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. ownscribe: Local-first command-line tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings on macOS entirely on-device, with natural-language search across notes. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
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 ownscribe when keeping fully on-device transcripts and summaries for privacy-sensitive discussions matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
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.
Local-first command-line tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings on macOS entirely on-device, with natural-language search across notes.
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
ownscribe is a local-first meeting transcription and summarization command-line tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings entirely on the user's own machine without sending data to external servers. It is MIT-licensed and actively maintained, with v0.12.0 released in June 2026, and is written primarily in Python with a Swift component for system audio capture. On macOS 14.2 and later it captures system audio through Core Audio, and it transcribes with WhisperX to produce word-level timestamps, with optional speaker diarization via PyAnnote. For summaries it ships with a built-in local model (Phi-4-mini) and can also connect to Ollama or OpenAI-compatible backends, offering multiple templates tailored to meetings, lectures, and brief summaries. A standout feature is its natural-language search: the ask command lets users query across their stored meeting notes to retrieve relevant information. Quality-of-life features include silence-based auto-stop so recordings end cleanly when a meeting goes quiet. Because it is a CLI distributed through GitHub and runs entirely on local hardware, ownscribe targets developers and privacy-focused users who prefer scriptable, terminal-driven workflows over a graphical meeting notetaker while keeping all audio and transcripts on-device. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Circleback is from $20.83/mo (paid); ownscribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Circleback | ownscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | AI meeting notes | Local-first recording, transcription, and summarization via CLI |
| Standout feature | Action item tracking | System audio capture on macOS 14.2+ through Core Audio |
| Team usage | Multi-language transcription | WhisperX transcription with word-level timestamps |
| Integrations | AI search across meetings | Optional speaker diarization via PyAnnote |
| Languages & capture | Workflow automations | Local summarization with a built-in Phi-4-mini model, plus Ollama and OpenAI-compatible backends |
| Best-fit workflow | AI meeting notes | Natural-language search across meeting notes with the ask command |
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.
ownscribe
Choose ownscribe if you need developers capturing and summarizing meetings from the terminal on a mac — strengths include runs entirely on-device with no data sent to external servers.
Circleback
ownscribe
It depends on your workflow. Circleback is strong for automatically capturing notes and action items so attendees can stay focused in meetings, while ownscribe is strong for developers capturing and summarizing meetings from the terminal on a mac. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Circleback is from $20.83/mo and ownscribe 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 ownscribe.
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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