Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. MeetMinder: Free, open-source, local-first AI meeting assistant that captures dual audio, transcribes in real time with local Whisper, and surfaces AI guidance through an invisible overlay. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Ava when real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants matters most, and MeetMinder when getting contextual ai prompts during live calls without revealing an overlay on screen shares matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings.
Free, open-source, local-first AI meeting assistant that captures dual audio, transcribes in real time with local Whisper, and surfaces AI guidance through an invisible overlay.
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
MeetMinder is a free, open-source, local-first AI meeting assistant that captures, transcribes, and maps meeting discussions in real time. It records system audio and microphone input separately and transcribes them live, with the option to run a local Whisper model fully offline for privacy. AI assistance is provided through hotkey-triggered insights and can be powered by local models through Ollama or by cloud providers such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and Google Gemini, giving users a choice between fully private and cloud-augmented setups. A knowledge base lets users upload documents and parse a resume or user profile so the assistant can give contextual, relevant guidance, and a topic graph helps track agenda items and the flow of discussion. The interface is designed to stay out of the way: it appears as a small horizontal overlay bar that does not show up in screen shares, which suits live calls and interviews. MeetMinder is released under the MIT License on GitHub and is actively maintained, with builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux and two interface options, a PyQt5 desktop UI and a lighter recommended web-based version. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Ava is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); MeetMinder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Ava | MeetMinder |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams | Real-time dual-audio transcription capturing system and microphone audio separately |
| Standout feature | Real-time live captions for in-person and online conversations | Local Whisper transcription for fully offline operation |
| Team usage | Color-coded speaker identification | AI insights via local Ollama models or cloud providers (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Gemini) |
| Integrations | Optional professional scribe service for higher accuracy | Knowledge base with document upload and resume/profile parsing for contextual assistance |
| Languages & capture | Mobile, web, and desktop apps | Topic graph for agenda tracking and discussion mapping |
| Best-fit workflow | Saved transcripts and conversation summaries | Invisible overlay bar that does not appear in screen shares |
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.
MeetMinder
Choose MeetMinder if you need private, offline real-time transcription of meetings and interviews — strengths include free and open source under the mit license.
Ava
MeetMinder
It depends on your workflow. Ava is strong for real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, while MeetMinder is strong for private, offline real-time transcription of meetings and interviews. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Ava is a free tier with paid upgrades and MeetMinder 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.
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