After Testing All the Top Tools, Here's My Take on the Best AI Note-Taker of 2025

Another back-to-back meeting day. You mentally prepare to juggle listening, speaking up, and furiously scribbling notes—all at the same time. The chaotic mess of a physical notepad or a half-finished Word doc is a problem every professional knows well. I've been there. My calendar was a minefield of virtual meetings, and I was constantly losing track of action items and key decisions. So, I went on a quest. I wanted to find an AI note-taker that could solve this problem once and for all. After testing all the leading tools—Otter, Fireflies, Krisp, Tactiq, Jamie, Granola, Fathom, Notta, and HyNote—I'm ready to share my honest breakdown.

How I Tested These Tools

I didn't just look at features on a website; I used these tools in my real, day-to-day work. My criteria were simple and based on what I personally needed:

1. Platform Flexibility: Could I use it on my laptop, my phone, and the web?
2. Accuracy & Language Support: How well did it handle my team's different accents and how many languages did it support?
3. Actionable Summaries: Did it just give me a block of text, or could it actually pull out action items and to-dos?
4. Privacy First: Did it require a meeting bot, or was it a more private solution?
5. Integrations: Could I easily connect it with the apps I already use, like Notion or my CRM?
6. Beyond Audio: Was it a one-trick pony, or could it help me with other types of notes, like images and text?

This isn't a corporate review; it's a breakdown based on what worked for me and my team.

My Personal Take on Each Tool

Firefiles

I was really impressed with Fireflies' transcription accuracy and how it saved me so much time with its AI summaries and automated notes. The search function was fantastic for quickly finding keywords, and its integrations with tools like Notion and Slack made it great for collaboration.

• My opinion: The meeting bot was a bit of a turn-off. While it did its job well, some people on my team found it a little intrusive. It also struggled with a few of the more specific accents on my calls, and I found myself needing to pay for a higher plan to access the advanced features I wanted.

Krisp

I initially used Krisp for its incredible background noise reduction, which was a huge win for call clarity. The fact that it provides unlimited transcripts for paid users was also a major plus.

• My opinion: The biggest problem for me was that the transcription only works in English. On my multilingual calls, this was a dealbreaker. I was also a bit concerned that Krisp stores my audio recordings on their servers when certain features are activated, which felt like a privacy risk.

Tactiq

What I really liked about Tactiq was that it provided live, speaker-specific transcriptions right in my browser during meetings. It was also great that my transcripts were automatically saved to my Google Drive, and I appreciated that it gave me control over my data.

• My opinion: The biggest limitation was that it's only available as a Chrome extension. I had to exclude my colleagues who use other browsers from trying it. I also found that the initial user interface took some time to get used to, which could be a hurdle for new users.

Jamie

Jamie had one of the simplest interfaces I tested, which made it really easy to get started. The quality of the summaries and action item extractions were very high. I also felt secure knowing they are GDPR compliant and that my audio files are permanently deleted after the transcriptions are generated.

• My opinion: My biggest issue was that it doesn't record video, which I sometimes need for reference. There also isn't a mobile app yet, so I was stuck to my desktop for meeting notes.

Otter

Otter is a classic for a reason. The live, real-time transcription was a huge help, and the AI summaries were good at pulling out the most important points. It integrates well with major platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, and the action item tracking was a nice bonus for follow-ups.

• My opinion: The limited language support was a major downside, as it only works in English, Spanish, and French. I also found that the speaker identification wasn't always accurate, and editing the transcripts to fix these mistakes was time-consuming. On the free plan, the number of minutes per month was very limited.

Granola

I think Granola is great for people who have a low volume of meetings and just need a simple, unobtrusive notetaking solution. It offers fast and accurate transcription with real-time AI summaries and even lets you create customizable meeting templates.

• My opinion: Unfortunately, Granola wasn't a good fit for me and my team. Our high meeting volume meant we needed robust search and organization features, which it lacked. I also needed cross-meeting analytics and deeper integrations, which are not part of its offering.

Fathom

I found Fathom to be a powerful tool, especially for businesses with a high meeting volume. It's built for comprehensive meeting analysis, with advanced transcript editing and detailed speaker identification. The real-time coaching features were a big win for my team.

• My opinion: For my team's needs, Fathom was a bit too much. We didn't need the extensive editing or real-time coaching features, so the streamlined interface I prefer felt buried under too many tooltips and prompts.

NotebookLM

This tool was interesting because it uses my data for summaries without using it for training, which I appreciated. It was easy to use, even for a new user, and it did a good job of generating AI summaries from my sources.

• My opinion: NotebookLM didn't quite fit my needs as a core note-taker. It doesn't have features for tagging, filtering, or organizing large documentations, which is a must for me. It also lacks professional, customizable templates for things like "follow-up emails" or "OKR" tracking.

Notta

I would recommend Notta for businesses that have a high volume of meetings, especially if they need accurate English-Japanese transcription. It also has extensive integration options with over 20 platforms, which is impressive.

• My opinion: For my needs, Notta wasn't the best fit. I needed more reliable insights and analytics across multiple meetings. It also struggled with the accuracy of my transcripts in languages other than English and Japanese.

HyNote

After all that testing, I discovered HyNote, and it honestly felt like the AI note-taking tool I had been searching for all along. It doesn't just do one thing well; it combines the best features from all these other tools.

My Final Take: HyNote is what I now use. I was drawn to its simple, clean UI that feels a lot like Apple Notes. It works flawlessly across my phone, tablet, and web browser, and I can upload multiple sources like audio, video, images, and even URLs. The multi-language transcription is top-notch, and the bot-free recording, even with my headset, ensures privacy. They also offer over 50 professional, customizable templates, which is a huge time-saver. Most importantly, I felt completely secure knowing my data is encrypted and not stored on their cloud.

Of course, no tool is perfect. I noticed that some features available on the mobile app haven't been released on the website version yet, and there isn't a dedicated Mac app. But these are minor issues compared to the major drawbacks of the other tools, and I know they are actively working on them.

My Final Take: Which Tool is For You?

If you're in a specific niche, you might still prefer a specialized tool:

• In sales and want a simple solution? Fathom or Fireflies might work for you.
• Need to stay strictly bot-free and private? Granola or Jamie could be a good fit, but be prepared for their limitations.
• Need to create summaries from your own research? NotebookLM is a great choice. But if you’re like me and you need one tool that does everything—from in-person meetings to audio files to notes with images—and works on all your devices, HyNote is the clear winner. It’s the one tool that combines real-time transcription, robust multi-language support, a bot-free experience, and the ability to handle every type of note I could throw at it.

Ready to see how HyNote can transform your workflow? Give it a try and let me know what you think.