Carbon Voice: Carbon Voice is an asynchronous voice-messaging app that automatically transcribes voice memos and uses AI to generate summaries, action items, and documents. Minutes: Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Carbon Voice when replacing status meetings and calls with async voice messages that get auto-transcribed and summarized 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.
Carbon Voice is an asynchronous voice-messaging app that automatically transcribes voice memos and uses AI to generate summaries, action items, and documents.
Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents.
Carbon Voice is an asynchronous voice-messaging and voice-notes app for iOS, Android, Web, and Apple Watch. Users record voice memos or messages with a single keystroke or swipe, and every message is automatically transcribed so it can be read, searched, labeled, and organized. The app is built around reducing real-time meetings and calls: instead of scheduling synchronous time, teammates exchange voice messages that the recipient can catch up on later. Layered on top is a large library of AI actions that turn raw voice into structured content — bulleted summaries, cleaned-up transcripts (removing filler words and fixing grammar), meeting notes, agendas, action items, professional emails, and longer documents such as PRDs and reports. Users can also query an AI assistant about any chat. A Global Voice feature can translate messages between languages, and messages can be sent to people who don't have the app via a secure email link. It is aimed at distributed teams, managers, and individuals who prefer talking over typing.
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
Carbon Voice 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 | Carbon Voice | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Automatic transcription of every voice message, made searchable and organizable | Local transcription with whisper.cpp or Parakeet, no cloud audio upload |
| Standout feature | AI summaries, catch-ups, and action-item extraction from conversations | Speaker diarization to attribute who said what |
| Team usage | AI document generation (meeting notes, agendas, emails, PRDs, reports) from voice | Plain-markdown output with YAML frontmatter stored on your own disk |
| Integrations | Transcript clean-up that removes filler words and corrects grammar | MCP server exposing tools so AI agents can query meeting history |
| Languages & capture | Cross-platform sync across iOS, Android, Web, and Apple Watch | Cross-meeting search, relationship tracking, and action-item extraction |
| Best-fit workflow | Global Voice automatic translation between languages | macOS desktop app plus cross-platform CLI and dictation hotkey mode |
Carbon Voice
Choose Carbon Voice if you need replacing status meetings and calls with async voice messages that get auto-transcribed and summarized — strengths include combines voice capture, automatic transcription, and a broad set of ai summarization/document actions in one app.
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.
Carbon Voice
Minutes
It depends on your workflow. Carbon Voice is strong for replacing status meetings and calls with async voice messages that get auto-transcribed and summarized, 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.
Carbon Voice 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.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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