Both skip the meeting bot via desktop capture. But only one keeps audio on your machine and transcribes locally, while the other uploads to the cloud for polished notes and deep team integrations.
Local-first transcription vs cloud note-quality.
Circleback is a polished cloud meeting-notes tool backed by Y Combinator, with no-bot desktop capture on macOS and Windows, 100+ languages, and deep integrations into Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Linear, and Notion. Clearminutes keeps audio on your device and transcribes locally, while Circleback uploads recordings to its cloud and processes them via third-party AI model and transcription providers. Clearminutes also adds a live privacy network monitor and Linux support that Circleback doesn't offer. Choose based on whether you need cloud team collaboration or local-first privacy.
| Clearminuteslocal-first | Circlebackcloud-first | |
|---|---|---|
| Capture & privacy | ||
| Meeting bots | No | No (desktop app captures without bot) |
| Audio stays on device | Yes | No (uploaded to Circleback cloud) |
| On-device transcription | Yes (on-device) | No |
| Local processing | Yes (on-device models) | No (cloud) |
| Privacy network monitor | Yes (live, in-app) | No |
| No account required | Yes (local mode) | No |
| Privacy | Audio never leaves device | Audio uploaded to Circleback cloud |
| Transcription | ||
| Live transcript while recording | Yes | Not specified |
| AI & summaries | ||
| AI summaries | Yes (local or BYO keys) | Yes (cloud) |
| Local LLM for summaries | Yes (Gemma, built-in) | No |
| Bring-your-own cloud AI keys | Yes (Claude, Groq, OpenRouter) | Not specified |
| Chat with meetings | Yes | Yes (search across all conversations) |
| Custom templates | Yes | Yes (AI-generated custom insights) |
| Transcription | ||
| Speaker identification | Yes (Pro) | Yes (automatically identified by name) |
| Speaker diarization | Yes | Yes |
| Workflow | ||
| Action items + decisions | Yes + TickTick sync (Pro) | Yes (auto-assigned) |
| Platform & performance | ||
| Cross-platform | macOS + Windows + Linux | macOS + Windows + web + iOS + Android |
| GPU acceleration | GPU-accelerated | N/A (cloud) |
| Audio & export | ||
| Audio file import | Yes (Pro) | Yes (import past recordings) |
| Works with | Any audio source | Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, Discord, RingCentral, in-person |
| Capture & privacy | ||
| Works offline | Yes (local models) | No |
| Integrations | ||
| Integrations | TickTick, Outline, PDF | Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, Linear, Notion, Monday, Zoho, Zapier, Make, MCP |
| CRM integrations | Not yet | Yes (HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, Zoho) |
| Claude Desktop MCP connector | No | Yes (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Raycast) |
| Workflow | ||
| Cross-meeting search | Yes | Yes |
| Team analytics | Not yet | Yes (usage dashboard, Team tier) |
| Video recording | No | Yes (meeting video and audio playback) |
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Trial (free to start) |
| Full features free | Generous free tier | No |
| Pricing model | Free + Pro £12/mo + Lifetime £249 | $20.83–$25/user/month (annual) |
| Funding | Bootstrapped | VC-backed (Y Combinator) |
| Transcription | ||
| Language support | 6+ languages | 100+ languages |
| Workflow | ||
| Commercial support | Yes | Yes (Enterprise) |
| Active maintenance | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | No |
Local transcription for unlimited meetings, no bot, no cloud. Pro only if you want speaker ID and cross-device sync.
Last updated: 2026-06-22. Compared from each tool's public pricing and feature data (see sources), as of the last-updated date.
Sources: Circleback official site (2026-06-22), Circleback pricing page (2026-06-22), Circleback privacy policy (2026-06-22), Circleback for desktop (2026-06-22).
Clearminutes is our own product; we've kept the comparison fair.