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. Swell AI: Swell AI transcribes podcast audio and video with automatic speaker labeling and turns the transcript into show notes, articles, summaries, and social posts. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
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 Swell AI when turning a single episode into show notes, a blog article, and social posts for distribution matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
A 100% local, no-bot meeting recorder for Mac and iOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes entirely on-device, built by the BuildBetter team.
Swell AI transcribes podcast audio and video with automatic speaker labeling and turns the transcript into show notes, articles, summaries, and social posts.
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
Swell AI is a transcription and content-repurposing platform built for podcasters, content creators, marketers, and agencies. Users upload audio or video, or pull episodes in from sources such as RSS feeds, Apple Podcasts, YouTube links, and cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Swell AI generates a transcript in which speakers are automatically identified and labeled, and provides a transcript editor where you can highlight and clip sections, which the platform saves for reuse across a team. From the same transcript it produces repurposed content: show notes, summaries, long-form SEO articles, newsletters, titles and keywords, and social posts such as LinkedIn posts, Twitter/X threads, and Instagram captions. It can also export highlighted sections as video clips and audiograms, and create an episode-trained chatbot that can be embedded on a site. The platform offers a REST API for custom integrations and a dashboard for managing multiple shows. It is distinct in pairing accurate transcription with a broad, podcast-focused repurposing pipeline rather than transcription alone.
Best suited for
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Swell AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | BB Recorder | Swell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | No-bot capture of system audio directly on the device | Audio and video transcription with automatic speaker identification and labeling |
| Standout feature | Fully on-device recording, transcription, and summarization | Transcript editor for highlighting and clipping sections, with AI-suggested compelling segments |
| Team usage | Local AI chat to ask questions about a captured meeting | Content repurposing into show notes, summaries, SEO articles, newsletters, and social posts |
| Integrations | Calendar linking to associate recordings with scheduled meetings | Video clip and audiogram export from highlighted transcript sections |
| Languages & capture | Available for macOS and iOS | Bulk import from RSS feeds, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) |
| Best-fit workflow | Built by the BuildBetter team with an AI transparency policy | REST API and multi-show dashboard for teams and agencies |
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.
Swell AI
Choose Swell AI if you need transcribing podcast episodes and labeling speakers for an accurate, editable transcript — strengths include combines accurate transcription with a wide range of automated repurposing outputs in one tool.
BB Recorder
Swell AI
It depends on your workflow. BB Recorder is strong for regulated or privacy-sensitive teams that cannot send audio to the cloud, while Swell AI is strong for transcribing podcast episodes and labeling speakers for an accurate, editable transcript. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
BB Recorder is a free tier with paid upgrades and Swell AI 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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