A Bluedot alternative: Bluedot and Notey compared

Bluedot is a notetaker that records meetings through a Chrome extension or a desktop app, and now also offers an optional bot. It transcribes and summarises in its cloud, stores recordings there, and is built for teams, with integrations and admin controls. Notey is a Mac app that never joins the call, records any app your Mac plays, transcribes on the Mac, and keeps the recording on your disk. If you want a notetaker that works across a team and on Windows, Bluedot does that. If you want the audio never uploaded, Notey does that.

This comparison describes Bluedot from its own site, security page and help centre as of September 2026. Check Bluedot and its security page for the current state.

At a glance

How each one hears a meeting

Bluedot says it "never invites a bot to your meeting or asks for calendar access. Instead, it uses a Chrome extension or dedicated desktop app to capture meetings." Its homepage also says it captures "with or without bot", and its help centre describes an optional bot that joins Meet, Zoom and Teams from your calendar and appears as your AI notetaker. (Bluedot, Bluedot bot)

• In the browser, the Chrome extension records Google Meet and other browser calls. On a Mac it gets the other people's audio through Chrome's sharing picker, with Also share system audio turned on.
• On the desktop, the app records Zoom, Teams and Slack. Its FAQ says Google Meet is audio-only in the desktop app.
• In person, the phone apps record the room.

Notey records your microphone and the sound your Mac plays as two separate tracks, whatever app is playing it, desktop or browser. It notices calls in Zoom, Teams, Slack, FaceTime, and in Chrome, Safari, Arc and Edge when the browser uses the microphone, and asks on its floating button; nothing is saved until you press Allow. For other apps, press Start. It never asks for Screen Recording permission; the Mac's audio comes from a Core Audio process tap. Recording a meeting that runs in the browser explains the browser case.

Where your data goes

Bluedot

• Transcription and summaries happen in Bluedot's service; its site does not describe an on-device option. It says data is "not stored, logged, or retained by AI providers after generation."
• Storage: "Data is stored in AWS with network isolation", with EU data residency available. Admins can set retention for recordings, transcripts and notes, and deleted data is removed immediately, with backups cleared within 30 days.
• Training: "Customer data is never used to train or improve AI models."
• Certifications: Bluedot lists SOC 2 Type II and GDPR. (Bluedot security)

Notey

• Audio is written to your Mac and never uploaded to be transcribed.
• Transcription runs on the Mac with Apple's speech recognition. After an English meeting, Notey reads the recording again on the Mac and keeps the words the recognisers agree on.
• With no account, nothing leaves the Mac.
• AI notes send transcript text, never audio, to Notey's service and on to OpenAI as a processor; not used for training and not kept by Notey. (Notey's privacy policy)
• Notey claims no certifications.

For the questions worth asking any vendor, see where does meeting audio go?.

Telling the other people

Bluedot says it "can display a consent message before or during a recording, depending on your workspace settings", and its bot is visible in the participant list. Notey is not in the call and shows nothing to the other side; it shows you a red dot and an elapsed timer whenever audio is kept, and telling people is your job.

Notes and what happens next

Bluedot writes summaries tailored to different teams, has an AI chat across meetings, identifies speakers, and syncs notes and action items to CRMs, applicant tracking systems and other tools through its API and MCP. It supports SSO, SAML and SCIM for companies.

Notey writes fixed kinds of note from one meeting: a summary with action items, minutes, tough questions, where the two sides differed, and a follow-up email. Ask Notey answers questions about one meeting, and ⌘K searches every meeting by what was said. Your side and theirs come from the two tracks; voices on the other side are told apart after the recording and you name them. There are no integrations; you export notes as Markdown and the transcript as plain text. Everything the AI wrote is labelled as AI-generated.

Where Bluedot is stronger

• Teams: shared workspaces, retention policies, SSO and SCIM.
• Integrations with CRMs and recruiting tools. Notey has none.
• Platforms: Windows, older macOS versions, phones, the web.
• Languages: over 100.
• A bot when you want one, for meetings you cannot attend.
• Certifications: Bluedot lists SOC 2 Type II. Notey claims none.

Where Notey makes different choices

• No upload of audio. Transcripts are made on the Mac.
• Every app, one method. The same recorder for desktop and browser calls, FaceTime, a phone on speaker, or a video.
• No account to record. Recording, transcription and search are free and work offline; AI notes are paid by the hour. See the pricing section.
• Two tracks, kept apart, so your side and theirs never depend on voice analysis.

Which one fits

Bluedot is likely the better fit if:

• your team wants shared notes, admin controls and CRM sync;
• you use Windows or a Mac older than macOS 26;
• your meetings are in many languages;
• you want the option of a bot.

Notey is likely the better fit if:

• meeting audio must not be uploaded to be transcribed;
• you take calls in many apps, not only the browser;
• you want to record and transcribe with no account;
• you work alone on an Apple silicon Mac.

For the wider field, see the best AI notetakers for Mac and bot-free meeting notes.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bluedot bot-free?

By default. Bluedot's site says it uses a Chrome extension or desktop app to capture meetings rather than a bot. Its help centre also describes an optional bot that joins Google Meet, Zoom and Teams meetings from your calendar.

How does Bluedot's Chrome extension hear the other people on a Mac?

Its help centre says you share the meeting tab through Chrome's sharing picker with Also share system audio turned on. That is how the extension receives the call's sound.

Does Bluedot train on my meetings?

Bluedot's site says customer data is never used to train or improve AI models, and that AI providers do not retain data after generation.

Does Notey need Chrome or Screen Recording permission?

No. Notey records what your Mac plays with a Core Audio process tap and never asks for Screen Recording. It records calls in any browser or desktop app.