Top AI Note Takers Tested: Motion, Fellow, Otter, and TL;DV

We tested each AI note taker to evaluate their accuracy and features during real world meetings. Follow the links to view our detailed reviews:

AI note taker benchmark results

Methodology for evaluating AI note taking tools:

We tested AI note takers during a strategy session focused on improving sales in the rural market.

1. Test setup

• Participants: 2 business leaders involved in rural market strategy discussions.
• Duration: 6-minute strategy meeting.
• Focus: Key challenges, sales strategies, and actionable insights for rural market expansion.

2. Data collection

• Audio recordings of the meeting were transcribed by the AI tools.

3. Evaluation criteria

Transcription accuracy: To assess accuracy, we used Levenshtein distance between original text of the video conferencing content vs the AI note taker’s result. Therefore, we measure the number of edits (insertions, deletions, substitutions) required to correct the AI transcription.

Best AI meeting assistants

Do I need an AI note taker?

Consider using an AI note taker if:

• You attend meetings across various platforms and need a centralized recorder.
• You require features like meeting templates or conversation analytics.
• You prefer a free or low-cost solution for automated note-taking.

However, if your video conferencing software already includes transcription, and summaries, using an AI note taker might be unnecessary. Some leading conferencing tools already offer AI capabilities:

• Zoom offers transcription and smart chapters in its basic paid plan.
• Whereby: Provides real-time transcription and AI-generated meeting summaries in its free plan.
• Cisco Webex offers AI-powered transcription, smart summaries, and action item tracking with its premium plans.

Key features of AI note takers

• Transcription and summaries: Automatically transcribes meetings and summarizes key points, decisions, and action items.
• Action Item Tracking: Identifies and tracks action items, converting them into tasks and scheduling them.
• Smart scheduling: Automatically schedules meetings based on availability and priority.
• Integrations: Works with video conferencing tools like Zoom.

Motion

Motion (usemotion.com) is an AI-powered calendar that automatically schedules and reschedules your tasks based on availability, urgency, and changing priorities.

Its pricing is higher than its competitors’, starting at $29 per seat per month (billed annually). So, I wanted to see if it actually helps or if it’s just another overhyped productivity tool.

My experience with Motion

After testing, I found that Motion is a more flexible productivity platform than tools like Fellow and Otter. In addition to calendar and task functions, it combines scheduling, task management, project planning, and meeting coordination in a single interface.

My key takeaways:

• The unified calendar view was functionally effective. I synced Google calendas within seconds and displayed all scheduled events in a single, consolidated view.
  
• The AI scheduling feature automatically places tasks into available calendar slots based on user-defined work hours, deadlines, and priorities.
  
  Motion identified gaps in my schedule and inserted tasks accordingly. However, it wasn’t a fully hands-free experience, and I experienced limitations:
  • Sometimes, the AI placed tasks in less-than-ideal times (e.g., toward the end of the workday).
  • I had to manually reposition tasks because the Motion scheduled them inconveniently.
  • Motion says the engine adapts to my preferences over time, but it still requires user oversight, especially when I change task priorities.
    

• Adding tasks for project management was straightforward—I could assign a task to a project in just a few seconds. Motion then automatically scheduled it into my calendar. Each task can include details like:
  • Who it’s assigned to
  • Duration and priority
  • Whether it should be auto-scheduled or fixed

• In terms of project management, I used lists, Gantt, and Kanban views to organize tasks across multiple projects. Tasks are shown in a clean dashboard with filters for what’s upcoming, overdue, or in progress. Compared to other tools like Notion or Trello, Motion is more structured.
  
  Here is an overview of my projects in Kanban view:

• Motion’s automated meeting summary captured the core purpose and outcome of the meeting, it provided a high-level summary of key takeaways. It accurately identified action items from the conversation. For instance, when Mrs. Jones and Mr. Lewis agreed to schedule a follow-up meeting, Motion captured that they agreed on a follow-up meeting at 10:00 AM the next day.

• The meeting notes generated by Motion contained a high level of detail. Motion:
  • Captured company backgrounds (ABC Solutions: UK-based, 143 employees, growing to 160).
  • Accurately described the product (ABC Accounts) and its core features (expense tracking, invoicing, reporting).

Key features:

• AI meeting notetaker
• Calendar integration (Google, Apple, Outlook)
• AI-powered task scheduling
• Project and task management
• Meeting booking functionality

Pros ✅

• All-in-one tool – Calendar, tasks, projects, meetings
• AI auto-scheduling based on availability and priorities
• Seamless calendar integration (Google, Outlook, Apple)
• Flexible project views – Kanban, list, Gantt
• Mobile app experience on iOS
  

Cons ❌

• After free trial ends, charges ~$32/month (billed annually)
• Steep learning curve – Took me ~30 mins to fully customize the meeting assistant
• iOS users get a smoother experience. The Android app is basic — not unusable, but clunky. It’s fine if you’re mostly desktop-based.
• No offline access.

