MeetInk vs Zoom AI Companion: private meeting notes for every call app

If your company already pays for Zoom, AI Companion is probably the first meeting summary you ever saw, and for Zoom calls it is a sensible default. MeetInk takes a different route: it is a Mac app that records the call on your machine, whatever app the call happens in. Here is how they compare, and when Zoom's built-in option is the better pick.

How Zoom AI Companion works

AI Companion is Zoom's assistant, included with paid Zoom Workplace plans — Zoom lists Pro, Business, Enterprise and similar tiers; Basic (free) users don't get it. Check Zoom's current plans for what yours includes.

• Meeting Summary is started by the host. The host or a co-host clicks Start summary, or turns on automatic summaries for meetings they host. An admin or account owner can enable or restrict the feature for the whole account, and participants see a notice that a summary is running.
• The host decides who gets it. Summaries can go to just the host, to invitees in the organisation, or to all invitees, by email and in the meeting's Team Chat. They are also kept in Zoom Hub, and only the host can edit them.
• It runs in Zoom's cloud. Zoom describes a "federated" approach that combines its own models with third-party models such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Zoom states it does not use customer audio, video, chat or other communications content to train its own or third-party models, and that third-party providers keep zero data under its agreements.

Zoom has also expanded beyond its own meetings. AI Companion can join Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls as a visible participant, and My Notes is a personal note-taker that Zoom says works across Zoom, Teams, Google Meet and in-person conversations without a bot. Those notes are stored in your Zoom account (Zoom Hub). What's included depends on your plan; check Zoom's current pricing.

How MeetInk works

MeetInk is a Mac app that stays out of the call and out of any cloud by default.

• Any call app, no bot. It records your microphone and only the meeting app's audio — Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, FaceTime or a call in your browser. Music and other tabs are left out. Echo cancellation means it works on speakers too.
• No host, admin or licence needed. You don't have to be the organiser, and nobody has to turn anything on for you. It works on a client's Zoom just as well as on your own.
• Transcribed on your Mac. Speech recognition and speaker separation run on the Mac's Neural Engine. Audio is never uploaded.
• Your library is a folder on your Mac. No account is needed; Google sign-in is optional.
• You choose who writes the notes. Google Gemini (recommended, with a free tier), Anthropic Claude or OpenAI with your own key, sent directly from your Mac — transcript text only, never audio. Or keep it fully offline with a local model through Ollama. On Gemini's free tier Google may use prompts to improve its models; on the paid tier it doesn't.

Because no bot joins and nothing appears in the call, please tell people you're taking notes. See recording consent.

Notes shaped by the kind of meeting

MeetInk detects 16 meeting types and writes notes to match: standups (done / doing / blockers per person), sprint planning, roadmap reviews, design reviews written up as decision records, incident reviews, client calls, sales discovery with a MEDDIC scorecard, sales demos, interviews, 1:1s, knowledge transfers, team updates, presentations, brainstorms and more.

Every line links to the moment it was said. Your own typed notes and bookmarks steer the summary, and "Write…" recipes turn a meeting into a follow-up email, a Slack update, a decision record or a status recap.

Getting work out of meetings

• Action items with owners and due dates, collected across every call. Any item opens as a prefilled Linear issue.
• Ask AI about one meeting (answers cite [mm:ss] moments you can play), a folder, or all your meetings. Search runs on your Mac, by meaning and keywords.
• Your AI tools can read your meetings. A one-click, read-only local connector works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor.
• Talk time and Tone per meeting, plus Insights on hours in meetings, open action items and calendar coverage.
• Integrations you set up: Markdown to a folder (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, Obsidian), a Slack webhook, Zapier, Make or n8n webhooks, and follow-up emails through Gmail or Mail.

Pricing

AI Companion comes with paid Zoom Workplace plans, and Zoom sells My Notes and other AI options at different levels — check Zoom's current pricing, since plans change.

MeetInk is a one-time licence: $29, with 12 months of updates. Try every feature free for 14 days; after that it stays free for 5 meetings a month. See pricing.

Side by side

	Zoom AI Companion	MeetInk
Meetings covered	Zoom; Teams and Meet via a joining assistant or My Notes	Any call app on your Mac
Who turns it on	Host or co-host (Meeting Summary); admin controls	You
Bot in the call	No in Zoom; yes when it joins Teams or Meet	No
Where audio is processed	Zoom's cloud	Your Mac
Where notes live	Zoom (email, Team Chat, Zoom Hub)	Your Mac
Shared with attendees	Automatically, if the host chooses	You share to Slack, a folder or email
Choose your AI model	Zoom chooses	Gemini, Claude, OpenAI or local Ollama
Account required	Paid Zoom account	No
Platforms	Zoom desktop and mobile apps	Mac (macOS 15 or later)
Languages	Several — check Zoom's docs	English
Pricing	Included with paid Zoom plans	One-time licence + free tier

Where Zoom AI Companion is the better choice

• Your company already pays for Zoom and meets in Zoom. There is nothing to install or buy, and the summary is one click for the host.
• Everyone should get the notes. The host can send the summary to all attendees automatically. MeetInk notes are yours until you share them.
• You need admin controls and compliance managed centrally by IT, across the whole account.
• You aren't always on a Mac. Zoom runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and phones.
• You meet in other languages. MeetInk transcribes English only today.

Why choose MeetInk instead

Choose MeetInk if your calls happen across many apps — your company's Teams, a client's Zoom, a Slack huddle — and you want one library for all of them without asking a host or an admin. Your audio is transcribed on your Mac, your notes stay on your Mac, and you decide which AI, if any, sees the transcript. For more on the local approach, see private meeting notes on a Mac and security.

The bottom line

Zoom AI Companion is a strong, zero-setup choice for teams that live in Zoom and want summaries shared automatically. MeetInk is for people who want notes from every call, kept on their own machine, shaped for engineering, sales and client work, at a price paid once.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use MeetInk in a Zoom meeting I don't host?

Yes. MeetInk records your Mac's audio, so it doesn't depend on host settings. Please tell people you're taking notes — see recording consent.

Can I use both?

Yes. Many people keep AI Companion for team Zoom calls where everyone wants the shared summary, and use MeetInk for everything else, or for a private copy they can search alongside their other meetings.

Does MeetInk upload my audio?

No. Recording and transcription happen on your Mac. If you choose Gemini, Claude or OpenAI to write notes, only the transcript text is sent, with your own key. See privacy.

Try MeetInk

Download it and use it on your next call — every feature free for 14 days, no account needed. The getting started guide takes a few minutes.