Cleft Notes: AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes. oTranscribe: A free, open-source web app that eases manual transcription of recorded interviews by integrating media playback controls beside a text editor. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Cleft Notes when capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice matters most, and oTranscribe when academic and qualitative researchers transcribing fieldwork or oral-history recordings matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
AI voice-note app that turns spoken thoughts and meeting audio into structured, organized notes.
A free, open-source web app that eases manual transcription of recorded interviews by integrating media playback controls beside a text editor.
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
oTranscribe is a free, open-source (MIT license) web app, created by Elliot Bentley and maintained by the MuckRock Foundation, that takes the pain out of transcribing recorded interviews. It runs in the browser on desktop computers and places an integrated audio or video player alongside a text editor, so you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward your recording using keyboard shortcuts without taking your hands off the keys or switching between apps. It is built for journalists, researchers, oral historians, and students who type up interviews and recordings themselves. Rather than using automatic speech recognition, oTranscribe assists manual transcription: you listen and type, inserting interactive timestamps (Ctrl+J) that you can click to jump back to that moment in the media. Your transcript autosaves to the browser's local storage, and audio files never leave your computer, keeping work private. Finished transcripts can be exported to Markdown, plain text, or oTranscribe's own .otr format, or sent to Google Drive. Rich-text formatting and adjustable playback speed are supported.
Best suited for
Cleft Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); oTranscribe is open source (open source). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Cleft Notes | oTranscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | On-device transcription that works offline | Integrated audio/video player next to the transcript editor |
| Standout feature | Multiple output formats: organized, no-bullets, or verbatim | Keyboard shortcuts to pause, rewind, fast-forward, and adjust playback speed without leaving the keyboard |
| Team usage | Encrypted cloud sync with user-controlled local storage | Clickable interactive timestamps that jump to the matching point in the media |
| Integrations | Integrations with Notion, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Todoist, and Zapier | Automatic saving to browser local storage with transcript history backups |
| Languages & capture | Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay | Export to Markdown, plain text, .otr format, or send to Google Drive |
| Best-fit workflow | Hands-free voice capture of thoughts and meeting recaps | Local, private processing - audio and transcript never leave the user's computer |
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.
oTranscribe
Choose oTranscribe if you need journalists typing up recorded interviews for articles — strengths include completely free and open source under the mit license.
Cleft Notes
oTranscribe
It depends on your workflow. Cleft Notes is strong for capturing post-meeting recaps and action items by voice, while oTranscribe is strong for journalists typing up recorded interviews for articles. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Cleft Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades and oTranscribe is open source. 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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