Minutes and Shadow are both AI meeting assistants for recording, transcription, and summaries, compared here on pricing, features, and workflow fit. Minutes: Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents. Shadow: A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant. They overlap on ai-meeting-assistants, so the right pick depends on team size, budget, and which meeting workflows you automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
For ai-meeting-assistants workflows, shortlist Minutes when building a private, searchable memory of meetings and voice notes that ai agents can query matters most, and Shadow when capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining matters most. Both record across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams; trial each on real meetings before committing.
Open-source, local-first conversation memory layer that records and transcribes meetings, diarizes speakers, and stores searchable notes as markdown for AI agents.
A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant.
Minutes 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 | Minutes | Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Local transcription with whisper.cpp or Parakeet, no cloud audio upload | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant |
| Standout feature | Speaker diarization to attribute who said what | On-device (local) transcription on macOS |
| Team usage | Plain-markdown output with YAML frontmatter stored on your own disk | Speaker identification during transcription |
| Integrations | MCP server exposing tools so AI agents can query meeting history | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio |
| Languages & capture | Cross-meeting search, relationship tracking, and action-item extraction | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails |
| Best-fit workflow | macOS desktop app plus cross-platform CLI and dictation hotkey mode | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools |
Minutes
Choose Minutes if you need building a private, searchable memory of meetings and voice notes that ai agents can query — strengths include fully local-first and mit licensed, keeping conversation data private and portable.
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.
Minutes
Shadow
It depends on your workflow. Minutes is strong for building a private, searchable memory of meetings and voice notes that ai agents can query, while Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Minutes 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.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary and the budget is justified.