# AI notetaker without a bot, offline & private | Dimmy > An AI notetaker with no bot joining the call. Dimmy records both sides locally and can recap on your device with local models. Open-source, you own the audio. Source: https://dimmy.app/ai-notetaker-without-bot/ ai notetaker, no bot # An AI notetaker without a bot, that never joins your meeting Most AI notetakers intrude in one of two ways. Some send a bot into the call, a visible participant that many IT and security teams now block. Others skip the bot but still stream your audio to a cloud server to transcribe and summarize it. Fireflies and Otter are bot-based by default; Fathom and Otter have added bot-free desktop capture, but they process your audio in the cloud. Dimmy does neither. No bot ever joins your call, and with local models nothing is sent to a third-party server. Dimmy records both sides of the conversation locally, your microphone and the system audio, then transcribes and writes the recap on your own machine, or with the cloud provider you pick. Open-source, native on macOS and Windows. No bot Local models You own the audio [Download Dimmy free](https://dimmy.app/#download) [Back to Dimmy](https://dimmy.app/) --- side by side ## Dimmy vs Otter / Fathom / Fireflies | Feature | Dimmy | Otter / Fathom / Fireflies | | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Does a bot join the call? | No, never. Records locally with no extra participant. | Fireflies and Otter use a bot by default; Fathom and Otter's desktop app can skip it. | | Where audio is processed | On your device with local models, or at the cloud provider you pick. | Cloud. Even bot-free desktop capture uploads audio to their servers. | | Works offline? | Yes, with local models: recording, transcription and recap run locally. | No. All require an internet connection. | | Free plan | Free from source, every feature, no caps. | Capped: Otter 300 min/mo + 25 conversations; Fireflies 800 min storage + 20 AI credits; Fathom limits AI. | | Open source | Open source (AGPL-3.0). | Proprietary, closed source. | | History and search | Searchable local history, no time cap. | Cloud history; unlimited usually needs a paid plan. | | Recap structure | TL;DR, decisions, action items, open questions, timestamps, type classifier. | Summaries and action items; advanced templates often paid. | | Integrations | Notion, folder, Claude Desktop, MCP, included. | Notion, Drive, Slack, CRMs, MCP; many gated to paid tiers. | | Price | Free from source, Pro €4.99/mo, €99 once for 3 years. Not per-seat. | Per-seat subscriptions, roughly $8 to $30/user per month for full features. | | Platforms | Native macOS + Windows. | Mac, Windows and web. | included limited paid plan only not available Competitor details verified on vendor sites in 2026 and may change. Recheck before relying on them. --- why switch ## Why switch to Dimmy No bot ever joins the call. Your meeting looks exactly the same to everyone else, with no extra participant. It can all run on your device. With local models, recording, live transcription and the AI recap happen locally, so it works offline. You own your data. The audio, transcript, and recap are saved on your machine in a searchable history, not in a cloud account. Structured recaps you can act on: TL;DR, decisions, action items, open questions, and timestamps, with a type classifier. A recording-consent step and a spoken, copyable notice help you be transparent with the room. Open source (AGPL-3.0), native on macOS and Windows, with exports to Notion, a folder, Claude, and an MCP bridge. --- works with your stack ## Send your text and recaps where you work Notion Obsidian Google Drive Claude Desktop Claude CLI Codex CLI MCP server Every integration is included free, no add-on tier. --- frequently asked ## Keep your meetings private: no bot, and local models when you want them. Yes. Dimmy never sends a bot into your call. It records both sides of the conversation locally, your microphone and the system audio, so there is no extra participant for other attendees to see or approve. Yes. With local models, Dimmy records, transcribes, and writes the structured recap on your own machine, with no dependency on a cloud service, so you can capture and summarize meetings even with no internet. Not with local models: the recording, transcript and recap stay on your device. If you choose a cloud speech provider, the audio goes to that provider with your own key. Otter, Fathom and Fireflies process audio in their cloud, and their bot-free desktop modes still upload it. Fathom and Otter's desktop apps can skip the bot, but they still send your audio to their servers to transcribe and summarize. Dimmy removes both points of intrusion: no bot joins, and with local models nothing is sent to the cloud. A searchable local recap with a TL;DR, decisions, action items, open questions and timestamps, plus a meeting-type classification. You can export it to Notion, a folder, or Claude, or pipe it through the MCP bridge. [Download for macOS or Windows](https://dimmy.app/#download) --- compare dimmy [wispr flow alternative](https://dimmy.app/wispr-flow-alternative/) [superwhisper alternative](https://dimmy.app/superwhisper-alternative/) [granola alternative](https://dimmy.app/granola-alternative/) [offline dictation](https://dimmy.app/offline-dictation/) [otter.ai alternative](https://dimmy.app/otter-ai-alternative/) [fathom alternative](https://dimmy.app/fathom-alternative/) [fireflies.ai alternative](https://dimmy.app/fireflies-alternative/) [dragon alternative](https://dimmy.app/dragon-alternative/) Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Dimmy is not affiliated with them. Competitor information checked in June 2026; [tell us](mailto:hi@dimmy.app) if something changed.