Both transcribe and summarise meetings. But only one keeps audio on your machine and sends no bot into your calls; the other auto-joins, records, and emails recaps to every participant.
Local-first desktop vs cloud auto-join bot.
Read AI is built around the auto-join bot: it connects to your calendar, joins Zoom, Meet, or Teams as a participant, records audio and video, and emails recaps to everyone on the call. Clearminutes takes the opposite approach: no bot joins your call, audio stays on your machine, and transcription runs locally. Read AI's cloud model enables cross-meeting search, a Digital Twin assistant, and deep CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot). Clearminutes instead offers a built-in local LLM and a live privacy network monitor that proves zero outbound connections during a meeting. Choose based on whether you want a cloud copilot or a private local one.
| Clearminuteslocal-first | Read AIcloud-first | |
|---|---|---|
| Capture & privacy | ||
| Meeting bots | No | Yes (bot joins call) |
| Audio stays on device | Yes | No (cloud-based) |
| On-device transcription | Yes (on-device) | No (cloud) |
| Local processing | Yes (on-device models) | No (cloud-only) |
| No account required | Yes (local mode) | No (account required) |
| Privacy | Audio never leaves device | Audio/video uploaded to Read cloud |
| Transcription | ||
| Live transcript while recording | Yes | Yes (live notes dashboard) |
| 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) | No (native Claude/GPT in Search Copilot) |
| Chat with meetings | Yes | Yes (Ask Read) |
| Transcription | ||
| Speaker identification | Yes (Pro) | Yes |
| Speaker diarization | Yes | Yes |
| Workflow | ||
| Action items + decisions | Yes + TickTick sync (Pro) | Yes |
| Platform & performance | ||
| Cross-platform | macOS + Windows + Linux | Web + Windows + macOS + iOS + Android |
| GPU acceleration | GPU-accelerated | N/A (cloud) |
| Audio & export | ||
| Audio file import | Yes (Pro) | Yes (file uploads, minute-limited by tier) |
| Works with | Any audio source | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams |
| Capture & privacy | ||
| Works offline | Yes (local models) | No |
| Integrations | ||
| Integrations | TickTick, Outline, PDF | Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack, Notion, Asana, Jira |
| CRM integrations | Not yet | Salesforce, HubSpot |
| Claude Desktop MCP connector | No | Yes (MCP server, Claude, ChatGPT) |
| Workflow | ||
| Auto call detection | Yes (Pro) | Yes (calendar-based auto-join) |
| Cross-meeting search | Yes | Yes (Ask Read) |
| Team analytics | Not yet | Yes (Workspaces) |
| Video highlights | No | Yes (Enterprise+) |
| Video recording | No | Yes (Enterprise+) |
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes (5 meetings/mo) |
| Full features free | Generous free tier | Limited (5 meetings/mo) |
| Pricing model | Free + Pro £12/mo + Lifetime £249 | $0–$39.75/user/mo |
| Funding | Bootstrapped | VC-backed ($21M raised, $450M valuation) |
| Transcription | ||
| Language support | 6+ languages | 20+ languages |
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: Read AI official site (2026-06-22), Read AI pricing page (2026-06-22), Read AI privacy page (2026-06-22), Read AI assistant page (2026-06-22).
Clearminutes is our own product; we've kept the comparison fair.