Cleft vs Talknotes

Cleft

• People who think out loud and want the ramble turned into a tidy note
• Apple users capturing ideas from a Watch, a car or the Lock Screen
• Passing voice notes on to Notion, Obsidian or Apple Notes

Talknotes

• Drafting emails, posts and articles by talking
• Turning recorded meetings, interviews or lectures into summaries
• People who want one voice-notes account on web, iPhone and Android

Cleft

• Apple only: the apps are for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and CarPlay, with no Android, Windows or web version listed.
• Basic recordings stop at 5 minutes; 30-minute recordings need Cleft Plus.
• Notion and Zapier integrations, attachments, custom styles, appending and password-protected links are Plus only.
• Sign-in is required. Recording and transcription work offline, but the note is finished once the device is back online.

Talknotes

• The pricing page lists no free plan: after a 7-day trial it costs $19.97 a month or $197 a year, and the terms say all sales are final.
• An internet connection is required, and unlimited usage is subject to a fair usage policy in the terms.
• The FAQ says notes longer than 20 minutes use credits on a Pro plan, which the pricing page does not list or explain.
• There is no native desktop app: on a computer it is installed from Chrome as a web app, and Safari and Firefox are not supported for that.

Cleft

On-device transcription

Recordings are turned into text locally on iPhone, iPad or Mac using Whisper, in 99 languages, including when the speaker switches language mid-sentence.

Structured notes from rambles

An AI step pulls out the main points and actions and titles the note. Three built-in styles are Structured, Structured Prose and Clean Transcript; Plus adds custom styles.

Capture from Watch, CarPlay and Siri

Recording can start from an Apple Watch, the CarPlay screen, the Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, Control Center, the iPhone Action Button or a Siri request.

Send notes to other apps

Notes go to any app through the share sheet. Local Sync writes Markdown and optional audio to a folder, and Plus adds direct Notion and Zapier integrations.

Markdown editor, tags and search

Notes can be edited with headings, bold, lists and code blocks, tagged by project or topic, and searched across the whole collection.

Append and continue

With Plus, a new recording can be added to an existing note so one topic stays in one place, and recordings can run to 30 minutes.

Talknotes

One-button recording

A single button starts a recording in the web app or the mobile apps, and recording carries on in the background while other things are open.

Premade and custom styles

More than 100 premade styles shape the output as a note, task list, journal entry, email, blog post, video script or social post, and custom styles follow your own instructions.

Transcription in 50+ languages

Recordings are transcribed in more than 50 languages, with an automatic language option, and both the note and its transcript can be edited afterward.

Audio file uploads

Existing audio files in several formats can be uploaded and turned into notes, which the vendor suggests for recorded phone or video calls.

Export and share links

Notes export as PDF, plain text or Markdown, go out by email or message, or can be made public and shared through a link.

Zapier, webhooks and WhatsApp

Zapier and webhooks pass finished notes to other apps, and a WhatsApp bot transcribes voice messages inside WhatsApp.

Cleft

• Basic$0

  5-minute recordings, on-device transcription, structured notes, 3 built-in output styles, tags, search and export.

• Cleft Plus$39.99

  per year, or $6.99 per month billed monthly

  30-minute recordings, append to existing notes, custom output styles, attachments, Notion and Zapier integrations, and Family Sharing for up to 5.

Talknotes

• Yearly$197

  per year (shown as $16 / month, billed annually)

  All features: unlimited notes, 2-hour recording, file uploads, custom styles, export and the iOS and Android apps.

• Monthly$19.97

  per month, billed monthly

  The same features as the yearly plan, billed month to month after the 7-day trial.

Cleft

• Annual discount

  Save 52% with annual billing

  Cleft Plus costs $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The pricing page labels the annual plan a 52% saving, under $3.50 a month.

Talknotes

• Annual discount

  Save 18% with yearly billing

  The yearly plan is $197, against $19.97 a month on the monthly plan. Talknotes labels this an 18% saving.