Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Handy: Handy is a free, open-source, cross-platform push-to-talk app that transcribes your speech to text completely offline and pastes it into any text field. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Bubbles when teams replacing status meetings with async video updates matters most, and Handy when privacy-sensitive voice-to-text where audio must stay on-device matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Async video and AI meeting notes with action items
Handy is a free, open-source, cross-platform push-to-talk app that transcribes your speech to text completely offline and pastes it into any text field.
Bubbles is an AI meeting notetaker combined with an asynchronous screen and video recorder. For live meetings, it can automatically join and record calls on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, then produce AI-generated summaries and extract action items so participants do not have to take notes manually. Recordings, transcripts and notes are organized in a centralized workspace and tied to calendar events, making it easy to find and share what was discussed. Beyond live meetings, Bubbles is built around reducing the number of meetings teams hold: users can record short async videos with screen capture and voice, then collect threaded video and text replies, which lets routine updates, design feedback and quick questions happen without scheduling a call. It connects with calendars such as Google Calendar and Outlook and integrates with a wide range of other tools including Slack, Notion and Asana for routing notes and recordings into existing workflows. Bubbles is aimed at marketers, designers, product managers and other collaborative teams that want to cut meeting time while keeping a clear record of decisions and next steps. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Handy is a free, open-source desktop application that turns your voice into text completely offline, with no audio ever leaving your computer. You press a configurable keyboard shortcut, speak, and release (push-to-talk), or use a toggle mode to start and stop; Handy transcribes what you said and automatically pastes the result into whatever text field is active. Because it runs entirely on-device, it is built for privacy-conscious users who want dictation without cloud uploads or subscriptions. Under the hood it is built with Tauri (a Rust backend with a React/TypeScript frontend) and supports multiple local speech-recognition models, including OpenAI's Whisper variants with GPU acceleration and the CPU-friendly Parakeet V3 model with automatic language detection. Silero Voice Activity Detection filters out silence so only speech is processed. Handy runs on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux, and is released under the MIT license. It positions itself as an accessible, extensible alternative to paid dictation tools, and is best suited for hands-free typing rather than recording multi-party meetings.
Best suited for
Bubbles is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Handy is open source (open source). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Bubbles | Handy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Automatic meeting recording across Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom | Push-to-talk and toggle dictation modes with a configurable global keyboard shortcut |
| Standout feature | AI-generated summaries and action item extraction | Fully offline, on-device transcription with no cloud uploads |
| Team usage | Async screen and video recording for replacing live meetings | Multiple local speech models including Whisper (GPU-accelerated) and Parakeet V3 (CPU, auto language detection) |
| Integrations | Threaded video and text replies on recordings | Silero Voice Activity Detection to filter silence and process only speech |
| Languages & capture | Calendar integration with note and recording organization | Automatically pastes transcribed text into any active application text field |
| Best-fit workflow | Integrations with Slack, Notion, Asana and many other tools | Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Tauri |
Bubbles
Choose Bubbles if you need teams replacing status meetings with async video updates — strengths include combines live meeting notes with async video collaboration in one tool.
Handy
Choose Handy if you need hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors — strengths include completely free, open-source (mit) with no subscription or paywall.
Bubbles
Handy
It depends on your workflow. Bubbles is strong for teams replacing status meetings with async video updates, while Handy is strong for hands-free dictation into emails, documents, chat apps, and code editors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Bubbles is a free tier with paid upgrades and Handy is open source. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Often yes: teams combine tools when one handles capture and another handles analysis.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Bubbles and Handy.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items BuildBetter: A no-bot meeting recorder (BB Recorder) that captures and processes calls locally on Mac, with optional cloud upload for team collaboration. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items CLOVA Note: South Korean AI meeting-minutes service by Naver that records meetings, transcribes speech, separates speakers, and generates summaries and action items. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Calendly Notetaker: An AI meeting notetaker built into the Calendly scheduling platform that records meetings and generates summaries, transcripts, and action items. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items CallBro: Bot-free AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls from system audio and produces structured notes without joining the call. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
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Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items CaptureMyMeeting: AI meeting assistant that imports Zoom and Webex cloud recordings to generate notes, action items, and insights. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Carv: AI assistant for recruiters that records, transcribes, and takes notes during interviews and intake calls, then drafts documents and updates the ATS. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Castmagic: AI content platform that transcribes podcasts, videos, and recorded meetings with speaker diarization and turns them into show notes, summaries, and other assets. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Celeste AI: Brazilian Portuguese-focused AI voice and transcription platform offering on-demand transcription plus a meeting assistant and AI notes, with credit-based and subscription plans. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items Choppity: AI video and audio platform that transcribes recordings, generates styled captions, and turns long-form content into short clips. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.