10 Best AI Note-Takers for College Students
10/23/2024
As a college student, taking notes during lectures and study sessions is vital to learning. However, keeping up with fast-paced discussions while processing the information can be overwhelming.
That’s where AI note-takers come in. These tools use advanced technology to record, transcribe, and summarize lectures.
To help you find the best fit, we’ve compiled a list of the top AI note-taking tools for college students.
Key Takeaways
- AI note-takers simplify note-taking by capturing, transcribing, and summarizing spoken content.
- The top considerations when selecting an AI note-taker are compatibility with devices and learning platforms, transcription accuracy, and an intuitive interface.
- Budget and data privacy are other crucial considerations for students.
What Is an AI Note-Taker?
An AI note-taker is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to capture, transcribe, and summarize spoken content. These tools simplify note-taking, allowing users to focus on the lecture.
Many AI note-takers also provide cross-device syncing, enabling users to access their notes across multiple devices. Additionally, they often support multiple languages, making them useful for wide-ranging audiences.
In a college setting, AI note-takers can benefit students. They allow students to focus on understanding and engaging with the material while the tool automatically captures and organizes all the essential information.
What Factors Should College Students Consider When Choosing an AI Note-Taker?
Compatibility with your devices and learning platforms is vital when selecting an AI note-taker. Look for tools that seamlessly integrate with your laptops, smartphones, and learning management systems (LMS) for a smooth experience.
The transcription accuracy and quality of the summaries should also be top priorities. Tools like Wave offer high-quality transcriptions and summaries.
Choose an AI note-taker with an intuitive and accessible interface so you can quickly navigate and utilize its features without a steep learning curve.
As a college student, your budget constraints are important factors. Look for tools that offer affordable plans or generous free tiers.
Data privacy and security measures should also be considered to protect sensitive information. Opt for AI note-takers that prioritize data protection and have clear privacy policies.
Best 10 AI Note-Takers for College Students in 2024
| Tool | Best for | Accuracy | Pricing |
| Wave | Lectures, note-taking, and customization | Very High (with multilingual support) | Free (30 min/month) Standard at $12.99/month Pro at $21.99/month |
| Notta | Multilingual transcription and summarization | High (Supports 58 languages) | Free basic plan Premium starts at $8/month |
| Otter.ai | Real-time transcription and collaboration | High (Speaker identification) | Free (600 minutes/month) Pro at $8.33/month |
| Fireflies | Collaborative note-taking with summaries | High | Free basic plan Pro at $10/month |
| Fathom | Fast summaries and AI-powered search | High | Free basic plan |
| Avoma | Comprehensive lecture summaries and collaboration | Very High | Custom pricing |
| Tl;dv | Key moments and multilingual support | High | Free basic plan |
| Rev | AI and human transcription services | Very High (with human transcription option) | AI transcription starts at $0.25/min Human transcription at $1.50/min |
| Temi | Affordable transcription with speaker identification | High | Starts at $0.25/min |
| InqScribe | Manual transcription with advanced media support | High | Free version Full version at $99 one-time purchase |
1. Wave
Wave is the perfect AI note-taker for college students. It offers a user-friendly interface for recording and transcribing lectures, eliminating the need for manual note-taking. This allows you to participate in discussions while it takes notes.
Plus, you’ll have a comprehensive, easily searchable record of your lectures to refer back to when studying or working on assignments.
Features
Here’s what makes Wave stand out from other AI note-takers:
Effortless Audio Recording
Wave offers easy-to-use audio recording capabilities on devices like iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The app also enables background recording to capture lectures or conversations without interrupting other tasks on your devices.
Accurate Transcription with Multilingual Support
One of Wave’s standout features is its ability to accurately transcribe audio. Whether it’s a lecture, meeting, or conversation, Wave provides fast and reliable transcription in multiple languages.
This benefits international students who attend multilingual lectures or study in a different language. Wave’s accuracy ensures that even complex academic terms are captured correctly.
Customizable Summarization
Wave transcribes and summarizes audio content, providing concise, customizable summaries of long lectures or study sessions. This feature saves time by condensing hours of lectures into key points, allowing you to quickly review and acquire important information.
Cross-Device Syncing
Wave’s cross-device syncing feature lets you access your notes and recordings from multiple devices. This flexibility is essential for college students who need to switch between devices throughout the day, in class, at the library, or at home.
