Bubbles vs tl;dv (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Bubbles if

• Fits if you're on a Mac and want to look back over the last two hours
• Works for small teams that want a notetaker and shareable replay clips

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you stay free: 5 recordings a week, 30 minutes each, locked after 2 weeks
• Pricey if you're alone: $18 a month while the workspace has 1 or 2 members
• Watch out: on the free plan the Notetaker joins all meetings with 2 or more invitees, and everyone gets the recording
• Not for you if you don't use a Mac and want a no-bot mode, which needs macOS 13 or later
• Watch out: the homepage says no bots join calls, but the notetaker is a bot

Pick tl;dv if

• Fits if you want the video of a call kept, not only the notes
• Works for companies that want a vendor hosting data in the EU

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you pay monthly, at $29 a seat for Pro against $18 on the yearly plan
• Tight if you stay free: AI notes for 10 meetings a month, 10 Ask AI questions, 5 uploads and data kept up to 3 months
• Skip it if you need playbooks, coaching, scheduled reports or Ask AI across meetings, which need Business at $29 a seat
• Watch out: the Chrome extension covers Google Meet only, and phone recordings stop at 3 hours each
• Not for you if you need SCIM, custom SSO or privately hosted AI, which are Enterprise only at an unpublished price

Bubbles

• The homepage says no bots join your calls, while the Notetaker and pricing pages describe a bot that joins meetings; the two modes work differently.
• The download listed is for macOS 13 or later; the Notetaker is the route for other computers.
• On the free plan the Notetaker joins all meetings with 2 or more invitees and every invitee gets the recording.
• Pro pricing is $18 per member a month for 1 or 2 members and $12 at 3 or more.

tl;dv

• Free limits AI notes to 10 meetings a month, with 10 Ask AI queries and 5 uploads, and keeps data for up to 3 months.
• Playbooks, AI coaching, scheduled reports and unlimited multi-meeting Ask AI need the Business plan.
• SCIM provisioning, custom SSO and privately hosted AI are Enterprise only.
• The Chrome extension covers Google Meet only, and mobile recordings are limited to 3 hours each.

Bubbles

Two-hour rolling replay

The Mac app keeps the last two hours of screen and audio, encrypted on your computer, and erases the oldest minute as new ones arrive.

Notes from jotted fragments

During a call you can type a few fragments; on save, AI turns the transcript and your fragments into a summary, action items and a full transcript.

AI Notetaker for calendar meetings

After you connect a calendar, the Notetaker joins meetings on Zoom, Google Meet and Teams and emails a summary and action items.

Trim and share

Scroll back through the replay, trim a moment and share a link. The site says only the trimmed part is uploaded.

Chat with your meetings

The site shows ChatGPT and Claude among the places where you can chat with your meeting content, and it publishes a Bubbles API.

Controls on who gets recordings

On Pro you choose which meetings the Notetaker joins and who receives recordings. On the free plan all invitees receive them.

tl;dv

Recording with or without a bot

The notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls as a visible participant. The desktop app for Mac and Windows records from system audio instead, with no bot in the call.

Transcripts in 30+ languages

Transcribes with automatic speaker recognition in more than 30 languages. Business adds premium transcription with multi-language support and custom vocabulary.

AI notes and templates

Summarizes each meeting into notes. Free covers 10 meetings a month; Pro lifts the limit and adds custom note templates, action item assignment and follow-up email drafts.

Ask AI across meetings

Ask questions about a recording and get answers from the transcript. Free includes 10 queries, and unlimited questions across many meetings come with Business.

Shareable clips

Highlight any part of a transcript to generate a clip of that moment in the recording, which can be shared without sending the whole meeting.

CRM sync and coaching

Pro syncs meeting notes to a CRM. Business adds team-wide CRM field mapping, playbooks with AI coaching and scheduled reports.

Bubbles

• BasicFree

  5 meeting recordings a week of up to 30 minutes, unlimited screen recordings; Bubbles lock after 2 weeks and the Notetaker joins all meetings.

• Pro Teams$12

  per member / month, billed yearly ($15 billed monthly)

  For workspaces of 3 or more: unlimited length and recordings, AI transcripts, choose which meetings the Notetaker joins, custom branding.

• Pro Personal$18

  per member / month, billed yearly ($22 billed monthly)

  Same features as Pro Teams for workspaces of 1 or 2 members; switches to Pro Teams pricing when the workspace reaches 3.

tl;dv

• Free$0

  Unlimited recordings and transcripts, AI notes for 10 meetings a month, 10 Ask AI queries and 3 months of data retention.

• Pro$18

  per seat / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)

  Removes the AI limits and adds custom note templates, follow-up email drafts, unlimited uploads and storage, CRM sync, API and webhooks.

• Business$29

  per seat / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)

  Adds unlimited multi-meeting Ask AI, playbooks and AI coaching, scheduled reports, CRM field mapping and custom vocabulary.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Adds SCIM provisioning, custom SSO, privately hosted AI and organization activity logs.

Bubbles

• Annual discount

  Yearly billing lowers the member price

  Pro Teams is $12 a member billed yearly against $15 billed monthly. Pro Personal is $18 against $22.

tl;dv

• Annual discount

  Lower per-seat price on annual billing

  By tl;dv's listed prices, Pro is $18 per seat per month billed annually against $29 monthly (about 38% less), and Business is $29 against $39 (about 26% less).