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Productivity · head to head

Bluedot vs Microsoft OneNote

Bluedot logo

Bluedot

Productivity

Bot-free meeting recorder and AI note taker that runs as a browser extension

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft OneNote logo

Microsoft OneNote

Productivity

Microsoft's free-form notebook, free with a Microsoft account and synced through OneDrive

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bluedot cancelling ends access immediately and recordings are permanently deleted after thirty days, so the product is unsuitable as a meeting archive and any record you need to keep must be exported before the subscription lapses.; Microsoft OneNote notes live in a proprietary notebook format on OneDrive or SharePoint and the only exports are a OneNote file, a PDF or a Word document, produced section by section, so a large notebook is effectively unmovable to any other tool.
  • They diverge on capability: Bluedot covers Bot-free capture, Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bluedot and Microsoft OneNote actually diverge.

Attributes where Bluedot and Microsoft OneNote differ
AttributeBluedotMicrosoft OneNote
Pricing modelPer recording user per monthfreemium
PlatformsWeb, Chrome, macOS, Windows, iOS, AndroidWeb, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows
FoundedUnknown1975

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Bluedot

  • Bot-free capture
  • Transcript-based video editing
  • Custom note templates
  • Record-only seat pricing
  • CRM and ATS push
  • Imports
  • Webhooks
  • SSO and SCIM

Only in Microsoft OneNote

  • Free-form page canvas
  • Notebook hierarchy
  • Indexed handwriting
  • Audio recording
  • Web clipper and Outlook capture
  • Shared notebooks
  • Cross-platform clients
  • Tags and cross-notebook search

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bluedot

  • A sales team where prospects decline to admit recording bots but the manager still needs call notes in the CRMnot Microsoft OneNote
  • A recruiter conducting interviews who wants a structured summary per candidate without a visible third party in the callnot Microsoft OneNote
  • A customer success team of thirty where only four people run calls, so per-recorder pricing costs a fraction of a per-seat competitornot Microsoft OneNote
  • Cutting a short clip from a long call to share internally, done by deleting text from the transcript rather than opening a video editornot Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote

  • Handwritten notes on a pen tablet that you still need to find months later by searching for a word you wrote.not Bluedot
  • Lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time.not Bluedot
  • A team already inside Microsoft 365 that needs a shared notebook without buying anything or seeking approval.not Bluedot
  • Collecting mixed material such as screenshots, clippings and sketches on one page, where a document editor would force a linear structure.not Bluedot

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bluedot

  • Cancelling ends access immediately and recordings are permanently deleted after thirty days, so the product is unsuitable as a meeting archive and any record you need to keep must be exported before the subscription lapses.
  • The Basic tier at $14 records audio only and caps recordings at one hour, which excludes most workshops, training sessions and long client calls and pushes anyone with real meetings to Pro.
  • The free tier gives five meetings in total rather than five a month, so it functions as an extended trial and cannot be used as a genuine free option for occasional users.
  • Recording without a visible bot removes the prompt that alerts participants, but not the consent obligation in jurisdictions requiring all parties to agree, and the product design makes that omission easy to overlook.
  • It is a small independent vendor in a category where Zoom, Microsoft and Google now bundle equivalent summarisation into subscriptions customers already hold, which is sustained pressure on both pricing and survival.

Microsoft OneNote

  • Notes live in a proprietary notebook format on OneDrive or SharePoint and the only exports are a OneNote file, a PDF or a Word document, produced section by section, so a large notebook is effectively unmovable to any other tool.
  • Personal notebooks consume OneDrive quota, which is 5 GB on a free Microsoft account, so a notebook full of scans, images and recordings quietly exhausts the whole account including the space Outlook needs for mail.
  • Sync happens at section level and conflicts are resolved by placing both versions on the page, so simultaneous edits to a large or media-heavy section produce duplicated content that somebody has to merge by hand.
  • Search behaves differently across clients, so what the Windows desktop app finds inside handwriting, images and attachments is not necessarily what the browser or mobile version finds, and the same query gives different answers on different devices.
  • There is no relational structure, no database and no properties, so anything that needs a table of records with fields has to be maintained by hand or moved elsewhere, and OneNote's own tables cannot be queried or filtered.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bluedot

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 5 meetings in total, not per month
    • Chrome extension and desktop and mobile apps
    • Basic integrations
  • Basic$14/month
    • Unlimited audio meetings
    • One hour maximum per recording
    • Webhook access
  • Pro$20/month
    • Video meetings as well as audio
    • No recording duration limit
    • Custom templates
  • Business$32/month
    • CRM and applicant tracking integrations
    • SSO and SCIM
    • Admin controls

Microsoft OneNote

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Microsoft OneNote review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Bluedot if

  • You need bot-free capture.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Chrome, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android.
  • You also want transcript-based video editing.
Bluedot review

Choose Microsoft OneNote if

  • You need free-form page canvas.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.
  • You also want notebook hierarchy.
Microsoft OneNote review

Questions people ask

Is Bluedot or Microsoft OneNote better?
Neither clearly leads. Bluedot starts at Free and Microsoft OneNote at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bluedot or Microsoft OneNote?
Bluedot starts at Free and Microsoft OneNote at Free.
Does Bluedot or Microsoft OneNote run on more platforms?
Bluedot runs on Web, Chrome, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android. Microsoft OneNote runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.
Can I use Bluedot for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Bluedot best used for?
Bluedot is most often used for a sales team where prospects decline to admit recording bots but the manager still needs call notes in the crm, a recruiter conducting interviews who wants a structured summary per candidate without a visible third party in the call, a customer success team of thirty where only four people run calls, so per-recorder pricing costs a fraction of a per-seat competitor, cutting a short clip from a long call to share internally, done by deleting text from the transcript rather than opening a video editor. Of those, a sales team where prospects decline to admit recording bots but the manager still needs call notes in the crm and a recruiter conducting interviews who wants a structured summary per candidate without a visible third party in the call are not what Microsoft OneNote is typically brought in for.
What can Bluedot do that Microsoft OneNote cannot?
Bluedot covers Bot-free capture, Transcript-based video editing, Custom note templates, Record-only seat pricing. Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, Notebook hierarchy, Indexed handwriting, Audio recording.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bluedot: Does Bluedot join the meeting as a bot?

No. It captures through the browser extension or desktop app, so no additional participant is visible to anyone in the call.

Microsoft OneNote: Is OneNote really free?

Yes. The application is free with a Microsoft account, with no time limit and no feature gate. What you may end up paying for is the OneDrive storage the notebooks consume.

Bluedot: How is it priced?

Per workspace, with charges only for users who record. Free covers five meetings in total, Basic is $14, Pro is $20 and Business is $32 a month on annual billing.

Microsoft OneNote: Can I keep notebooks off Microsoft's cloud?

The Windows desktop app can keep local notebooks, but they will not sync to other devices and any shared access requires OneDrive or SharePoint.

Bluedot: What happens to my recordings if I cancel?

Access ends at cancellation and recordings are permanently deleted after thirty days. Export anything you need to keep before you cancel.

Microsoft OneNote: How do I get my notes out?

Section by section as a OneNote file, a PDF or a Word document. A OneNote package preserves a whole notebook but only for another copy of OneNote. Third-party converters exist and the page layout usually does not survive them.

Bluedot: Can I record video, not just audio?

Only from the Pro tier. Basic is audio only and limits each recording to one hour.

Microsoft OneNote: Which version should I install?

Microsoft consolidated onto a single OneNote application on Windows after retiring the Store version, so install the one distributed with Microsoft 365 rather than looking for an alternative.

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