Phone Call Recording and Import Options
In addition to lecture recording, Wave allows you to record phone calls, which can be helpful in group study sessions or interviews for projects.
The app also supports importing voicemails, podcasts, and other audio content for transcription, ensuring you have a comprehensive note-taking tool for all types of audio.
Secure and Easy Sharing
Wave makes it easy for students to share their transcriptions and summaries via URLs or PDFs, allowing you to collaborate with classmates or share notes with study groups.
With its privacy and security features, you can rest assured that your data is securely stored and shared only with authorized individuals.
These features make Wave a powerful and versatile AI note-taker, perfect for college students who want to enhance their studying and stay organized.
Pricing
Wave offers the following plans:
| Plan | Price | Recording Time | Key Features |
| Free | Free | 30 minutes/month | Audio and phone call recording, transcription, summarization. |
| Standard | $12.99/month | 5 hours/month | Unlimited recording length, transcription, summarization. |
| Pro | $21.99/month | Unlimited | Advanced features: unlimited summary customizations, web-based dashboard. |
Pros and Cons of Wave
Here are the pros and cons of Wave:
| Pros | Cons |
| Simple, user-friendly interface with one-tap recording and transcription. Accurate transcription and summarization in multiple languages. Cross-Device accessibility. Automated, concise summaries. Different pricing tiers for varied needs, including a free plan. | Only 30 minutes of monthly recording time in the free version. Higher-tier plans may be expensive for students or budget-conscious users. |
2. Notta
Notta is another top choice for college students. It produces accurate transcription and AI-powered summaries and supports 58 languages.
Notta’s integration with popular tools like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams makes it easy to incorporate into your existing workflows to seamlessly record and transcribe your classes.
3. Otter
Otter is a popular AI note-taker that offers real-time transcription and speaker identification. With Otter, you can easily follow lectures and attribute notes to the correct speaker, ensuring accurate and well-organized notes.
Otter’s user-friendly interface and mobile apps for iOS and Android make it convenient for students on the go. Whether in the classroom or studying remotely, you can easily record and transcribe your lectures with a few taps.
One of Otter’s selling points is its generous free plan, which offers 600 minutes of transcription per month. This makes it a budget-friendly option for cost-conscious students who want to take advantage of AI note-taking without breaking the bank.
Otter’s free plan provides 600 minutes of transcription per month, making it an accessible option for students on a tight budget.
4. Fireflies
Fireflies captures notes across various platforms, including Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and more, making it a versatile choice for college students. The editor allows you to correct, annotate, and comment on your notes so you can refine and personalize them as you wish.
Fireflies generates automated summaries, helping you quickly review key points and action items from lectures or study groups.
Its collaboration features allow you to share meeting notes with classmates or study groups via email or Slack. This streamlines communication and ensures everyone is on the same page, even if they missed a lecture or study session.
Fireflies integrates with tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Zapier so you can seamlessly incorporate your notes into your existing workflows and systems. This is useful for students in internships or part-time jobs.
When choosing an AI note-taker, it’s important to compare AI note-taking apps to find the one that best suits your needs as a college student.
5. Fathom
Fathom is popular among college students for its user-friendly interface and powerful features. The tool can record, transcribe, and summarize lectures, allowing you to focus on the discussion while taking detailed notes.
Fathom generates concise summaries within 30 seconds, saving you valuable time and helping you quickly review key points.
Moreover, you can easily share specific clips from lectures with classmates or study groups via Slack, thus facilitating collaboration.
Fathom’s powerful AI assistant allows you to interact with your lecture recordings, providing instant answers and insights to questions. This feature helps you quickly find the necessary information without reading lengthy transcripts.
6. Avoma
Avoma is an all-in-one AI meeting assistant that can automate tasks across the entire lecture lifecycle, helping you stay organized and productive throughout your academic journey.
Avoma’s AI-generated notes provide a comprehensive summary of your lectures, making it easy to review them later.
The tool’s conversation intelligence feature helps you improve your participation in class discussions by providing insights about your talk-listen ratio and the topics you need to focus on.
Avoma enables you to collaborate with classmates and study groups by sharing meeting snippets, comments, and playlists for a more engaging and interactive learning experience.
This AI note-taker also integrates with popular tools like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams and is easy to incorporate into your existing learning setup.
7. tl;dv
tl;dv is an emerging AI note-taker that simplifies the process of recording and transcribing online lectures and study sessions. By capturing critical points and making them easily accessible, tl;dv helps you stay on top of your coursework without getting overwhelmed.
