The average professional spends 28% of their workday in meetings. That’s two hours gone before anything real gets done. Most AI meeting assistants promise to fix this. Most cost $10-20 a month and upload your conversations to the cloud. You need a free meeting transcription tool that doesn’t sell your data.
Meetily doesn’t. It’s a free meeting transcription tool that runs 100% on your machine — no cloud uploads, no subscriptions. It works with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Discord — whatever you use.
Why Most Meeting Transcription Tools Fail You
The Cost Problem
Otter.ai: $16.99/month. Fireflies.ai: $18/month. Fathom: free tier but limited. tl;dv: free tier but limited.
Do the math. $20/month × 12 months = $240 a year. Just to transcribe meetings you’re already having.
The Privacy Problem
Every major tool uploads your audio to their servers. Your strategy discussions, salary negotiations, product roadmaps — all sitting in someone else’s cloud. GDPR compliant doesn’t mean “we don’t see it.” It means “we promise to handle it right.”
Meetily keeps everything on your device. No upload. No account required for the core features. Your meetings stay yours.
Meetily Is Different: Free, Open Source, Local
How Meetily Works
Meetily sits on your desktop (Windows or macOS). It taps your microphone and system audio directly. That means it captures both sides of any conversation — you and the other participants — without needing a meeting bot to join the call.
It uses Whisper.cpp and NVIDIA’s Parakeet for transcription (4x faster than standard Whisper on supported GPUs). For summaries, it plugs into Ollama locally or lets you bring your own API key for Claude/GPT-4.
The whole thing is ~29,000 stars on GitHub, MIT licensed, built in Rust.
What You Need to Run It
- Windows 10/11 (x64) or macOS Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
- 8GB+ RAM (16GB recommended for smooth operation)
- ~2GB disk space for models
- Microphone access + system audio permission
Linux users can build from source. There’s a waitlist for pre-built binaries.
Step-by-Step: Set Up Meetily in 5 Minutes
1. Download from GitHub or meetily.ai
Go to https://github.com/Zackriya-Solutions/meetily/releases or https://meetily.ai/downloads. Grab the latest .exe (Windows) or .dmg (Mac). Version 0.4.0 is current as of August 2026.
2. Install Models (One Click)
First launch downloads Whisper.cpp and Parakeet models automatically. Click “Install” and wait. This is a one-time download (~1-2GB total).
3. Grant Microphone Permissions
macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → enable Meetily.
Windows: Settings → Privacy → Microphone → allow desktop apps.
Critical: Also grant system audio permission. That’s how Meetily hears the other people in your call.
4. Record Your First Meeting
Open Zoom, Teams, Meet, Discord — anything. Hit the big red record button in Meetily. You’ll see live transcription appear in real time. This free meeting transcription tool captures everything.
5. Get Transcription + AI Summary
Click stop. The full transcript appears. Click “Summarize” and optionally add instructions like “focus on action items” or “extract decisions only.” Done.
6. Optional: Configure AI Summaries
By default, Meetily uses Ollama locally for summaries. However, you can plug in your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key for higher-quality results. Go to Settings → AI Provider → select “BYOK” and paste your key. The API calls happen locally — your keys never leave your machine.
Meetily vs. The Competition
| Tool | Price | Real-time | Speaker Labels | Local/Cloud | Platform Support | Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meetily Community | $0 | Yes | Yes* | Local | All (Zoom, Meet, Teams, Discord, Webex, etc.) | Yes (MIT) |
| Meetily Pro | $10/mo ($120/yr) | Yes | Yes | Local | All | No (advanced version) |
| Otter.ai | $17-30/mo | Yes | Yes | Cloud | All | No |
| Fireflies.ai | $18-29/mo | Yes | Yes | Cloud | All | No |
| Fathom | Freemium | Yes | Yes | Cloud | All | No |
| noScribe | $0 | No | Yes | Local | File upload only | Yes |
| Granola | Paid | Yes | Yes | Local | Mac only | No |
*Speaker diarization is listed as a feature on GitHub and the website. The Wired review (Aug 9) noted the free version lacked speaker labels at that time. Version 0.4.0 may have improved this — test your specific setup.
The Catch: Speaker Labels and Other Limitations
What the Free Version Does (and Doesn’t) Do
Does: Real-time transcription, AI summaries, local processing, works with any platform, processes pre-recorded files (beta), custom summary prompts.
Doesn’t (or may struggle with): Perfect speaker separation in noisy rooms, extremely long meetings (4hrs+), heavy accents without model tuning.
The Wired reviewer called the lack of speaker labels “a deal-breaker for many people.” Fair. If you need to know exactly who said what in a 10-person meeting, this free meeting transcription tool might frustrate you.
When to Use noScribe Instead
noScribe is free, identifies speakers, but only converts files — no real-time recording. Record on your phone, drop the file in noScribe, get speaker-labeled transcript. Different workflow, same price.
Pro Tips for Power Users
Process Pre-Recorded Files from Your Phone
In-person meeting? Record with Voice Memos. Drag the .m4a into Meetily when you’re back at your desk. Get transcript + summary without the meeting bot awkwardness.
Custom Summary Prompts That Actually Work
Don’t just click “Summarize.” Try these:
- “Extract every action item with owner and deadline”
- “List all decisions made and who made them”
- “Summarize only the technical architecture discussions”
- “Create a follow-up email draft from this meeting”
Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) for Claude/GPT-4 Summaries
Ollama summaries are decent. But if you have an Anthropic or OpenAI key, plug it in for noticeably better summaries. Meetily calls your API directly — keys never leave your machine.
The Verdict: Should You Switch?
If you’re paying for Otter or Fireflies: Yes. Cancel the subscription. Meetily gives you 80% of the value for 0% of the cost.
If you need perfect speaker diarization for large meetings: Maybe not yet. Stick with your current tool or use noScribe for post-meeting files.
If you care about privacy: Absolutely. Your meetings never leave your laptop. That alone is worth the 5-minute setup.
Download Meetily at https://meetily.ai/downloads. It’s free, open source, and the only tool that works with every video platform without a bot joining your call.
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Related: Best AI meeting notes tools (That save your budget) | On-device AI: How to use AI on your phone without internet | How to build safe and trustworthy AI agents with Zapier
