On this page
- The pay-once meeting notetakers, compared
- What the monthly apps cost you
- 1. Off Grid AI Pro: one payment, every computer you own
- 2. MacWhisper: a transcript tool for the Mac
- 3. Talat: a lifetime licence, Mac and Windows
- 4. Anarlog: free, open source, local transcription
- 5. Meetily: free and open source, Mac and Windows
- Which one should you buy
- Related guides
- FAQ
Yes, you can buy an AI meeting notetaker once and never pay a monthly fee. Off Grid AI Pro records your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call with no bot, writes the transcript and summary on your own computer, and costs $34.99 once on Mac, Windows and Linux.
We make Off Grid AI. Every rival fact and price below comes from that app’s own page, checked 14 November 2026.
Get Pro for $34.99 once · Download Off Grid AI
The pay-once meeting notetakers, compared
| App | One-time price | What it records | Where transcription runs | Computers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off Grid AI Pro | $34.99 once, up to 5 devices | Call audio, your mic and the screen; auto-starts on Zoom and Google Meet, or press Record meeting | Your computer (Whisper); summary by a local model | Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux |
| MacWhisper | €64 once (Pro) | Zoom, Teams, Webex, Skype, Chime, Discord and any app’s audio (Pro only) | Your Mac, unless you connect a cloud service | Mac |
| Talat | $189 lifetime licence | Both sides of Zoom, Teams and Meet calls, started on its own | Your computer; summaries by a built-in Qwen3.5-4B | Mac (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), Windows 10+ |
| Anarlog (was Hyprnote, then Char) | Free plan | Your device’s audio, no bot | Your computer, unlimited on the free plan | Mac; Windows and Linux in beta |
| Meetily | Free Community edition | System audio from Meet, Zoom, Teams, Slack Huddles and more | Your computer (Whisper) | Mac, Windows |
Rival facts from each app’s own site, checked 14 November 2026. Off Grid AI’s $34.99 is a limited-time lifetime price, down from $119.
What the monthly apps cost you
These are the apps most people compare first. Each one charges every month and processes your call in the cloud.
| App | Price | Over 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| Granola Business | $14 per user a month | $504 |
| Fireflies Pro | $10 per seat a month billed yearly, $18 billed monthly | $360 |
| Otter Pro | $8.33 a month billed yearly, $16.99 billed monthly | $299.88 |
Granola’s free Basic plan and Otter’s free plan exist, but Otter’s free plan stops at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation. Fireflies sends a bot into the meeting by default; you need its Chrome extension to record without one.
1. Off Grid AI Pro: one payment, every computer you own
What you get. Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) is a free, open-source AI app. Pro adds Meetings. When a Zoom or Google Meet call starts, it records on its own: the far side’s audio, your microphone and your screen. In a room, or on any other call, press Record meeting. When you stop, the screen shows Transcribing on device… while a Whisper model writes the transcript on your computer, and a local model writes the summary with the decisions and who owes what.
After the call. The Speakers list tells voices apart, and you click a speaker to give them a name. Press Chat about this meeting to ask what was agreed. Pick a Transcription language and a Transcription model, and save the transcript, the audio or the full video to your disk. Turn on Keep recording when away and the recording continues when you switch away from the call window.
Price. $34.99 once for lifetime access, a limited-time price down from $119, or $7.99 a month. One key covers up to 5 devices, and it works the same on Mac (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux (x64, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer). You download the speech model once, and after that the notes work with no internet.
Best for. Client, legal or deal calls you’d rather keep on your own machine, and anyone on Windows or Linux who wants one price. The same key also brings Pro’s memory of your screens and mail, actions and God, a chief of staff that preps your meetings.
2. MacWhisper: a transcript tool for the Mac
MacWhisper’s free version transcribes files and your microphone. Meeting recording is in Pro, €64 per licence, paid once, with lifetime updates. It records Zoom, Teams, Webex, Skype, Chime and Discord, and its App Audio option captures any app on your Mac. Transcription runs on your Mac, and you can connect OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama or LM Studio for AI.
Pick it if you only use a Mac and want transcripts more than an assistant. It doesn’t run on Windows or Linux. See Off Grid AI vs MacWhisper.
3. Talat: a lifetime licence, Mac and Windows
Talat records both sides of a call when it starts on Zoom, Teams or Meet, with no bot. Transcripts and notes stay in a local database, and its built-in Qwen3.5-4B writes the summaries on your computer. It sells a yearly plan at $89, or a lifetime licence for $189 if you’d rather pay once. You get 10 free hours of recording first.
