The best AI meeting notetakers that work on Linux, native and in the browser

The best AI meeting notetaker that works on Linux as a native app can be hard to spot in a ranking, because "works on Linux" can mean three different things: an app you install, a browser extension, or a bot that joins the call. On the vendor pages we opened in October 2026, Granola, Otter, Fireflies and Fathom offered desktop apps for Mac and Windows, and we found no Linux download on those pages. Barside, our own app, installs on Linux as an AppImage or a .deb and transcribes calls on your computer.

This guide sorts the tools by how they reach a Linux computer, going by each vendor's own download page, help page or README. We did not test the other products, and we describe them only as their own pages do. Barside is free on Windows, Linux and Mac, and its limits get the same plain treatment further down.

Which AI meeting notetaker works on Linux as a native app?

If you are looking for the best AI meeting notetaker that works on Linux as a native app, the first question is which ones ship a Linux app at all. Among the tools on this page, Barside's is the one packaged Linux download we found: it runs on 64-bit Linux as an AppImage for most distributions or a .deb for Ubuntu and Debian. Meetily, an open-source note taker, comes close. Its README on GitHub says it works on macOS, Windows and Linux, names installers for Windows and macOS, and tells Linux users to build it from source. Meetily's site says a native Linux desktop app is in development.

We read a limited set of vendor pages for this guide, listed under Sources, which makes it a sample of the market and far from a full count. If the tool you use is missing, the checklist near the end shows how to run the same check on its download page.

A notetaker can reach a Linux desk in three ways, and they behave differently once the call starts:

• An installed app. It records your microphone and the sound your computer plays, so the meeting site you use does not matter to it. Barside works this way, and Meetily's README describes the same design, capturing the microphone and system audio at the same time.
• A browser extension. It lives inside the browser and works on the meeting sites its maker names. Tactiq offers a free Chrome extension for Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and says no bot joins the call.
• A bot. A participant run by the vendor joins the meeting. The Fireflies home page says you can invite its notetaker to a live meeting at an email address, or have it join the meetings on your calendar by itself. You invite it like a guest, so check which meeting platforms the vendor lists.

What each vendor's own page lists

The table shows what each page said when we opened it, as of October 2026. "None found" means we found no Linux download on the page linked below the table. It does not mean the product cannot be used from a Linux computer.

Granola. The Granola setup guide says Granola runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, connected to a Google or Microsoft account, and needs macOS 14 as a minimum. It listens to your microphone and system audio from your side of the call, which is the design an installed Linux app uses too. The guide names no Linux version and no browser version.

Otter. Otter's desktop page has buttons to download the app for Mac and for Windows, and says it records conversations without a bot across Slack Huddles, Zoom, Google Meet and in person. It also links an iOS app, an Android app and a Chrome extension. Otter's desktop app integration page says the app is currently available on macOS 12.3 or later and Windows 10 or later, and its home page says you can schedule its AI Meeting Agent to join your Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings automatically.

Fireflies. Fireflies lists many ways in: the invited notetaker, a Chrome extension that records Google Meet calls with real-time transcripts, a desktop app, phone apps for iOS and Android, and uploads of audio and video files. Its guide to recording without a bot on the desktop app tells you to open that app on a Windows or Mac computer, where it captures the computer's system audio. On the pages we read, the invited notetaker and the Chrome extension are described apart from the desktop app.

Fathom. The Fathom Desktop App help page links downloads for macOS and Windows and describes a bot-free version that you start with Capture Now in the app. We found no Linux download on that page. Fathom's article on compatible devices says Fathom records meetings on Mac and Windows computers and lists Linux computers among those it does not currently support. Its help center also describes a Chrome extension for Google Meet links, and that article says Fathom is unable to record calls on Linux.

Tactiq. Tactiq's page promises real-time transcription with no bot in Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, from a free Chrome extension, and its footer links Edge Add-ons as well. That page names no operating system. A Tactiq article on free transcription software, updated in June 2026, says the extension "works on Windows, macOS, and Linux", and Tactiq's install guide says to use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a computer, for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings that run in your browser. Its download page also offers a Mac app, which it says transcribes Zoom desktop calls only for now.

Meetily. Meetily's README says meetings are transcribed on your device with Whisper or Parakeet models, with no cloud required, and the project carries an MIT license. Building from source asks more of you than a download does, and the README gives the commands.

Installed app, extension or bot: what changes during the call

The route you choose decides more than the install step. It also decides which calls are covered, who can see the notetaker, and where your words are turned into text.

