The best meeting minutes software [with comparison chart]

If there’s one thing about meetings that everyone dreads, it’s being on "meeting minutes" duty. 

Remember: meeting minutes are not the same as meeting notes. The latter is a broad-strokes record of important points in the meeting, while the former is a more detailed (and formally structured) account of what was said. 

Taking meeting minutes manually can be an agonizing task — and so can going over and over the meeting recording to transcribe it manually, which can easily add hours to the post-meeting workflow.

Luckily, there’s software out there that can help you. From word-processing apps with voice-typing functionality to collaborative note-taking platforms and meeting management software with real-time transcription features. 

If you’re looking for a solution to make taking meeting minutes less of a drag, you’ve come to the right place. Here are our top picks for streamlining the process. 

Disclaimer: This information was updated Nov. 14, 2022.

Best meeting minutes software: comparison table [features & pricing]

If you’ve ever had to choose apps for your company’s tech stack, you know it can take time. Picking out new software is always daunting, with so many features and pricing models to weigh up — not to mention figuring out what tools will fit best into your team’s existing workflows. 

A lot of people make a spreadsheet or table for at-a-glance comparisons, so we’ve gone ahead and done that for you.  Come back to this table when you need all the most important info in one place!

Tools with live transcription 

If you're looking to outsource your meeting minute taking to software, look no further than these transcription tools to help you.

1. Vowel

Vowel is video-conferencing software that does a lot more than traditional video-conferencing software: it has everything you need to host, transcribe, record, search, and share meetings, all from one browser window.  No more relying on add-ons or third-party tools for features like agendas, recording, and live transcription.

Unlike other transcription tools, which make you wait for the transcript to process or download a file, Vowel makes meeting recordings, transcripts, and meeting recaps instantly available to all attendees when the meeting ends.

The platform also includes collaborative meeting notes that everyone can contribute to and see while the meeting is happening. 

Who is Vowel for?

Vowel is for anyone who wants to turn their meetings into searchable and shareable knowledge. It’s ideal for anything from a weekly team meeting to a monthly sprint demo. 

That said, Vowel is a really good choice for those who need robust meeting-related features and don’t want to rely on external tools. If you often find yourself wishing for built-in agendas, notes, and recordings, Vowel will streamline those processes and make you more productive.

Key features

• Works right from the browser, no downloads 😉 

• One-click meeting recording and live transcription built-in 🤓

• AI-powered meeting summaries as soon as you hang up ✅

• Collaborative meeting agendas and notes ✍🏽

• Universal search that lets you remember anything that happened in a meeting 🔎

• Talk-time tracking ⏳

Pricing

There are 2 tiers in Vowel’s pricing structure, depending on your needs. The free plan will let you record and transcribe all your meetings with a per-meeting time limit of 40 minutes, and view past meetings for 7 days.

The Business plan is available for $16.49 per user per month and it increases the participant limit to 50, with unlimited meeting time and access to all your past meeting content. You’ll also be able to download videos and take advantage of automated, AI-powered meeting summaries.

2. Colibri.ai

Colibri.ai is a meeting transcription app that integrates with many team communication platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet to automate the creation of meeting notes and meeting minutes. 

Image Source: Colibri.ai

Once you’ve connected Colibri to your video conferencing platform, it automatically transcribes your calls and meetings. The live transcription lets you have closed captions during your meetings which is a useful accessibility feature. 

Who is it for?

Colibri is built around one thing – providing you with automatic meeting minutes and meeting recordings. 

After the meeting, you can review key points and action items in the highlights summary provided and you can highlight the important info during the meeting with one click. All the transcripts, recordings, and highlights are kept in one location, so you can review and share past meetings.

Key features

• Integrates with popular meeting apps such as Zoom, Teams, and Slack 

• Real-time speech-to-text transcription and meeting recording

• Create highlights during the meeting for easy reference 

Pricing

There’s a free tier that’s limited to five hours of audio transcription monthly, and it’s great for smaller teams that don’t hold many meetings.

Image Source: Colibri.ai

For those needing more, there’s a $16-a-month Starter plan that ups the transcription hours to 20 and the max recording length to 90 minutes. For the pros, there is a corresponding Pro tier offering 100 hours of transcription per month and up to four hours of recording. It costs $40 a month.

3. Notes by Dubber

Notes by Dubber (formerly known as Notiv) is another meeting recording and transcription tool that integrates with popular web-conferencing platforms and creates meeting minutes automatically.

