Ranked by what each one transcribes
The best meeting transcription software
Transcription is close to a commodity; what separates these tools is what they can hear and what they do with it. Fireflies adds conversation intelligence and CRM sync on top of the transcript. Notta is the one to use for files you already have. Otter gives you a live transcript during the call. All of them need a call or a file; only a device reaches a conversation in a room.
§Our bias, stated. Scriben appears here because it transcribes, but it is hardware and it is not software — if you want an app for files you already have, one of the others is the right answer and the table says which. Every fact below was read off the vendor’s own site, checked on 15 September 2026. Products change — check theirs before you buy, and tell us if anything here has gone out of date.
The ranking
6 tools, in order, and why.
01 / Fireflies.ai
Meeting assistant · Joins the call as a notetaker
- Best for — Transcription with conversation intelligence on top, and CRM sync for sales calls.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — Transcription, conversation intelligence and CRM sync for recorded calls.
- Against it — The notetaker is visible in the participant list, which changes how some rooms talk, and some organisations block bots outright.
02 / Notta
Transcription app · Web meetings and uploads
- Best for — The one built for files as well as meetings: upload a recording and get it back as text.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — Transcribes web meetings and audio files you upload.
- Against it — It needs a call or a file. It does not capture a room on its own.
03 / Otter.ai
Meeting assistant · Joins the call
- Best for — The live transcript: you can read along while the other person is still talking.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — A live transcript you can read while the call is running, plus summaries afterwards.
- Against it — It needs a call to join. A conversation across a desk with no meeting attached is invisible to it.
04 / Fathom
Meeting assistant · Joins the call
- Best for — Recordings with an instant summary, if a summary matters more to you than the raw text.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — Call recordings with instant summaries.
- Against it — Video calls only. Anything said in a room with no call running is outside what it can capture.
05 / Granola
Meeting notepad · Your computer’s own audio
- Best for — No bot in the call: it transcribes your computer’s own audio around the notes you type.
- Needs — The app open on the machine.
- Features — Fills in your own typed shorthand from the computer’s audio, with no bot in the call.
- Against it — Something has to be running on a computer in the conversation.
06 / Scriben — ours
AI pen · The room, offline
- Best for — The only one that transcribes a room with no call attached. It is also hardware, so it is the odd one out on a software page.
- Needs — Nothing running.
- Features — Up to 18 hours of offline recording and 400 hours of storage on the pen; speaker-aware transcript, summary, action items and approval-gated follow-up.
- Against it — iOS app only today, so an Android-only user is not served yet. It does not join video calls and has no live-transcription view while you talk.
Side by side
The same facts, in a table.
- Fireflies.ai
- Meeting assistant — Joins the call as a notetaker; needs a signed-in device. Transcription, conversation intelligence and CRM sync for recorded calls. Source: fireflies.ai
- Notta
- Transcription app — Web meetings and uploads; needs a signed-in device. Transcribes web meetings and audio files you upload. Source: notta.ai
- Otter.ai
- Meeting assistant — Joins the call; needs a signed-in device. A live transcript you can read while the call is running, plus summaries afterwards. Source: otter.ai
- Fathom
- Meeting assistant — Joins the call; needs a signed-in device. Call recordings with instant summaries. Source: fathom.video
- Granola
- Meeting notepad — Your computer’s own audio; needs the app open on the machine. Fills in your own typed shorthand from the computer’s audio, with no bot in the call. Source: granola.ai
- Scriben
- AI pen — The room, offline; needs nothing running. Up to 18 hours of offline recording and 400 hours of storage on the pen; speaker-aware transcript, summary, action items and approval-gated follow-up. Source: scriben.ai
All facts checked on 15 September 2026 against each vendor’s own published pages, in a browser. Third-party round-ups were not used as sources.
Where this comes from
We make one of these.
Scriben is a real ballpoint pen that records the room to its own storage for up to 18 hours, with no phone and no network, then turns the conversation into a transcript, a summary and the work that follows. The pen is $99. We have tried to rank this page as if we did not make it.