Circleback: AI meeting assistant that automatically takes notes, transcribes in 100+ languages, assigns action items, and runs automations across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, and in-person calls. Minutes: Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Circleback when automatically capturing notes and action items so attendees can stay focused in meetings matters most, and Minutes when recording and transcribing calls locally for users who refuse cloud meeting tools matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
AI meeting assistant that automatically takes notes, transcribes in 100+ languages, assigns action items, and runs automations across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, and in-person calls.
Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents.
Circleback is a Y Combinator-backed AI meeting assistant that captures, transcribes, and organizes conversations automatically. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, GoTo, Slack huddles, and in-person meetings, and offers a botless option via its desktop app for those who prefer not to send a bot into calls. After each meeting it produces structured notes, identifies and auto-assigns action items, and provides searchable transcripts with speaker identification across 100+ languages. AI-driven automations and "Insights" can push data into connected tools and answer questions across past meetings. Integrations include Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Google Calendar, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, Zoho, Linear, Notion, Monday, Zapier, and Make, plus developer access through MCP, a CLI, and webhooks. Circleback states SOC 2, GDPR, EU-US DPF, and HIPAA compliance, and offers mobile and desktop apps. New users can try it free before subscribing.
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
Circleback is from $20.83/mo (paid); Minutes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Circleback | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | AI meeting notes | Local transcription with whisper.cpp or Parakeet, no cloud audio upload |
| Standout feature | Action item tracking | Speaker diarization to attribute who said what |
| Team usage | Multi-language transcription | Plain-markdown output with YAML frontmatter stored on your own disk |
| Integrations | AI search across meetings | MCP server exposing tools so AI agents can query meeting history |
| Languages & capture | Workflow automations | Cross-meeting search, relationship tracking, and action-item extraction |
| Best-fit workflow | AI meeting notes | macOS desktop app plus cross-platform CLI and dictation hotkey mode |
Circleback
Choose Circleback if you need automatically capturing notes and action items so attendees can stay focused in meetings — strengths include works across zoom, google meet, microsoft teams, webex, goto, slack huddles, and in-person 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.
Circleback
Minutes
It depends on your workflow. Circleback is strong for automatically capturing notes and action items so attendees can stay focused in meetings, 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.
Circleback is from $20.83/mo 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.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Circleback and Minutes.
Circleback is automation-first (it triggers CRM, Linear and Slack actions); Granola is a bot-free personal notepad. Automation versus privacy.
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