5 Best tl;dv Alternatives in 2026 (Compared and Ranked)

The short answer up front: if the reason you are leaving tl;dv is the meeting bot, Scribbl is the best botless alternative because no bot ever joins the call, it works with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, it has a free plan with no credit card, and its Automations do the follow-up work.

tl;dv is a well known AI meeting notetaker, popular for recordings, transcripts, and shareable highlight clips, and it sends a notetaker into your call to get them. Plenty of people go looking for an alternative, usually for the same handful of reasons: the bot shows up as a visible participant on external calls, the transcription misses on accents or crosstalk, the feature they actually wanted sits behind a higher tier, or support is slow. This guide ranks five real alternatives, with tl;dv itself as the baseline, so you can pick a replacement by the things you actually decide on.

Feature	Scribbl	Fireflies	Otter	Fathom	Granola
No bot by default	Yes	– No	– No	– No	Yes
Nothing announced to attendees	Yes	– No	– No	– No	Yes
Google Meet	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zoom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Teams	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Keeps the recording	Yes, with video	Yes	Yes	Yes	– No
Connects meetings to ChatGPT or Claude	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AI summaries and action items	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free plan, no credit card	Yes	Free tier	Free tier	Generous free	Free tier
Chrome extension and desktop app	Yes	Varies	Varies	Varies	Desktop
Built for external and sales calls	Yes	Varies	Varies	Varies	Varies
5.0 from 3,000 reviews on the Chrome Web Store	Yes	– No	– No	– No	– No

How this tl;dv alternatives comparison was done (and why it is neutral)

Almost every "best tl;dv alternative" page you will find is written by one of the vendors and conveniently ranks its own product first. This one discloses that bias too: Scribbl publishes this, and Scribbl is the botless pick, so it sits at number one for the readers it actually fits. The difference is that the rest of the list is described accurately, with prices and free plans taken from each vendor's own pricing page.

The ranking weighs the capture method first, because it is the part attendees notice and the part that decides whether you get notes at all on external calls. After that it considers platform coverage, whether there is a real free plan, transcription and summary quality, integrations, and what happens after the call. Ratings cited below come from public review sites; as of mid-2026, tl;dv sits around 4.7 out of 5 on G2 across well over a thousand reviews. Prices below were checked on each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026.

Why people leave tl;dv

If you are reading this, one of these probably sounds familiar:

• The bot in the room. tl;dv generally joins the meeting as a notetaker, and a visible recording participant is not welcome on every call. On a sales demo, a candidate interview, or a first client conversation, a named third party can change the tone, and some hosts simply do not want it there.
• Accuracy gaps. Transcription quality drops on heavy accents, crosstalk, and poor audio. If your transcript is wrong, every summary built on top of it is wrong too.
• Paywalled features. A feature you assumed was included can sit behind a higher tier, so the real cost is more than the headline plan suggested.
• Support and reliability. Slower support responses and the occasional bug are common complaints when teams switch.
• Language coverage and value. Multilingual teams want broad language support, and budget-conscious teams want clear, fair pricing rather than feature-gated tiers.

The 2026 throughline across all of these is the bot. The single biggest differentiator this year is whether a tool sends a participant into your meeting at all, which is why botless options lead the list for anyone on external calls.

The 5 best tl;dv alternatives at a glance

The table below is the fast version. tl;dv is included as a baseline row so you can compare each alternative against the thing you are leaving. Prices are the entry paid plan per user per month, from each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.

Tool	Best for	Bot-free	Free plan	From (paid)	Platforms	Standout
Scribbl	External and sales calls, no bot, AI follow-up	Yes	Yes, 10 meetings a month, no card	$13/user/mo (annual)	Meet, Zoom, Teams	No bot, plus Smart Collections and Automations that do the follow-up
Fireflies	Deep platform, integrations, search	No (bot by default)	Yes	$10/user/mo (annual)	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Conversation search and analytics
Otter	Live transcription, real-time captions	No (bot by default)	Yes, 300 minutes a month	$8.33/user/mo (annual)	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Real-time transcript and OtterPilot
Fathom	Clean free notetaker	No (bot by default)	Yes, unlimited recording; advanced summaries on 5 calls a month	$16/user/mo (annual)	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Polished summaries
Granola	People who take their own notes	Yes, but keeps no recording	Yes, notes from the last 30 days	$14/user/mo (billed monthly)	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android	AI enhances your own typed notes
tl;dv (baseline)	Recording and shareable clips	No (bot by default)	Yes, AI notes on your first 10 meetings	$18/user/mo (annual)	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Highlight clips and sharing

