![The 10 Best Meeting Notes Software For Business Consultants [+ AI Note-Taking Apps]](https://www.beekast.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Headers-Communication_Beekast-1-770x405.png)
Business consulting meetings demand 100% of your attention. But it’s hard to give that when you’re struggling to jot down proceedings. Not only is it time-consuming, but you’re also likely to miss something important or record the wrong information.
That’s why you need meeting notes software, ideally as part of an enterprise meeting solution. It will help you document accurate meeting proceedings and quickly share them with the rest of your team or clients.
In this article, you’ll find the best meeting notes software for automated note-taking. We’ll also discuss the top features to consider to help you choose a meeting notes app that matches your needs.
What to Consider When Choosing Meeting Notetaker Software
Before getting into the top options, let’s look at the most important things you should consider when vetting automated meeting notes software for your consulting business.
1. Ease of Use
A complicated meeting minutes app will slow you and your team down. So, look for a tool with an intuitive, user-friendly interface that allows you to start recording or taking notes with minimal effort. You shouldn’t need extensive training or a manual to figure it out.
Pay attention to how quickly you can set it up. Does it require complicated installations, or can you start using it immediately? Ideally, the software should work seamlessly across different devices, including your laptop, tablet, and mobile, so you can capture notes whether you’re in the office, working remotely, or on the go.
A clean dashboard, clear labeling, and simple controls all contribute to a smoother user experience. The easier it is to use, the more likely your team will actually adopt it.
2. Automatic Note-Taking and Meeting Transcription
Manual note-taking during meetings is time-consuming and prone to human error. The best meeting notes software automates this process, recording conversations and generating accurate transcripts in real time. This feature ensures you never miss critical information, even during fast-paced discussions.
Look for software that can accurately identify different speakers, especially in group settings, and capture industry-specific jargon. Some advanced tools even highlight action items and key decisions automatically, saving you the hassle of sorting through lengthy transcripts later.
This automation not only reduces the burden on meeting participants but also allows everyone to stay present and engaged in the conversation without scrambling to jot things down.
3. Integration with Your Workflow
Your meeting notes are only useful if they integrate seamlessly with your existing systems. Choose software that integrates with the platforms you already use, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and project management tools like Notion, Asana, or Slack.
These integrations allow you to capture notes directly from virtual meetings and instantly share or assign follow-up tasks without manual copying and pasting. For example, meeting outcomes can also automatically populate task lists, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
A well-integrated notes tool eliminates repetitive data entry, reduces errors, and keeps everything connected, saving time and keeping your team aligned across different projects and communication channels.
4. Searchable and Organized Notes
As meetings pile up, you’ll need a way to find specific information quickly. Choose software that automatically organizes your notes by meeting type, date, or project category. This structure makes it easier to revisit past discussions without manually sorting through endless files.
A powerful search function is also essential. Look for software that allows you to search by keywords, participant names, or topics so you can quickly locate decisions, action items, or unresolved questions.
Some advanced tools also offer tags and filters, allowing you to categorize notes for easy retrieval later. Having a searchable, organized system means you’ll never lose track of what was said or what needs to happen next
5. Collaboration and Sharing
Meeting notes are often meant to be shared. Look for software that allows easy sharing across teams, whether through live collaboration or by distributing notes after the meeting ends.
Real-time collaboration features let multiple team members view and edit notes simultaneously. This is especially useful during brainstorming sessions or complex meetings where different participants need to add their insights.
Beyond collaboration, check how easy it is to share summaries with people who couldn’t attend. Some tools allow you to generate clean, professional summaries or action lists and send them via email or within your preferred communication platform. This ensures everyone stays informed without having to wade through full transcripts.
6. Security and Privacy
Meeting notes often contain confidential or sensitive information—so security isn’t optional. Ensure that any software you choose has robust privacy protections, including end-to-end encryption for recordings and transcripts.
Access controls are also vital. Look for tools that let you set permissions—deciding who can view, edit, or share notes. This is especially important in organizations where sensitive discussions need to remain private.
If your company operates in regulated industries (like healthcare or finance), check for compliance with standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2. These certifications indicate that the software meets stringent security and data protection requirements.
7. Cost and Scalability
When selecting meeting notes software, consider your budget and future needs. Some tools offer free basic plans with limited storage and transcription time, while advanced plans come with added features like real-time collaboration, advanced security, and analytics.
