Shadow and Vexa 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. Vexa: API-first, open-source meeting transcription platform that deploys bots to capture real-time, speaker-labeled transcripts for developers. 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 Vexa when building custom meeting-intelligence features into a product 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.
API-first, open-source meeting transcription platform that deploys bots to capture real-time, speaker-labeled transcripts for developers.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Vexa is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Shadow | Vexa |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant | API-first design with REST and WebSocket interfaces |
| Standout feature | On-device (local) transcription on macOS | Real-time, speaker-diarized transcription with low latency |
| Team usage | Speaker identification during transcription | Deployable bots that join meetings via URL to capture audio |
| Integrations | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio | Open-source (Apache 2.0) with self-hosted or managed cloud options |
| Languages & capture | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails | Data storage with query and export capabilities |
| Best-fit workflow | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools | Supports Google Meet and Microsoft Teams (Zoom planned) |
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.
Vexa
Choose Vexa if you need building custom meeting-intelligence features into a product — strengths include programmable infrastructure for embedding meeting transcription into products.
Shadow
Vexa
It depends on your workflow. Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining, while Vexa is strong for building custom meeting-intelligence features into a product. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades and Vexa 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.