Condens: UX research platform for storing, transcribing, tagging, and analyzing user interviews in a searchable, collaborative repository. 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 Condens when transcribing and tagging user interview recordings matters most, and Shadow when privacy-conscious teams that prefer on-device transcription matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
UX research platform for storing, transcribing, tagging, and analyzing user interviews in a searchable, collaborative repository.
A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant.
Condens is a user research platform that helps research teams store, analyze, share, and scale customer data in one collaborative hub. It supports importing recordings, notes, and user feedback, and provides automated multilingual transcription with AI-powered speaker recognition and automated captions. For analysis, Condens offers a split-screen interface that lets researchers review raw data and tag it simultaneously, along with AI-driven pattern identification across datasets and quick generation of evidence-backed findings. All research lives in a searchable, centralized repository with cross-project insight discovery, filtering, and role-based access control for managing confidential data. Condens emphasizes real-time collaboration, allowing multiple team members to build, edit, and tag data together, and integrates with tools such as Slack, Teams, Figma, and Miro, plus whiteboard functionality for interactive sessions. Additional AI capabilities include automated bookmarking, summarization, and pattern detection across multiple studies. Positioned as a lean, practical tool for researchers who want to move quickly, Condens aims to streamline the path from interview transcripts to shareable insights without the overhead of heavier enterprise systems. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
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
Condens is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Condens | Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Automated multilingual transcription with speaker recognition and captions | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant |
| Standout feature | Split-screen interface for simultaneous data review and tagging | On-device (local) transcription on macOS |
| Team usage | AI-driven pattern identification across datasets | Speaker identification during transcription |
| Integrations | Searchable centralized repository with cross-project discovery | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio |
| Languages & capture | Real-time collaborative analysis and tagging | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails |
| Best-fit workflow | Integrations with Slack, Teams, Figma, and Miro plus whiteboards | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools |
Condens
Choose Condens if you need transcribing and tagging user interview recordings — strengths include fast, practical workflow from transcript to tagged insights.
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.
Condens
Shadow
It depends on your workflow. Condens is strong for transcribing and tagging user interview recordings, while Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Condens is a free tier with paid upgrades and Shadow 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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