If your team is small, you might not need enterprise-level solutions, but as your organization grows, it’s helpful to choose software that can scale. Look for flexible pricing plans that can accommodate increasing meeting volume, additional users, and advanced functionality as your needs evolve.
With these things in mind, let’s move on to our top recommendations for business consultants looking for automated meeting notes apps or AI notetakers.
The Best Apps For Meeting Notes at a Glance
Here’s a quick look at the top 10 meeting notes apps we’ll cover in this article.
| Best For | Top Features | Pricing | |
| Google Docs | Simple note taking | – Document sharing – Integrations with other Google business applications like Calendar, Gmail, and Google Meet – Meeting templates | Starts at $6 per user/month |
| Beekast | Automated meeting reports | – A discussion board – One-click attendance confirmation – Integrations with video conferencing software like Microsoft Teams and Zoom Import PDF, video, and PowerPoint slides | Starts at €39 per user/month |
| tl;dv | AI meeting notetaker | – Calendar sync – Topic-clustered meeting notes – Customized meeting notes and summaries | From $18 per month |
| ClickUp | Meeting planning and manual notes taking | – Meeting templates for agenda and minutes – ClickUp docs – ClickUp notepad | From $10 per user/month |
| Miro | Online whiteboards for meetings | – Interactive presentation mode – Meeting templates – Breakout frames for group ideation | From $8 per month |
| Otter.ai | Real-time transcriptions | – Real-time transcription and speaker identification – Integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams – Searchable transcripts with keyword tagging | From $16.99 per month |
| Fireflies.ai | Seamless meeting integrations | – Automatic recording and transcription across multiple platforms – AI-powered search to find key moments fast – Collaborative workspaces for shared notes | From $18 per month |
| Sembly.ai | Meeting analytics | – AI-driven insights: action items, risks, decisions – Multi-speaker recognition – Meeting trend analysis over time | From $10 per month |
| Tactiq | Google Meet users | – Seamless Google Meet integration – Auto-sync with Google Docs and Slack – Real-time transcription with speaker labels | $12 per month |
| Notta | Multilingual meeting transcriptions | – Supports over 100 languages with real-time translation – Upload audio/video files for transcription – Export transcripts in multiple formats | From $13.99 per month |
1. Google Docs: For Simple Note Taking
Before you roll your eyes, hear us out. It’s easy to get wrapped up in fancy meeting notes apps. However, sometimes, all you need is a simple way to take meeting minutes — and Google Docs is pretty good for that.
Google Docs offers various templates for standardizing meeting notes, making it quicker to start and ensuring consistency across different meetings. The meeting notes are automatically saved to the cloud, so you never lose them.
However, unlike dedicated meeting management tools, Google Docs lacks features like polls, surveys, and whiteboards. It is also cumbersome to manage, especially when multiple meetings are documented in separate Google Docs. Managing and finding specific notes can be a challenge compared to using a centralized meeting management system.
Top Features
- Document sharing
- Integrations with other Google business applications like Calendar, Gmail, and Google Meet
- Meeting templates
Pricing
Google Docs is free — all you need is a Google account. For more features, upgrade to a Google Workspace plan starting at $6 per user/month.
2. Beekast: For Automated Meeting Reports
Beekast is an all-in-one meeting management software for business consultants. It provides everything you need to organize and host collaborative meetings with your clients — including meeting agenda templates, brainstorming activities, and polls for quicker decision-making.
When it’s all done, you can generate an automated meeting report detailing discussions, actions, and decisions reached, then share it with the meeting attendees so everyone is on the same page. This way, you can easily plan the next steps and assign action items to participants ahead of a follow-up meeting.
But that’s not all. Let’s say you held a group meeting and wanted to track each attendee’s contributions. In that case, you can generate and export an Excel sheet showing the results of the discussions and activities per participant.
Top Features
Beyond letting you take meeting minutes, Beekast offers the following features:
- A discussion board for hosting Q&A sessions
- One-click attendance confirmation for quick meeting kickoffs
- Integrations with video conferencing software like Microsoft Teams and Zoom
- Import PDF, video, and PowerPoint slides
- Presentation mode to easily share meeting slides with participants
Pricing
Beekast has a free plan that lets you host a meeting for up to three participants and generate a report afterward. If you’re hosting a larger meeting, you can choose one of our paid plans, starting at €39 per host/month.
