Use one simple format, capture decisions and owners instead of every word, and let an AI note taker draft the notes so the note taker can take part in the meeting.
For anyone asking: How do I take meeting minutes that people actually use?
Each one's way of doing it, and the point where it stops.
The Fireflies.ai Notetaker auto-joins calendar meetings whether or not you host and writes a summary with an overview, notes and action items. Take Notes in the desktop app and the Chrome extension for Google Meet capture without a bot. Where it stops: Free has limited AI summaries and no downloads of transcripts or summaries; the Notetaker attends one meeting at a time on Free and Pro.
The Fathom Notetaker joins Zoom, Meet or Teams, or the bot-free Mac app captures device audio, and an AI summary arrives as soon as the call ends; in the Mac app the summary updates live. Where it stops: Free gives advanced AI summaries only on the first few calls each month, then the standard summary; uploaded recordings are not accepted.
The Otter Notetaker joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet events from your connected calendar, transcribes live and sends a summary with action items; meeting templates shape the notes. The desktop app records without a bot. Where it stops: On Basic only the first 30 minutes of each conversation's transcript can be viewed, and only the most recent conversations stay visible.
Avoma records by bot or a bot-less route and writes one-page AI notes organized by Smart Topics, key takeaways and action items, with a template applied by meeting purpose; notes save to CRM records. Where it stops: No free plan (a 14-day trial); recording needs a recorder seat on a paid plan; custom templates are not on Startup.
Read AI's meeting assistant builds a report after each meeting with a summary, chapters, action items, key questions and a transcript by speaker, plus a live dashboard during the call. Stock and custom templates shape the report. Where it stops: Free covers a small monthly number of meeting reports and meetings up to one hour.
No bot: Granola captures your device audio for any call or in-person talk, then merges your rough typed notes with the transcript into AI notes, keeping your words apart from the AI's. Custom templates are made on desktop. Where it stops: Basic shows only the last 30 days of notes; capture starts only when you start it, and no audio is kept.
The bot-free AI Note Taker runs in almost any calling app, as host or guest, and writes AI notes and action items after each call; starter templates include Meeting Minutes. An optional Krisp Bot can join instead. Where it stops: No free plan, only a 7-day trial; the Krisp Bot works only in Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.
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