How we check facts

Where facts come from

Only from each maker: pricing pages, help centres, privacy policies, terms of service, security and trust pages, and the maker's own app store listings. Reviews, comparison sites, forums, resellers and deal listings don't count, even when they agree.

Every value is tied to the maker's page and the sentence that states it, and is kept only when that sentence actually says it. Headline prices, free-plan limits and what a maker says about training on your recordings are opened and read again on the live page.

How each app listens

Every app is filed under the way it mainly gets hold of what was said. Many do more than one, and each profile lists them all.

• A bot joins the call: an assistant joins Zoom, Meet or Teams as a participant and records from inside the call.
• Records on your computer: an app on your computer records the call's sound on your side; nothing joins the call.
• Upload a file: you give it a recording and get a transcript back.
• Only on your device: transcription runs on your own computer or phone.
• A pocket recorder: a small device records the room or your calls, and the maker's app transcribes it.
• Built into your meeting app: the meeting app you already use takes the notes itself.

"No bot in your calls" means the app can take notes in a Zoom, Meet or Teams call without adding a participant: from your computer, a browser extension or the meeting app itself.

What happens to your recordings

Whether an app trains AI on your recordings is reported as the maker states it, in one of these answers:

• Says it doesn't train on them
• Only if you opt in
• Yes, unless you opt out
• Yes
• Not stated

These are the makers' own claims, read from their privacy, security and terms pages. Where two of a maker's pages disagree, the fact is shown with a note, or as "Not stated" when the conflict can't be settled from its own pages. "On your device" means the transcription runs there; summaries and AI chat can still use a cloud service, and the note says so where the maker does.

Prices and currencies

• Plans are shown per month, per seat where the maker prices by seat, both billed yearly and billed monthly when both are offered.
• Each app is shown in one currency, the one its own price list uses. Nothing is converted, and prices in different currencies are never ranked against each other.
• One-time licences, pay-per-minute prices and recorders are shown as what they are: a price once, a price a minute, or a device plus its plan.
• When a first-term price is a promotion, what it renews at is shown next to it, or "Not stated" when the maker doesn't say.
• Prices differ by country and tax and change often. The checkout page is the final word.

When a maker doesn't say

We write "Not stated". That's different from "No". Filters never count it as a match, the home page sorts those apps into their own group, and a missing price or limit is never filled in with a guess.

Which apps are listed

Apps that are on sale today, with their facts published on their own pages and a real logo. Discontinued apps and apps whose status can't be confirmed are left out until they can be.