9 Best tl;dv Alternatives in 2026 (Tested and Ranked)

tl;dv is a well known AI meeting notetaker, popular for recordings, transcripts, and shareable highlight clips. It is a reasonable choice if a notetaker joining your call works for you. But 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 nine real alternatives so you can pick a replacement by the things you actually decide on.

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, and it has a free plan with no credit card. If you want a deep, integration-heavy platform, look at Fireflies. For sales coaching, look at Avoma. For cheap multilingual transcription, look at Notta.

Feature	Scribbl	Fireflies	Otter	Fathom	Granola	Avoma	Notta
No bot joins the call		–	–	–		–	–
Nothing announced to attendees		–	–	–		–	–
Google Meet					Varies
Zoom					Varies
Microsoft Teams					Varies
Connects meetings to ChatGPT or Claude		Varies	Varies	Varies	Varies	Varies	Varies
AI summaries and action items
Free plan, no credit card		Free tier	Free tier	Generous free	Free tier	Limited	Free tier
Chrome extension and desktop app		Varies	Varies	Varies	Desktop	Varies	Varies
Built for external and sales calls		Varies	Varies	Varies	Varies		Varies
5.0 from 3,000 reviews		–	–	–	–	–	–

How this 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 fairly, with no invented prices or feature claims for the other tools, and with the honest note that several of these are excellent if a bot in the call is genuinely fine for you.

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 security posture. 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, so it is a well-liked product, not a broken one. Verify any current price, language count, or compliance claim on each vendor's own site before you commit, because they change often.

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 9 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 lowest publicly advertised paid entry point and are approximate; confirm current numbers and free-plan limits on each vendor's site, since they move.

Tool	Best for	Bot-free	Free plan	From (paid)	Platforms	Standout
Scribbl	External and sales calls, no bot, AI follow-up	Yes	Yes, no card	~$29/user/mo	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Botless capture + ChatGPT/Claude actions
Fireflies	Deep platform, integrations, search	No (bot)	Yes	~$10/user/mo	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Conversation search and analytics
Otter	Live transcription, real-time captions	No (bot)	Yes	~$8.33/user/mo	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Real-time transcript and OtterPilot
Fathom	Clean free notetaker	No (bot)	Yes, generous	~$15/user/mo	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Polished summaries, strong free tier
Granola	People who take their own notes	Yes (device)	Yes	~$18/user/mo	Desktop-centric	AI enhances your own typed notes
Avoma	Sales coaching and revenue teams	No (bot)	Yes	~$19/user/mo	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Conversation intelligence + coaching
Notta	Cheap multilingual transcription	No (bot)	Yes	~$9/user/mo	Meet, Zoom, Teams	Broad language coverage
Krisp	Bot-free transcription + noise removal	Yes (device)	Yes	~$8/user/mo	App-level audio	Noise cancellation + local capture
tl;dv (baseline)	Recording and shareable clips	No (bot)	Yes	~$18/user/mo	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. Instead of sending a participant into the call, it captures from your own session, 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 connects your meetings to the AI you already use, ChatGPT or Claude, so the follow-up work gets done rather than just stored. It ships as a Chrome extension and a desktop app, is rated 5.0 from 3,000 reviews, 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; AI summaries and action items; connects meetings to ChatGPT or Claude so you can turn a call into a recap, a draft reply, or next steps; Chrome extension and desktop app.

Pros: no participant ever joins, so external calls stay normal; genuinely free plan with no credit card; covers the three major meeting platforms; output flows into the AI you already use; 5.0 from 3,000 reviews.

Cons: it is built around your own session, so it is not a "leave a bot to record a call you are not on" tool; if you specifically want a notetaker to attend meetings without you, a bot-based tool fits that better.

Pricing: free plan with no credit card; paid plans start around $29 per user per month. 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 standard model sends a notetaker bot (often called Fred) into the meeting. If you want depth and a lot of connected tooling and a visible bot is acceptable, Fireflies is a serious contender.

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 tier available; paid plans commonly start around $10 per user per month. Confirm on the Fireflies site. 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. It typically sends a notetaker into the call. If your priority is watching the transcript appear live during the meeting, Otter does that well.

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: free tier available; paid plans commonly start around $8.33 per user per month billed annually. Confirm on the Otter site. See Scribbl vs Otter.

4. Fathom

Fathom is a polished, widely loved notetaker with a notably generous free experience. It typically joins the meeting to record and produces clean summaries and action items. The trade is the usual one: a participant appears in the call. For internal-heavy teams that do not mind it, Fathom is an excellent choice.

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; deeper team and coaching features sit on paid tiers.

Pricing: generous free tier; paid plans commonly start around $15 per user per month. Confirm on the Fathom site. See Scribbl vs Fathom.

5. Granola

Granola takes a notes-forward approach: you take your own rough notes and it enhances them with AI, capturing on your device rather than sending a join-the-call bot. 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, and coverage is desktop-centric.

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; platform coverage is narrower than the bigger platforms; confirm current support on its site.

Pricing: free tier available; paid plans commonly start around $18 per user per month. Confirm on the Granola site. See Scribbl vs Granola.