Fellow 

Fellow is best for meeting management and collaboration, especially for teams requiring speaker tracking and customizable action items. It’s particularly effective for recurring meetings, 1:1s, and strategic planning sessions, where follow-ups matter.

It works with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, and it goes beyond just taking notes by enabling structured, AI meeting planning, automatic note capture, and task follow-up. It offers (50+) video conferencing platform integrations.

My experience with Fellow

When I tested Fellow during a brief strategy session focused on improving rural market sales, it captured the core points of the discussion. It also accurately noted the speaker’s suggestions.

However, when I held a meeting under five minutes, Fellow didn’t generate any topics or decisions, since decisions are only generated for meeting recordings longer than 5 minutes. 

Key features:

• Action item tracking
• Meeting templates for recurring formats
• Google & Outlook calendar integration
• AI copilot to assist in real-time
  

Pros ✅

• Accurate speaker identification 
• Accurate calendar syncing
• Automatically captures key takeaways and tasks
• Ready-to-use meeting templates 

Cons ❌

• Action item filtering and sorting could be smoother
• No timestamps
• Not much room to personalize the interface

Otter

Otter.ai is a strong choice for those prioritizing live transcription and searchable archives. It is a good fit for users who frequently need to search past discussions.

My experience with Otter

• When I set up and scheduled a Google meeting with Otter, the bot successfully joined my sessions and began transcribing without any manual input.
  
• One of the most practical features was Otter’s ability to highlight any line in the transcript and play the corresponding audio with timestamps. This capability significantly reduced the time I spent locating and extracting quotes.
  
• Otter’s transcript search functionality allowed me to search all transcripts using keywords. Instead of manually scrubbing through audio files or scanning documents, I could quickly locate key moments by searching for keywords.
  
• The live transcription was accurate enough for drafting scripts (94%). I had to go in and make some manual corrections.

Key features:

• Auto-join feature
• Live transcription on Zoom, Google Meet, and MS Teams
• AI-generated summaries of meetings
• Automatic task detection and tracking
• Speaker identification 
• Otter AI Chat for searching across transcripts
• Slack, Salesforce, and HubSpot integrations

Pros ✅

• Transcriptions in real time were mostly accurate 
• Accurate summaries of reviewing long meetings
• Timestamps allowed smooth discussion tracking

Cons ❌

• No offline support 
• Requires editing transcripts for 100% accuracy
• Only three supported languages (English, French, Spanish)

TL;DV

TL;DV is good fit for individuals requiring a free plan with features like AI-generated reports and HubSpot integration.

While TL;DV offers a free plan, some capabilities are limited. For example, features like speaker insights and key action item tracking are locked behind the paid business plan. 

Additionally, the lack of a mobile version limits access for those needing to use the tool on the go.

My experience with TL;DV

• AI-powered meeting transcription works smoothly, automatically transcribing meetings with high accuracy (84%). It provides a speaker ID for easy identification of each participant.
  
• Meeting folders were particularly useful. I organized my past meetings by topics.
  
• Customizable templates allowed me to structure meeting summaries based on meeting type, like sales or personal interviews.

Key features:

• Transcription of online meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams)
  
• AI meeting notes with customizable templates
  
• AI coaching hub for meeting insights like speaker time, filler words, and longest monologues (only available in the business plan)
  
• Meeting folders for organizing past meetings
  
• Clips and reels to highlight key moments in meetings
  
• AI reports to track action items and next steps
  
• Integrations with 5000+ apps, including popular collaboration platforms
  
• Recording meetings with the option to adjust playback speed
  

Pros ✅

• Feature-rich free plan includes transcriptions, AI meeting notes, and meeting templates.
  
• Manual notes with timestamps allow users to add notes to the transcript, complete with timestamps, making it easy to reference specific parts of the meeting.
  
• Clips and reels for highlighting transcripts and creating short video clips to share important moments with your team or integrate with tools like Slack.

Cons ❌

• No mobile version.
  
• The AI coaching feature is locked behind the business plan, limiting access for smaller teams.

Video conferencing content

Further reading

• 100 AI Use Cases with Real-Life Examples
• Compare Top 20 Project Management AI Tools by Price [’25]
• Enterprise Generative AI: 10+ Use Cases & Best Practices