AI meeting notes: the tools and the rules

In brief

A meeting notes tool listens to the meeting, turns the conversation into text, then pulls out the decisions and the action items. It listens either through a bot that joins the call like a participant, or from your computer, with nobody extra showing up. Either way, tell the participants beforehand, review the notes afterward, and check where the tool stores what it heard.

How it works

All these tools do three things in a row: they capture the sound, they write down what is said, then they summarize. The summary is organized by topic, with the decisions and a list of action items. Most then let you ask the meeting a question: “What did we decide about the budget?”

The real difference is in how they listen.

With a bot. One more participant joins the video call, visible to everyone. It generally keeps the recording, which you can play back. That is how Fireflies, tl;dv, Leexi, and Fathom work.
Without a bot. The app listens to your computer’s audio and your microphone. The participant list does not change. That is the principle behind Granola, which keeps neither the audio nor the video, only the text.
In the video conferencing tool. Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet have their own summary. In Teams, it requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams Premium license, and transcription must be turned on. In Zoom, the free account summarizes 3 hosted meetings per month, and only the host or co-host can start the summary.

Which tools, for which need

Plans and prices checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendors’ pages.

Tool	How it listens	Without paying	First paid plan	Where the data goes
Granola	No bot, from the computer	Notes for all your meetings; last 30 days visible	Business, $14 per user per month	United States
Fathom	Bot in the call	Unlimited recordings and transcripts, a summary after each call	Premium, $16 per month billed yearly	United States
Noota	Bot, or no bot from the browser	300 minutes per month; meetings kept for one month	Pro, €19 per user per month billed yearly	France, Belgium, and the Netherlands
tl;dv	Bot, with video	Recordings kept for 3 months; full notes on the first 10 meetings	Pro: see the price on the vendor’s page	Germany and Finland
Leexi	Bot in the call	No free plan	Starter, $12 per license per month, excl. tax, billed yearly	Europe
Fireflies	Bot, or no bot from the computer	400 minutes of storage in total, not per month	Pro, $18 per user per month ($10 if billed yearly)	United States, mainly

How to choose: Granola if you want neither a bot nor a stored recording. Fathom if you want to record everything without paying. Noota, a French vendor, Leexi, a Belgian vendor, or tl;dv, a German vendor, if hosting in Europe matters to your company. Fireflies if you want to connect the notes to many other applications. And if your meetings take place in Teams or Zoom, look first at what Copilot or Zoom already do.

Precautions before you record

A transcribed meeting contains voices, names, and opinions. Under GDPR, a voice is personal data, as the French data protection authority (CNIL) points out. For recorded phone calls, the CNIL requires that each person on the call be informed of the purpose, the recipients, and their rights. Have the same reflex for a meeting, and ask your data protection officer for your company’s rule: recording laws also differ from country to country, and this guide does not replace that advice.

Tell people, and get their agreement. With a bot, everyone sees it. Without a bot, nothing signals the note-taking: it is up to you to say so, internally and with a customer.
Set up the bot on day one. With several tools, it joins all your meetings by default and sends the notes to every invitee. Check these two settings before a customer meeting.
Know where the data goes. Europe or the United States, recording kept or not, use for AI training: each tool page spells it out. Fireflies states that it does not train AI on your meetings; Otter, by contrast, uses them for its own after removing what identifies you.
Leave some meetings out. A one-on-one, a disciplinary matter, a delicate negotiation: pause the note-taking, or do not start it.

The method, from the invitation to the notes

Announce the note-taking in the invitation, and say it again when you open the meeting.
Set the meeting’s language and add your acronyms, product names, and customer names to the tool’s vocabulary: they will be written correctly.
During the meeting, write down the two or three decisive points yourself. Granola, for example, blends your notes with its own.
Review the notes while the meeting is fresh. Check proper names, figures, and who made each decision first: a tool can assign an action item to the wrong person.
Share the decisions and the action items, with an owner and a date. Not the whole transcript.
Delete what no longer needs to be kept.

Meeting notes commit the people named in them. The tool prepares; you approve.

Without a dedicated tool: your notes and an assistant

You do not have to record. Take your notes as usual, then paste them into ChatGPT or Claude with this prompt: “Here are my rough meeting notes. List the decisions made, then the action items with an owner and a date. A proposal must not become a decision. Then write the email to share them.”

Nothing is recorded, nobody is transcribed, and you stay in control of what goes into the assistant. Just remove names and sensitive figures if you use a personal account. See how to write a good prompt.

What Nova brings

Nova is subscription software. You will find the page for each meeting tool (what it keeps, where it hosts, what the free plan includes, the prices and their check date) and demos to recreate, such as meeting notes written without taking a single note. Try the interactive demo.

Frequently asked questions

Do you have to tell participants that an AI is taking notes?

Yes, always, and get their agreement. A voice is personal data. With a bot, the tool’s presence is visible; without a bot, nothing shows it and it is up to you to say so. For the exact rule in your company and your country, ask your data protection officer.

Bot or no bot: which should you choose?

A bot generally keeps the recording, which is useful for replaying a passage, but it shows up as one more participant. Without a bot, the call stays discreet; in return, a tool like Granola does not keep the audio: you cannot play it back to check.

Is there a free tool for meeting notes?

Yes. Granola takes notes on all your meetings and shows the last 30 days. Fathom records and transcribes without limit. Noota, a French vendor, offers 300 minutes per month. Each free plan has its limit: how long things are kept, the number of meetings, or reserved features.

Do these tools work in languages other than English?

Yes for those in this guide, which all understand French for example, but check the language setting: some do not detect it on their own. The menus of several tools, including Granola, Fathom, and Fireflies, are in English only.

Where are recorded meetings stored?

It depends on the tool. Granola and Fathom host in the United States, and Fireflies mainly does too. tl;dv stores recordings in Germany and Finland, Noota in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Leexi in Europe. Ask your company what it allows before you choose.

Sources

Personal data: definition (in French), CNIL, the French data protection authority
Recording or listening to phone conversations: do you have to inform your customers or users? (in French), CNIL, the French data protection authority
Granola pricing, Granola
Fathom pricing, Fathom
Noota pricing (in French), Noota
tl;dv security commitment, tl;dv
Leexi pricing (in French), Leexi
Fireflies pricing, Fireflies.ai
Otter privacy policy, Otter.ai
Zoom pricing, Zoom

AI meeting notes: tools, method, and precautions