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. OpenOats: Open-source macOS meeting note-taker that transcribes calls locally and surfaces relevant talking points from your own notes in real time. 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 Carbon Voice when replacing status meetings and calls with async voice messages that get auto-transcribed and summarized matters most, and OpenOats when privately transcribing meetings on a mac without sending audio to the cloud matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
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 macOS meeting note-taker that transcribes calls locally and surfaces relevant talking points from your own notes in real time.
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
OpenOats is an open-source macOS meeting note-taker, created by Yazin Akkawi (the project was previously named OpenGranola before being renamed), that sits alongside your calls and both transcribes the conversation and helps you contribute to it. It captures both sides of a meeting and transcribes audio locally on Apple Silicon so audio never leaves the device, while in real time it searches your own markdown or plain-text knowledge base to surface relevant talking points and things worth saying during the discussion. The application window is hidden from screen sharing by default, which lets it stay private during video calls, and transcripts and session logs are auto-saved locally. OpenOats supports both fully local operation through Ollama and cloud providers such as OpenRouter and Voyage AI, so users can choose between complete offline privacy and hosted models. It is written primarily in Swift, distributed under the MIT license, and actively maintained with very frequent releases. The project documents itself at openoats.com and targets users who want a privacy-respecting, self-hostable alternative to cloud meeting copilots, combining live transcription with a retrieval layer over personal notes rather than only producing an after-the-fact summary. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Carbon Voice is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); OpenOats is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Carbon Voice | OpenOats |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Automatic transcription of every voice message, made searchable and organizable | Real-time local transcription of both sides of a conversation on Apple Silicon |
| Standout feature | AI summaries, catch-ups, and action-item extraction from conversations | Live retrieval of relevant talking points from your own notes during meetings |
| Team usage | AI document generation (meeting notes, agendas, emails, PRDs, reports) from voice | Window hidden from screen sharing by default for privacy on calls |
| Integrations | Transcript clean-up that removes filler words and corrects grammar | Auto-saved transcripts and session logs to local files |
| Languages & capture | Cross-platform sync across iOS, Android, Web, and Apple Watch | Works fully local via Ollama or with cloud models (OpenRouter, Voyage AI) |
| Best-fit workflow | Global Voice automatic translation between languages | MIT-licensed, self-hostable Swift application |
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.
OpenOats
Choose OpenOats if you need getting live, context-aware prompts from your own notes during sales or customer calls — strengths include local on-device transcription keeps meeting audio private.
Carbon Voice
OpenOats
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 OpenOats is strong for getting live, context-aware prompts from your own notes during sales or customer calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Carbon Voice is a free tier with paid upgrades and OpenOats is a free tier with paid upgrades. 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.
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