This AI note-taker offers transcripts in over 25 languages, making it an excellent choice for international students. It also allows you to mark key moments of your lectures to reference later.
8. Rev
Rev offers AI-powered and human-based transcription, allowing you to choose the best option for your needs and budget. The platform’s AI transcription delivers fast and accurate results, while the human transcription service provides higher precision for complex or technical content.
Rev’s user-friendly interface and mobile app make it easy to record and upload lectures or study sessions on the go. The platform also supports various file formats.
Rev’s captions and subtitles comply with FCC and ADA regulations, so it is an excellent choice for students who require accessible learning materials or are involved in projects that must meet these standards.
Moreover, Rev offers competitive pricing for students on a budget. The platform also provides a free trial, allowing you to test the service before committing to a paid plan.
In addition to transcription, Rev generates subtitles, which can be useful for students working on video projects or presentations. It also supports various subtitle formats.
9. Temi
Temi is an AI-powered transcription service that offers fast and accurate results at an affordable price. With Temi, you can easily record and transcribe lectures, study sessions, or group discussions, saving time and effort during note-taking.
One of Temi’s standout features is its speaker identification technology, which automatically detects and labels different speakers in recordings. This is useful for group discussions or lectures with multiple participants, as it allows you to keep track of who said what during a meeting.
Temi’s user-friendly interface and mobile app make recording and uploading audio files from your smartphone or computer simple. The platform also supports various audio formats.
Temi offers competitive pricing, with transcription services starting at just $0.25 per minute. This makes it an attractive bargain for students who want to use AI-powered transcription without breaking the bank.
With Temi, you get your transcripts within minutes of uploading your audio files. This quick turnaround time allows you to review and study your notes immediately.
10. InqScribe
InqScribe is a user-friendly transcription software that offers a simple and efficient way to transcribe your lectures and study sessions.
While it doesn’t provide automatic transcription like some AI-powered tools, InqScribe’s intuitive interface and customizable shortcuts make the manual transcription process faster.
One of InqScribe’s strengths is that it supports various media formats, including video and audio files. This allows you to work with recordings from multiple sources, such as lecture capture systems, personal recording devices, or online video platforms.
InqScribe’s foot pedal support and keyboard shortcuts enable you to control media playback and transcription without relying on your mouse, making the process more efficient and reducing strain on your hands and wrists.
InqScribe also features a built-in text editor that allows you to transcribe and edit notes within the same window as your media playback. This streamlines your workflow and eliminates the need to switch between multiple applications.
This AI tool allows you to create and customize keyboard shortcuts for frequently used actions, like inserting timestamps or speaker labels. This helps you optimize your transcription process and save time.
The software also offers discounts for students and bulk licenses, making it affordable for individual learners or educational institutions.
How Do AI Note-Takers Compare to Traditional Methods?
AI note-takers offer several advantages over manual note-taking. These tools can significantly increase the accuracy of notes by capturing every word spoken during a lecture or study session.
They also save you time by automatically transcribing and summarizing the content, allowing you to focus on the lesson rather than manually taking notes.
Another benefit of AI note-takers is the ability to search and review your notes. With traditional handwritten notes, you may struggle to find specific information but with AI-powered tools, locating key points and concepts is simple.
Final Thoughts – What Is the Best AI Note-Taker for College Students?
Wave is a top choice due to its comprehensive features. It offers accurate transcription, customizable summaries, and seamless cross-device syncing, making it ideal for capturing lectures, study sessions, and group discussions.
Its user-friendly interface and multilingual support enhance its value, especially for remote or hybrid learning.
While tools like Notta, Otter.ai, and Fireflies equally have great features for transcription and summarization, Wave is a more tailored solution for college students.
Best AI Note Taker for College Students: Frequently Asked Questions
Are AI Note-Takers Accurate Enough to Rely on for Studying?
While AI transcription technology has made significant strides, it’s important to review and edit your transcripts for accuracy, especially when dealing with technical or subject-specific terminologies that AI may not recognize.
Can I Use an AI Note-Taker for Group Projects and Collaboration?
Many AI note-taking tools offer features that facilitate collaboration. These features can streamline group projects and facilitate knowledge sharing among peers.
Do AI Note-Takers Work With Online Classes and Video Lectures?
Most AI note-takers are designed to transcribe audio from various sources, making them well-suited for remote learning.