9 Best AI Note Takers in 2026

Granola is a meeting recorder tool that doesn't require those annoying bots to join. In-fact the people you're on the call with don't even have to know you're using it.

Interestingly enough, this isn't any different than just having a note taker on the call, because they don't allow you to playback the audio. What you can do is ask Granola's AI Chatbot questions about the call, or any calls you've had across the company.

You can even ask Granola questions mid-call, which uses full context of the call up to that point, or can even come up with contextual questions to ask to help the conversation flowing. It's really as if you have an active note taking assistant on the call alongside you, helping you keep the conversation flowing, and researching further context details when needed.

We make sure to always have Granola recording our meetings (even in-person team meetings and brainstorming meetings), even if we have one of the best AI note taker bots joining the call as well. It's just a more lightweight solution that can't be kicked from calls and is less invasive.

• Basic: $0 per month. Best for individuals who want to try Granola and see if it fits into their workflow before committing.
• Business: $14/user/mo. Best for individuals or small teams who want unlimited meetings and collaboration within a shared space.
• Enterprise: $35/user/mo. Best for larger teams that need more admin permissions and privacy control options.

Firstly, it’s important to understand that Motion's AI Notetaker is a feature WITHIN Motion. Motion is a full-blown project and task management tool, so to use this feature you'd need to commit to using their full tool.

So if you have Motion and haven’t tried the AI Notetaker, you’re not getting the most out of your purchase! Motion’s AI notetaker is great, but if you’re looking for more of a standalone option, we would suggest a tool like Granola.

Okay, now to why Motion's AI Notetaker is worth considering:

The biggest problem isn’t remembering what was said during a meeting; just about every AI Notetaker can record and transcribe, but does that even matter if nothing actually gets done? If you’re having tons of calls but no follow-through, then Motion is worth considering.

Motion AI Notetaker is similar to other meeting bots that join your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls. It records video, audio, and transcribe conversations. Then at the end of your call, it generates structured summaries with key points, decisions, and action items. 

But it doesn’t just stop at just notes, it takes action for you.

Motion’s AI notetaker extracts action items and turns them into prioritized tasks. Then it goes even a step further and schedules those tasks directly onto our team’s calendar using their AI auto-scheduling.

Before using Motion our client meetings would end, then we’d play the waiting game, hoping the transcription notates our follow-up plan because who remembers every detail? But now, all we need to do is approve/reject tasks and the work is already planning on our entire teams schedules.

When we first started using Motion, our entire team was blown away by the accuracy of the notes. One of our engineers even said, "At my old job, we had two employees on every call just to take notes. Motion did a better job than I ever could."

So while it does mean adopting a new project management tool, it did take our meeting-to-execution system to a new level. If you're not opposed to that fact, then it’s worth learning more through our full Motion Review.

You should consider Motion AI Notetaker if:

• You already use Motion for calendar/task management (otherwise you're paying for features you won't fully use)
• Your team constantly forgets small commitments made in meetings
• You're tired of manually creating tasks from meeting notes
• You want accountability built in, everyone sees what they're assigned and when

Skip Motion AI Notetaker if:

• You want a standalone notetaker without committing to Motion's full ecosystem
• You juggle multiple calendars regularly (freelance + full-time, multiple businesses, etc.), the notetaker only works with one primary calendar at a time

We personally use other features Motion has to offer, so we loved the fact that we didn't have to add another tool to our stack. All we had to do was take advantage of a unique feature already included. 

• Motion runs roughly $19–$34 per month (Individual to Team plans), and the AI Notetaker is included within that broader system. But first, you can start with their 7-day free trial.

What we love most about tl;dv is that you can take all of your meeting notes directly from a floating pop-up right within the meeting you're in.

As you type the notes, tl;dv automatically timestamps your message and your entire team can also see the notes as they are being written.

No more do we need to find where to take collaborative call notes of which would otherwise not even be connected to the call recording itself.

All of the most important notes and timestamps are automatically sent to everyone on the call (or just your team), and they even have a nifty Slack integration as well.

We do wish it natively integrated with more CRMs though, but know the team is working on opening up the API to allow for it.

Gong used to be a meeting recorder. It would record sales calls, transcribe them, and let managers review what happened. But then with the rise of AI they pivoted.

Now recording is just the input layer. Gong captures calls, emails, and meetings, then builds a data model around your deals and customer interactions. On top of that, it runs analysis, surfaces risks, and suggests what to do next.

So instead of being a tool that tells you "here’s your call," it’s trying to tell you "this deal is slipping, here’s why, and here’s how to fix it."

The simplest way to think about it now is: Gong is an AI layer on top of your sales process, and recording is just how it gets the data.

Cluely is just another AI chat wrapper as many others. The main differentiation is its ability to persist across calls and actively listen, while supplying recommended questions as the meeting goes on.

To explain this in a more tangible way, in comparing Cluely vs Granola (one of the best meeting recorder tools on the market), Granola ultimately sits in the background recording the call and only presents itself when a meeting is active. It then summarizes the transcript afterward and enriches any notes taken, allowing for perfect recollection of what was said in the conversation. Cluely on the other hand makes itself an active participant in the call.

For example, say you're on a call and the topic of another software product comes up, Cluely will begin recommending information to search that will give you more context without leaving the call:

The context of Windsurf came up, so it recommends relevant questions to search

The reality here is that it's no different than using the ChatGPT desktop app, pressing "CMD + Spacebar" and just writing a question. It's just that it's more preemptive taking the entire context of the call into consideration, and most specifically what was said in that moment to suggest showing information that might be relevant.

What they really do best is marketing via viral and rage-bait tactics. Trying to make their "hidden UI" and proactive prompting come off as being able to "cheat on everything". It's really just a feature decision, and creative messaging more than anything.

• Starter Tier: Free (with limited access to lower-end AI models - GPT 4.1, GPT o4-mini)
• Pro Tier: $20/mo (with unlimited access to paid AI models - e.g. GPT 5, Claude 4)
• Enterprise Tier: $200/mo (everything in Pro + custom integrations, RBAC, post-call analytics, SSO, centralized billing, and usage analytics & reporting dashboard)