Anarlog vs Vexa (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Anarlog grades higher than Vexa: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Anarlog grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. Vexa grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Anarlog
Open-source, local-first AI meeting notepad with no bot
Vexa
Open-source meeting bot API with real-time transcription
Which one is for you
Pick Anarlog if
- Fits if your meeting notes have to stay on your own device
- Works for developers who want open-source code, a CLI and an MCP server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want notes from your phone today, as the mobile apps aren't out yet and there's no web version
- Not for you if local models and API keys sound like a chore, as hosted AI needs Pro at $14 a month or $140 a year
- Tight if you're staying free and want speakers named for you, since Free's speaker labeling is manual
- Watch out: shared notes and the Cloud API keep a server-readable copy, unlike end-to-end encrypted Cloud Sync
- Watch out: integrations, sync, sharing and automations are Pro only, and SSO and SCIM need Enterprise at an unpublished price
Pick Vexa if
- Fits if you are building meeting transcripts into your own product
- Works for developers who want to host the code themselves
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want summaries and action items, as the output is transcripts and a dashboard
- Skip it if you do not want to run code or servers, as it is developer-facing
- Watch out: API usage is $0.30 an hour for the bot and $0.20 more for transcription
- Watch out: the Individual seat includes one concurrent bot
- Tight if you need shared workspaces, which are described as early, self-hosted features
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAnarlogFair | 2.0GPAVexaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $14 a person a month, or $140 for the year, against a category that typically starts near $10. Ordinary money for what it buys: hosted transcription and AI, system-wide dictation, encrypted sync across 3 devices, sharing and automations. | COpen source is free only if you host it yourself. Hosted is $12 a seat a month, the middle, with usage at $0.50 an hour. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree covers unlimited on-device transcription, local recordings, notes, templates, chat, exports and a local API, CLI and MCP server, so one person can genuinely live on it. You supply the AI, though: local models through Ollama or LM Studio, or your own paid API keys. | CNo free plan: new accounts get $2 of bot credit with no card, about 4 hours, and the open-source edition is self-hosted. |
| Features | BIt covers the job: records system audio and the microphone with nothing joining the call, merges what you typed with the transcript into an editable summary, chats across your meetings, and on Pro posts to Slack, Notion and Linear. Speaker labelling is manual until you pay. | CMeeting bot API, real-time transcripts, an MCP server, webhooks, recording and a dashboard. It stops at the transcript, with no summaries. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record, and the free route asks you to bring the AI, through Ollama, LM Studio or your own API keys, before the summaries work. There's no account, calendar access or bot to set up. | DNo store rating on record. It is an API and a self-hosted edition, so it needs developer setup. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA desktop program and nothing else: Mac, Windows and Linux, with no web version and no phone app yet, though the download page says those land in October. It does hook into Slack, Notion, Linear, HubSpot, Attio and Pipedrive, with a CLI and an MCP server. | BWeb, an API and an MCP server, with Meet, Teams, Zoom, Claude Code and n8n. No desktop or phone app is listed. |
| Best for | meeting notes that stay on your own computer | an open-source meeting bot API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Anarlog and Vexa. How we grade
Price against what you get
Anarlog starts at $11.67 a month when paid by the year for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Vexa starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 2.0.
Anarlog scores higher and starts $0.33 a month lower. Of the other AI meeting note takers on the chart, 23 score higher than Anarlog for less, and 34 score higher than Vexa for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Vexa is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Anarlog also covers chat assistant.
- Vexa also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Anarlog | Vexa | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $14 per person / month, or $140 per person / year | $12 per seat / month |
| Free plan | Unlimited on-device transcription using local models or your own API keys, local recordings, notes, templates, chat and exports, plus a local API, CLI and MCP. | Open-source edition, free to self-host with community support. |
| Free trial | 2-week Pro trial that does not charge automatically when it ends | New accounts get $2 of free bot credit, no card needed, about 4 hours of transcribed meetings |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Fastrepl | Vexa.ai Inc. |
| Price read from | anarlog.so | vexa.ai |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Anarlog
- There is no mobile app yet. The download page says the iPhone, iPad and Android apps launch in October.