Image Source: Dubber

Transcribing meeting minutes is a famously boring task and Notes by Dubber attempts to solve this problem through automatic speech-to-text transcription.

Who is it for?

Like Colibri, Dubber is focused on recording and transcription. You connect it to your meeting app and it does the heavy lifting for you.

Users can get a daily digest of important moments from previous meetings. If you attach a name to a speaker, the app will start building a voice profile, making it easier to follow up on action items later.

Key features

• Automatic syncing with Google or Outlook calendars

• Real-time audio transcription

• Automatic task and action item creation  

• Integrates with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, Skype, GoToMeeting, JoinMe, BlueJeans, and Amazon Chime

Pricing

There isn’t a free plan, but all plans come with a 30-day free trial. Note that some advanced features like speaker ID and custom vocabulary are only available in the Enterprise subscription.

Image Source: Dubber

There;s a Professional plan that costs $19 per user per month and lets you transcribe 20 hours of audio each month. At the $39-per-user-per-month Enterprise tier, you get 40 hours of transcription each month.

4. Tactiq

Tactiq is a tool that lets you create automated speech-to-text meeting minutes. It offers real-time transcription through integrations with several of the most popular video conferencing apps, including Zoom.

Image Source: Tactiq

Like other tools in this list, Tactiq takes away the pain of having to write your own minutes. After the meeting, you can export the minutes with apps like Slack and Notion or export them to PDF format.

Who is it for?

Tactiq is a good option for those teams who already use one of the popular web conferencing apps and don’t want to switch to another platform. But be aware that adding automatic transcription requires you to download the Chrome or Edge browser extensions and connect them with Zoom or Microsoft Teams. You’ll also be the only one to see the transcription (not everyone in the meeting). 

Key features

• Real-time transcription 

• Speaker identification

• Integrates with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack, Whereby and Webex

Pricing

If you want to test what Tactiq offers, or you don’t have many meetings, there’s a free tier limited to 10 meetings per month. 

Image Source: Tactiq

At $8 per member per month, the Pro tier offers unlimited meetings, video recording, and PDF export. The $16-a-month Team tier adds a collaborative workspace and bulk export.

5. Otter.ai

Otter.ai is an app that lets you automatically transcribe your meetings, giving you meeting minutes you don’t have to type yourself.

Image Source: Otter

Like other tools on this list, it’s an add-on for a web conferencing tool you’re already using. Otter.ai integrates with Zoom, MS Teams, and Google Meet.

The app keeps all the transcribed meeting minutes in one place, so you can search them and share them with others. Team members can comment on the meeting notes, highlight important parts, and even add images, so you can use Otter.ai as a team collaboration tool, too.

Who is it for?

If you’re already using one of the three web-conferencing platforms that Otter.ai integrates with, you might consider using it to automate meeting minutes. But note that it does not include video recording, only transcription. 

The app also offers functionality aimed at users in the education field with features like real-time captioning. One interesting feature is the Otter Assistant which can join meetings you can’t attend and transcribe them — but note that the assistant acts as another "guest" that joins the meeting, so you'll want to warn people ahead of time.

Key features

• Automatic meeting-minutes transcription

• Real-time closed captions 

• Speaker identification and custom vocabulary

• Integrates with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet

Pricing

If your meetings don’t run over 300 minutes each month, you should think about using the free tier.

Image Source: Otter

At $8.33 per month, there’s a Pro tier that adds the ability to import video and audio files for transcription and ups the transcription limit to 1,200 minutes monthly. In the Business tier, which costs $20 per user per month, you get team features like shared custom vocabulary and usage analytics. 

Tools without live transcription

Don't need live transcription? Check out these other tools that can help you organize and streamline your meeting minutes workflow.  

1. MeetingKing

MeetingKing is a meeting-management tool that helps users create agendas and meeting minutes and follow up on action items post-meeting.

Image Source: MeetingKing

While it doesn’t offer speech-to-text capabilities, MeetingKing still automates a part of the job by formatting the meeting minutes for you. That way, you don’t need a separate document in an app like Google Docs. 

Instead, you can jot down notes during the meeting and the result will be a properly formatted meeting-minutes document you can email to yourself and other attendees straight from the app.

Since the app integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook, it can automatically populate the meeting attendees list, date and time, and the title of the meeting.

Who is it for?

MeetingKing covers all the phases of a meeting, from drafting agendas and taking meeting minutes, to assigning action items for follow-up and team accountability.

