7 Best tl;dv Alternatives for Meeting Transcription (2026)

Why people look for tl;dv alternatives

tl;dv has built a strong user base thanks to its free plan and video-first approach, but several gaps push teams to explore other options.

No in-person meeting support: tl;dv requires Zoom or Google Meet to record. It joins as a bot participant. Conference room meetings, workshops, and face-to-face sessions aren't supported.

Bot visibility: tl;dv's recording bot appears as a participant in your meeting. In client-facing calls or sensitive discussions, an unfamiliar name joining the call can create friction.

Limited team features on free plan: While individual recording is generous, team collaboration features like shared meeting libraries and admin controls require paid plans starting at $25/user/month.

Data hosting outside EU: tl;dv processes data through cloud infrastructure outside the European Union. For GDPR-conscious organizations, this creates compliance questions.

Video-first approach isn't for everyone: tl;dv emphasizes video clips and highlights. If your team prefers structured text-based meeting minutes, the video-centric workflow adds friction.

1. Menutes: best for in-person meetings and structured text minutes

Menutes is designed for teams that meet face-to-face and want structured text documentation rather than video clips. It records from any device microphone and produces professional meeting minutes with EU data hosting.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

In-person meeting recording is the core use case. Record conference rooms, workshops, client sites, and any physical meeting from your phone or laptop.

Structured text minutes with clearly labeled decisions, action items, and discussion summaries. Ready to share without watching video clips.

EU data hosting with native GDPR compliance. All data stays on European servers.

50+ language support versus tl;dv's 30+ languages.

No bot or participant added to your meetings. Captures system audio directly.

Pricing: Free plan includes 5 hours/month. Premium is €9/month, Team plans are €9/user/month.

Best for: Teams with in-person meetings, organizations needing text-based minutes, European organizations, multilingual teams.

2. Otter.ai: best for real-time transcript collaboration

Otter.ai provides live, collaborative transcription where team members can interact with the transcript during the meeting, adding highlights, comments, and reactions in real time.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

Real-time collaboration lets multiple team members annotate the transcript as the meeting progresses.

OtterPilot delivers AI summaries immediately, with action items and key decisions extracted automatically.

More established enterprise features including admin controls, team management, and compliance tools.

Limitations: No in-person meeting support. US-based data hosting. Bot joins meetings. Business plan costs $20/user/month. Free tier limited to 600 minutes/month.

Best for: Teams that want to interact with transcripts in real time, enterprise organizations needing established vendor reliability.

3. Fireflies.ai: best for CRM integrations and searchable meetings

Fireflies.ai shines when you need meeting transcription connected to your sales and project management tools. It pushes meeting data directly into Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and dozens of other platforms.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

Native CRM integrations sync meeting notes, action items, and conversation highlights to your CRM automatically.

AskFred AI enables natural language search across your entire meeting history.

Conversation intelligence with topic tracking, sentiment analysis, and talk-time metrics for sales coaching.

Limitations: No in-person recording. US-based data hosting. Bot joins meetings. Pro plan starts at $18/user/month, Business at $29/user/month.

Best for: Sales and revenue teams needing CRM push, organizations building a searchable meeting knowledge base.

4. Fathom: best free alternative for Zoom users

Fathom provides unlimited free meeting summaries for Zoom with a clean, no-frills interface that prioritizes simplicity over features.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

Completely free for individual Zoom users with no recording limits. tl;dv's free plan is generous but has some AI feature restrictions.

Cleaner, simpler interface focused purely on delivering actionable summaries without the video clip workflow.

Faster summary generation with highlighted key points and action items.

Limitations: Primarily Zoom-focused. No in-person recording. Team plans are expensive at $32/user/month. Limited multi-platform support.

Best for: Individual Zoom users wanting the simplest possible free transcription tool.

5. Read AI: best for meeting engagement analytics

Read AI layers engagement analytics on top of meeting transcription, providing data about how participants engage during meetings.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

Engagement scoring measures participant attentiveness across meeting segments, giving managers data to improve meeting quality.

Sentiment analysis tracks the emotional tone of conversations, useful for customer calls.

Meeting quality reports identify which meetings are productive and which waste time.

Limitations: No in-person recording. US-based data hosting. Pro starts at $19.75/user/month. Analytics are approximations. Can feel invasive to some team cultures.

Best for: Teams focused on data-driven meeting culture improvement.

6. Fellow: best for meeting management workflows

Fellow focuses on the meeting lifecycle (agendas, notes, follow-ups) rather than just recording and transcription.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

Agenda builder with templates helps teams prepare for meetings.

Action item tracking with assignments and due dates, integrated into the meeting flow.

One-on-one meeting templates for structured manager conversations.

Limitations: Transcription is supplementary, not core. No in-person recording. English-focused. AI features require higher plan tiers.

Best for: Teams that need meeting process improvement alongside transcription.

7. Jamie: best for on-device privacy

Jamie processes meeting audio locally on your computer, offering the strongest privacy guarantee among tl;dv alternatives.

Key advantages over tl;dv:

On-device processing keeps audio entirely local. No cloud uploads, no data residency concerns.

Works with any audio source without platform-specific bots or integrations.

No bot joining meetings. Completely invisible to other participants.

Limitations: Requires local computing power. Limited language support (15+ languages). Starts at €24/month. Limited team features.

Best for: Privacy-first individuals and teams, organizations with strict data governance.

Comparison table: tl;dv alternatives at a glance

Here's how all seven alternatives stack up on the features that matter most.

Which tl;dv alternative should you choose?

The right choice depends on what's missing from your tl;dv experience.

If you need in-person recording: Menutes is the only alternative that records face-to-face meetings natively.

If you prefer text minutes over video clips: Menutes delivers structured text documentation rather than tl;dv's video-first approach.

If you need EU data hosting: Menutes hosts all data on EU infrastructure with native GDPR compliance.

If you need CRM integration: Fireflies.ai provides the deepest sales tool integrations.

If you want the simplest free option: Fathom offers unlimited Zoom transcription with zero complexity.

If you want meeting analytics: Read AI adds engagement scoring and sentiment data.

If privacy is paramount: Jamie keeps everything on your device.

For teams that want comprehensive meeting documentation with in-person support, multilingual coverage, EU hosting, and affordable pricing, Menutes is the most versatile tl;dv alternative.

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