Updated September 2026
The private Avoma alternative
Avoma is meeting intelligence for revenue teams: recordings, CRM notes, scheduling, and coaching you pay extra for. It can join with a bot or record without one. The meeting still lives in Avoma. If you wanted a desktop app that never uploads the call, this is a different product.
macOS (Apple Silicon) & Windows (64-bit) · Free 7-day trial · No card required.
| Private Notetaker | Avoma | |
|---|---|---|
| Where meetings are processed | 100% on your device | Processes and stores meetings in Avoma, including bot-less recordings |
| Bots in your meetings | Never | Avoma Bot, or bot-less native recording |
| Works offline | Yes | No, it needs their cloud |
| How privacy is enforced | Architecture: audio never leaves your device | Policy: HIPAA listed on Enterprise, with SSO and retention controls |
| Where your meetings live | Only on your own disk | Unlimited recording storage on the paid plans we checked |
| Price | $15/mo or $149 once, yours forever | Startup $19/recorder/mo billed annually ($29 monthly); 14-day trial |
Avoma facts and pricing as published 30 September 2026. 14-day Organization trial, no card; no free plan that records.
Their privacy is a policy.
Ours is architecture.
Privacy by policy
Every cloud note taker
- Hosted in a chosen region, so you trust where the servers are
- Encrypted in transit and at rest, so you trust the keys are handled well
- Deleted on request, so you trust the deletion actually happens
- “We don’t train on your data”, so you trust the pledge outlives the roadmap
Privacy by architecture
Private Notetaker
- ✓Audio is captured, transcribed, and summarized on your hardware
- ✓There is no server holding your meetings to breach or subpoena
- ✓Nothing to delete, because nothing was ever collected
- ✓No pledge required. The data simply is not there
Don't take our word for it. Turn WiFi off and watch it keep working.
I built this for myself. I live in back-to-back client calls, and I was never comfortable piping confidential conversations about clients' revenue, ad accounts, and contracts through someone else's cloud just to get a summary. So I made a note taker where everything stays on my machine. I have used it every working day since. Now I am opening it up.
Simple pricing. Either way, it is all yours.
Available for Mac & Windows. Pay once or monthly, whichever suits you.
Monthly
Cancel anytime. The notes you took stay yours.
- ✓Unlimited meetings and recording time
- ✓Local transcription and AI summaries
- ✓Full-history search on your device
- ✓Light and dark mode, Mac + Windows
- ✓No account required to take notes
Lifetime
Pay once, yours forever. Includes updates.
- ✓Unlimited meetings and recording time
- ✓Local transcription and AI summaries
- ✓Full-history search on your device
- ✓Light and dark mode, Mac + Windows
- ✓No account required to take notes
- ✓Never a subscription
Prefer to try first? Download the app and use it free for 7 days, no card needed. Buying charges right away and is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Avoma questions, answered
Does Avoma process meetings in the cloud? +
Yes. Avoma records, transcribes, and stores the meeting in Avoma, with unlimited storage listed on the pricing page. Bot-less native recording uses the same archive. Private Notetaker transcribes and writes notes on your Mac or Windows PC, so the audio is not uploaded.
Does Avoma join meetings with a bot? +
It can. The pricing page says you can invite the Avoma Bot, and it also lists bot-less native recording for Zoom, Teams, Meet, and others. Private Notetaker never appears in the participant list. Bot-less on Avoma is still cloud processing.
What is the difference between Private Notetaker and Avoma? +
Avoma is a revenue platform. Startup includes transcription, AI notes, scheduling, and CRM save, from $19 per recorder a month billed annually. Coaching and pipeline tools are add-ons. Private Notetaker is a local notes app. $15/mo or a $149 lifetime license, with a 7-day free trial and no card required. It has no CRM, no scorecards, and no shared library.
Does Avoma work offline? +
No. Transcription and notes need Avoma's service. Private Notetaker transcribes and summarizes offline because the models run on your computer.
Where does Avoma store recordings compared with Private Notetaker? +
Avoma lists unlimited recording storage, and viewers can watch those recordings without a paid seat. Private Notetaker stores recordings, transcripts, and notes only as files on your disk. There is no viewer seat because there is no server copy.
Is Avoma HIPAA compliant? +
Avoma's pricing page lists HIPAA compliance on Enterprise ($39 per recorder a month, billed annually, 10-seat minimum), next to SSO and data retention policies. It is not listed on Startup or Organization. Private Notetaker does not claim HIPAA certification. Check the requirements for your profession.
Further reading
Your meetings are nobody else's business.
Download the AI note taker that keeps everything on your device. Free for 7 days, no account, no card.
Mac & Windows.