Best AI Note-Taking Apps for Lectures and Meetings, Compared

Which AI note-taking app fits lectures and which fits meetings?

Choose by where the talking happens. In a lecture hall you need an app that records through the microphone: Otter, Apple Notes or Notion on a phone. In an online meeting you need one that captures the call: Fireflies, Granola, Otter or Take notes for me in Google Meet. The table compares seven apps as of November 2026.

How this list was put together

This comparison is compiled from each product's own documentation, plan and privacy pages as of November 2026. It is not a hands-on test and it does not rank the apps or score transcription accuracy. Each entry gives the same facts: what the app records, the free tier, the limit that matters and what the vendor says about your recording. Limits change, so confirm on the vendor's page.

Which apps record an in-person lecture?

Otter, Apple Notes and Notion can record a room through the device microphone. Otter has the clearest free allowance, Apple Notes needs no extra account on a supported iPhone, and Notion needs a paid plan. Sit near the speaker, because every one of these depends on what the microphone picks up.

Otter. Otter's pricing page lists the free Basic plan with 300 monthly transcription minutes, a maximum of 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime audio or video file imports and the 25 most recent conversations in history. A 50 minute lecture therefore needs a second recording on the free plan. Otter's privacy page says it de-identifies user data before training its models, and that users must always ask for consent when recording others.

Apple Notes. Apple's iPhone guide says you can record audio in a note and have spoken words transcribed, search the transcript and add it to the note. Transcription is available on iPhone 12 and later in ten device languages, including English and Spanish. A summary of the recording needs an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone. Deleting the audio also deletes the transcript.

Notion AI Meeting Notes. Notion's help page says the feature needs a Business or Enterprise plan. The desktop app captures system audio and the microphone; a browser or phone captures the microphone only, which Notion says suits in-person conversations. Selecting Start transcribing confirms that everyone present has consented to being recorded and transcribed.

Which apps take notes in online classes and meetings?

Fireflies, Granola and Take notes for me in Google Meet are built for calls. Fireflies and Granola have free plans. The Google Meet feature comes with a school, work or paid Google plan, so many students already have it through a school account.

Fireflies. The Fireflies pricing page lists a free plan with transcription, limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team, working with Zoom, Google Meet and Teams and accepting uploaded audio or video files. Downloading transcripts and recordings is listed on the paid plan. Fireflies says it does not use meeting data to train AI models.

Granola. Granola's pricing page lists a free Basic plan with AI meeting notes and 30 days of meeting history. It captures device audio with no bot joining the call, and the page says audio is deleted after transcription. Each user can opt out of model training in Settings. Granola recommends always asking permission before transcribing others.

Take notes for me in Google Meet. Google's help page says this feature requires an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan. It captures notes into a Google Doc, works in eight spoken languages, one at a time, and is recommended for meetings of 15 minutes to 8 hours. An administrator may require all participants to give explicit consent.

Can an app turn a recording you already have into notes?

Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM). Yes. Google's help page says an imported audio file is transcribed at the time of import and its text is saved as a source, which you can then question or turn into a study guide. Without a plan the limits are 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook. Otter and Fireflies also accept uploaded files. The wider list of AI tools for students by job covers what to do with the notes next.

Which option keeps the recording on your own laptop?

Otter, Fireflies, Granola, Notion and both Google tools are online services that hold your transcript in an account. Apple's guide covers transcription in the Notes app and does not say where the audio is processed. If a lecture includes personal stories, patient details or unpublished research, use on-device transcription instead: the guide to transcribe audio offline on a laptop shows how, and AI tools and laptop privacy explains what cloud tools keep.

Do you need permission to record a class?

Yes, ask first. Vanderbilt's College of Arts and Science policy allows audio and video recording of lectures only with the express permission of the instructor, limits recordings to personal use and requires written permission to share them. Berkeley's campus policy says instructors may permit, limit or prohibit recording of their presentations.

Consent law also differs by place. The Digital Media Law Project's legal guide says United States federal law and many states permit recording when one party consents, while other states require every party to consent. The Reporters Committee publishes a state-by-state guide and says it is not a substitute for legal advice. This page is not legal advice either: check your school's policy and local rules.

1. 1

   Step 1: Read the syllabus

   Look for a recording rule. Vanderbilt's policy says recording rules should be stated in class syllabi.

   Mark step 1 done
2. 2

   Step 2: Ask the instructor in writing

   Say which app you want to use, that the recording is for your own study, and that you will not share it.

   Mark step 2 done
3. 3

   Step 3: Use the accommodation route if you have one

   Vanderbilt's policy says instructors must permit recordings approved as a reasonable accommodation, still for personal use.

   Mark step 3 done
4. 4

   Step 4: Tell the people around you

   Some policies also require permission from other students before a recording is shared, and discussion sections capture classmates' voices.

   Mark step 4 done
5. 5

   Step 5: Keep the transcript as notes, not as a source

   Rewrite the summary in your own words and check it against the readings before it goes near an assignment.

   Mark step 5 done

If an AI summary feeds into graded work, your course may count that as AI help. See how to disclose AI writing help, keep draft version history for the essay itself, and find related guides in the authorship record hub and the how-to guides.