The best meeting notes app for Mac in 2026
By the makers of Minutes · updated 18 September 2026 · full disclosure
Minutes needs macOS 26 on a Mac with Apple silicon. 7-day trial, no card.
| Price | Audio stays local | Joins your call | Notes you keep | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minutes | $9.99 once | ✓Yes | ✗No | Markdown files |
| Granola | Free, or $14/user/mo | ✗No | ✗No | Granola workspace |
| Otter.ai | Free 300 min, $8.33 to $30/user/mo | ✗No | ✓Yes | Otter workspace |
| Fathom | Free, or $16 to $34/user/mo | ✗No | ✓Yes | Fathom workspace |
| Fireflies.ai | Free, or $10 to $39/seat/mo | ✗No | ✓Yes | Fireflies workspace |
Why Minutes is our pick
- Nothing is uploaded. Recording, transcription and the summary run on your Mac.
- No bot joins your call. Minutes records the audio your Mac already plays.
- Files you own. Every meeting is one Markdown file, in a folder you choose.
- You buy it once. Minutes is $9.99 once.
Download Minutes freeBuy Minutes, $9.99
Minutes needs macOS 26 on a Mac with Apple silicon · 7-day refund
Full comparison and details
Most meeting notetakers want two things from you: a monthly payment, and your audio on their servers. Every app here turns a meeting into notes, and what separates them is the bill, whether something joins your call, and whether the recording leaves your machine. We make Minutes, a native Mac app that does all of it on your Mac for one payment, and below is a look at all five.
Last updated: 18 September 2026
Full disclosure: this page is published by the makers of Minutes, which is one of the five. Every price and limit below was read off that company's own pricing page in July 2026.
What actually matters
Four questions decide this, and only one of them is about features.
Where does the audio go? Most of these upload the recording to a server to transcribe it. That is a non-starter for salaries, health, legal, clients or anything under an NDA. It is the one difference you cannot undo later.
Does something join the call? Several send a bot that appears in the participant list under your name, and plenty of people find it changes how the meeting goes. Most of them can now also record from a desktop app with no bot, which fixes the participant list but leaves the first question exactly where it was, because the audio still leaves your Mac.
And the free one Apple ships. Since macOS 26 the Phone app records phone calls and one-on-one FaceTime audio calls into Notes, with a notice to both sides, and Apple Intelligence summarises them. It does not cover Zoom, Meet or Teams. Minutes against Apple's built-in recording has the details.
What happens when you stop paying? Notes in somebody's workspace need exporting, and notes in a folder do not.
What does a year cost? Per-seat monthly pricing adds up quietly, so work out the twelve month number before you compare anything else.
The comparison table is at the top of this page.
Minutes Our pick$9.99 one-time
Minutes records both sides of a call as separate channels, your microphone and the audio your Mac plays, then transcribes and summarizes with the models that ship inside macOS. Nothing is uploaded at any point. You can pull the network cable in the middle of a meeting and it keeps working, which is the shortest way to prove there is no server involved.
Every meeting becomes one Markdown file in a folder you choose, with no database, no export step and no account holding it. Decisions and action items come out with an Add button for Calendar and Reminders, and nothing is written anywhere until you tap it.
None of the four below can keep the recording on your Mac.
Granola Free, or $14 per user per month
Granola listens to the meeting without sending a bot, then sends it to its cloud to rewrite your notes.
Basic is free with limited meeting history. Business is $14 per user per month. The notes live in Granola's workspace, and the audio goes to their servers.
Otter.ai Free 300 min, then $8.33 to $30 per user per month
Otter uploads every meeting to its servers and meters your transcription by the minute.
Basic is free with 300 transcription minutes a month, capped at 30 minutes per conversation. Pro is $16.99 per user per month, or $8.33 billed annually, with 1,200 minutes each. Business is $30, or $19.99 annually.
Fathom Free, or $16 to $34 per user per month
Fathom's free plan records, transcribes and summarizes at no cost, and your meetings live on its servers in return.
Paid plans start at $16 per user per month billed annually. Recording happens through a bot, or bot-free capture which is in beta.
Fireflies.ai Free, or $10 to $39 per seat per month
With Fireflies, a bot joins your calls and everything lands in Fireflies' cloud, billed per seat.
Free gives unlimited transcription with 400 minutes of storage per team. Pro is $18 per seat per month, or $10 billed annually. Business is $29 and $19, and Enterprise is $39 annually.
FAQ
What is the best meeting notes app for Mac?
We think it is Minutes, because it is the only one on this page that never uploads anything, and it is $9.99 once.
Is there an AI note taker that works offline?
Yes. Minutes does, because the transcription and summarizing run on your own Mac using the models inside macOS. Every other app here needs the network to do the work.
Which meeting notes apps do not send a bot to the call?
Minutes and Granola listen to the audio on your machine rather than joining as a participant, and Fathom, Fireflies, tl;dv and Otter now have desktop apps or a beta that record without the bot, though the audio still goes to their servers. Since macOS 26 the Phone app records phone and FaceTime audio calls too, with a notice to both sides. Minutes is the one where the recording never leaves the Mac.
What happens to my notes if I stop paying?
On the cloud tools, notes stay in a workspace you need an account to reach, so export before you leave. Minutes writes Markdown files to your own folder, so there is nothing to retrieve.
Keep the meeting on your Mac
Most meeting notetakers either send a bot into your call or send your audio to a server. Minutes does neither: it transcribes both sides of the call on your Mac, writes the summary on device, and pulls out the promises people made with an Add button beside each one, all in plain Markdown in a folder you own. It is $9.99 once.
Buy Minutes, $9.99 Try free for 7 daysMinutes needs macOS 26 on a Mac with Apple silicon. Nothing is uploaded, ever, and the 7-day trial needs no card up front.
Keep reading: vs Granola · vs Otter.ai · vs Fathom · vs Fireflies.ai · vs tl;dv · vs Notion AI · vs Apple's built-in recording · Private, on-device notes · Notes without a bot · Local AI note takers · Record a call on a Mac · For lawyers · For therapists · For sales calls · Minutes overview