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. Steno: Steno is a tech-enabled court reporting and litigation support platform that captures, transcribes, and analyzes legal proceedings such as depositions, including an AI transcript analysis tool. 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 Steno when using ai to summarize, search, and compare deposition transcripts for case strategy 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.
Steno is a tech-enabled court reporting and litigation support platform that captures, transcribes, and analyzes legal proceedings such as depositions, including an AI transcript analysis tool.
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
Steno is a court reporting and litigation services company built for law firms and attorneys. It provides access to a network of certified court reporters who capture spoken proceedings and produce transcripts in rough, original, and certified formats, with realtime, next-day, and expedited delivery options. For remote work, Steno Connect is a Zoom app purpose-built for depositions, adding secure exhibit handling, annotation, and a live technical assistant; the company reports SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance. Video capabilities include standard video plus text-to-video synchronization. Its AI tool, Transcript Genius, reads case transcripts to generate summaries, answer conversational questions with page and line citations, run semantic and exact-match search, and compare multiple transcripts to surface contradictions; users can also upload outside .txt and .pdf transcripts. A Firm Dashboard handles scheduling, file access, and invoicing, and integrations include Zoom, Clio, and Litify. Steno also offers deferred, contingency-friendly payment. It is aimed primarily at litigators and legal support staff rather than general business meetings.
Best suited for
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Steno is custom pricing (contact sales). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BB Recorder | Steno |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | No-bot capture of system audio directly on the device | Certified court reporters producing rough, original, and certified transcripts |
| Standout feature | Fully on-device recording, transcription, and summarization | Interactive realtime transcription during proceedings |
| Team usage | Local AI chat to ask questions about a captured meeting | Steno Connect Zoom app for remote depositions with exhibit handling |
| Integrations | Calendar linking to associate recordings with scheduled meetings | Transcript Genius AI for summaries, semantic search, and Q&A with page/line citations |
| Languages & capture | Available for macOS and iOS | Multi-transcript comparison to surface contradictions and discrepancies |
| Best-fit workflow | Built by the BuildBetter team with an AI transparency policy | Firm Dashboard for scheduling, file access, and invoice management |
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.
Steno
Choose Steno if you need scheduling and capturing certified transcripts for remote or in-person depositions — strengths include combines human-certified court reporting with ai-powered transcript analysis.
BB Recorder
Steno
It depends on your workflow. BB Recorder is strong for regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud, while Steno is strong for scheduling and capturing certified transcripts for remote or in-person depositions. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades and Steno is custom pricing. 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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