Check out the full pricing breakdown.
Related Reading:
Best Google Slides alternative
3. tl;dv: AI Meeting Notetaker
Think of tl;dv as your meeting assistant. It joins your meeting, records the entire discussion, and transcribes the recording into structured meeting notes. With this, you can:
- Identify key topics discussed
- Extract and share the next steps with stakeholders
- Tag participants to specific information as action items
However, the AI can sometimes be inaccurate, especially for multilingual transcriptions. It might also omit key topics in the meeting summaries, leading to information gaps.
Top Features
- Calendar sync
- Topic-clustered meeting notes
- Customized meeting notes and summaries
Pricing
tl;dv has a free plan that supports unlimited meetings and participants. However, you’ll need a paid subscription to access advanced features like Zoom and Google Meet integrations. Its cheapest plan costs $29 per seat/month (billed annually).
4. ClickUp: For Meeting Planning and Manual Note Taking
ClickUp is primarily a project management application, but it provides additional features to help you manage your business meetings from start to finish.
For example, you can use ClickUp Brain to turn your manual meeting notes into AI summaries, pull out action points, and assign them as tasks in your project management software.
That said, ClickUp doesn’t support automatic note-taking, meaning you’ll need to document the discussion manually. This is time-consuming, and you might miss or misrepresent important information. It also lacks many features you’ll need to have engaging discussions with your clients, such as interactive activities and meeting moderation.
Top Features
- A notepad for organizing meeting notes, checklists, and tasks
- Docs to build out meeting notes into in-depth, shareable documents
- Meeting templates for agenda and minutes
Pricing
ClickUp has a free plan that’s enough for hosting small business meetings. But if you have a larger meeting or require robust project management features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan starting at $10 per user/month.
5. Miro: Online Whiteboards For Meetings
Need to host a brainstorming session with your clients? Miro might be a decent choice.
It’s a collaborative whiteboard platform that makes it easy to share and collect ideas during consulting sessions. You can add these ideas to the whiteboard as sticky notes, vote on them, and organize the results using tags. Then, export them as PDF meeting notes.
While Miro is great for brainstorming, it lacks many other features required for hosting engaging meetings. For example, you can’t import your PowerPoint slides into Miro for a presentation.
Top Features
- Interactive presentation mode
- Meeting templates
- Breakout frames for group ideation
Pricing
Miro’s free plan is a pretty good option if you’re organizing a small meeting or workshop on a budget. For larger meetings, you can upgrade to a paid plan, starting at $8 per user/month.
6. Otter.ai: For Real-Time Transcriptions
If you want a meeting notes tool that works while you talk, Otter.ai is a solid choice. It automatically transcribes your meetings in real-time, so you can focus on the conversation instead of scrambling to take notes. Whether you’re in a virtual meeting or recording an in-person discussion, Otter.ai captures everything and turns it into a searchable transcript.
It also syncs with popular platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, making it easy to capture notes without switching between tools. You can even highlight key moments and assign action items directly from the transcript.
However, Otter.ai’s accuracy can dip when dealing with heavy accents or technical jargon. Plus, while the free plan covers the basics, advanced features like team collaboration and speaker identification are locked behind the paid tiers.
Top Features
- Real-time transcription and speaker identification
- Integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams
- Searchable transcripts with keyword tagging
Pricing
Otter.ai offers a free plan with 300 monthly transcription minutes. Paid plans start at $16.99 per user/month for more transcription time and advanced features.
7. Fireflies.ai: For Seamless Meeting Integrations
If you want meeting transcriptions without lifting a finger, Fireflies.ai has you covered. It automatically records, transcribes, and organizes meeting notes from all your virtual calls. It works with most major video conferencing tools, including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex.
One standout feature is its AI-powered search. Simply type in a keyword, and Fireflies instantly finds relevant moments in your meeting. It also lets you create shared workspaces, making it easy to collaborate with your team on notes and action items.
On the downside, Fireflies can struggle with highly technical discussions, and its free tier has limited storage and transcription hours.
Top Features
- Automatic recording and transcription across multiple platforms
- AI-powered search to find key moments fast
- Collaborative workspaces for shared notes
Pricing
Fireflies.ai offers a free plan with limited storage and 800 minutes of transcription. Paid plans start at $18 per user/month for additional storage and advanced search.
