Best AI Note Taker for Windows in 2026: 11 Tools Checked

The best AI note taker for Windows is Reline if you want no bot and the audio kept (we make it), and Granola if you want no bot and no stored audio. Otter and Fireflies lead with a bot, Fathom's bot-free mode is still Mac-only, and Microsoft's recap only covers Teams.

Three different things hide behind "for Windows". A real Windows app records your microphone and your PC's sound on the machine, so nothing joins the call. A bot joins the meeting as a participant, so your PC barely matters. A browser tab or extension only works for meetings you open in that browser. This table sorts 11 tools by what you get on a Windows PC today.

Prices are what each page showed us on that date. Some vendors show local currency, so yours may differ.

Reline's Windows app records your microphone and your PC's system audio locally, so nothing joins your Teams, Zoom, Meet or Webex call. You get a live transcript in 60+ languages, an AI summary next to it and the kept audio, with a play button on every transcript line. Notes live in an editor your team works in together, and a browser version covers PCs where you cannot install anything. When Teams, Zoom, Webex or Slack starts using your microphone, Reline can show a prompt to start recording. Capture is local; transcription, AI and storage run in the cloud. Its limits are listed further down.

Granola for Windows runs on Windows 10 or later, with no bot and no Teams or Zoom integration to set up. Its Windows guide says audio is cached during the meeting and deleted once transcription completes, so there is nothing to replay. If your company prefers that, it is a real advantage. It also has iOS and Android apps and SOC 2 Type 2. Sign-in is Google or Microsoft only. Two Windows limits from its help center: virtual desktops such as Citrix and Azure Virtual Desktop are not officially supported, and it cannot capture the other person on Microsoft Phone Link calls. Its browser app at notes.granola.ai views and edits notes but does not record.

Krisp is known for noise cancellation and adds bot-free notes on top. Its help center lists 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11, and it says it supports on-device English transcription. Its pricing page offers a 7-day free trial with no card, and a record-with-bot option on paid tiers.

Jamie's docs say it runs on your macOS or Windows device and needs no bot. Jamie says all data storage and processing stays within the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, and that meeting audio is streamed for transcription and never stored. The free plan gives 10 AI notes a month with a 30-minute limit per meeting. The docs list no minimum Windows version, so test it on your PC.

Circleback's desktop app records your microphone, your computer audio and, by default, video, with no bot. The catch on a PC: its requirements page asks for Windows 11 or later, 8 GB of RAM and an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5 3000 series chip, so Windows 10 PCs are out. The free plan keeps 30 days of meeting and recording history.

Otter and Fireflies both have Windows apps with a no-bot mode, but their main product is a notetaker that joins the meeting. That is the right tool when you want notes from a meeting you skip, which no bot-free recorder can do.

Otter's launch post covers Mac and Windows without naming a Windows version, and its desktop page promises recording without a bot across Slack Huddles, Zoom, Google Meet and in-person conversations. Teams is not named there, so test it first if you live in Teams. The free plan gives 300 minutes a month with 30 minutes per conversation, and Pro includes 1,200 transcription minutes a month.

Fireflies says its desktop app works on Mac and Windows. In no-bot mode, per its guide, no audio or video file is saved and speakers show as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. The in-meeting chat notice is not available on Windows, though it can capture phone calls paired through Windows Phone Link. Its own posts disagree on the free plan: one puts the desktop app on Pro and up, another lists it on every plan, so check before you count on it.

Fathom's what's new page shows bot-free capture and its redesigned app as live on Mac, with Windows under Coming soon and no date, and its pricing page marks bot-free as a Mac beta. So on a PC today you get the earlier experience, where Fathom joins the call. If a bot is fine with you, unlimited free recordings and transcriptions are hard to beat.

Tactiq is a Chrome extension for Google Meet, Zoom and Teams, with no bot. Its desktop app is Mac-only, and its help center says the Teams desktop app is not supported, so on Windows you join Teams in Chrome, Edge or the Teams PWA. It is a light choice if your meetings already run in a browser tab.

If every meeting is an internal Teams call, check what your company already pays for. Microsoft's intelligent recap needs a Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot license assigned by your admin, with transcription turned on, and a recording policy for the full version. It covers Teams only, and external attendees see a recap only if someone shares it with them.

• Windows version: Circleback needs Windows 11. Reline, Granola and Krisp list Windows 10 as well. Otter and Jamie name no version on the pages we read.
• Where the sound goes: system-audio recorders listen to your Windows output. Granola asks that Zoom and Windows use the same default devices, and Reline records the default output device. Set your headset as the Windows default and pick the same one in your meeting app.
• Virtual desktops: Granola says Citrix and Azure Virtual Desktop are not officially supported. Test any system-audio recorder on a real call before you rely on it there.
• Install rights: if IT locks your PC, an installer is out. A browser route, such as Reline's browser version or Tactiq, is what is left.

• It records the whole default output device (WASAPI loopback), not one app. Music and notification sounds end up in the recording, and a meeting playing on a different device is not captured.
• No speaker names from the Zoom or Teams apps. The transcript is labeled Me vs Other (your microphone vs the call audio). In a group call, the beta Separate speakers option numbers the voices on the call side, as an estimate, and you name them yourself.
• No video: Reline keeps audio and a transcript. Circleback records video if you need it.
• No upload: it cannot transcribe an old recording. It records in real time, while the audio plays.
• No on-device AI: capture is local, but transcription, summaries and storage run in the cloud.
• The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning: select More info, then Run anyway. The browser version needs no install.
• You press Record yourself, and there is no mobile app.

• No bot and the audio kept: Reline.
• No bot, no stored audio, phone apps: Granola.
• Data handled in Europe: Jamie.
• Video, on Windows 11: Circleback.
• Calls that sound bad: Krisp.
• Notes from meetings you skip: Otter or Fireflies, since only a bot can attend without you.
• Unlimited free recording, and a bot is fine: Fathom.
• Only internal Teams meetings, and the license is already paid for: Teams intelligent recap.
• Nothing can be installed and meetings run in a browser: Tactiq or Reline's browser version.

With no bot in the call, nobody sees a recorder in the participant list, and Reline puts no notice in the meeting, so the notice is on you. Several US states, California among them, require every party to agree before a call is recorded, and in the EU you need a lawful basis under the GDPR and should say why you record. Rules differ by country and state, so check the rules where everyone on the call is. The simple habit: say at the start of the meeting that you are recording for notes, and stop if someone objects.