Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Sotto: Sotto is a native macOS voice-to-text dictation app that turns speech into text system-wide using local AI transcription models. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Genio when university students recording and reviewing lectures matters most, and Sotto when privacy-first transcription of imported audio recordings on-device matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students.
Sotto is a native macOS voice-to-text dictation app that turns speech into text system-wide using local AI transcription models.
Genio, formerly known as Glean, is an assistive note-taking platform that helps students capture and learn from lectures and classes. It records class audio and provides live captions during the session, then generates a full transcript afterward, letting students focus on understanding rather than frantically writing notes. Genio lets learners add their own notes, organize material with AI-generated outlines, import slides and reading material, and review with study features such as quizzing, tying recorded audio together with class content. The platform is widely used by students, including learners with specific learning difficulties, and is adopted by educational institutions that provide it as a study and accessibility support tool. It works online or offline across devices, which suits classroom and lecture-hall environments. Genio is positioned as a mainstream learning tool that also supports accessibility needs. It is actively operating in 2025 and 2026, reporting use by well over a hundred thousand students and more than a thousand institutions, with active sign-in, pricing, and ongoing product development. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Sotto is a native Swift dictation app for macOS 13 and later that converts speech to text in real time. It works as a system-wide push-to-talk layer: the user holds a hotkey, speaks, and Sotto inserts clean text into whatever app is in focus, from Slack and Notion to Xcode and email fields. Audio is transcribed by local engines, including OpenAI Whisper models (Tiny through Large V3 Turbo and Distil Large V3) and NVIDIA Parakeet v2/v3, so by default recordings never leave the Mac; users can optionally connect cloud providers such as OpenAI or Groq with their own API keys for added accuracy. Beyond live dictation, it can import and re-transcribe audio files, supports 90+ languages, keeps a searchable history of recordings with timestamps, and offers a custom vocabulary dictionary. One-click AI processing can rewrite, summarize, translate, or reformat dictated text. It is aimed at developers, writers, and privacy-conscious professionals who want fast, local voice input rather than a cloud meeting-bot service.
Best suited for
Genio is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Sotto is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Genio | Sotto |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Class and lecture audio recording with live captions | System-wide push-to-talk dictation that inserts text into any app |
| Standout feature | Full transcript generation after the session | Local on-device transcription via Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet models |
| Team usage | AI outlines and student-added notes tied to the recording | Audio file import and re-transcription with searchable, timestamped history |
| Integrations | Import of slides and reading materials into notes | Support for 90+ languages with per-language hotkeys |
| Languages & capture | Offline and cross-device capture for classrooms | One-click AI processing to summarize, translate, or rewrite dictated text |
| Best-fit workflow | Class and lecture audio recording with live captions | Optional cloud transcription via user-supplied OpenAI or Groq API keys |
Genio
Choose Genio if you need university students recording and reviewing lectures — strengths include purpose-built for education and lecture capture.
Sotto
Choose Sotto if you need hands-free dictation of emails, messages, and documents across mac apps — strengths include local processing keeps audio on-device for strong privacy.
Genio
Sotto
It depends on your workflow. Genio is strong for university students recording and reviewing lectures, while Sotto is strong for hands-free dictation of emails, messages, and documents across mac apps. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Genio is a free tier with paid upgrades and Sotto 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.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Genio and Sotto.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Gilbert: French sovereign AI meeting note taker that generates structured reports, decisions and actions, hosted in France on SecNumCloud infrastructure. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Gladia: Developer-focused speech-to-text API with real-time and async transcription, diarization, and meeting-bot integrations. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Glinky: AI revenue intelligence platform pairing prospecting with a bot-free AI notetaker that captures sales calls and syncs details to the CRM. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Goelo: AI sales meeting assistant that records and transcribes calls, then auto-populates CRM data and generates methodology-based summaries. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Good Tape: EU-based AI transcription for interviews, meetings, podcasts, lectures, and webinars, with speaker labels and one-click summaries. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Google Pinpoint: Google's research tool for journalists that transcribes audio and video interviews into searchable text alongside documents. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Grava AI: Brazilian AI meeting recorder app (by MeuGuru) that records, transcribes with speaker identification, summarizes meetings and answers questions about recordings. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Great Question: All-in-one UX research platform combining recruitment, scheduling, and AI analysis of interviews into a connected research repository. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Hedy AI: Real-time meeting coaching and GDPR-compliant note taking Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. HeyMarvin: AI research assistant that records and transcribes user-research interviews and builds a searchable insights repository. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. HiDock: AI note-taking hardware (docks, recorders, mini devices) paired with the HiNotes app to transcribe and summarize meetings. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
Genio: Assistive note-taking tool (formerly Glean) that records and transcribes lectures and classes for students. Honeit: Interview intelligence platform for recruiting and RPO teams with built-in calling, AI transcription, and shareable interview soundbites. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.