1. Scribbl, the botless pick

Scribbl is the top recommendation for most people leaving tl;dv because it removes the exact thing that usually sends them looking: the bot. It is botless. It never sends a participant into the call, so nothing joins, nothing is announced, and no notification goes to the people you are meeting with. It works across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, has a free plan with no credit card, and its Automations do the follow-up work rather than leaving it stored. It ships as a Chrome extension for Google Meet and Scribbl Desktop (Mac with Apple silicon, and Windows) for Zoom and Teams, has 5.0 from 3,000 reviews on the Chrome Web Store and 4.9 from 725 reviews on G2, and is used by more than 10,000 organizations.

Best for: anyone with client, sales, or external calls who wants notes with no bot, plus a real free start.

Key capabilities: botless capture across Meet, Zoom, and Teams; the video, a transcript with speaker names, AI summaries and action items for every meeting; Smart Collections that sort each meeting into the groups you describe, so you can ask Claude or ChatGPT about just one group ("What were the main objections in my sales calls this week?"); Automations that draft the follow-up email, log notes in HubSpot or Pipedrive, post to Slack or Teams, or save notes to Notion, Google Drive or Confluence, asking before they change anything by default; Chrome extension for Google Meet and Scribbl Desktop for Zoom and Teams.

Pros: no participant ever joins, so external calls stay normal; genuinely free plan with no credit card; covers the three major meeting platforms; Automations do the follow-up; 5.0 from 3,000 reviews on the Chrome Web Store.

Pricing: free plan with no credit card; paid plans start at $13 per user per month billed annually, or $20 monthly. See the Scribbl pricing page for current tiers, and read the botless AI notetaker explainer for the full argument.

2. Fireflies

Fireflies is one of the most established and feature-rich options, with strong conversation search, a large integration catalog, and team analytics. Its notetaker bot (often called Fred) joins the meeting by default.

Best for: teams that want a deep feature set, broad integrations, and searchable conversation history, and do not mind a join-the-call bot.

Pros: mature platform, extensive integrations, powerful search across past meetings.

Cons: the bot is a visible participant; the breadth can feel heavy if you only want clean notes.

Pricing: free plan, with unlimited transcription only when calendar auto-join is on (otherwise 3 meetings); Pro is $10 per seat per month billed annually, or $18 monthly. For a closer look, see Scribbl vs Fireflies.

3. Otter

Otter is best known for live, real-time transcription and captions, with OtterPilot handling meeting joins and summaries. Its Notetaker bot joins the call by default.

Best for: people who want real-time captions and a mature transcription product.

Pros: strong live transcription, real-time captions, long track record.

Cons: uses a bot on calls; summary and action-item quality is secondary to the live transcript.

Pricing: the free Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, but only the first 30 minutes of each conversation are viewable; Pro is $8.33 per user per month billed annually, or $16.99 monthly. See Scribbl vs Otter.

4. Fathom

Fathom is a polished, widely loved notetaker with unlimited free recording. Its notetaker joins the meeting by default (bot-free capture is a beta for Mac) and produces clean summaries. The trade is the usual one: a participant appears in the call.

Best for: teams that want a clean, popular notetaker and a strong free tier, and are fine with a bot in the call.

Pros: very clean summaries, generous free plan, easy to start.

Cons: bot joins the call; on the free plan, advanced summaries cover only your first 5 calls each month, and AI action items and follow-up emails are paid.

Pricing: free plan with unlimited recordings; Premium is $16 per user per month billed annually, or $20 monthly. See Scribbl vs Fathom.

5. Granola

Granola takes a notes-forward approach: you take your own rough notes and it enhances them with AI, recording your computer's audio rather than sending a join-the-call bot. It transcribes and then deletes the audio, so it keeps no recording. People who like to type their own shorthand and have AI clean it up tend to enjoy it. Its strength is also its constraint, since it is built around your own note-taking rather than full hands-off recording.

Best for: people who take their own notes and want AI to sharpen them without a bot.

Pros: no bot in the room; great for an active note-taker; clean, focused experience.

