Which AI note takers don't join the meeting?
Bot-free used to be the whole question. In 2026 it is table stakes: every tool below can produce a meeting record with no visible participant in the call. What still separates them is how they get there, and what you give up when the bot is off.
Last updated September 2026
Bot-free recording is no longer rare, so the useful question is what it costs. Five tools here have no bot today: Granola, Jamie, Krisp, Bluedot and Supernormal, which moved to a bot-free desktop app in April 2026. For most of the rest, including Otter, Fireflies and Circleback, it is a second mode next to a bot, and switching to it can cost you the recording: Fireflies says its system-audio mode does not save separate audio or video files, and Grain's Desktop Capture saves no media file. Reline has no bot to switch off, records on macOS, Windows, Linux (beta) and in a browser tab, and keeps the audio, so you can press play on any transcript line and hear that exact moment.Every tool here, by how it avoids the bot
| Tool | How it avoids the bot | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Granola | No bot at all | Full comparison: Granola |
| Jamie | No bot at all | Full comparison: Jamie |
| Krisp | No bot at all | Full comparison: Krisp |
| Bluedot | No bot at all | Full comparison: Bluedot |
| Supernormal | No bot at all | Full comparison: Supernormal |
| Otter.ai | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Otter.ai |
| Fireflies.ai | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Fireflies.ai |
| Fathom | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Fathom |
| tl;dv | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: tl;dv |
| Grain | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Grain |
| MeetGeek | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: MeetGeek |
| Notta | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Notta |
| Read AI | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Read AI |
| Fellow | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Fellow |
| Sembly | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Sembly |
| Spinach | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Spinach |
| Circleback | Bot-free is a mode, not the default | Full comparison: Circleback |
| Gong | No bot, because the platform records | Full comparison: Gong |
| Avoma | No bot, because the platform records | Full comparison: Avoma |
| Tactiq | Reads live captions, records nothing | Full comparison: Tactiq |
Every tool on this page can produce a meeting record with no bot in the attendee list. They get there in four different ways, and the differences matter more than the label does. Some never built a bot. Some ship one by default and keep bot-free as a second mode, sometimes a beta, sometimes at the cost of the recording itself. Some avoid a bot only by letting Zoom or Teams do the recording. One never records audio at all. Each tool links to a full, sourced comparison.
Four ways to get a call with no bot in it
No bot at all
There is no bot in these products, so there is nothing to switch off. Capture runs from an app on your own machine and nothing appears in the attendee list. Check the second-order questions instead: Granola and Jamie are bot-free but do not keep the audio, and Supernormal retired its bot and Chrome extension in April 2026, leaving the desktop app as its only capture path.
- Granola
Reline (reline.so) keeps the bot-free recording Granola pioneered and layers a real team platform on top: shared workspaces, granular permissions, multi-note Lenses, and a free tier that actually fits a daily workflow.Full comparison
- Jamie
Jamie ships beautiful summaries. Reline (reline.so) ships the summaries plus a collaborative notepad, reusable Lenses, a team workspace, and a free tier with unlimited notes, all in one product.Full comparison
- Krisp
Krisp gave the world bot-free recording and best-in-class noise cancellation. Reline keeps the bot-free local capture you expect, then turns it into a team notepad: speaker separation (Me vs Other: your microphone vs the call audio), AI summaries next to the kept recording, reusable Lenses, granular permissions, and chat across your whole workspace.Full comparison
- Bluedot
Bluedot and Reline agree on the big thing: no bot should join your meeting. The split is what happens after capture. Bluedot builds a recording library with video clips and CRM sync; Reline builds a collaborative Notion-style workspace where every note keeps working after the call, with chat answers that can cite the exact moment.Full comparison
- Supernormal
Supernormal moved to a bot-free desktop app and, in the same move, dropped call recording and narrowed to seven languages. Reline gives you the same bot-free capture and keeps the audio, the playback on every transcript line, and 60+ languages.Full comparison
Bot-free is a mode, not the default
These ship a bot as the default and a bot-free mode you have to go and turn on. The mode is real, but read what it gives up. Fireflies states that its system-audio mode does not save separate audio or video files and labels speakers Speaker 1 and Speaker 2 rather than by name. Grain's own Desktop Capture comparison lists media file saved as no. Fathom's bot-free audio capture is now generally available on Mac, and Fathom has announced it for Windows. Circleback's desktop app records with no bot, and Circleback can also auto-join calls as a bot. Sembly's desktop capture covers in-person talks and Slack huddles, while virtual calls still get the bot.
