Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. 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 Cleft Notes when capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice matters most, and OpenOats when privately transcribing meetings on a mac without sending audio to the cloud matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes.
Open-source macOS meeting note-taker that transcribes calls locally and surfaces relevant talking points from your own notes in real time.
Cleft Notes is an AI-powered voice-note app that captures spoken thoughts, meeting recaps, and other audio and converts them into structured, readable notes. Users record by speaking, and the app transcribes the audio and reshapes it into organized output, offering formats such as bulleted and headed notes, flowing paragraphs without bullets, or a cleaned-up verbatim transcript. It performs transcription on-device, which allows it to work offline and supports a privacy-focused approach, with encrypted cloud sync and local file storage that users control. Cleft integrates with a range of productivity tools, including Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Todoist, and automation via Zapier, so notes can flow into existing workflows. The app is available across the Apple ecosystem, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay, making it convenient to capture thoughts hands-free. While it is broadly a voice-to-notes tool, it is commonly used to capture meeting summaries and post-meeting recaps, and it is aimed at professionals and individuals who think out loud and want spoken input turned into well-formatted notes rather than raw recordings. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
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
Cleft Notes 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 | Cleft Notes | OpenOats |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription that works offline | Real-time local transcription of both sides of a conversation on Apple Silicon |
| Standout feature | Multiple output formats: organized, no-bullets, or verbatim | Live retrieval of relevant talking points from your own notes during meetings |
| Team usage | Encrypted cloud sync with user-controlled local storage | Window hidden from screen sharing by default for privacy on calls |
| Integrations | Integrations with Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Todoist, and Zapier | Auto-saved transcripts and session logs to local files |
| Languages & capture | Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay | Works fully local via Ollama or with cloud models (OpenRouter, Voyage AI) |
| Best-fit workflow | Hands-free voice capture of thoughts and meeting recaps | MIT-licensed, self-hostable Swift application |
Cleft Notes
Choose Cleft Notes if you need capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice — strengths include on-device transcription enables offline use and privacy.
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.
Cleft Notes
OpenOats
It depends on your workflow. Cleft Notes is strong for capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice, while OpenOats is strong for getting live, context-aware prompts from your own notes during sales or customer calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Cleft Notes 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.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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