Cluely: Cluely is a real-time AI meeting assistant that runs as a desktop overlay to provide live transcription, automatic meeting notes, and on-demand AI answers during 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. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Cluely when getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls matters most, and Minutes when recording and transcribing calls locally for users who refuse cloud meeting tools matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Cluely is a real-time AI meeting assistant that runs as a desktop overlay to provide live transcription, automatic meeting notes, and on-demand AI answers during calls.
Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents.
Cluely is a real-time AI meeting assistant that runs as a desktop overlay (plus an iOS app) rather than joining calls as a visible bot. During a meeting it provides live transcription, automatically generates meeting notes and summaries, and surfaces on-demand AI answers when you press Cmd/Ctrl+Enter (for example, suggesting what to say or follow-up questions). It works across common conferencing tools including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Slack, and supports more than 12 languages such as English, Chinese, and Spanish. Cluely lets users add custom prompting and keybinds and upload reference files. A free Starter plan offers limited AI responses, limited notetaking, and up to three custom files. A notable positioning point is that the app is marketed as "undetectable" and designed to stay invisible to screen sharing and not appear in screen shares, a capability fully unlocked on its top tier.
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
Cluely is from $0/mo (freemium); Minutes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Cluely | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Live transcription | Local transcription with whisper.cpp or Parakeet, no cloud audio upload |
| Standout feature | Real-time meeting notes | Speaker diarization to attribute who said what |
| Team usage | On-demand AI answers | Plain-markdown output with YAML frontmatter stored on your own disk |
| Integrations | Multi-language support | MCP server exposing tools so AI agents can query meeting history |
| Languages & capture | Custom prompting and keybinds | Cross-meeting search, relationship tracking, and action-item extraction |
| Best-fit workflow | Live transcription | macOS desktop app plus cross-platform CLI and dictation hotkey mode |
Cluely
Choose Cluely if you need getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls — strengths include works across major conferencing tools (zoom, google meet, microsoft teams, webex, slack).
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.
Cluely
Minutes
It depends on your workflow. Cluely is strong for getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls, 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.
Cluely is from $0/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.
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