• Which calls it covers. A recorder that captures everything your computer plays, as Barside does, covers any call app and any call in a browser. An extension covers the meeting sites its maker names. A bot covers the platforms its vendor supports, and the host may have to let it into the meeting.
• Who sees it. A bot shows up as a participant. An extension or an installed recorder may give the other people no visible sign, so telling them is your job.
• Whether you must be there. A recorder on your computer hears only the calls you are on. Fireflies says its notetaker can join the meetings on your calendar by itself.
• Where speech becomes text. Barside turns speech into text on your computer, and Meetily's README says the same of Meetily. We did not read the other vendors' privacy pages for this guide, so read them yourself before a confidential call.

Is there an AI meeting assistant with a browser extension for Jitsi and Zoom?

An AI meeting assistant that works as a browser extension on both Jitsi and Zoom did not turn up on the pages we opened. Tactiq's extension names Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and Fireflies describes its Chrome extension for Google Meet calls. Neither description names Jitsi. For Zoom meetings that run in your browser, then, Tactiq's extension is an option to look at, and for Jitsi we found no extension to point you to.

For Jitsi, the pages we opened describe three other routes:

• A bot that joins the room. A Fireflies Knowledge Base article on Jit.si meetings says its notetaker joins them automatically when the Jitsi link is in an event on the calendar you connected to Fireflies, and that it appears in the call as a participant.
• Jitsi's own transcriber, if you run the server. The Jitsi handbook's Docker self-hosting guide describes a transcriber that you switch on with ENABLE_TRANSCRIPTIONS and an extra transcriber.yml file. It has settings for Google Cloud, Vosk, Whisper and Oracle Cloud speech services, and options to send the transcribed text to the meeting chat or save it to a file. That is work for whoever deploys the server, and what you get is a transcript.
• A recorder that listens to your computer. A Jitsi room opened in your browser is a call in your browser, and a recorder that captures your computer's sound hears it the way it hears any other call. Barside's transcription guide does not name Jitsi; it says Barside records your microphone and the sound your computer plays, a call in your browser included, so it works with whatever app you call from.

If the meeting is yours and small, another route is to hold it in Barside. Barside's video meetings take up to 6 people, and guests can join from a browser. When a host turns captions on, they are written on each person's own computer, so the meeting note shows who said what. Captions of a browser guest's own words need the app.

How Barside transcribes calls on a Linux computer

Barside records two things on your Linux computer: your microphone, and the sound the computer plays, which it captures through PulseAudio or PipeWire loopback. Every 30 seconds it turns the new audio into text with Whisper, a speech model that runs locally, and adds the lines to a note with a time and a label, You or Others. Nothing joins the call, and this part needs no AI key and no account.

1. Install Barside. Get the AppImage, which suits most distributions, or the .deb for Ubuntu and Debian from the download page. Barside needs 64-bit Linux.
2. Install speech once. Open the assistant with Ctrl+Shift+A, select Assistant settings, and choose Install speech. It downloads Whisper and its English model, about 150 MB.
3. Add a language if you need one. Under Speech language, choose Install more languages · 141 MB for 34 more languages or Detect automatically, then Save assistant settings.
4. Open the call setup. Choose Transcribe a call at the bottom of the assistant, click the microphone on the desktop bar, or press Alt+Shift+Space and type call.
5. Tell the people on the call. The card reminds you: "Let call participants know before recording."
6. Press Start recording. A banner says Recording call · mic + computer, and new lines reach the note every 30 seconds.
7. Stop when the call ends. Choose Stop & save in the banner, or Recording · Stop and save in the tray menu.

After the call, the transcript is an ordinary note called Call transcript. With an AI connected in Settings → AI (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or OpenRouter), the Meeting follow-through button next to the note's title proposes a summary, quoted decisions, tasks with owners and a recap draft, and you check each item before it saves. Barside never sends the recap for you. The full guides are transcribe calls on your computer and meeting follow-up and action items.

What differs on Linux

Call transcription follows the same steps on every system. A few details are particular to Linux, and they are worth knowing before your first call.

• The sound server. On Windows, Barside captures computer audio through the system's audio loopback; on Linux it uses PulseAudio or PipeWire loopback; in Barside for Mac it needs macOS 14.2 or later.
• Hotkeys on Wayland. On a Wayland desktop, hotkeys that work from any app work while an X11 app is active. Settings → Hotkeys and aliases says so and gives each command a copy button, so you can add it as a shortcut in your desktop's keyboard settings. The microphone on the desktop bar needs no hotkey.
• Wayland and screen edges. Barside restarts itself once through XWayland, so it can place its windows and tabs at the edges of the screen.
• The tray. Barside waits in the tray, and GNOME needs the AppIndicator extension to show it. Stop & save in the recording banner is the other way to end a recording.
• Updates. The AppImage replaces itself, and the .deb updates through the system password dialog. Barside does not install an update while a recording or transcription is running.
• Barside's own meetings. On Linux, a screen share in a Barside meeting does not carry computer sound, and the meeting window can show in your own shared screen, so share one window.

