Local AI Meeting Notes — No Cloud Required

Here's what happens when you use Otter.ai, Fireflies, or Granola for meeting notes:

1. Your raw audio gets uploaded to their servers
2. Their models transcribe it
3. The transcript lives in their database
4. It's often used to improve their models (check the TOS)

For your weekly team sync? Probably fine.

For a board meeting discussing acquisition targets? A 1:1 where you're discussing someone's performance? A legal review? A medical appointment? A salary negotiation?

Maybe don't send that to a cloud server.

The Alternative: Run Transcription Locally

The hardware in your laptop is good enough to transcribe meetings in real-time. The models exist (Whisper, Apple's Speech framework). The only question is software that puts it together.

Here's how the options compare:

	Screenpipe	Otter.ai	Granola	TL;DV
Processing	100% local	Cloud	Cloud	Cloud
Open source	✅	❌	❌	❌
Offline	✅	❌	❌	❌
Screen capture	✅	❌	❌	❌
System audio	✅	❌	❌	❌
Custom AI	Any model	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed
Price	$400 lifetime	$17/mo	$10/mo	$18/mo

How Screenpipe Handles Meetings

Screenpipe isn't specifically a meeting tool — it captures your screen and audio continuously. But that includes meetings, which means you get meeting notes as a side effect of it just... running.

What you get from a meeting:

• Full audio transcript — system audio (what everyone says on the call) + mic audio (what you say)
• Screen content — whatever was shared: slides, docs, the meeting chat, URLs dropped in comments
• Speaker identification — who said what
• Searchable afterward — find any moment by keyword or AI query

No bot joining your call. No "Otter.ai wants to join the meeting" notification. No awkward "is everyone okay being recorded?" moment. It captures your computer's audio, not the meeting itself.

Getting Meeting Notes After a Call

Just ask the AI: "Summarize my meeting from 2-3pm today and list action items." Screenpipe searches your audio transcripts and screen content from that time window and generates structured notes with the key decisions, action items, and takeaways.

You can use any AI model you prefer — Claude, GPT, a local Ollama model, or Apple Intelligence on Mac. The choice is yours.

What Cloud Tools Miss

The Screen

Otter.ai and Granola only capture audio. Think about what that misses:

• Someone shares a spreadsheet and says "look at Q3 numbers" — you get the words but not the numbers
• A URL gets dropped in the Zoom chat — audio tools never see it
• Someone demos a UI and says "click here, then here" — meaningless without the visual
• Code review: "this function on line 47" — what function?

Screenpipe captures the screen too. The audio and visual context together give you the full meeting, not just the soundtrack.

Every Meeting Type

Cloud tools need to "join" a call — they add a bot to your Zoom or Meet. That doesn't work for:

• In-person meetings (Screenpipe uses your mic)
• Phone calls on speaker
• Impromptu desk conversations
• Platforms the tool doesn't support
• Meetings where bots aren't allowed

Screenpipe captures your computer's audio output regardless of source. If you can hear it through your speakers or headphones, it's captured.

The Money

Otter: $17/month. Granola: $10/month. TL;DV: $18/month. Fireflies: $18/month. All recurring subscriptions that add up.

Screenpipe is $400 for a lifetime license — one payment, no recurring fees. Or $600 lifetime with a year of pro features included. Compare that to $204/year for Otter or $216/year for Fireflies, and Screenpipe pays for itself within two years while keeping your data private.

For Teams That Can't Use Cloud Tools

Some organizations ban cloud recording tools entirely:

• HIPAA-covered entities — patient conversations can't go to third-party servers
• Financial services — compliance requires data residency controls
• Legal teams — attorney-client privilege
• Government — classified or sensitive discussions
• Any company with strict data handling policies

Screenpipe is the answer. Everything stays on the user's device. No server component, no cloud dependency. The code is MIT-licensed and open source, so your security team can audit it before deployment.

Getting Started

1. Download Screenpipe
2. Grant microphone + screen recording permissions
3. Join your next meeting — it captures automatically
4. Afterward, search or ask AI for a summary

That's it. No bot joining your call. No setup per meeting. No remembering to hit record. It's just always running.

For a deeper look at the meeting features, see the AI meeting notes use case and the meeting assistant page.

Try Screenpipe →