Riverside and Shadow are both AI meeting assistants for recording, transcription, and summaries, compared here on pricing, features, and workflow fit. Riverside: Browser-based podcast and video recording studio with AI transcription, captions, and text-based editing that also handles interviews and remote meetings. 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 Riverside when transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews 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.
Browser-based podcast and video recording studio with AI transcription, captions, and text-based editing that also handles interviews and remote meetings.
A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant.
Riverside 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 | Riverside | Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | AI-generated transcripts with automatic speaker detection and labeling | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant |
| Standout feature | Transcription support across more than 100 languages | On-device (local) transcription on macOS |
| Team usage | Caption and subtitle export in SRT and VTT formats | Speaker identification during transcription |
| Integrations | Text-based editing that lets users cut and rearrange recordings by editing the transcript | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio |
| Languages & capture | Local high-quality recording of each participant's audio and video track | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails |
| Best-fit workflow | AI clip generation for short-form social video | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools |
Riverside
Choose Riverside if you need transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews — strengths include records each participant locally, producing cleaner audio and video than typical call recording.
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.
Riverside
Shadow
It depends on your workflow. Riverside is strong for transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews, while Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Riverside 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.