However, compared to some other tools on this list, it’s let down by its inability to provide automatic transcription. You’ll still have to type everything yourself using their meeting-minute templates.

Key features

• Collaborative meeting agendas 

• Meeting-minutes templates

• Task-management features 

• Integration with project management software through Zapier 

Pricing

This depends on the number of users you need.

Image Source: MeetingKing

The Pro Single tier covers one user and costs $9.95 a month. In the Pro Small tier, you can have up to five users for $39.95 a month. There are also Pro Medium (10 users) and Pro Large (25 users) tiers at $64.95 and $124.95 a month respectively. 

All tiers have the same features, and meeting participants don’t need a MeetingKing account.

2. Tadum

Tadum is a meeting-management platform you can use to create meeting agendas, take meeting minutes, and follow up on action items by assigning tasks. 

Image Source: Tadum

While the app won’t automatically transcribe your minutes, it will format them. In Tadum, meeting minutes are a part of your agenda and you can jot down notes as the meeting progresses. After the meeting, the minutes are saved as a read-only document. 

The app keeps all past meeting minutes in a central place, so you don’t have to hunt them down in your inbox or cloud storage. This is useful when you’re adding a new team member to a recurring meeting, as they can quickly catch up.

Who is it for?

Tadum is meant for teams that want to increase meeting effectiveness and accountability. If you’re currently using a bunch of tools to prepare meetings and track action items, you might consider centralizing the entire process with Tadum instead.

Key features

• Meeting agenda templates

• Rolling action items automatically transfer from meeting to meeting

• Task-management functionality 

Pricing

This is based on the concept of members and collaborators. 

Image Source: Tadum

Members can access unlimited meeting rhythms (the app’s term for recurring meetings) while collaborators only get access to one. Each member account will cost you $9 a month while collaborator accounts are free. 

Essentially, if your team is running only one kind of meeting regularly (e.g., a daily standup) you can have only one member but lots of collaborators, making Tadum a very affordable choice.

3. MeetingBooster

MeetingBooster is a meeting-management platform that helps users create meeting agendas and keep meeting minutes.

Image Source: MeetingBooster

You can use one of its templates to create collaborative meeting agendas and assign action items to attendees. During the meeting, you can take meeting minutes with automatic formatting and share them through email or export them to PDF format. 

Who is it for?

MeetingBooster is an option for teams that need to track and analyze meeting effectiveness. It lets you assign tasks to meeting attendees and send automated reminders. But if you need automatic transcription (aka you don't want to do it all yourself), you need another tool.

Key features

• Collaborative meeting agendas 

• Meeting minutes with automatic formatting 

• Task-management functionality

• Integrates the Microsoft Teams and Slack meeting apps

• More integrations with productivity software such as Jira and Trello

Pricing

MeetingBooster doesn’t have a pricing page on its website.

4. Beenote

Beenote is a meeting management tool that helps users hold more productive meetings by offering features like schedule management, agenda templates, and collaborative meeting minutes. 

Image Source: Beenote

At the meeting preparation stage, you and your invitees can collaborate on drafting an agenda while during the meeting the app offers attendance management, timekeeping, and task-management features. 

Be aware that Beenote is not a meeting platform in itself. You’ll have to power your virtual meeting through another app like Zoom while using Beenote at the same time. 

Who is it for?

Beenote comes in two flavors – Beenote and Beeboard. Beeboard is for board meetings, and those who need governance-meeting functions, like a voting system.

Key features

• Collaborative meeting agendas

• Integrations with Office 365, Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, and Antidote

• Automatically generates shareable meeting minutes from notes taken during the meeting 

Pricing

Beenote’s pricing plans are structured around the number of users you need.

Image Source: Beenote

A single user costs $8.67 a month. For 10 users, it’s $4.60 per user per month and for 30 users the tool costs $3. All the plans are billed annually.

Beeboard, the more advanced version of the software, runs at $15 per user per month and has a maximum of seven users.

Keep better meeting minutes with a great tool

Writing out meeting minutes is nobody’s idea of a good time. But the right tool lets you streamline or completely automate the process, depending on your needs. 

Vowel is a video-conferencing platform that comes with automated meeting minutes (and summaries!), live transcription, and meeting management built-in. Transcribe meetings, share recordings, take collaborative notes, and host the actual meeting — all in the same spot. You'll save so much time! No Zoom or Google Meet add-ons needed.

Find out more about how to have better meetings here or try Vowel for free!