Choosing a notes engine: Gemini, Ollama, Claude or OpenAI

MeetInk works in two steps. Transcription turns audio into text, always on your Mac. The notes engine turns that text into a summary, decisions, action items and insights shaped for the kind of meeting (a standup, a sales discovery call, a design review…). You choose the notes engine. Notes appear as they're being written.

Change it any time in Settings → Intelligence → Summaries.

Every option is bring-your-own: there's no MeetInk server in between, and nothing is billed through us.

Option 1: Google Gemini, with your Google key (recommended)

A good start on any Mac. Gemini has a free tier with no credit card.

1. Click Get a free API key in MeetInk, or open Google AI Studio and create a key.
2. In MeetInk, choose Gemini, paste the key and click Save. The key is checked with Google before it's saved, so a typo shows up straight away.

The default model is Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, which has the highest free-tier limits. Flash and Pro write richer notes, with tighter free-tier limits.

On the free tier, Google may use what you send to improve its models, and reviewers may read it. To keep meetings out of that, enable billing on your Google account: the paid tier doesn't train on your data.

Option 2: a local model with Ollama (most private)

Everything stays on your Mac: no key, no bill, no network.

1. In MeetInk, choose Ollama. If Ollama isn't installed, MeetInk can download and install it for you (about 200 MB), or start it if it's installed but not running. Or install it yourself from ollama.com/download.
2. Pick a model. MeetInk marks the one that's Best for your Mac based on its memory, downloads it with progress shown in the app, and lists any model you've already pulled in Ollama.

Local models are slower than cloud models and a little less polished on long or messy calls. An 8B model writes good notes on a Mac with 16 GB of memory; larger models get closer to cloud quality if your Mac has the memory.

Option 3: Claude, with your Anthropic key

Usually the best notes, especially for sales and client calls.

1. Create an API key in the Anthropic Console.
2. In MeetInk, choose Claude and paste the key.

Option 4: OpenAI, with your OpenAI key

1. Create an API key in the OpenAI dashboard.
2. In MeetInk, choose OpenAI and paste the key.

Models and cost

For Gemini, Claude and OpenAI you can pick the model. The list shows recommended models with a rough cost per hour-long meeting, then every model your key can use.

Set a monthly budget to be warned above an amount. MeetInk estimates spend from token counts and list prices; your provider's dashboard is the real bill. Insights shows usage per engine: notes written and failed, tokens, speed and estimated cost.

What is sent to Gemini, Claude or OpenAI

Only the transcript text of the meeting (plus your own notes and bookmarks, so they're folded into the summary). Never audio. It goes directly from your Mac to the provider, under their terms and your key. Keys are stored in the macOS Keychain.

Tone

Notes can include the meeting's Tone: the overall tone in words, how each person came across and why, and the moments the tone changed (click a time to play it). It's labelled as an AI estimate. Cloud engines and the larger local models write it; small local models skip it.

Turning notes off

Choose Off to keep transcripts only. You can still read, search and export every transcript.

To write notes only when you ask, untick Write notes automatically when a meeting ends under Settings → Intelligence → Notes. Then open a meeting and click Write notes for this meeting.

Rewriting notes

Changed the meeting type or engine? Open the meeting, click ⋯ and choose Rewrite notes. Changing the meeting type chip also rewrites the notes in the new shape.