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. Shadow: A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Cluely when getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls matters most, and Shadow when privacy-conscious teams that prefer on-device transcription 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.
A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant.
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
Shadow is a bot-free AI meeting assistant for macOS that captures meetings by listening to your computer's audio in the background rather than joining the call as a visible participant. Because transcription runs locally on the Mac, the audio does not need to leave the device for that core processing step, which the company positions as a privacy advantage. Shadow can automatically detect when a meeting starts, transcribe the conversation with speaker identification, and turn the discussion into structured notes, summaries, and follow-up items. It also captures on-screen content alongside the spoken audio, so material shared during a call (slides, dashboards, or shared windows) can be reflected in the output. The tool works across common conferencing platforms including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack, and Discord. Users can configure customizable prompts (described as Skills) to generate notes, summaries, or drafted emails, and connect outputs to other tools via webhooks. It is aimed at professionals and teams who want meeting capture without adding another bot to the call. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Cluely is from $0/mo (freemium); Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Cluely | Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Live transcription | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant |
| Standout feature | Real-time meeting notes | On-device (local) transcription on macOS |
| Team usage | On-demand AI answers | Speaker identification during transcription |
| Integrations | Multi-language support | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio |
| Languages & capture | Custom prompting and keybinds | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails |
| Best-fit workflow | Live transcription | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools |
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).
Shadow
Choose Shadow if you need capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining — strengths include does not add a visible bot to meetings.
Cluely
Shadow
It depends on your workflow. Cluely is strong for getting live transcripts and notes of sales, client, or team calls, while Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Cluely is from $0/mo and Shadow 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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