Bubbles: Async video and AI meeting notes with action items oTranscribe: A free, open-source web app that eases manual transcription of recorded interviews by integrating media playback controls beside a text editor. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Bubbles when teams replacing status meetings with async video updates matters most, and oTranscribe when academic and qualitative researchers transcribing fieldwork or oral-history recordings matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Async video and AI meeting notes with action items
A free, open-source web app that eases manual transcription of recorded interviews by integrating media playback controls beside a text editor.
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
oTranscribe is a free, open-source (MIT license) web app, created by Elliot Bentley and maintained by the MuckRock Foundation, that takes the pain out of transcribing recorded interviews. It runs in the browser on desktop computers and places an integrated audio or video player alongside a text editor, so you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward your recording using keyboard shortcuts without taking your hands off the keys or switching between apps. It is built for journalists, researchers, oral historians, and students who type up interviews and recordings themselves. Rather than using automatic speech recognition, oTranscribe assists manual transcription: you listen and type, inserting interactive timestamps (Ctrl+J) that you can click to jump back to that moment in the media. Your transcript autosaves to the browser's local storage, and audio files never leave your computer, keeping work private. Finished transcripts can be exported to Markdown, plain text, or oTranscribe's own .otr format, or sent to Google Drive. Rich-text formatting and adjustable playback speed are supported.
Best suited for
Bubbles is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); oTranscribe is open source (open source). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Bubbles | oTranscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Automatic meeting recording across Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom | Integrated audio/video player next to the transcript editor |
| Standout feature | AI-generated summaries and action item extraction | Keyboard shortcuts to pause, rewind, fast-forward, and adjust playback speed without leaving the keyboard |
| Team usage | Async screen and video recording for replacing live meetings | Clickable interactive timestamps that jump to the matching point in the media |
| Integrations | Threaded video and text replies on recordings | Automatic saving to browser local storage with transcript history backups |
| Languages & capture | Calendar integration with note and recording organization | Export to Markdown, plain text, .otr format, or send to Google Drive |
| Best-fit workflow | Integrations with Slack, Notion, Asana and many other tools | Local, private processing - audio and transcript never leave the user's computer |
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.
oTranscribe
Choose oTranscribe if you need journalists typing up recorded interviews for articles — strengths include completely free and open source under the mit license.
Bubbles
oTranscribe
It depends on your workflow. Bubbles is strong for teams replacing status meetings with async video updates, while oTranscribe is strong for journalists typing up recorded interviews for articles. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Bubbles is a free tier with paid upgrades and oTranscribe is open source. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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