8. Notta: For Multilingual Transcription
Need a tool that handles more than just English? Notta specializes in multilingual transcription, making it a great choice for international teams. It supports over 100 languages, including real-time translations, so that you can capture accurate meeting notes in any language.
Notta also integrates with popular meeting platforms and provides easy export options for your transcripts in formats like PDF, DOCX, and TXT. You can even upload audio or video files for post-meeting transcription.
However, while Notta shines with multilingual capabilities, it lacks advanced collaboration tools, so it’s better for solo use or basic note-taking.
Top Features
- Supports over 100 languages with real-time translation
- Upload audio/video files for transcription
- Export transcripts in multiple formats
Pricing
Notta’s free plan gives you 120 minutes per month for meeting transcriptions. Paid plans start at $13.99 per user/month for more transcription hours and advanced features.
9. Tactiq: For Google Meet Users
If your team lives in Google Meet, Tactiq is a no-brainer. It works directly within Google Meet to capture live transcriptions, highlight important points, and auto-generate meeting summaries. You don’t need to juggle multiple apps; it’s all built into your meeting window.
A neat bonus? Tactiq can auto-sync with Google Docs and Slack so that you can share notes instantly without extra steps. Plus, it recognizes speakers and tags action items automatically.
However, Tactiq only works with Google Meet. So if you’re using other platforms, you’ll need another tool for meeting transcriptions.
Top Features
- Seamless Google Meet integration
- Auto-sync with Google Docs and Slack
- Real-time transcription with speaker labels
Pricing
Tactiq offers a free plan with basic transcription. Premium plans with advanced features start at $12 per user/month.
10. Sembly AI: For Meeting Analytics
If you want more than notes, Sembly AI provides deep insights into your meetings. It transcribes discussions and automatically identifies action items, risks, and decisions. It’s perfect for teams that want to track meeting outcomes over time.
Sembly integrates with popular meeting platforms and offers multi-speaker tracking, so you always know who said what. Plus, its analytics can highlight recurring themes and trends across your meetings.
The only drawback is that the advanced analytics are locked behind the premium tiers, making it a pricier option for smaller teams.
Top Features
- AI-driven insights: action items, risks, decisions
- Multi-speaker recognition
- Meeting trend analysis over time
Pricing
Sembly AI’s basic plan starts at $10 per user/month, with advanced analytics available on higher-tier plans.
Which Corporate Meeting Minutes Software Should You Choose?
The best AI meeting note taker for your consulting meetings depends on your specific needs.
If you’re looking for a simple way to take meeting minutes, apps like Google Docs and tl;dv might be good fits. However, if you’re looking for all-in-one software to plan, organize, and track your meetings, then Beekast is the best meeting notes software for business consultants.
It’s affordable, has a ton of features, and is easy to use. Try Beekast for free today.
Meeting Notes Software FAQs
Find answers to common questions about automated meeting notetakers.
1. What is the Best Software for Meeting Notes?
Beekast is the best software for meeting notes. It automatically records your meeting proceedings, including polling results and questions. You can download these notes as Word, PDF, or Excel files. Learn more about Beekast’s meeting features for consultants.
2. How Should You Record Meeting Notes?
Use meeting note-taking software like Beekast to record and transcribe your meeting activities automatically. It will save the time you would have spent writing from scratch while ensuring accuracy.
3. Should the AI Meeting Note Taker I Choose be Specific to Business Consultants?
While the software does not need to be specifically designed for business consultants, it should support the dynamics of business consulting meetings, such as collaborative note-taking, agenda setting, and action item tracking.
4. What are the Key Features to Look for in Meeting Notes Software?
The most important features include ease of note-taking, document-sharing capabilities, integration with other business tools (like video conferencing and email), AI-powered note-taking for accurate transcriptions, and automated meeting summaries to save time.
5. Are There Complementary Tools for Content Marketing Specialists?
Yes, in addition to note-taking software, consultants and content marketing specialists can benefit from white-label tools to optimize their workflow. These tools allow you to customize and offer additional services to your clients. To learn more, check out this guide on the best white-label software for content marketing specialists. It presents solutions that can effectively complement your arsenal of productivity and content management tools!