What is the best AI note taker for Windows?
If you want no bot in the call and the recording kept, Reline fits: it records your microphone and the system audio on your Windows PC and lets you press play on any transcript line. Granola is also bot-free on Windows but keeps no audio, Otter and Fireflies send a bot by default with a botless desktop mode, Fathom lists bot-free capture for Windows as coming soon, and Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside your own organization's Teams meetings.
If you want no bot in the call and the recording kept, Reline fits: it records your microphone and the system audio on your Windows PC and lets you press play on any transcript line. Granola is also bot-free on Windows but keeps no audio, Otter and Fireflies send a bot by default with a botless desktop mode, Fathom lists bot-free capture for Windows as coming soon, and Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside your own organization's Teams meetings.
The details
- Reline for Windows runs on Windows 10 and 11. It records what your PC plays plus your microphone, on your own machine, so it works for Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex and in-person conversations, and nothing joins the call. It keeps the audio with the note, transcribes 60+ languages, and also runs in a browser if you cannot install software. Capture is local; transcription, AI summaries and storage run in the cloud.
- Two honest limits. Reline's Windows installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning: select More info, then Run anyway, or use the browser version, which needs no install. And on a call Reline gives you speaker separation (Me vs Other: your microphone vs the call audio), not a name on every line.
- Granola ships a Windows app and records without a bot. Its security FAQ says audio is cached for transcription and deleted once transcription is complete, so there is no recording to play back. Its free Basic plan shows the last 30 days of meeting history, and it has no web app.
- Otter and Fireflies both offer Windows desktop apps, and both send a bot by default, with a botless desktop mode. Otter caps transcription at 1,200 minutes a month on Pro; Business is unlimited at $19.99 per user per month billed annually. Fireflies says its botless mode saves no audio or video file and labels speakers Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.
- Fathom lists bot-free capture for Windows under coming soon on its what's new page. Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside Teams meetings: its intelligent recap needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot license or the Teams Premium add-on, and Copilot does not work in meetings hosted outside your organization.
- How to choose: if you want to hear the exact words again, pick a tool that keeps the audio. If every meeting is an internal Teams call and your company already pays for Copilot, Copilot may be enough. If you cannot install software on your PC, Reline runs in the browser.
Sources
- Security, privacy and data FAQs (Granola docs)
- Setting up Granola for the first time (Granola docs)
- Granola pricing (Granola)
- Otter.ai pricing (Otter)
- How to record meetings without a bot on the Fireflies desktop app (Fireflies)
- What's new at Fathom (Fathom)
- Catch up on meetings with Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams (Microsoft Support)
Last updated September 2026
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