Shadow and Thoth 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. Thoth: Privacy-first macOS app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings entirely on-device with no cloud or data leaving the Mac. 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 Thoth when professionals handling confidential or regulated information 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.
Privacy-first macOS app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings entirely on-device with no cloud or data leaving the Mac.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Thoth is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Shadow | Thoth |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant | 100% local, on-device recording, transcription, and summarization |
| Standout feature | On-device (local) transcription on macOS | Dual-channel capture of microphone and system audio |
| Team usage | Speaker identification during transcription | On-device speaker detection with color-coded transcripts |
| Integrations | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio | Whisper-based transcription supporting many languages |
| Languages & capture | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails | On-device anonymization to redact sensitive content |
| Best-fit workflow | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools | Export to PDF, Word, Markdown, and timestamped JSON |
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.
Thoth
Choose Thoth if you need professionals handling confidential or regulated information — strengths include fully local processing with no cloud requirement and no user database.
Shadow
Thoth
It depends on your workflow. Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining, while Thoth is strong for professionals handling confidential or regulated information. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades and Thoth 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.