Free and privateAI Notetaker for your Mac

Software that records, transcribes, and summarizes a conversation as it happens, turning what was said into a searchable text record. Most run alongside Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, or as a desktop app that captures whatever type of meeting you're in, including in-person ones. The useful ones pair transcription with summarising, so you end up with decisions and action items rather than a raw wall of text.

It captures audio, either through a bot that joins the call or by picking up your computer's own audio in the background, and converts it into a transcript. That transcript is then condensed into notes. Once the call ends, speakers are identified, key discussion points are pulled out, and action items and follow-ups are ready within moments. Where that processing happens differs: most tools send audio to a server, while Bookipi runs both the speech model and the summary on your own Mac.

Real-time transcription with speaker identification, automated summaries, and action-item extraction are the core three. Beyond those, the extras worth having:

• Calendar sync that spots upcoming meetings and prepares a brief, so a note is waiting from the moment you create a meeting invite
• Cross-meeting intelligence that surfaces patterns across an entire call history, not one meeting at a time
• Searchable meeting memory, so you can ask questions across past conversations
• Sharing and privacy controls, with notes private by default and shared only when you choose
• Connections to the tools you already use — calendars, CRMs, and wider meeting automation

No. Some tools join as a visible participant, which is useful if you want them to attend on your behalf when you can't be there. Others record quietly from your device's own audio, so nothing appears on screen and no extra name shows up in the call — the preference for anyone who finds bots intrusive, or who simply can't have one on a client or executive call. Bookipi works the second way: it captures audio on your Mac and never dials in.

No. Many also handle in-person conversations, phone calls, and even walking meetings, usually through a phone app that records straight from the device rather than from a video feed. That makes them genuinely useful for roles that mix calls with face-to-face time — sales, recruiting, consulting — and it sits neatly alongside appointment scheduling for anyone running client-facing days.

Protections vary by provider, so it's worth reading the policy rather than the marketing. Reputable tools keep notes private by default and shareable only if you choose. Many state that meeting data isn't used to train their models, and some carry certifications like SOC 2 or offer EU-based storage. Confirm the retention window (some free plans delete recordings after a few days), how audio is deleted, and where recordings physically live. With Bookipi, the answer is simpler: on your Mac, nowhere else. Recordings, transcripts, and summaries stay on your device. There's no account to breach and no cloud copy, so your meetings never leave your machine unless you choose to export them, or opt in to Claude or ChatGPT for summaries.

It comes down to how much you still write yourself. A notepad-style tool complements your own note-taking, expanding your shorthand using context from the conversation. A full note taker generates the entire summary from the transcript, so you don't have to type anything at all. The first suits people who think by jotting; the second suits back-to-back days where there's no spare attention to give.

Some free plans are genuinely usable; plenty are capped to nudge you toward a paid tier. Watch for limits on summaries per month, short archive windows before recordings are deleted, caps on total meeting count, and missing extras like playback or integrations. Check what's actually unlimited — transcripts, storage, recordings — against what's metered before you commit. Bookipi has no subscription, no trial timer, and no credit card. A recorder that runs on your own machine avoids most of these caps, because there's no server bill sitting behind it.

Compare on a consistent set of criteria rather than brand recognition alone:

• Bot or bot-free recording — whether the tool is visible on calls or captures audio quietly
• Summary allowance — free plans often cap monthly summaries, not just recordings
• Platform coverage — support varies across Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, and in-person capture
• Data retention and privacy — archive windows, data residency, and training policies all differ
• Integrations — anything from native CRM connections to email-only on free tiers
• Cross-meeting intelligence — some analyse patterns across a whole call history

Largely, for the job of capturing what was said. Automatic transcription and summarising let you give the conversation your full attention instead of splitting focus between listening and writing. Most people still add a light pass afterwards — tagging what matters, confirming action items, fixing a misattributed speaker or a piece of industry jargon the model didn't know. Like most AI in business, it handles the volume and you keep the judgement.

Yes. Bookipi captures audio on your Mac, so it works with any meeting app without joining the call. Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or anything else, it records the same way. This is where capture method matters more generally: tools tied to a specific video-conferencing API tend to cover the big three well and niche platforms like Webex or BlueJeans inconsistently, while tools that record device audio capture wherever the conversation happens — huddles and in-person included.

The transcript is finalised and a structured call summary, action items, and follow-up drafts appear within moments. From there you can search, edit, and polish, turn the notes into a recap email or a draft plan, and share them selectively. Many tools also let notes be pulled into other apps, so nothing from the meeting needs copying and pasting by hand.

Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. Connect one or several, and Bookipi shows your day in one place, reminds you before each call and names every note after its meeting.

Yes. Granola sends its export by email, so it takes two short steps. First, in Granola go to Settings › Profile › Generate CSV. Then, when the email arrives, drop the file into Bookipi. Each note comes across with its title, date, summary, your own notes and the full transcript. Notes you’ve already imported are skipped, and you can file the new ones into a folder when it’s done.

Yes. Notes are written on your Mac by default. If you’d rather use Claude or ChatGPT, add your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key in Settings › AI Models. Your key is stored in your Mac’s Keychain, and your transcript goes only to the provider you pick.

Yes. If Claude Code or Codex is installed and signed in on your Mac, choose it in Settings › AI Models and click Test. Bookipi reuses that login and your existing subscription, so there’s no key to copy. Your transcript is sent to Anthropic or OpenAI, the same as when you use the CLI yourself.

Speaker detection (beta) runs entirely on your Mac, so your audio never leaves it. As the meeting goes, each voice on the call gets its own label. Rename a speaker and the transcript and summary update to match. It’s most accurate with up to four people on the other end, and you can turn it on in Settings › Preferences.

It runs on macOS 15.0.0 and later, on Apple Silicon Macs only.

The speech and summary models run entirely on your Mac, so they're bundled with the app instead of living in the cloud. That one-time setup is what lets everything work offline with nothing sent to a server.

Nothing joins the call and nothing announces itself, because Bookipi isn't a bot in the room. You're simply taking notes, the same as if you were typing them yourself. Please ask for consent before recording meetings with other people.

Yes. AI Notetaker is part of the Bookipi suite that small businesses already use for invoicing and more. It works as a standalone Mac app, so you don't need the other tools to use it.