What to look for in a meeting note taker tool

Start with what you already pay for. Your video call platform may have a built-in note feature, and the question is then whether it covers what you need. Features, plans and prices change often. Each detail below names the maker's page and the date it was checked.

Features that matter to a small team

• Which meetings it covers. Online calls only, or in-person meetings and phone calls too? Google's "Take notes for me" can also be used for in-person meetings or on-the-go¹.
• Languages. Check the list of supported languages, and whether more than one can be used in a call. Google's feature supports one language at a time¹.
• A transcript as well as a summary. Check which of the two a plan keeps. Teams shows the transcript after the meeting with timestamps and speaker attribution².
• Where the notes land. In Google Meet, the notes are organised in Google Docs and can be shared with your team¹. A note in a tool nobody opens is wasted.
• Speaker names. See how the tool labels speakers and how you correct a label.
• Edit and export. You'll be editing every set of notes, so check that you can change the text and copy it out.

Settings that matter more than features

1. Who can start it. Transcription in Teams is both a per-organiser and per-user policy setting². Find out who needs permission.
2. How participants are told. Look for a visible notice and, where offered, a consent step. The rules are on the page about telling people.
3. Who gets the notes by default. Pick the narrowest default.
4. How long files are kept. Also who can delete them. The defaults for two big tools are laid out in storage and retention.
5. Whether your data trains the product. The OAIC warns that terms or settings in some commercial AI products allow the product owner to collect what customers feed in, for further training³. Read the terms. Look for an off switch.
6. Where the servers are. Cloud tools run on servers somewhere, and the OAIC flags that personal information could end up disclosed outside Australia³. Other countries have their own rules.

Prices and plans

Don't take a price from a list like this one. Open the maker's pricing page on the day you decide. Write down the currency, the date, and whether the price is per user and includes tax.

Plan requirements matter as much as price. Google's page says "Take notes for me" requires an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan¹. Microsoft's page says some of its transcription features require Teams Premium². Both were checked on 6 November 2026. No prices are listed here because none were saved from a maker's page on that date.

A low-risk trial

Try a tool on an internal meeting that holds nothing private. Compare the notes with what you remember, using the pre-sharing checks. Errors you can't live with? That's a clear answer. It's shorter than any feature list.