AAI Guide
Back to productivity
meetings

Best AI for Take meeting notes & extract action items

Capture meetings with structured notes — decisions, action items per person, and follow-ups — without manually typing during the call.

Last updated Apr 27, 2026meetingsnotesaction itemsproductivitytranscriptiongranola
Best AI for this task

Granola

Granola runs locally on your Mac/desktop, captures system audio, and produces structured notes without a bot joining your call. The "no bot" approach is the breakout 2026 trend — sales calls, exec meetings, and client conversations feel different when there's no visible third party recording. Notes capture decisions, action items by person, and follow-ups automatically.

Open Granola
Was this recommendation helpful?
Prompt template
Setup:
1. Install Granola desktop app (Mac/Windows)
2. Take rough notes during the meeting as you normally would
3. Granola enhances your notes with full meeting context after the call

Best practices:
- Use Granola's templates for different meeting types (1:1, customer call, all-hands)
- For trust-dependent meetings (sales calls, client work, exec discussions), Granola's no-bot approach is the differentiator
- Always disclose to participants if local laws require two-party consent (varies by US state and country)

Alternative if you need a bot-based tool with team collaboration: Otter.ai
Alternative if you want a generous free tier: Fathom (unlimited recordings on Zoom/Meet/Teams)
Alternative if your team lives in HubSpot/Salesforce: Fireflies (CRM-native workflows)
Runner-up

Fathom

Most generous free tier — unlimited recordings on Zoom/Meet/Teams. Best free option for individual contributors who don't mind a visible bot joining the call. Solid summary quality, less polished than Granola but free.

Open Fathom

Frequently asked

  • Do I need to disclose I'm using AI to take meeting notes?

    It depends on your jurisdiction. Two-party consent states (California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington) require all parties to consent to recording. The EU GDPR also requires informed consent for processing voice data. Bot-based tools (Otter, Fireflies) make recording visible by joining as a participant. Bot-free tools (Granola, Jamie) capture quietly — which is convenient but creates a higher bar to disclose ethically.

  • What's the difference between meeting notes and meeting transcripts?

    A transcript is a verbatim record of what was said. Notes are structured summaries — decisions, action items, follow-ups. Most modern tools produce both, but the value is in the structured notes. A wall of transcript text is rarely useful; a clear list of action items per person is.

  • Will Granola work for in-person meetings?

    Yes — it captures audio from your device microphone, so you can use it for in-person meetings, conferences, or interviews. Place your laptop on the table with mic open. Quality depends on room acoustics. For dedicated in-person tools, Jamie is also worth evaluating.

Related tasks