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Whether sitting in a class, meeting, or interview, I’ve never been fond of taking notes, and I’m far from alone. Not only does the process of scribbling something down cause me to miss what was said immediately after, but I also suffer from awful handwriting, meaning that I can rarely read the notes anyway. Recording interviews has long been a solution, but transcribing interviews is another step (with extra cost) that can leave you with thousands of words of material to sift through, much of it irrelevant.

AI notetakers—massively popular at CES 2026—have emerged to offer a new way of making IRL note-taking easier and faster, putting the power of AI into (or at least adjacent to) a portable device that evokes the microcassette recorder of yesteryear. As with all things AI, the jury’s out on whether AI notetakers are actually useful or if bypassing the intellectual rigor of writing down what people say is going to make us even stupider, but at the very least I’ve found them to be a convenient way to capture the main points of a conversation—and helpful at keeping a record of discussions and meetings I might otherwise have promptly forgotten.

For this guide, I evaluated several AI notetaker products, using them in person and online for meetings, interviews, and conference calls. In addition to “daily life” use cases, I tested each one by recording the same prerecorded presentation to use as a control. (I won’t identify it by name to mitigate the risk of companies attempting to tune their AI models for that specific dialog.) Throughout all of this testing, I considered the accuracy of transcriptions (and translations, where appropriate), the quality of insights generated, overall speed, additional features, and value for the money.

Updated August 2026: I've added notetakers from Soundcore, SpeakON, Looki, Flowtica, Vocci, and iFLYTEK, and updated prices throughout.

How Do AI Notetakers Work?

The concept behind most AI notetakers is simple: Drop the device on the table between you and your interview subject or in earshot of your professor, and fire it up with the touch of a button. An onboard microphone records the discussion, transcribing all that is said on the fly, then beams it to a companion app on your smartphone. When the discussion is finished, the transcription is uploaded to the cloud for AI processing, where it is crunched and then turned into outline form, often featuring AI-selected quotes, action items, and other takeaways designed to make sense out of lengthy, meandering meetings.

Can I Just Use an App?

You don’t need a physical device to AI-ify your notes. Services like Bluedot and Otter.ai, ubiquitous on Zoom calls these days, can do the job from your phone or computer. On Pixel phones, Google's Recorder app has been offering transcription and summarizations for several years, and Apple's Voice Memos app can do the same if you have an iPhone with Apple Intelligence.

But physical gadgets are handy for complicated in-person situations where the speaker is far away or difficult to hear, or where you want to use your phone for something else besides its voice recorder function. Just drop a notetaker where it’s convenient, and it'll take care of the rest. You don’t even need to stick around for the discussion—and some notetakers can even translate foreign languages. More advanced systems like the $1,600 Vibe Bot are also available for conference room settings, working as a sort of permanent stenographer for business meetings.

What's the Deal With Subscription Plans?

Nearly all AI notetakers push a paid subscription plan, and while most offer a stripped-down, no-cost tier, the utility of these plans varies greatly. Expect to pay $15 to $30 per month for unlimited AI insights on top of the hardware price.

Other AI Notetakers We’ve Tested

This is a nascent category that's growing. Here are others we've tested, but we'll also be keeping an eye on upcoming new hardware from companies like Omi, Boya, Mobvoi, and SwitchBot.

Plaud NotePin S for $179: The 18-gram NotePin S is one of the smallest and most versatile notetakers on the market (you can wear it as a lanyard, even!), but it’s expensive given that it offers just 300 minutes of transcription unless you pay for a subscription. Transcriptions are not displayed in real time, though their eventual analysis is solid. It’s a handy little device with multi-language support (though not translation), 20 hours of battery life, and 64 GB of internal storage—but it’s just too costly in comparison to the field to recommend. A subscription will set you back $100 annually for 1,200 minutes per month or $240 per year for unlimited transcription time.

HiDock P1 for $169: HiDock’s P1 is a big (91-gram) device that’s closer to an old-school tape recorder than a modern AI notetaker, complete with a bevy of onboard controls. It’s far more complicated than other notetakers, though its microphone is powerful, and its analyses are fast (at least when connected to a PC). It’s best for desktop scenarios rather than on-the-go usage; I couldn’t get it working with my phone. AI transcription is free, but additional features are available with a subscription.

SpeakON for $129: This quirky device, weighing 27 grams, is more of an enhancement to your phone’s speech-to-text system than a true notetaker. Its main problem is that it only records while its singular button is being held down. That’s fine for capturing a few thoughts but a nonstarter for recording and digesting an hour-long presentation. (It doesn’t offer any real summary features, anyway.) Translations are included for 12 languages. No subscription needed.

Looki L1 for $249: This oddball gadget is worn around the neck and is difficult to describe. An integrated camera means the system, 42 grams with its necklace, can capture not just audio but also video, allowing you to turn your boring old days into exciting vlogs, digital stories, and “unique comics” that you can then spam to TikTok and Instagram. Oh, it can also summarize (but not transcribe) meetings, but the feature feels like an afterthought. The digests are extremely short compared to other notetakers, and painfully slow to process online. It’s just not the best solution if you’re focused on audio work. No subscription needed.

Flowtica Scribe for $159: AI notetaker, but make it a pen! The Flowtica Scribe may be the largest writing implement you’ve ever held, a 33-gram ballpoint that lets you take written notes alongside recorded ones. Other than the form factor, the concept is the same as other notetakers, with recordings quickly turned into intelligent summaries—but wholly unusable transcripts. One recent test stripped out all spaces from the transcribed recording, giving me a wall of gibberish. And while 39 languages are supported, some summaries of foreign (non-Chinese) speech randomly appeared in Chinese. You get 300 free minutes per month; the premium plan is $15 per month or $120 per year (for 1,500 monthly minutes). Unlimited service is $30 per month or $240 per year.

Vocci Ring for $299: … now make it a smart ring. At a mere 3.5 grams, you won’t find a smaller AI notetaker, or arguably a more convenient one, either, as the Vocci Ring slips onto your index finger, where it’s always at the ready. It took some finessing (and two units) to get the ring working for me (the magnetic charging case is also very finicky), but when I finally did get going I was pleasantly surprised by the results: It delivered good transcriptions with rapid turnaround, and relatively terse but useful summaries. The form factor won’t work for everyone, but it may be absolutely perfect for others. You'll get 300 minutes of service free each month, then up to 1,200 minutes for $16 per month or unlimited time for $30 per month.

iFLYTEK AI Recorder P1 for $119: Why, look at the cute emoji on the tiny LCD screen of the P1 from iFLYTEK, best known for its translation hardware. That’s sadly the most interesting part of this 23-gram clip-on device, which is so half-baked the manual doesn’t even tell you what app you have to use with it. (Tip for similarly confused users: It’s called Deepting.) Recordings regularly stopped saving after just a few minutes (despite the activity light on the P1 indicating the mic was still on), and summaries were either very short or failed to generate anything other than an error. A Pro subscription gets you 1,800 minutes per month for just $13 monthly or $86 annually, but I wouldn’t bother.

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