CallBro: Bot-free AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls from system audio and produces structured notes without joining the call. Minutes: Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist CallBro when transcribing legal client meetings, consultations, and intake calls without a visible recorder matters most, and Minutes when recording and transcribing calls locally for users who refuse cloud meeting tools matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Bot-free AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls from system audio and produces structured notes without joining the call.
Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents.
CallBro is a desktop AI meeting assistant that records and transcribes meetings in real time directly from your device's system audio and microphone, without sending a separate bot to join the call. Because capture happens locally at the system level, it works with any meeting platform, including Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, as well as in-person conversations, and it remains invisible to other participants. CallBro combines the live transcript with the user's own typed notes to generate structured summaries that highlight key decisions, action items, and next steps, and it includes an AI chat that can answer questions about the meeting or draft follow-ups using the full context of the transcript and notes. The product is offered as a downloadable application for macOS and Windows, with Linux noted as upcoming, and the website lists dedicated use cases for lawyers and students alongside general business meetings. Its bot-free, device-only approach makes it relevant for professionals handling sensitive conversations, such as legal client meetings and consultations, where a visible third-party recorder may be undesirable. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Minutes, built by Mat Silverstein, is an open-source, privacy-first conversation memory layer that captures meetings, calls, voice memos, and dictation and turns them into searchable, AI-accessible notes. It transcribes audio locally using whisper.cpp or Parakeet so audio never has to leave the machine, performs speaker diarization to separate voices, and extracts decisions and action items, writing everything to the user's own disk as plain markdown files with structured YAML frontmatter. Because the output lives in a local folder (for example ~/meetings/), the notes can sync across devices through iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive and can be read directly by AI tools. A central design goal is integration with AI assistants: Minutes runs an MCP server exposing a large set of tools so coding and chat agents such as Claude, Codex, Gemini CLI, and others can query past conversations, track relationships across meetings, and surface what was promised to whom. It ships as a macOS desktop app with a menu-bar recorder and AI assistant, plus a cross-platform command-line interface, and includes a dictation hotkey mode. The project is MIT licensed, installable via Homebrew, and actively maintained with frequent releases, making it a fully self-hostable option for people who want durable, private, searchable meeting memory rather than a cloud subscription. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
CallBro is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Minutes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | CallBro | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Bot-free capture from system audio and microphone, no participant bot | Local transcription with whisper.cpp or Parakeet, no cloud audio upload |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription with speaker-aware formatting | Speaker diarization to attribute who said what |
| Team usage | Structured notes combining the transcript with the user's own notes | Plain-markdown output with YAML frontmatter stored on your own disk |
| Integrations | In-meeting and post-meeting AI chat for recall and follow-up drafting | MCP server exposing tools so AI agents can query meeting history |
| Languages & capture | Works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or in-person meetings | Cross-meeting search, relationship tracking, and action-item extraction |
| Best-fit workflow | Downloadable apps for macOS and Windows | macOS desktop app plus cross-platform CLI and dictation hotkey mode |
CallBro
Choose CallBro if you need transcribing legal client meetings, consultations, and intake calls without a visible recorder — strengths include no bot joins the call, which suits sensitive or private meetings.
Minutes
Choose Minutes if you need building a private, searchable memory of meetings and voice notes that ai agents can query — strengths include fully local-first and mit licensed, keeping conversation data private and portable.
CallBro
Minutes
It depends on your workflow. CallBro is strong for transcribing legal client meetings, consultations, and intake calls without a visible recorder, while Minutes is strong for building a private, searchable memory of meetings and voice notes that ai agents can query. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
CallBro is a free tier with paid upgrades and Minutes is a free tier with paid upgrades. 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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