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. Riverside: Browser-based podcast and video recording studio with AI transcription, captions, and text-based editing that also handles interviews and remote meetings. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist BB Recorder when regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud matters most, and Riverside when running and documenting remote interviews or small group conversations matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
A 100% local, no-bot meeting recorder for Mac and iOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes entirely on-device, built by the BuildBetter team.
Browser-based podcast and video recording studio with AI transcription, captions, and text-based editing that also handles interviews and remote meetings.
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
Riverside is a web-based recording and editing studio built primarily for podcasters and video creators, with capabilities that extend to remote interviews and meetings. Participants join through a browser link without signing up, and Riverside records each person's audio and video locally on their own device before uploading the high-quality files after the session, which avoids the compression and dropout problems of standard video-call recording. Once a session is recorded or an existing file is uploaded, Riverside automatically generates a transcript using AI speech recognition, detects and labels separate speakers, and supports transcription across more than 100 languages. The transcript can be downloaded as plain text or as SRT/VTT caption files, and it powers text-based editing, where users trim or rearrange the recording by editing the transcript rather than a waveform. Riverside also offers AI clip generation for short-form social video and a teleprompter. It is aimed at podcasters, content creators, marketing teams, and anyone running recorded interviews or small group conversations that need clean transcripts and captions. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Riverside is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BB Recorder | Riverside |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | No-bot capture of system audio directly on the device | AI-generated transcripts with automatic speaker detection and labeling |
| Standout feature | Fully on-device recording, transcription, and summarization | Transcription support across more than 100 languages |
| Team usage | Local AI chat to ask questions about a captured meeting | Caption and subtitle export in SRT and VTT formats |
| Integrations | Calendar linking to associate recordings with scheduled meetings | Text-based editing that lets users cut and rearrange recordings by editing the transcript |
| Languages & capture | Available for macOS and iOS | Local high-quality recording of each participant's audio and video track |
| Best-fit workflow | Built by the BuildBetter team with an AI transparency policy | AI clip generation for short-form social video |
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.
Riverside
Choose Riverside if you need transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews — strengths include records each participant locally, producing cleaner audio and video than typical call recording.
BB Recorder
Riverside
It depends on your workflow. BB Recorder is strong for regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud, while Riverside is strong for transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades and Riverside 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.
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