Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. BB Recorder: A 100% local, no-bot meeting recorder for Mac and iOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes entirely on-device, built by the BuildBetter team. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Ava when real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants matters most, and BB Recorder when individuals wanting free, unlimited local meeting recording on mac matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings.
A 100% local, no-bot meeting recorder for Mac and iOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes entirely on-device, built by the BuildBetter team.
Ava is a live captioning and transcription service built primarily for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, as well as for organizations that need accessible meetings and conversations. The app captures audio from in-person conversations and from video conferencing tools, then generates real-time captions on a phone, computer, or in the meeting interface. Ava combines automatic speech recognition with an optional professional scribe service for higher-accuracy, ADA-compliant captioning, giving users a choice between fast AI captions and human-assisted transcription. Features include color-coded speaker identification so users can follow who said what, support for many languages, and stored transcripts and summaries after a conversation ends. Through its Ava Connect integration, the service connects with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and it is available across mobile (iOS and Android), web, and desktop (Windows and Mac). Ava is aimed at individuals who need accessibility support in daily conversations and meetings, as well as at educational institutions, healthcare providers, corporations, and event venues that must provide compliant real-time captioning without committing to a traditional CART contract. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
BB Recorder is a local-first meeting recorder built by the team behind BuildBetter, designed for people who want meeting capture without any data leaving their device. Rather than dropping a bot into a video call, BB Recorder captures the computer's system audio directly, links to the user's calendar, and turns rough conversation audio into clean transcripts and summaries. Its defining characteristic is that recording, transcription, summarization, and even live AI chat about the meeting can all run locally using on-device models, so there is no server holding the audio or transcripts. The company frames this as making a data breach architecturally impossible because there is no cloud store to compromise, and it points to SOC 2 and HIPAA considerations along with an AI transparency policy. BB Recorder is positioned as a genuinely free, unlimited option for Mac, with no trial tiers or required registration when using local models, and a companion iOS app extends capture to the iPhone. It is aimed at privacy-sensitive professionals, regulated teams, and anyone who wants automatic meeting notes without a visible bot or a cloud transcription pipeline. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Ava is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Ava | BB Recorder |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams | No-bot capture of system audio directly on the device |
| Standout feature | Real-time live captions for in-person and online conversations | Fully on-device recording, transcription, and summarization |
| Team usage | Color-coded speaker identification | Local AI chat to ask questions about a captured meeting |
| Integrations | Optional professional scribe service for higher accuracy | Calendar linking to associate recordings with scheduled meetings |
| Languages & capture | Mobile, web, and desktop apps | Available for macOS and iOS |
| Best-fit workflow | Saved transcripts and conversation summaries | Built by the BuildBetter team with an AI transparency policy |
Ava
Choose Ava if you need real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants — strengths include strong accessibility focus for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
BB Recorder
Choose BB Recorder if you need regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud — strengths include local-only processing keeps meeting audio and transcripts off external servers.
Ava
BB Recorder
It depends on your workflow. Ava is strong for real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, while BB Recorder is strong for regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Ava is a free tier with paid upgrades and BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Ava and BB Recorder.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Aviso AI: End-to-end AI revenue platform whose conversation intelligence records and analyzes sales calls and meetings for B2B revenue teams. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Backtrack: An AI meeting intelligence tool for trade shows and hosted buyer events that captures 1:1 conversations and turns them into CRM-ready notes and insights. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Balto: Real-time AI guidance and agent-assist platform that coaches contact-center and sales agents live during calls. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. BarRaiser: AI interview intelligence platform that records interviews and coaches interviewers for better hiring. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Basil AI: On-device AI note taker for Apple devices that transcribes and summarizes meetings entirely offline, with no cloud upload. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. BeAware Conference Captioning: AI real-time captioning and translation app for live in-person and hybrid events, with on-screen overlays and multilingual attendee access. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Bee: Wearable AI device that captures spoken conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries, and reminders. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Beey: Web app for automatic transcription, subtitle creation, translation, and live transcription. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Berrycast: A screen recorder and AI meeting notes tool with a Chrome extension and desktop app that records, transcribes, and summarizes calls. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Bliro: Bot-free AI meeting assistant that transcribes online and in-person conversations from device audio without recording audio or video. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Bluedot: Bot-free note taker for Meet, Zoom, Teams plus mobile recording Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
123 Notetaker AI: Microsoft Teams marketplace app from BlueSky Apps that shows live transcription in the Teams sidebar and emails AI meeting notes afterward. Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.