6. Avoma

Avoma is built for revenue teams. Beyond notes and transcripts it layers conversation intelligence and coaching: talk-time ratios, topic tracking, scorecards, and CRM workflows. It uses a meeting bot. If you run a sales org and want coaching analytics on top of notes, Avoma is the sales-focused pick on this list.

Best for: sales and customer-facing teams that want conversation intelligence and coaching, not just notes.

Pros: strong sales coaching and analytics; CRM-oriented workflows.

Cons: bot joins the call; heavier and pricier than a simple notetaker.

Pricing: limited free tier; paid plans commonly start around $19 per user per month. Confirm on the Avoma site. See Scribbl vs Avoma and the Scribbl for sales page.

7. Notta

Notta is the value-and-languages pick. It advertises broad language coverage and competitive pricing, which makes it popular with multilingual teams and budget-conscious buyers. It uses a meeting bot to capture calls. If your main needs are cheap transcription and lots of languages, Notta is worth a look.

Best for: multilingual teams and budget buyers who want affordable transcription.

Pros: broad language support; competitive entry pricing.

Cons: bot joins the call; summary and workflow depth is lighter than the sales-grade tools.

Pricing: free tier available; paid plans commonly start around $9 per user per month. Confirm on the Notta site.

8. Krisp

Krisp started as noise cancellation and has grown into AI meeting notes. It captures at the app/audio level on your device rather than sending a bot into the meeting, which puts it in the bot-free camp, and its noise-removal pedigree means clean audio going into the transcript. If you want bot-free capture plus best-in-class background-noise removal, Krisp is the pick.

Best for: people who want bot-free notes and excellent noise cancellation on noisy calls.

Pros: no bot in the room; outstanding noise removal; works across apps at the audio level.

Cons: notes and summary depth is newer than its audio products; check current platform and feature coverage.

Pricing: free tier available; paid plans commonly start around $8 per user per month. Confirm on the Krisp site.

9. tl;dv itself, when it still fits

tl;dv earns a spot on its own alternatives list because for some people it remains the right tool. If your workflow is built around recording meetings and sharing highlight clips, a bot in the call is genuinely not a problem, and you are happy with the current pricing and accuracy, tl;dv does that job well and is well-rated. The reason it sits at the bottom of an alternatives list is simple: 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 option available; paid plans commonly start around $18 per user per month. Confirm on the tl;dv site. For a direct head-to-head, see Scribbl vs tl;dv and Fathom vs tl;dv.

Bot vs botless, in one view

The whole list collapses to one decision. This is it.

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, Avoma, Notta

Scribbl (botless)

• Capture: from your own session, nothing joins
• Attendees see it: no bot, nothing announced, no email
• External calls: the meeting stays exactly normal
• Plus: free plan, Meet/Zoom/Teams, connects to ChatGPT or Claude

Which tl;dv alternative should you pick?

Use this as a quick decision framework rather than re-reading every profile.

• Pick Scribbl if your meetings include clients, prospects, candidates, or partners and you want notes with nothing in the room, plus a real free plan and your conversations connected to ChatGPT or Claude.
• Pick Fireflies if you want the deepest platform, the most integrations, and powerful search across past meetings, and a visible bot is fine.
• Pick Otter if real-time live captions during the meeting are the priority.
• Pick Fathom if you want a clean, popular notetaker with a generous free tier for an internal-heavy team.
• Pick Granola if you like taking your own notes and want AI to enhance them without a bot.
• Pick Avoma if you run a sales org and want conversation intelligence and coaching, not just notes.
• Pick Notta if you need cheap transcription across many languages.
• Pick Krisp if you want bot-free capture plus top-tier noise removal on noisy calls.
• Stay on tl;dv if recordings and shareable clips are your core workflow and the bot has never bothered you.

The pattern is clear: if a bot in the call is fine, you have many good options and can choose on features and price. If your calls are external, the bot is the variable that matters, and a botless tool keeps the meeting normal while still getting you notes. For sales teams specifically, that is usually decisive; see Scribbl for sales. If you want a closer look at two bot-based tools head to head, read Read AI vs Otter.ai.

FAQ

What is the best tl;dv alternative in 2026?

It depends on what pushed you off tl;dv. If the reason is the meeting bot, Scribbl is the best botless alternative: no bot ever joins the call, it works with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, and it has a free plan with no credit card. If you want a deep, integration-heavy platform, Fireflies is strong. For sales coaching, look at Avoma. For cheap multilingual transcription, look at Notta.

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

Yes. Scribbl is botless: it captures from your own session, so no participant joins the meeting and nothing is announced to attendees. Granola, Krisp, and Tactiq also avoid the traditional join-the-call bot in their own ways. Of these, Scribbl is the one that explicitly covers Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams while connecting your meetings to ChatGPT or Claude.

Are there free tl;dv alternatives?

Yes. Several alternatives offer free tiers. Scribbl has a free plan with no credit card required, and Fathom is well known for a generous free experience. tl;dv itself has a free option too, 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. Otter and Fireflies are long-established on transcription, and Notta advertises broad language coverage. 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.