Guide
Best AI meeting note takers without a bot, compared
A bot joining the call changes the room, and some companies block them. These five tools listen from your computer instead. Here’s how they differ on price, on what they store, and on what your other AI apps can read afterwards.
We make Cachejay, so weigh our inclusion accordingly. Details on other tools come from their own pages, read on November 3, 2026. This is a documentation comparison, not a scored test of transcription or note quality. Check current prices before you buy.
The short answer
- Best known, with a free plan: Granola.
- Data kept in the EU: Jamie.
- Also want noise cancellation: Krisp.
- Your team already lives in Notion: Notion AI Meeting Notes.
- You want ChatGPT or Claude to know your calls and the rest of your workday: Cachejay.
Compared
| Runs on | Listed price | Free option | AI apps can read it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granola | Desktop, iOS, Android | Business $14 per user a month | Yes, with 30 days of history | Yes, over MCP; scope depends on plan |
| Jamie | macOS, Windows, iOS | Plus $24; Pro $46 a month billed annually | Yes, 10 notes a month up to 30 minutes each | Yes, over MCP; Jamie’s pages differ on which plan |
| Krisp | Desktop and mobile apps | Core $16 a month, or $8 on the yearly toggle | 7-day trial | Yes, over MCP on Core |
| Notion | Mac, Windows; system audio only in the desktop app | Business $20 per member a month | Limited trial | Not checked |
| Cachejay | Mac (macOS 26 or later, Apple silicon) | $12 a month or $120 a year | 14-day trial, no card | Yes, over MCP; notes, screen and projects |
Sources: Granola pricing · Jamie · Jamie pricing · Krisp pricing · Notion AI Meeting Notes help · Notion pricing. Checked November 3, 2026. Something out of date? Email hello@cachejay.com.
How they work without a bot
A meeting bot joins as a participant and receives the call’s audio from the meeting app. A bot-free tool sits on your computer and captures two things: your microphone and whatever the computer plays. Nothing joins, so there’s no extra name in the participant list and no invite to accept.
The trade-offs follow from that:
- You have to be on the call, on the device running the tool. A bot can attend a meeting you skip; these can’t.
- Telling speakers apart is harder, because the tool hears a mix rather than one labeled stream per person. Tools handle this differently, so test it on a real call with several people.
- “Bot-free” doesn’t mean “on your device”. Most still send audio or text to a cloud service for transcription or notes. Read each tool’s security page if that matters.
- Browsers are weaker. Notion’s help says that in a browser “only mic inputs will be transcribed”, so use the desktop app for calls.
Each one, briefly
Granola
The notepad approach: you jot a few words, and it writes the notes around them. All plans use device audio with no bot. The Basic plan is free with limited history, and Business is $14 per user a month. It also offers MCP, so other AI apps can read your notes. Granola vs Cachejay.
Jamie
It runs on your device and “does not require a meeting bot to join your calls”. Its site says audio is “streamed, never stored” and that data stays in the EU. The free plan’s limits are tight: 10 notes a month and 30 minutes each. Jamie’s own pages disagree on which plan includes MCP, so confirm that before buying if it’s why you’re choosing it.
Krisp
Known for noise cancellation, with notes on top. Its pricing page lists bot-free capture on Core, and also shows a “Record with bot” option on every plan, so check your settings. It covers online and in-person meetings and outbound phone calls, and Core includes MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
Notion AI Meeting Notes
Notion’s pricing page describes it as “no bot needed”. It’s included on Business and Enterprise, with only a limited trial on Free and Plus. The desktop app captures everyone through system audio, on macOS 13 or later or on Windows. It’s a good fit if your notes should land where your team’s docs already are.
Cachejay
Call notes are one part of it. Cachejay also remembers what was on your screen and files everything by project, so you can ask ChatGPT or Claude “what did Sarah say about pricing, and did I send what I promised?” The live transcript comes from Apple’s speech engine on your Mac. For the finished transcript, your side is transcribed on your Mac where it can be, and the other side goes through OpenAI’s transcription. No audio is kept. It’s Mac-only, with 20 hours of cloud-transcribed calls a month included. How meeting notes work.
How to choose
- Your platform. On Windows, Cachejay is out. On a phone, check what the app can actually hear: Notion’s mobile app, for one, only records through the microphone.
- Your calls per month. Free plans differ most on limits. Count last month’s calls and compare.
- Where the notes need to go. Into your docs, your CRM, or your AI apps. If you already ask ChatGPT or Claude about your work, check for MCP. Using meeting notes in Claude and ChatGPT shows what that looks like.
- Your company’s rules. Ask where audio and transcripts go, who the subprocessors are, and how long anything is kept.
- A real test. Try two on the same real call with several people and an accent or two. A comparison table can’t tell you which one writes better notes for you.
Telling people
No bot means no automatic notice in the call. Recording and transcription laws vary by place, and some require everyone’s consent, so say at the start that you’re taking AI notes. It takes one sentence, and it’s the right thing to do either way. Afterwards, these follow-up prompts turn the notes into a recap.