CraftNote and Read AI both turn meetings into notes, but they solve for different things. CraftNote captures conversations bot-free, including in-person ones, and keeps things simple: transcript, summary, action items. Read AI joins your video calls as a bot and layers on meeting analytics like engagement and sentiment. This comparison shows where each one is the better fit.
Overview
CraftNote
CraftNote is a bot-free AI note-taker for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the web. It records meetings and calls, in person or online, straight from your device with no bot joining the call, and produces a transcript, summary and action items with speaker labels. It supports 100+ languages, works offline and syncs across devices, and has a genuinely usable free plan.
Read AI
Read AI is an AI meeting assistant that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls as a bot. Beyond notes and summaries, it focuses on meeting analytics, measuring engagement, sentiment, participation and topic distribution, and offers AI search across meetings, emails and connected tools plus a 'digital twin' that can help schedule and follow up.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | CraftNote | Read AI | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recording approach | Bot-free. Records from your own device, so nothing joins the call and it works for in-person conversations too. | A bot joins your scheduled Zoom, Meet or Teams calls to capture them. | ✓ |
| In-person meetings | Yes. Records in-person conversations and phone calls straight from your phone. | Built around video calls the bot can join; not designed for in-person capture. | ✓ |
| Meeting analytics & engagement | Focuses on notes rather than analytics; no engagement or sentiment scoring. | A core strength: engagement, sentiment, participation and topic analytics with post-meeting reports. | ✓ |
| Automation / digital assistant | Delivers the notes; no scheduling or email agent. | Offers a 'digital twin' that can help schedule meetings and manage follow-ups. | ✓ |
| No-bot privacy in the room | Nothing is added to the call, so there is no visible bot and no third participant. | A bot is present in the meeting, which participants can see. | ✓ |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and web from one account. | Works through its video-conferencing integrations and web app. | ✓ |
| Summaries & action items | Automatic summary and separated action items with speaker labels. | Generates summaries, action items and highlight reels after each meeting. | ― |
| Free plan | Genuinely usable free plan; paid tiers for heavier use. | Offers a free tier, with paid plans for teams and advanced analytics. | ― |
Who Should Pick Which?
Choose CraftNote if…
CraftNote is best if you want bot-free notes without a third participant in the call, need to capture in-person meetings and phone calls as well as video ones, and want the same notes across iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and web, in 100+ languages, starting free.
Choose Read AI if…
Read AI is best for teams that live in video calls and want more than notes: engagement and sentiment analytics, participation reports, cross-tool AI search, and automation like scheduling and follow-ups. It fits organizations that treat meeting data as a metric to manage.