Shadow and Spinach are both AI meeting assistants for recording, transcription, and summaries, compared here on pricing, features, and workflow fit. Shadow: A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant. Spinach: AI meeting assistant for agile teams that helps run standups, takes notes, and creates summaries and tickets. 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 Shadow when capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining matters most, and Spinach when daily standups and sprint planning matters most. Both record across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams; trial each on real meetings before committing.
A bot-free, Mac-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes calls locally without joining as a participant.
AI meeting assistant for agile teams that helps run standups, takes notes, and creates summaries and tickets.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Spinach is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Shadow | Spinach |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant | AI notes and summaries for recurring meetings |
| Standout feature | On-device (local) transcription on macOS | Standup, retro, and planning support |
| Team usage | Speaker identification during transcription | Drafts tickets and updates for project tools |
| Integrations | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio | Recording and transcription |
| Languages & capture | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails | Integrations with project-management tools |
| Best-fit workflow | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools | AI notes and summaries for recurring meetings |
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.
Spinach
Choose Spinach if you need daily standups and sprint planning — strengths include built specifically for agile ceremonies.
Shadow
Spinach
It depends on your workflow. Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining, while Spinach is strong for daily standups and sprint planning. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades and Spinach 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.