It needs macOS 15 on Apple silicon, or Windows 10 or newer, and there’s no Linux build. At $189 it costs more than Off Grid AI Pro.
4. Anarlog: free, open source, local transcription
Anarlog started as Hyprnote, was renamed Char, and is now Anarlog. Its free plan has unlimited on-device transcription, local recordings and bring-your-own API keys, with no bot in the call. Its own pricing page warns that “Local speech recognition does not make summaries local,” so check where your summary model runs.
There’s no one-time paid plan. Pro is $14 a person a month or $140 a year, for cloud transcription, sync and sharing. Its download page offers Mac builds, and Windows and Linux builds in beta.
5. Meetily: free and open source, Mac and Windows
Meetily’s Community edition is free under the MIT licence and transcribes on your device with Whisper. It captures system audio, so it works with Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Discord, Slack Huddles and Webex. Summaries use a local model through Ollama, or your own Claude, OpenAI or Groq key, which sends the transcript (not the audio) to that provider.
You download it for Mac or Windows; Linux is a waitlist. Its paid Pro is a subscription at $10 a user a month, billed yearly at $120.
Which one should you buy
- You want to pay once and use Windows or Linux too: Off Grid AI Pro. It’s the only pay-once option here on all three.
- You only need transcripts on a Mac: MacWhisper Pro at €64.
- You want nothing to pay and can set up Ollama: Meetily on Mac or Windows, or Anarlog’s free plan.
- You’re paying Granola, Otter or Fireflies today: Off Grid AI Pro is $34.99 once. Granola Business is $504 over three years.
Related guides
- Best AI meeting notetakers without a bot in 2026
- Best Otter.ai alternatives in 2026
- Off Grid AI vs Granola
- Best AI apps with a lifetime deal in 2026
Everything in one app
Most apps on this page do one job. Off Grid AI does all of these, on your own computer and phone, in one app.
Free, on every device
- Local chat with open models, no account
- Answers from your files, with the source shown
- Images made on your own GPU
- Voice in and out
- A local API for your own tools
- iPhone and Android with on-device models
Pro, $34.99 once
- Memory of your screens, meetings, mail and docs
- Meetings recorded without a bot, summarised locally
- Dictation into any app on your computer
- Actions in Gmail, Linear, Jira and Notion, only with your yes
- God, a chief of staff that briefs you and preps your meetings
- Web Use and Computer Use for tasks in your own browser and apps
- Reflect: where your time went, by project and person
- Vault, Clipboard and Sync on up to 5 devices
They work together
- A call becomes a transcript. Its decisions become to-dos. The follow-up email waits in Actions for your yes.
- God's morning brief draws on all of it: yesterday's screens, today's meetings, what people owe you.
- Vault fills logins in the same browser where Web Use runs a task, so the agent signs in and your password never goes to a model.
That is a notetaker, a dictation app, a time tracker, a password manager, a clipboard manager and an AI assistant, for one price. Get Pro for $34.99 once
Is there an AI meeting notetaker without a subscription? Yes. Off Grid AI Pro is $34.99 once, MacWhisper Pro is €64 once and Talat sells a lifetime licence for $189. Anarlog and Meetily have free plans that transcribe on your computer. None of them sends a bot into your call.
Which one-time meeting notetaker works on Windows and Linux? Off Grid AI Pro records and summarises meetings on Mac (Apple silicon), Windows and Linux, and one key covers up to 5 devices. Talat runs on Apple silicon Macs and Windows 10 or newer. MacWhisper is Mac only.
Do these apps send my meeting audio to the cloud? Off Grid AI Pro, Talat, Anarlog’s free plan and Meetily transcribe on your computer. MacWhisper transcribes on your Mac unless you connect a cloud service. Granola, Otter and Fireflies process your calls in the cloud.
How much do I save over a subscription? On 14 November 2026, Granola Business is $14 a month, $504 over three years. Fireflies Pro is $10 a month billed yearly, $360 over three years. Otter Pro is $8.33 a month billed yearly, about $300 over three years. Off Grid AI Pro is $34.99 once.
Is Off Grid AI’s meeting recorder free? Off Grid AI Desktop is free and open source, but Meetings is part of Pro. Pro is $34.99 once for lifetime access, or $7.99 a month.
Get Off Grid AI Pro and keep your next call on your own computer.