AudioPen: AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose. Shadow: A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist AudioPen when capturing and refining personal ideas, journal entries, or brainstorms by voice matters most, and Shadow when privacy-conscious teams that prefer on-device transcription matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose.
A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant.
AudioPen is a voice-to-text tool that captures spoken thoughts and turns them into polished written notes. You record your voice (or upload an audio file), and AudioPen transcribes the speech, then rewrites it into clear, structured text by fixing grammar, cutting filler words, and organizing rambling input into coherent prose. Rather than producing a verbatim transcript, it reshapes what you said into finished writing in a style you select or train over time, with preset and custom styles available. It supports multiple languages and can transcribe speech in one language while writing the output in another. A SuperSummaries feature combines several notes into a single cohesive summary, and existing notes can be reformatted for different purposes such as emails or to-do lists. Built by independent developer Louis Pereira, it runs across iOS, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Mac, and a Chrome extension, with Zapier and webhook integrations for sending notes elsewhere. It is aimed at people who think out loud and want to convert informal speech into professional written content.
Best suited for
Shadow is a bot-free AI meeting assistant for macOS that captures meetings by listening to your computer's audio in the background rather than joining the call as a visible participant. Because transcription runs locally on the Mac, the audio does not need to leave the device for that core processing step, which the company positions as a privacy advantage. Shadow can automatically detect when a meeting starts, transcribe the conversation with speaker identification, and turn the discussion into structured notes, summaries, and follow-up items. It also captures on-screen content alongside the spoken audio, so material shared during a call (slides, dashboards, or shared windows) can be reflected in the output. The tool works across common conferencing platforms including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack, and Discord. Users can configure customizable prompts (described as Skills) to generate notes, summaries, or drafted emails, and connect outputs to other tools via webhooks. It is aimed at professionals and teams who want meeting capture without adding another bot to the call. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
AudioPen is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | AudioPen | Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Records voice notes and transcribes speech to text | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant |
| Standout feature | Rewrites rambling speech into clear, structured prose with grammar fixes and filler removal | On-device (local) transcription on macOS |
| Team usage | Audio file upload for transcribing and rewriting existing recordings | Speaker identification during transcription |
| Integrations | Preset and custom writing styles that adapt to your voice over time | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio |
| Languages & capture | Multi-language support, including speaking in one language and writing output in another | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails |
| Best-fit workflow | SuperSummaries to combine multiple notes, plus Zapier and webhook integrations | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools |
AudioPen
Choose AudioPen if you need capturing and refining personal ideas, journal entries, or brainstorms by voice — strengths include fast, low-friction way to turn spoken thoughts into clean, usable writing.
Shadow
Choose Shadow if you need capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining — strengths include does not add a visible bot to meetings.
AudioPen
Shadow
It depends on your workflow. AudioPen is strong for capturing and refining personal ideas, journal entries, or brainstorms by voice, while Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
AudioPen is a free tier with paid upgrades and Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
More head-to-head comparisons involving AudioPen and Shadow.
AudioPen: AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose. AudiosTranscribe: French-focused, bot-free meeting transcription tool with European inference, summaries, action plans, and automatic audio deletion. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
AudioPen: AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose. Audiosum: AI transcription platform with Arabic dialect support that transcribes and summarizes meetings, lectures and videos. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
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AudioPen: AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose. BOYA Notra: BOYA Notra is a credit-card-sized AI voice recorder and companion app that captures in-person, phone, and Bluetooth-call audio and turns it into transcripts, summaries, to-dos, and mind maps in 140+ languages. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
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AudioPen: AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose. Balto: Real-time AI guidance and agent-assist platform that coaches contact-center and sales agents live during calls. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.