LiteScribe vs Granola
Granola: Also bot-free, but built as a notepad that merges the user's own notes with the transcript, and without offline on-device transcription.
LiteScribe
Meeting notes on every device, without a bot.
As of 12 November 2026, LiteScribe has a free plan and paid plans start at $7.95/month. Record Zoom, Teams and Google Meet on Chrome, Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android with no bot in the call. Softwr lists it under Productivity. LiteScribe is available on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Overview
What LiteScribe does
LiteScribe records Zoom, Teams and Google Meet on Chrome, Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android with no bot in the call, and returns a transcript, summary and action items in minutes. It also covers meetings in the room, lectures, interviews and podcasts, so it sits between a meeting assistant and a general transcription service. Capture works from several places. The Chrome and Edge extension records a browser tab, screen and microphone, and can write a live transcript in a side panel during the call. Desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux capture system audio from Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex or Discord, show a live speaker-labelled transcript, and accept questions mid-meeting. Files can be uploaded in common audio and video formats, pulled from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, or imported from links on more than 70 sites including YouTube and TikTok. The feature that separates it from most cloud note takers is Local Mode. The desktop app runs the LiteScribe Local Transcription Engine on the computer's own CPU or GPU, so audio is not uploaded, and it works offline. On Windows and Apple silicon Macs, local models also write the summary and action items. Transcripts can then be synced to the account to search, share and chat with on other devices. Cloud recordings and transcripts are processed and stored in the EU, except some uploads from outside Europe. After transcription there is speaker labelling, translation, summaries, topics, sentiment, action items, 22 meeting note templates called Blueprints, AI chat across several transcripts, saved prompts, PII redaction, and exports to TXT, MD and SRT, or DOCX, PDF and PPTX on paid plans. Transcription covers 99 languages. There are connectors for Claude and ChatGPT, an MCP server, and Zapier. The free Basic plan gives 120 minutes a month. Starter is $7.95 a month for 500 minutes and 20 hours of Local Mode, Pro is $14.95 for 1,200 minutes and unlimited Local Mode, and Business is $19.95 for 3,000 minutes. One-off minute packs start at $2.99 for 60 minutes and do not expire.
What people use it for
- Taking notes on Zoom, Teams or Meet calls without a bot joining
- Transcribing confidential recordings on the user's own computer with no audio uploaded
- Asking questions across several meeting transcripts at once
- Transcribing lectures, interviews and podcasts, including from YouTube or cloud storage links
- Recording meetings on a phone as well as a laptop under one account
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about LiteScribe.
- The homepage and pricing page disagree: the homepage lists Pro at $14.95 or $7.95 a month billed annually and omits Starter, while the pricing page lists Starter at $7.95 a month (checked 12 November 2026). Annual prices are not shown in the page HTML.
- Accuracy claims are inconsistent on the same page: a headline of 98.7% real-world accuracy beside a note saying up to about 95% with High Accuracy mode.
- On-device summaries need Windows or an Apple silicon Mac; Linux gets local transcription but not local AI notes.
- Plan minutes reset monthly and do not roll over, and the free plan drops to 60 minutes in some countries with exports limited to plain text.
- Cloud processing is in the EU except some uploads from outside Europe, which matters for anyone choosing it on data residency grounds.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of LiteScribe
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
LiteScribe vs Otter.ai
Otter.ai: A long-established cloud meeting transcription service with a joining assistant, rather than local capture and on-device processing.
LiteScribe vs Fireflies.ai
Fireflies.ai: Team-oriented meeting notes with a bot that joins calls and a wider set of CRM integrations.
LiteScribe vs MeetGeek
MeetGeek: Meeting recording and summaries with published per-seat pricing, aimed at teams rather than file and lecture transcription.
Pricing
What LiteScribe costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Basic
Free
- 120 transcription minutes a month, 60 in some countries
- Speaker recognition, AI notes, chat and summaries
- Translation into 1 language per recording
- Exports in TXT, MD and SRT
- Chrome extension
Starter
$7.95 /mo
- 500 transcription minutes a month
- 20 hours a month of Local Mode
- Exports in DOCX, PDF and PPTX
- Translation into 5 languages per recording
Pro
$14.95 /mo
- 1,200 transcription minutes a month
- Unlimited Local Mode
Business
$19.95 /mo
- 3,000 transcription minutes a month
- Everything in Pro
- Lowest price per minute, 0.67 US cents billed monthly
Minute packs
$2.99 /one-time
- 60 minutes for $2.99, 300 for $5.99, 600 for $10.00
- No subscription and no expiry
- Packs of 600 minutes or more unlock formatted exports for 30 days
Capabilities
Features
Bot-free meeting capture
Records Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex and Discord from the user's own machine through the desktop app or browser extension, so no bot appears in the participant list.