What Barside does not do

An installed recorder has limits that a cloud notetaker does not, and you should weigh them before you switch.

• Attend without you. Nothing joins the call, so Barside hears only the calls you are on.
• Name each speaker. Lines are labeled You for your microphone or Others for the sound your computer plays. On a group call, everyone but you is Others, and headphones give the cleanest labels.
• Write word by word. Text reaches the note in 30-second pieces.
• Transcribe files. Barside transcribes a call as it records it and does not transcribe an audio file you already have.
• Catch every name. It uses Whisper's compact base models, which can mishear names, numbers and crosstalk. The Call audio clip next to each passage makes checking quick.
• Bring its own AI. Summaries, decisions and tasks need the AI account you connect, and that company bills you for what you use.
• Run on a phone. Barside is a desktop app.

If one of those is what you need, a cloud notetaker may fit better. The Fireflies page, for one, lists a notetaker that joins calendar meetings by itself and phone apps for in-person conversations.

Examples of who this fits

The people below are made up to show the steps, and the request and the question are examples you can adapt.

• Example: a backend developer on Ubuntu whose team meets on Jitsi. She installs the .deb, puts on a headset so her microphone hears only her, and clicks the microphone on the desktop bar before stand-up. After Stop & save, the note holds timestamped You and Others lines, and she turns one promise into a checklist item with a due date so it shows on her task board.
• Example: a freelance consultant on another distribution, with client calls on Zoom. He runs the AppImage, tells the client at the start that he is recording, and keeps each transcript in that client's workspace. With an AI connected, Meeting follow-through proposes a summary, quoted decisions and tasks with owners, and he checks each one before it saves.
• Example request to the assistant: "Transcribe this call into a new note in my Clients workspace". With an AI connected, the AI assistant prepares the recording in that workspace, and recording still starts only when you press Start recording.
• Example question, weeks later: "What did we decide about the pricing page?" Library answers come from your transcripts, with the passage cited as a source.

Privacy: where the audio and the transcript live

With Barside, the audio, the text and the note stay on your computer. The speech engine is downloaded once from GitHub and its model from Hugging Face, and after that speech turns into text with no network. Each 30-second piece with sound in it is also kept in the note as a Call audio clip, so you can listen again.

A transcript leaves your computer only when you send it somewhere. Meeting follow-through sends the transcript to the AI company you connected, and that company's data policy applies. A Call audio clip leaves only if you make a share link for it, and Barside Plus cloud backup and sync upload your notes only when you turn them on. Barside does not encrypt your notes or ordinary backups, so protect the computer itself. The privacy guide explains recordings and transcripts, and the AI section explains what goes to your AI company.

Two habits matter on any system. Computer audio includes every sound the computer plays, so close music and other audio before you start. Tell everyone on the call before you record, because recording rules differ between countries and states, and some require everyone's consent.

How to check a notetaker's Linux claim yourself

You can repeat our check on any tool in a few minutes. Start from the vendor's own site, because a ranking can lag behind it.

1. Open the vendor's own download page. Look for a Linux file such as an AppImage, a .deb, an .rpm, a Flatpak or a Snap. A ranking that says "works on Linux" may mean a browser tab.
2. If the answer is an extension, read which meeting sites it names. An extension that names Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams has made no promise about Jitsi.
3. If the answer is a bot, check that your host will let it in. Some clients and employers do not want an extra participant on the call.
4. Ask where speech becomes text. Some tools write the transcript on your computer and others on the vendor's servers, which matters for client work.
5. Check your sound setup. A recorder needs a way to hear the computer's sound, and Barside uses PulseAudio or PipeWire for that.

How it compares

This page answers one question, the route to Linux. For prices, free plans and features, read the best AI meeting assistants, which compares nine tools, and the best AI note takers without a bot. The Otter.ai alternative and Granola alternative guides set each of those next to Barside feature by feature, and the best transcription apps covers tools for audio files.

Barside fits when you want an installed Linux app, a transcript made on your own computer and notes that live next to your tasks. A cloud notetaker fits better when you want a bot that attends by itself or an app on your phone.

Works well with

Once a call is in a note, these guides cover what to do with it: the full transcription walkthrough, the follow-up, Barside's own meetings, the desktop app on Linux, and agents that prepare the follow-up for your approval.