Cons: you still do some of the noting yourself; there is no recording to go back to; the free plan shows only notes from the last 30 days.

Pricing: free Basic plan; Business is $14 per user per month, billed monthly. See Scribbl vs Granola.

tl;dv itself, as the baseline

tl;dv is on its own alternatives list as the baseline the five alternatives are measured against: it records meetings and shares highlight clips, with a bot in the call by default. It sits at the bottom since most people reading this are here because the bot, the accuracy, the paywall, or the support is not working for them.

Best for: teams centered on recordings and shareable clips who are fine with a bot.

Pros: strong recording and clip-sharing; well-liked, mature product.

Cons: bot joins the call; the very reasons listed at the top of this page are why people leave.

Pricing: free plan with unlimited recordings, but AI notes cover only your first 10 meetings; Pro is $18 per seat per month billed annually, or $29 monthly. For a direct head-to-head, see Scribbl vs tl;dv and Fathom vs tl;dv.

Bot vs botless: tl;dv vs Scribbl in one view

The whole list of tl;dv alternatives collapses to one decision: a bot in the call, or nothing in the call at all.

Typical bot-based tool

• Capture: a bot joins the meeting as a participant
• Attendees see it: yes, and some remove or block it
• External calls: the bot can change the room
• Examples: tl;dv, Fireflies, Otter, Fathom

Scribbl (botless)

• Capture: nothing joins the call
• Attendees see it: no bot, nothing announced, no email
• External calls: the meeting stays exactly normal
• Plus: free plan, Meet/Zoom/Teams, Smart Collections and Automations

Which tl;dv alternative should you pick?

For most people leaving tl;dv, the pick is Scribbl. It fits best when:

• Your meetings include clients, prospects, candidates, or partners. Nothing joins the call, nothing is announced, and no email goes to attendees, so the meeting stays normal and you still get notes.
• You meet on more than one platform. Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams sit in one account: the Chrome extension for Google Meet, Scribbl Desktop (Mac with Apple silicon, and Windows) for Zoom and Teams.
• You want the follow-up done. Let Smart Collections sort your meetings by themselves, ask Claude or ChatGPT about just one group of meetings, and let Automations draft the email, log notes in HubSpot or Pipedrive, or post to Slack or Teams.
• You want a real free start. The free plan covers 10 meetings a month with no credit card; Pro is $13 per user per month billed annually, or $20 monthly.

The other tools on this list suit narrower jobs, and most of them send a bot into the call. If your calls are external, the bot is the variable that matters. For sales teams specifically, that is usually decisive; see Scribbl for sales.

tl;dv alternatives FAQ

What is the best tl;dv alternative in 2026?

Scribbl is the best tl;dv alternative for most people, especially if the meeting bot is what pushed you off tl;dv: no bot ever joins the call, it works with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams in one account, it has a free plan with no credit card, and its Automations do the follow-up work.

Is there a tl;dv alternative that does not use a bot?

Yes. Scribbl is botless: no participant joins the meeting and nothing is announced to attendees. Granola also avoids the join-the-call bot, but it keeps no recording. Scribbl keeps the video, a transcript with speaker names, AI notes and action items for every meeting on Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams in one account.

Are there free tl;dv alternatives?

Yes. Scribbl has a free plan with no credit card required: 10 meetings a month on Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, with no bot in any of them. Most other free tiers, including tl;dv's own, still send a bot into the call, so when you compare free plans, look past the recording count and check the capture model: a bot in the call versus nothing in the call at all. Always confirm current limits on each tool's own pricing page, since they change.

Why do people leave tl;dv?

The most common reasons are the meeting bot showing up as a visible participant on external calls, transcription accuracy gaps on accents and crosstalk, useful features moving behind higher paid tiers, and slower support. The single biggest 2026 differentiator is whether a tool sends a bot into the room at all, which is why botless options like Scribbl come up first for client and sales calls.

What is the most accurate tl;dv alternative?

Accuracy depends heavily on audio quality, accents, and crosstalk, so treat any single accuracy number with caution and test on your own meetings. The most reliable way to judge is to run the same real call through two tools and compare the transcripts and the summary, rather than trusting a vendor's headline percentage. Scribbl gives every meeting the video and a transcript with speaker names, and its free plan needs no credit card, so it is easy to include in that test.