Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. OpenTranscribe: Self-hosted, containerized web app for transcribing and analyzing audio/video with WhisperX, speaker diarization, search, and collaboration. 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 OpenTranscribe when collaborative review of transcripts with time-stamped annotations 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.
Self-hosted, containerized web app for transcribing and analyzing audio/video with WhisperX, speaker diarization, search, and collaboration.
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
OpenTranscribe is a self-hosted, containerized web application for transcribing and analyzing audio and video files using current AI models. It is built with a FastAPI backend, a Svelte/TypeScript progressive web app frontend, and a Docker-based stack that includes PostgreSQL, Redis/Celery task queues, MinIO object storage, and OpenSearch for full-text indexing. Transcription is handled by WhisperX with the large-v3-turbo model and Faster-Whisper, supporting more than 100 languages, while automatic speaker diarization uses PyAnnote v4 with overlap detection. The project is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and is actively maintained, with v0.4.1 released in April 2026. Beyond transcription, OpenTranscribe provides AI-powered summarization (including BLUF-format and custom JSON schemas), topic extraction, and content analysis through multiple LLM providers such as OpenAI, Claude, vLLM, Ollama, and OpenRouter. Collaboration features include time-stamped comments and annotations, and the platform can automatically import media from local folders, S3, and SMB shares. It also supports a set of cloud ASR providers as alternatives to local transcription, giving teams flexibility between fully local processing and managed services while keeping the application running on their own infrastructure. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Cleft Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); OpenTranscribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Cleft Notes | OpenTranscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription that works offline | WhisperX transcription with large-v3-turbo and 100+ language support |
| Standout feature | Multiple output formats: organized, no-bullets, or verbatim | Automatic speaker diarization via PyAnnote v4 with overlap detection |
| Team usage | Encrypted cloud sync with user-controlled local storage | Full-text search and filtering powered by OpenSearch |
| Integrations | Integrations with Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Todoist, and Zapier | AI summarization, topic extraction, and content analysis via multiple LLM providers |
| Languages & capture | Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay | Time-stamped comments for collaboration and annotation |
| Best-fit workflow | Hands-free voice capture of thoughts and meeting recaps | Auto-import from local folders, S3, and SMB shares |
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.
OpenTranscribe
Choose OpenTranscribe if you need teams self-hosting a searchable archive of transcribed meeting and media recordings — strengths include fully self-hosted web app with a complete transcription-and-analysis stack.
Cleft Notes
OpenTranscribe
It depends on your workflow. Cleft Notes is strong for capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice, while OpenTranscribe is strong for teams self-hosting a searchable archive of transcribed meeting and media recordings. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Cleft Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades and OpenTranscribe 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.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Cleft Notes and OpenTranscribe.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. ClickUp AI Notetaker: ClickUp's built-in AI Notetaker captures meeting recordings, transcripts, and summaries and connects them to ClickUp Docs and tasks. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Clipto: Mac-based AI transcription and knowledge assistant that indexes and searches meetings, interviews, podcasts, lectures, and other audio/video locally on-device. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Close Notetaker: An AI notetaker built into Close CRM that automatically transcribes and summarizes sales calls and meetings inside the CRM. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Coach Pilot: AI sales coaching agent that joins calls, coaches reps in real time, updates the CRM, and scores deals. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Cockatoo: AI transcription and note-taking service that records and transcribes meetings and lectures, then turns them into structured notes and summaries. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Coconote: AI note taker by Quizlet that turns lectures, meetings, documents, videos, and audio into organized notes, transcripts, and study materials. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. CogniCor: AI assistant for financial advisors that automates meeting prep, note-taking, follow-ups, and forms inside the CRM. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Cogram: AI platform for the architecture, engineering and construction industry that automates meeting minutes and action items with strong privacy controls. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. ColdCALR: AI cold-call roleplay and training tool where reps practice scripts against AI prospects and get scored on technique. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Comulytic Note Pro: Card-thin AI voice recorder and companion app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, calls, and client conversations. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Condens: UX research platform for storing, transcribing, tagging, and analyzing user interviews in a searchable, collaborative repository. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. Conveo: AI-led qualitative research platform that runs video, voice, and text interviews and analyzes every signal for insights at speed. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.