Shadow and Wave 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. Wave: Cross-platform AI note taker that records and transcribes meetings, calls, and voice memos into summaries. 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 Wave when recording browser-based meetings without a bot joining 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.
Cross-platform AI note taker that records and transcribes meetings, calls, and voice memos into summaries.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Wave is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Shadow | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Bot-free capture that records system audio without joining the meeting as a participant | Records meetings, calls, lectures, and voice memos |
| Standout feature | On-device (local) transcription on macOS | Bot-free tab audio capture plus combined tab and mic mode |
| Team usage | Speaker identification during transcription | Speaker-labeled transcripts with summaries and action items |
| Integrations | Captures on-screen content in addition to spoken audio | Apps for iOS, Android, web, Mac, Windows, and Chrome |
| Languages & capture | Customizable prompts/Skills to generate notes, summaries, and emails | Support for dozens of languages |
| Best-fit workflow | Webhook integration to connect outputs to other tools | Encrypted cloud storage with no model training on user data |
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.
Wave
Choose Wave if you need recording browser-based meetings without a bot joining — strengths include bot-free capture across many platforms and devices.
Shadow
Wave
It depends on your workflow. Shadow is strong for capturing notes and summaries across multiple conferencing platforms without a bot joining, while Wave is strong for recording browser-based meetings without a bot joining. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Shadow is a free tier with paid upgrades and Wave 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.