M1 or later |
Notes on the table: Otter's page also shows discounted prices below the list prices we used. MacWhisper's site says it can record meetings in Zoom, Teams, Webex and others; it does not name Google Meet. Apple's guide describes recording audio into a note; it does not say it captures the other side of a call. Krisp keeps transcripts and recordings in its cloud only if you opt in.
How we picked
We kept apps that run on a Mac or record Mac calls, and that a person could buy today without talking to sales. Then we scored each one on five questions, in this order:
- Does a bot join the call? A bot shows up in the participant list and some clients object to it.
- Where is the audio processed? On your Mac, or on the vendor's servers or a cloud provider.
- What is the catch in the free tier? Minutes, meeting length, history or note count.
- What does it cost over two years? A monthly fee adds up; a one-time price doesn't.
- What do you keep? Video, audio, transcript or only notes.
We did not rank transcript accuracy: we did not test the other apps, and accuracy depends heavily on the microphone, the room and how people talk. We left out tools we could not check in time, such as tl;dv, Notion's meeting notes, Read.ai and Alter.
Built-in options: do you even need an app?
If your company already pays for Zoom, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, you may already have an AI note taker. The catch is the same for all of them: it works inside that one call app, it usually depends on the host's plan and an admin's settings, and the audio is processed in the vendor's cloud.
| Built-in option | What you need | What it does | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom AI Companion | A paid Zoom Workplace plan (Zoom: core AI features are included in paid plans) | Meeting summaries and notes | Zoom says it does not use customer audio, video, chat, files or transcripts to train its AI models |
| Gemini in Google Meet, "Take notes for me" | Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus or Frontline Plus, or a Google AI plan; not the Starter editions | Notes in a Google Doc in the organiser's Drive, with a recap email | Meet tells everyone that notes are being taken and shows a pencil icon; 8 spoken languages, one per meeting |
| Copilot and intelligent recap in Microsoft Teams | Intelligent recap comes with Teams Premium (an add-on) or a Microsoft Copilot licence | Summary, who said what, suggested action items, questions during or after the call | Asking Copilot about the meeting afterwards needs live transcription to be on |
| ChatGPT Record (Mac app) | A paid ChatGPT plan; it reached Plus in July 2025 | Records system audio on the Mac, then writes notes, key points and action items | No bot, but the audio is uploaded to OpenAI for transcription; OpenAI has since changed its Mac app, so check its help centre for current plans |
| Apple Notes | A Mac with M1 or later | Records audio into a note, transcribes it, and Apple Intelligence can summarise | Free and built in; Apple's guide does not say it captures the other side of a call |
When a built-in tool is enough: you host most of your calls on one platform, your plan includes it, and your clients are fine with the vendor's cloud. When it isn't: you join calls on several platforms, you are a guest without the right plan, or the call must stay on your own computer.
Which AI note taker should you pick?
- Your team already lives in the cloud and wants shared notes and CRM sync: Fireflies, Fathom or Otter. Expect a bot in the call unless you change the setting.
- You want no bot and don't mind cloud transcription: Granola or Jamie. Neither keeps the audio.
- Your calls must not leave your Mac (NDAs, clients, health, legal): MacWhisper, Meetily or Cued.
- You want the video of the call, not just notes: Cued or Fathom.
- You read talking points during calls and want them under the camera: Cued is the only one here with a notch teleprompter.
- You only need a quick voice note now and then: Apple Notes is free and built in.
- You use Windows too, or an older Mac: Granola, Jamie, Meetily or Krisp. Cued needs macOS 15 and Apple silicon.
Is there an AI note taker without a subscription?
Yes, a few. Most AI note takers charge every month, so the price you see is only the first of 24 payments over two years. Three apps in the table are pay once: MacWhisper Pro (€64 with lifetime updates), Cued ($9 for the first 50 founding members, then $29 with a year of updates) and Meetily's free Community edition. Apple Notes is free on an M1 Mac or later. If you want to pay once, check what the one-time price includes: updates, which Macs it runs on, and whether the AI runs on the Mac or needs your own API key.
