7 Best AI Meeting Recorders in 2026

If you're still taking notes by hand during meetings, you're losing information. AI meeting recorders have gone from novelty to necessity in the past two years, and the market is flooded with options. Some are great. Some are glorified voice memos with a chatbot stapled on.

We tested the most popular tools to find the best AI meeting recorder for different use cases. Here's what actually matters, and our ranked list of the seven tools worth considering in 2026.

What to Look for in an AI Meeting Recorder

Before diving into specific tools, here are the criteria that separate a good meeting recorder app from a bad one:

• Recording flexibility. Does it only work with Zoom, or can it handle in-person meetings, phone calls, and other scenarios? The best AI meeting recording app works wherever your conversations happen.
• Transcription accuracy. Speaker labels matter. If the transcript can't tell who said what, it's barely useful. Look for tools that handle multiple speakers reliably.
• AI summary quality. A wall of transcript text isn't helpful. Good summaries extract action items, decisions, and key points without you having to read thousands of words.
• Privacy and security. Some tools train AI models on your conversations. Others sell aggregated data. Know what you're agreeing to before you record sensitive business discussions.
• Price. Free tiers are nice for evaluation, but pay attention to what's actually included. Many tools gate the most useful features behind expensive business plans.

1. Wave — Best Overall AI Meeting Recorder

Wave stands out because it gives you four ways to record instead of locking you into one. You can send a meeting bot to Zoom, Meet, or Teams. You can use the desktop app on Mac or Windows to capture system audio without anyone knowing. You can make phone calls through Wave's built-in VoIP dialer. Or you can use the mobile app on iPhone or Android to record in-person conversations.

This makes Wave the only meeting recorder on this list that covers virtual meetings, in-person conversations, and phone calls — with a dedicated recording method for each scenario.

• Four recording methods: meeting bot, desktop app, VoIP dialer, and mobile recorder
• AI-generated summaries with action items and key decisions
• Speaker-labeled transcription that identifies who said what
• Available on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and web
• SOC-2 compliant with strict data privacy — Wave never trains on your data
• Searchable archive of all past meetings

Pros: Multiple recording methods for different scenarios. Works for every meeting type. Genuinely strong privacy stance. Simple enough that non-technical users pick it up immediately.

Cons: Audio-only — no video recording. CRM integrations via API rather than native connectors.

Pricing: Free tier with limited recordings. Pro plan available for unlimited recording and full AI features.

2. Otter.ai — Best for Live Transcription

Otter has been in the transcription space longer than most competitors, and it shows. Their real-time transcription is fast and reasonably accurate, and the interface for reviewing and editing transcripts is polished. Otter connects to Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams via calendar integration, automatically joining and recording scheduled meetings.

Pros: Mature product with reliable transcription. Good collaboration features for teams. Live transcript view during meetings is useful for accessibility.

Cons: The meeting bot is visible to all participants. Limited to virtual meetings. Free tier has gotten more restrictive over time.

Pricing: Free plan with 300 monthly minutes. Pro starts at $16.99/month.

3. Fireflies.ai — Best for CRM Integrations

Fireflies shines when you need meeting data to flow into other business tools. It integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Notion, Asana, and dozens of other platforms. The transcription quality is solid, and the AI summary features cover the basics: action items, topics discussed, and sentiment analysis.

Pros: Extensive integration library. Good team management features. Conversation intelligence metrics for sales teams.

Cons: Bot-based recording means participants see it join the call. The interface can feel cluttered.

Pricing: Free tier available. Pro starts at $18/month per seat.

4. Grain — Best for Sharing Meeting Clips

Grain's standout feature is the ability to create and share short video clips from meetings. If your team regularly needs to share "here's what the client said" moments with stakeholders who weren't on the call, Grain makes that workflow smooth.

Pros: Excellent clip creation and sharing. Clean interface. Good for product and customer research teams.

Cons: Less useful if you don't need clipping. Virtual meetings only. Smaller integration ecosystem.

Pricing: Free plan with 20 meetings/month. Business starts at $19/month per seat.

5. Fathom — Best Free Option for Zoom

Fathom gained popularity by offering a genuinely generous free tier. If you primarily use Zoom and want AI meeting notes without paying anything, Fathom is hard to beat. It records locally rather than using a bot, which avoids the awkward notification.

Pros: Generous free plan. No meeting bot for Zoom calls. Fast and lightweight.

Cons: Desktop only — no mobile recording for in-person meetings. Google Meet and Teams support is newer and less polished.

Pricing: Free tier is quite usable. Premium plans start at $24/month.

6. tl;dv — Best for Google Meet and Teams Users

tl;dv focuses on Google Meet and Microsoft Teams with a clean, no-nonsense interface. It records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings with minimal setup. The timestamped highlights feature lets you tag important moments during the call and jump back to them later.

Pros: Strong Google Meet and Teams support. Good multilingual transcription. Simple pricing structure.

Cons: Bot joins the meeting visibly. No in-person or phone call recording.

Pricing: Free tier with unlimited recordings. Pro starts at $18/month per user.

7. Krisp — Best for Noise Cancellation + Recording

Krisp made its name as a noise cancellation tool, and it's still the best at that. If you regularly take calls from noisy environments, Krisp's AI-powered noise removal is genuinely impressive. The meeting recording and transcription features were added later but have improved significantly.

Pros: Industry-leading noise cancellation. Works across all meeting platforms at the system level.

Cons: Transcription accuracy lags behind dedicated tools. Note-taking features feel secondary. Desktop only.

Pricing: Free tier with limited daily minutes. Pro starts at $12/month.

The Bottom Line

The best AI meeting recorder depends on how and where you meet. If your meetings are exclusively on Zoom, Fathom's free tier is compelling. If you need deep CRM integrations, Fireflies is the move. If you need noise cancellation above all else, Krisp has that locked down.

If you want a single app that works everywhere — in-person conversations, phone calls, and virtual meetings — Wave is the most versatile option on this list because it offers multiple recording methods instead of locking you into one.