- Hosted transcription and AI, dictation, sync, sharing and automations need Pro. Free relies on local models or your own paid API keys.
- Shared notes and the Cloud API keep a server-readable copy, unlike Cloud Sync, which is end-to-end encrypted.
- Speaker labeling is manual on the Free plan; better speaker identification is a Pro feature.
Vexa
- It is developer-facing; the output is an API, transcripts and a dashboard rather than polished summaries.
- API usage is billed per bot-hour: $0.30 for the bot and $0.20 more for transcription.
- The Individual seat includes one concurrent bot.
- Shared workspaces and agents are described as early, self-hosted features.
Key features
Anarlog
- Bot-free capture
- Records system audio and the microphone directly, so nothing appears in the participant list and no calendar access is needed. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and in-person talks.
- Local-first storage
- Notes and transcripts live in a SQLite database on your device and recordings are local files. You can use it without an account and export to Markdown.
- Your choice of AI
- Run local models through Ollama or LM Studio, bring your own keys for providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Deepgram, or use hosted AI on Pro. Local models work offline.
- Summaries built on your notes
- After a meeting, Anarlog merges what you typed with the transcript into an editable summary. Pro adds custom summary formats and custom dictionaries.
- Chat, CLI and MCP
- Search across meetings and ask questions of your transcripts in chat. The same data is reachable from a command-line tool, an MCP server and webhooks on the Free plan.
- Sync, sharing and automations
- Pro adds end-to-end encrypted sync across 3 personal devices, shareable notes, shared workspaces, and automations that post to Slack, Notion and Linear.
Vexa
- Meeting bot API
- One API call sends a bot into Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Zoom; the transcript is fetched over REST.
- Real-time transcripts
- Transcripts arrive while the meeting is running, with speaker names, over WebSocket, in the language set for each meeting.
- MCP server
- Claude Code, Codex and other MCP clients can read live meeting data through the Vexa MCP server.
- Webhooks and recording
- Signed events fire when a meeting starts, ends or fails, and meeting audio is stored and fetched over the API.
- Self-hosting
- Deploy with Docker Compose, Kubernetes or OpenShift and run your own transcription model so audio stays on your network.
- Dashboard
- An open-source web dashboard shows bots, transcripts and meetings, and can be forked and customized.
Plans
Anarlog
Free$0
Unlimited on-device transcription, local recordings, your own keys for speech-to-text and AI, notes, templates, chat, exports, and a local API, CLI and MCP.
Pro$14
per person / month, or $140 per person / year
Hosted transcription and AI, system-wide dictation, end-to-end encrypted cloud sync, note sharing, integrations, automations and shared workspaces.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Pro, plus domain SSO and SCIM, sharing, retention and consent policies, audit visibility and a customer-hosted data plane.
Vexa
Open source$0
Apache 2.0 licensed; you host it yourself on your own infrastructure, with community support.
Individual$12
per seat / month
One person and their agents over MCP; one concurrent bot, unlimited meetings and 12-month audio storage.
Build on Vexa$10
one-time top-up, used as you go
Pay as you go for the API with unlimited bots; $0.30 per bot-hour, $0.50 with real-time transcription.
EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosted in your own cloud with dedicated support, volume pricing and a security and data-residency review.
Ways to pay less
Anarlog
- Annual discount
Yearly Pro costs $140 instead of $168
Pro is listed at $14 per person a month or $140 per person a year, so paying yearly costs the same as ten months at the monthly rate.
Vexa
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Anarlog or Vexa?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Anarlog is cheaper to start with: $11.67 a month when paid by the year for each person, against $12 a month for each person for Vexa. Anarlog starts at $14 per person / month, or $140 per person / year, and Vexa starts at $12 per seat / month.
Which has a free plan, Anarlog or Vexa?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Anarlog and Vexa have a free plan.
Which platforms do Anarlog and Vexa run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Anarlog lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only Vexa lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.