Where Cued fits
Cued is a meeting app for Mac rather than a notes add-on. Each calendar meeting gets a workspace for your talking points, files and links. During the call your points sit in the MacBook notch, hidden from screen sharing. Cued records the screen and both sides of the audio in Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, Webex and Slack calls with no bot, transcribes live on your Mac, then writes the summary, action items and a follow-up email for you to review. ⌘K searches every call. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.
What it doesn't do: it doesn't sync to a CRM or share notes with a team, it transcribes English only, and it doesn't import old recordings or notes from other apps. Transcripts are good, not perfect: quiet, overlapping or noisy audio causes mistakes. And because no bot joins, nobody is told automatically, so telling people you are recording is your job.
Questions
Which AI note taker doesn't use a bot?
Granola, Jamie, Krisp, MacWhisper, Meetily, Apple Notes and Cued record through your computer, so nothing joins the call. Fathom has a bot-free mode in beta on Mac, and Fireflies can record through a Chrome extension without its bot. Otter uses a bot.
Which AI note takers work offline on Mac?
MacWhisper with local models, Meetily and Cued transcribe on the Mac. Krisp transcribes English on the device but writes summaries in the cloud. Granola, Jamie, Otter, Fireflies and Fathom use servers.
Is there a free AI note taker for Mac?
Yes. Meetily's Community edition is free and open source, Apple Notes is built in, and Granola, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Jamie and MacWhisper have free plans with limits. Krisp has a 7-day trial instead.
Is there an AI note taker without a subscription?
Yes. MacWhisper Pro and Cued are one-time purchases, Meetily Community is free, and Apple Notes is built in. Granola, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Jamie and Krisp charge monthly or yearly.
Do Zoom, Google Meet and Teams have a built-in AI note taker?
Yes, on certain plans: Zoom AI Companion with paid Zoom Workplace plans, Gemini's "Take notes for me" in Meet on Business Standard and higher or a Google AI plan, and intelligent recap in Teams with Teams Premium or a Microsoft Copilot licence.
How much does Cued cost?
Cued is a one-time purchase with no subscription: $9 for the first 50 founding members, then $29 with a year of updates. Download it from getcued.pro and pay inside the app after a quick setup.
Try Cued on your next call. Your script in the notch, your call recorded and summarised on your Mac.
Download for MacSources
- Granola pricing (read 16 Oct 2026)
- How transcription works, Granola Help Center
- Otter.ai pricing (read 16 Oct 2026)
- Stop Otter Notetaker from automatically joining your meetings, Otter help
- Fireflies.ai pricing (read 16 Oct 2026)
- Fathom pricing (read 16 Oct 2026)
- Jamie pricing (read 16 Oct 2026)
- Jamie: bot-free meeting notes
- Krisp pricing (read 16 Oct 2026)
- Security for the AI Meeting Assistant, Krisp
- MacWhisper (pricing and features)
- Meetily pricing
- Meetily on GitHub
- Record and transcribe audio in Notes on Mac, Apple Support
- AI for small business: core AI features in paid Zoom Workplace plans, Zoom
- Take notes for me in Google Meet, Google Meet Help
- Get started with Google Workspace with Gemini (editions), Google Meet Help
- Get started with Copilot in Microsoft Teams meetings, Microsoft Support
- ChatGPT for Mac rolls out record mode for Plus subscribers, 9to5Mac, Jul 2025
Related guides
- AI note taker without a bot: how it works and which apps do it
- AI note takers without a subscription (one-time purchase), 2026
- The best meeting recorder apps for Mac, compared
- A Granola AI alternative with on-device transcription
- An Otter.ai alternative for Mac that stays on your device
- The best private meeting notes apps for confidential calls