Shadow vs talat

Shadow

• Mac users who want meeting notes without a bot in the call
• People who want to write their own prompts for notes and follow-ups
• Keeping transcripts as Markdown files on their own disk
• Using one app for meeting notes and voice typing

talat

• People who cannot send meeting audio to a cloud service
• Buyers who prefer a one-time lifetime license to a subscription
• Obsidian and Markdown users who want meeting notes exported automatically

Shadow

• Mac only: it requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14.2 or later. Windows and other devices are on a waitlist.
• Data is stored only on the one Mac. Sync across devices is on the roadmap but not available.
• The Free plan lists transcription, recording and screenshots; unlimited AI meeting notes, Skills and AI chat need Plus.
• Skills, Ask and automatic titles send transcripts or screen context to OpenAI, Google or Anthropic. Capture, transcription and storage stay on the Mac.

talat

• The Mac version needs macOS 15 or later on Apple Silicon, and Windows needs version 10 or later. There are no mobile, web or Linux apps.
• After the 10 free hours, new recordings need a paid plan, though existing meetings can still be searched, exported and summarized.
• Nothing syncs or uploads, so notes stay on the one computer where they were recorded.
• Summaries from a cloud model require your own provider account and API key; the vendor notes that cloud models usually do better on longer meetings.

Shadow

Bot-free capture with Autopilot

Shadow records the microphone and system audio from the Mac, so nothing joins the call. Autopilot detects supported meetings and starts and stops listening on its own.

On-device transcription

Transcription and speaker labeling run on the Mac, and raw audio is not sent to an outside provider. The vendor lists around 100 languages and says English works best.

Smart Screenshots

Shadow finds the meeting window and captures it as the visuals change, so questions asked afterwards can cover what was shown as well as what was said.

Meeting Skills

Each Skill is an editable prompt that produces notes, action items, a follow-up email or a BANT breakdown. A Skill can run automatically after a meeting and send its result to a webhook.

Action Skills and voice typing

A keyboard shortcut in any app runs a Skill on what you say, what is on screen or the text you selected, then pastes the result at the cursor.

Local Markdown vault

Transcripts and Skill outputs are saved as Markdown files, with media, in a vault folder you choose on the Mac. You can keep or discard meeting audio.

talat

On-device transcription

Speech is transcribed in real time on the computer, using hardware acceleration where available. Recordings, transcripts and notes sit in a local database, and the app works offline.

Bot-free meeting capture

talat records the microphone and system audio as two streams and can start on its own when it detects a Zoom, Teams or Meet call or a calendar event. No bot joins the meeting.

Speaker identification

Transcripts are labeled by speaker on the device, and the app learns voices over time so that it can recognize the same people in later meetings.

AI notes with a choice of model

Summaries, action items and chapters are written by a built-in Qwen model, or by Claude, OpenAI or Ollama if you connect your own provider and API key.

Dictation into any app

A global hotkey starts dictation from anywhere, with tap-to-toggle or hold-to-talk. Text is pasted into the focused app, and an optional LLM pass tidies punctuation and filler words.

Import, export and MCP

Existing audio and video files can be imported and transcribed locally. Notes export to Markdown, Obsidian and PDF, and webhooks and an MCP server pass meetings to other tools.

Shadow

• Free$0

  Unlimited transcription, unlimited audio recording and unlimited Smart Screenshots, described as free forever.

• Plus$8

  per month, billed annually; $12 billed monthly

  Everything in Free, plus unlimited AI meeting notes, Meeting Skills, Action Skills and AI chat.

talat

• Monthly$9

  per month

  The full app with every update, cancellable at any time from the app. Existing notes stay readable and exportable if you stop paying.

• Yearly$89

  per year

  The same full app and updates as the monthly plan, paid once a year.

• Lifetime license$189

  one-time payment

  One payment with no renewals and every future update included, covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Shadow

• Annual discount

  Annual billing lowers Plus to $8 a month

  The pricing page's billing toggle shows Plus at $8 a month on annual billing and $12 a month on monthly billing, about a third less.

talat

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime license for a one-time $189

  talat can be bought outright for $189 with no renewals and every future update included. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.

• Annual discount

  Yearly plan costs less than 12 months

  The FAQ prices talat at $9 a month or $89 a year, so paying yearly comes to $19 less than twelve monthly payments.

• Other savings

  $5 off through a referral

  A customer's referral code gives a friend $5 off any plan. The referrer gets $5 off a later bill once the friend has been a customer for three months.