- Otter.ai
Reline (reline.so) and Otter can both record without a bot: Otter joins calls with its bot by default, with a botless desktop mode, so on the bot question this is close to parity and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The split is everything around it: Reline captures every Zoom, Meet, Teams and in-person call from macOS, Windows, a browser tab or Linux (beta), keeps the audio, and lets you press play on any transcript line to hear that exact moment.Full comparison
- Fireflies.ai
Reline (reline.so) has no bot at all, keeps the audio, ships a cleaner notepad, and only does what your team actually uses. Fireflies sends its notetaker bot by default, with a botless desktop mode that, per Fireflies, saves no separate audio file.Full comparison
- Fathom
Fathom is a call recorder. Reline (reline.so) is a call recorder and a real Notion-grade notepad: write live alongside the transcript, organise into folders, and chat across the entire corpus.Full comparison
- tl;dv
tl;dv is a sales-recorder that shares recordings and clips. Reline is notes-first — bot-free local capture, a Notion-grade collaborative notepad, reusable Lenses, and a five-level permission model built for team knowledge.Full comparison
- Grain
Grain's bot-free desktop capture writes notes in English only on Apple Silicon and Windows. Reline records mic + system audio locally on Mac, Windows, Linux (beta), and the web, and transcribes 60+ languages.Full comparison
- MeetGeek
MeetGeek is a meeting library with great summaries and a bot that joins by default. Reline is notes-first: bot-free local capture, AI summaries next to the kept recording, and a Notion-grade notepad your whole team co-edits.Full comparison
- Notta
Notta is a fast, accurate transcriber whose bot auto-joins your calls. Reline captures every meeting bot-free on your own computer, with nothing joining the call, transcribes 60+ languages, and keeps the recording with a play button on every transcript line, in a real collaborative notepad. Free to start.Full comparison
- Read AI
Read AI joins your calls as a visible notetaker bot by default and builds its product around meeting analytics. Reline records every meeting bot-free on your own computer, with nothing in the participant list, then gives you speaker separation (Me vs Other: your microphone vs the call audio), the kept recording with a play button on every transcript line, reusable Lenses, and a real collaborative notepad. Free to start.Full comparison
- Fellow
Fellow is an AI note taker wrapped in agendas and 1-on-1 workflows. Reline is bot-free on every platform, keeps the audio with a play button on every transcript line, and turns your calls into a real Notion-grade notepad you can chat with.Full comparison
- Sembly
Sembly's agent joins your online calls as a visible "Sembly Teammate" and announces itself; Reline captures mic and system audio locally on your own computer, keeps the audio with a play button on every transcript line, and adds a collaborative notepad.Full comparison
- Spinach
Spinach is an AI scrum master that joins your standups as a bot to produce agile recaps and Jira tickets. Reline records standups, and every other meeting, bot-free on your own computer, then gives you speaker separation (Me vs Other: your microphone vs the call audio), the kept recording with a play button on every transcript line, reusable Lenses, and a real collaborative notepad. Free to start.Full comparison
- Circleback
Circleback is an automated note-taker that ships outputs to other apps. Reline is a note-taker and a real Notion-grade notepad: write alongside the transcript, press play on any transcript line, and chat across your whole corpus with answers that can cite the exact moment.Full comparison
No bot, because the platform records
These avoid a visible participant by handing capture to the meeting platform: Zoom or Teams records natively and passes the file over. Gong documents that native recording does not add an additional participant to the call, and that it otherwise adds a virtual participant; Avoma's Zoom cloud-recording option means its Assistant does not need to join. It works, but it needs a supported platform, host rights and usually a paid platform licence, and it does not cover in-person conversations.
- Gong
Gong is the enterprise revenue-intelligence leader: it records calls through a bot or native Zoom or Teams recording, at enterprise prices. Reline records bot-free on your own computer, only when you choose, then gives you AI summaries next to the kept recording, reusable Lenses, and a real collaborative notepad. Free to start, $15/user/mo.Full comparison
- Avoma
Avoma is a sales-focused meeting suite that defaults to a bot in your call. Reline captures mic + system audio on your own computer, bot-free across every platform, with AI summaries next to the kept recording and a real Notion-style notepad.Full comparison
Reads live captions, records nothing
No bot, and no recording either. Tactiq reads the live captions your meeting app already produces and states that it does not record or store the audio from your meetings. That is the most private option here, and also the one with no playback, nothing to re-check, and accuracy capped by the platform's captions.
- Tactiq
Tactiq is a Chrome extension that reads the browser's live captions: no bot, but no recording either. Reline captures system audio and mic locally on macOS, Windows, and Linux (beta), so you keep the actual audio with a play button on every transcript line, plus a collaborative notepad for the whole team.Full comparison
How we grouped these
We re-checked every tool here against vendor-owned documentation on 2 August 2026 and changed our own grouping as a result: an earlier version of this page sorted tools by whether a bot joins the call, and that no longer separates anyone. On 26 September 2026 we updated the Fathom and Circleback details from their vendor pages. Quotes come from each vendor's own help centre or pricing page, and every tool links to our full comparison with sources. Vendors ship fast and several offer more than one capture mode, so treat this as a starting point and verify the current behaviour with the vendor before you decide.
Where Reline fits
Reline has no bot to turn off, and in 2026 that is the least interesting thing about it. Otter and Fireflies send a bot by default, with a botless desktop mode; Reline only has the botless path. What is left once you concede parity on the bot: capture runs on macOS, Windows, Linux (beta) and in a browser tab with nothing to install, the recording is kept so you can press play on any transcript line and hear that exact moment, and transcription covers 60+ languages. Capture is local; transcription, AI and storage run in the cloud, and Reline does not claim on-device AI.
Bot-free notetakers, answered
- What does bot-free actually mean in 2026?
- It means the meeting is recorded without an automated participant appearing in the attendee list. It is close to universal now, and it does not mean the same thing everywhere: sometimes there is no bot at all, sometimes it is a mode you switch to, sometimes the meeting platform does the recording instead. It also almost never means the AI runs on your device. Most tools, Reline included, transcribe and summarise in the cloud.
- Why avoid a notetaker bot?
- A visible recording bot can change how people speak, can feel intrusive in client or candidate calls, and is often blocked by IT policy. Local capture avoids all three, because nothing joins the meeting. That reasoning still holds. What has changed is that it no longer narrows the field, so it should not be the only thing you compare on.
- Which bot-free notetaker should I choose?
- Ask what the bot-free path costs in that specific product. Does it still keep the audio, or does the recording disappear along with the bot? Does it still name speakers? Is it a beta, or the only way the product records? Does it cover your languages, and does it work anywhere other than a supported video platform? Those answers differ far more than the bot-free label does.
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