Local Mode
Transcribes on the computer's CPU or GPU with no audio uploaded, offline if needed, on Windows, macOS and Linux. Unlimited on Pro and above, 20 hours a month on Starter.
On-device AI notes
Local models write summaries and action items on the device on Windows and Apple silicon Macs.
AI chat across transcripts
Combine several recordings into one chat and ask questions, with answers citing the transcript. Prompts can be saved and reused as slash commands.
Transcribe Hub
Upload audio or video files, import from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, or paste links from more than 70 sites. Large videos have their audio extracted before upload.
Live meeting tools
Live speaker-labelled transcript, in-meeting questions, live bookmarks, timestamped screenshots and a post-meeting card scoring clarity, ownership, focus and balance.
Translation and 99 languages
Automatic language detection across 99 languages, with translation into 1 language per recording on the free plan and 5 on Starter.
Claude, ChatGPT and MCP connectors
Ask Claude or ChatGPT about recordings, or add the LiteScribe MCP server to Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code.
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does LiteScribe cost?
Basic is free with 120 minutes a month. Starter is $7.95 a month for 500 minutes, Pro is $14.95 for 1,200 minutes and Business is $19.95 for 3,000 minutes. One-off packs start at $2.99 for 60 minutes and never expire.
SourceDoes LiteScribe send a bot into meetings?
No. It records from the user's own machine through the desktop app or browser extension, so Zoom, Teams, Meet and Webex calls are captured without a bot in the participant list.
SourceCan LiteScribe transcribe without uploading audio?
Yes. Local Mode in the desktop app runs transcription on the computer's own CPU or GPU, works offline, and does not upload audio. It is unlimited on Pro, Business and Enterprise and 20 hours a month on Starter.
SourceWhere is LiteScribe data stored?
Recordings and transcripts are processed and stored in the EU, except some uploads from outside Europe.
SourceDoes LiteScribe work with Claude or ChatGPT?
Yes. There are connectors for Claude and ChatGPT, and an MCP server that can be added to Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. AI features inside LiteScribe need no API key.
SourceBehind it
Who makes LiteScribe
- Company
- LiteScribe
- Founders
- Clinton Browne
Keep looking
Where to go from LiteScribe
- LiteScribe alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- LiteScribe pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- LiteScribe badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Productivity softwareThe full category
- Best Productivity softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Productivity software for
Compare LiteScribe with
- MeetGeek
- Granola
- Bluedot
- Supernormal
- Yap
- Circleback
- Milanote
- Google Slides
- Bear
- Notion
- FigJam
- iLovePDF
- Memtime
- Microsoft OneNote
- Reflect
- RemNote
- RowShare
- Sejda
Other Productivity software
AI meeting recording, transcription and summaries with published per-seat pricing
Free, then $9.99/mo13 researched notesAI notepad that transcribes meetings and merges transcripts with user notes
Free, then $14/mo8 researched notesBot-free meeting recorder and AI note taker that runs as a browser extension
Free, then $14/mo12 researched notesAI meeting notes captured from the desktop app without sending a bot into the call
Free, then $20/mo12 researched notesAI meeting notes that join calls from your calendar and push action items into other tools
Free, then $20.83/mo9 researched notesBoard-based visual workspace for creative planning, free up to 100 items for the whole account
Free, then $9.99/mo11 researched notesGoogle's browser presentation editor, free with a Google account and included in every Workspace edition
Free, then €4.76/mo11 researched notesAll-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases
Free, then $10/mo13 researched notesBrowser toolbox for merging, splitting, compressing and converting PDFs, processed on the vendor's servers
Free, then $7/mo12 researched notesMicrosoft's free-form notebook, free with a Microsoft account and synced through OneDrive
Free plan9 researched notesNote-taking where lines become spaced repetition flashcards as you write them
Free, then $8/mo9 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for LiteScribe, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on LiteScribe
LiteScribe alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
LiteScribe pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
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