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. 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 Cluely when getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls matters most, and OpenOats when privately transcribing meetings on a mac without sending audio to the cloud matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
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 macOS meeting note-taker that transcribes calls locally and surfaces relevant talking points from your own notes in real time.
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
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
Cluely is from $0/mo (freemium); OpenOats is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Cluely | OpenOats |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Live transcription | Real-time local transcription of both sides of a conversation on Apple Silicon |
| Standout feature | Real-time meeting notes | Live retrieval of relevant talking points from your own notes during meetings |
| Team usage | On-demand AI answers | Window hidden from screen sharing by default for privacy on calls |
| Integrations | Multi-language support | Auto-saved transcripts and session logs to local files |
| Languages & capture | Custom prompting and keybinds | Works fully local via Ollama or with cloud models (OpenRouter, Voyage AI) |
| Best-fit workflow | Live transcription | MIT-licensed, self-hostable Swift application |
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).
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.
Cluely
OpenOats
It depends on your workflow. Cluely is strong for getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls, while OpenOats is strong for getting live, context-aware prompts from your own notes during sales or customer calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Cluely is from $0/mo and OpenOats 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.
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