Best local AI meeting notes for Mac
Short answer: if you want meeting notes that stay on your Mac and become a memory you can search — in English, Mandarin or Cantonese — Audiee is the one built for that. If you want the prettiest single-meeting notes, Granola. If you need a team archive with CRM sync and don't mind a bot in the call, Fireflies or Otter. If you only need offline transcription of files, MacWhisper.
We make Audiee, so read this as a maker's honest map, not a neutral review. Facts about other tools were checked in September 2026 on their own sites; prices are the entry paid tier and change often.
How we judged
- Where the notes live — on your machine, or in the vendor's cloud.
- Whether a bot joins — bots are visible to everyone on the call and need explaining.
- Languages — especially mixed Chinese and English in one sentence, which most tools break on.
- Memory — does the tool remember across meetings and answer questions, or stop at a recap?
- The rest of the day — dictation, screenshots, to-dos; a meeting tool that only works during meetings is a small tool.
| Tool | Platform | Notes live | Bot joins | Languages | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audiee | macOS | On your Mac (Markdown) | No | EN · 中文 · 粤语 mixed | Free 3 h/mo · Pro $29 |
| Granola | macOS, Windows | Granola cloud | No | EN + European | Free · paid ~$18 |
| Otter | Web, iOS, Android | Otter cloud | Yes | EN, ES, FR | Free · Pro ~$17 |
| Fireflies | Web + bot, mobile | Fireflies cloud | Yes | 60+ | Free · Pro ~$18 |
| Fathom | Desktop + bot | Fathom cloud | Yes | EN + major | Free · Premium ~$19 |
| tl;dv | Desktop + bot | tl;dv cloud | Yes | 30+ | Free · Pro ~$18 |
| Notion AI Meeting Notes | Notion apps | Notion cloud | No | EN + major | Part of Notion AI |
| MacWhisper | macOS | On your Mac | No | Many (Whisper) | Free · Pro one-time |
| Krisp | macOS, Windows | Krisp cloud | No | EN + major | Free · Pro ~$8 |
Audiee
The only one here that turns meetings, voice notes and screenshots into a local memory you can ask, in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. No bot. Newer than the others; Mac only; no video.
Granola
The best-written single-meeting notes and a lovely editor. Notes live in Granola's cloud; memory across meetings is basic.
Otter
Mature, mobile-first, team workspaces. A bot joins your calls and everything lives in Otter's cloud.
Fireflies
Team archive with CRM and Slack integrations, wide language list. Bot-based; cloud-only.
Fathom
Generous free recorder with video clips. Built around the recap of one call.
tl;dv
Recording plus multi-meeting reports for sales and CS teams. Bot-based.
Notion AI Meeting Notes
Great if your team already lives in Notion; notes land next to your docs. Not local, not bilingual-Chinese.
MacWhisper
Excellent fully-offline transcription of files and system audio. A transcriber, not a notetaker: no summaries, memory or meeting detection.
Krisp
Noise cancellation first, with meeting notes bolted on. Good if audio quality is your main problem.
The verdict
Most of these are cloud recorders with a summary on top; they differ in polish and team features. Two are genuinely local: MacWhisper (transcription only) and Audiee (transcription, summaries, a knowledge base and an assistant). If "my notes should stay mine" and "I speak Chinese and English" are on your list, that narrows it to one.
Try Audiee free — 3 meeting hours a month, no card. Bring your own comparison; we'd rather you check than believe us.