Daisy: Local-first, open-source macOS meeting recorder and AI notes app that transcribes on-device and exposes meetings to AI tools through a local MCP server. Notewise: Handwriting and PDF note-taking app for Apple devices with AI audio transcription for lectures and meetings. 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 Daisy when recording and transcribing meetings privately on a mac without cloud upload matters most, and Notewise when annotating course pdfs and slides with synced audio matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Local-first, open-source macOS meeting recorder and AI notes app that transcribes on-device and exposes meetings to AI tools through a local MCP server.
Handwriting and PDF note-taking app for Apple devices with AI audio transcription for lectures and meetings.
Daisy, from Addicted Studio, is a local-first meeting recorder and AI notes application for macOS that records meetings on the Mac, transcribes them on the device, and then exposes the captured conversations as a local MCP server for AI tools. It captures both microphone and system audio from any source, including Zoom, Google Meet, Telegram, and other apps, using ScreenCaptureKit, and performs on-device transcription with WhisperKit plus speaker identification via Pyannote diarization, so audio never leaves the Mac unless the user explicitly enables a cloud LLM provider. Beyond raw transcription, Daisy generates structured notes with action items and follow-ups and supports multiple summarization backends including Apple Intelligence, Anthropic, and OpenAI, as well as MCP. Because it runs a local MCP server, tools such as Claude Desktop and Cursor can read recorded meetings directly, and Daisy can export results to Notion, Linear, Attio, Slack, or arbitrary webhooks. It offers several capture modes covering meeting recording, voice dictation, and quick voice notes. Daisy is a native Mac application (not Electron) for Apple Silicon, is fully open source on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license, and emphasizes privacy with no telemetry, tracking, or required account. The project maintains a product site at mydaisy.io with installation, FAQ, and support documentation. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Notewise is a note-taking app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro that combines handwritten notes and PDF annotation with AI features for students and other learners. It offers low-latency handwriting with palm rejection, multiple pen and highlighter styles, shape and table tools, and image insertion, alongside PDF markup and annotation. Its AI capabilities include audio transcription that turns lectures, meetings, and memos into text, with the transcription synced to the moment in your handwritten notes so you can tap a note and hear what was being said. Notewise also provides handwriting OCR across more than 20 languages, letting users search across handwriting, typed notes, audio transcripts, and PDFs in one place. Additional AI tools include a chat interface to query your notes, context-aware question answering on highlighted content, and auto-generated audio summaries of notes. Real-time collaboration in shared notebooks and cloud sync across devices round out the feature set. Notewise is well suited to students who take handwritten lecture notes on an iPad and want recorded audio transcribed and tied back to what they wrote, with export to PDF and other formats. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Daisy is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Notewise is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Daisy | Notewise |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Local recording of mic and system audio from any source via ScreenCaptureKit | AI audio transcription of lectures and meetings synced to handwritten notes |
| Standout feature | On-device transcription with WhisperKit and speaker diarization via Pyannote | Low-latency handwriting with palm rejection plus PDF annotation |
| Team usage | Structured AI notes with action items and follow-ups | Handwriting OCR across more than 20 languages with unified search |
| Integrations | Multiple summarization backends: Apple Intelligence, Anthropic, OpenAI, and MCP | AI chat to query notes and context-aware Q&A on highlighted content |
| Languages & capture | Local MCP server so Claude Desktop, Cursor, and similar tools can read meetings | Auto-generated audio summaries of notes |
| Best-fit workflow | Exports to Notion, Linear, Attio, Slack, or custom webhooks | Real-time collaboration in shared notebooks and cross-device cloud sync |
Daisy
Choose Daisy if you need recording and transcribing meetings privately on a mac without cloud upload — strengths include fully local-first with audio kept on-device unless a cloud llm is explicitly enabled.
Notewise
Choose Notewise if you need handwriting lecture notes on an ipad while recording and transcribing class audio — strengths include ties lecture audio transcription directly to the moment in handwritten notes.
Daisy
Notewise
It depends on your workflow. Daisy is strong for recording and transcribing meetings privately on a mac without cloud upload, while Notewise is strong for handwriting lecture notes on an ipad while recording and transcribing class audio. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Daisy is a free tier with paid upgrades and Notewise is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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