> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.useraven.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Best AI meeting assistants in 2026
> An honest ranking of the top AI meeting assistants — Raven, Cluely, Fathom, Granola, Otter, Fireflies, tl;dv, Krisp, and Circleback — by price, privacy, and whether they help during the call.
There are a lot of "AI notetakers" and they mostly blur together. The useful way to tell them apart is three questions: **Does it help you *during* the call, or only write it up after? Does a bot join the meeting? And where does your data live?**
Raven is the odd one out on all three: it's the only tool here that is **open source**, runs **local-first** (recordings stay in a database on your machine), does **live in-call assist**, and is **free** (you bring your own API keys). Below is the honest field — including where other tools genuinely win.
We make one of these tools, so treat this as a competitor's ranking and verify anything that matters. Prices verified August 2026; every vendor changes pricing — check their page before you buy.
## The field at a glance
| Tool | Best for | From (annual) | Free tier | Live in-call help | Bot-free | Local / open source |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ----------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------- | ------------------- |
| **Raven** | Live help + private notes, one tool everywhere | **Free** (your own API keys) | Yes — full app | **Yes** | Yes | **Yes / Yes** |
| Cluely | Live answers if you'll pay for stealth | \$19.99/mo (Pro); \$149.99/mo w/ invisibility | Yes (limited) | Yes | Yes | No / No |
| Fathom | Individual reps who want a free recap | \$16/user/mo | Yes (5 AI summaries/mo) | No | Bot / bot-free beta | No / No |
| Granola | Calm, beautiful bot-free notes | \$14/user/mo (monthly only) | Yes (last 30 days) | No | Yes | No / No |
| Otter | Budget transcription on one platform | \$8.33/user/mo | Yes (300 min/mo) | No | Bot | No / No |
| Fireflies | Enabling other tools / CRM breadth | \$10/user/mo | Yes (limited) | No | Bot | No / No |
| tl;dv | Sales managers coaching reps | \$18/user/mo (Pro); \$59 Business | Yes (10 AI notes) | No | Bot | No / No |
| Krisp | Noise cancellation + light notes | \$8/user/mo | Yes (60 min/day) | No | Yes | No / No |
| Circleback | Post-call automations | \$20.83/user/mo (no free tier) | No (7-day trial) | No | Bot | No / No |
## How to choose
* **You want help *during* the call** ("what should I say?"): **Raven** or **Cluely**. Raven includes screen-share stealth free and stays local; Cluely gates invisibility behind its \$149.99/mo tier and stores meetings in its cloud. See [Raven vs Cluely](/compare/cluely).
* **You just want a clean recap and love bot-free**: **Granola** or **Raven**. Granola's notes UX is excellent, but the free plan only shows your last 30 days and there's no live help. See [Raven vs Granola](/compare/granola).
* **You want the most generous free recap**: **Fathom** — but the free plan caps advanced AI summaries at 5 calls/month. See [Raven vs Fathom](/compare/fathom).
* **You mostly need cheap transcription**: **Otter** or **Fireflies** — watch the 300-min/mo (Otter) and storage/AI-credit caps. See [Raven vs Otter](/compare/otter).
* **You're a sales manager coaching reps**: **tl;dv** or **Circleback** shine at scorecards and automations (and cost the most).
* **Your #1 problem is background noise**: **Krisp** leads on noise cancellation, with notes as a bonus.
## What the others do better (honestly)
* **Cluely**: a polished mobile app and one bundled subscription.
* **Fathom**: calendar auto-join, CRM sync, clips/playlists, mature team features.
* **Granola**: arguably the nicest notes UX in the category, plus deep integrations/MCP.
* **Otter / Fireflies**: big brands, mobile apps, broad integrations, large cloud archives.
* **tl;dv / Circleback**: real sales coaching (MEDDIC/BANT/SPIN) and post-call automations.
* **Krisp**: best-in-class noise cancellation.
If your job is a RevOps workflow or a coached sales floor, those paid tools earn their price.
## Where Raven wins
* **Live + after-call in one tool** — most of this list only does the after-call half.
* **Free and open source** — no per-seat fee; audit exactly what leaves your machine.
* **Local-first** — transcripts, notes, and the Ask index live in SQLite on your device, not a vendor cloud.
* **BYOK** — you pay Deepgram/AssemblyAI and Anthropic/OpenAI directly for usage (typically a few dollars a month), instead of \$8–\$150/seat.
* **No bot** — nothing joins the call; capture is local on macOS and Windows.
## Try Raven
Free, open source, Mac + Windows. Bring your own keys.
Side-by-side pages vs Cluely, Fathom, Granola, and Otter.
Pricing for all tools verified August 2026 against each vendor's official pricing page. Figures are the cheapest per-seat annual rate unless noted; monthly billing is higher. Vendors change pricing often — confirm before relying on a number.