Taking notes in real time can be a challenge. One moment you’re jotting things down, carefully capturing each important point, and the next you make a typo and find yourself totally lost as to what the speaker is saying. Now, distracted and focused on preserving your perfect archive instead of listening, you’re off track and struggling to keep up. Alas, modern technology is here to make this scenario a thing of the past with impressive notetaking apps that make catching — and accurately recording — every word an effortless practice, allowing you to stay focused and active in the conversation.
Granola
Are back-to-back meetings part of your routine? According to AI notetaking enthusiasts, Granola is the answer to processing raw meeting notes and turning them into something tangible. Per Granola’s website, the tool is “like Apple Notes, but also transcribes your meeting,” allowing users to record calls and track the details they want to remember. When the meeting ends, Granola takes what users have written and enhances it to fit a variety of customizable templates according to meeting type — think customer discovery calls, team one-on-ones, interviews, pitches and more. Once an entry is submitted into Granola, the app can help users determine post-meeting action items and share their notes with others in one click.
Pricing: Basic ($0/month), Business ($14/month) and Enterprise ($35/user/month) plans are available
Operating Systems: iOS and Windows
Fathom
Do you want ultra-accurate meeting notes? According to Fathom, a top-rated, secure notetaking app, its AI-powered tool creates spot-on transcripts and meeting summaries — even when multiple speakers and accents are present. Compatible with Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, asana and more, Fathom sends instant recaps to users’ mailboxes outlining important themes, action items and key speakers when added to a call. Making it even more appealing to leave notetaking to the app is Fathom’s ability to create custom dictionaries, allowing the tool to learn your company’s acronyms and lingo for a seamless user experience.
Pricing: Free ($0/month), Premium ($16/month), Team ($14/month) and Business ($20/month) plans are available
Operating Systems: Mac and Windows
Mem
Have you ever wished you could compile all the thoughts swirling around your mind and store them in one organized place? According to the makers of Mem, an AI-powered tool that calls itself “The World’s First AI Thought Partner,” users can do just that when they utilize the platform’s powerful tech to “dump” their ideas, meetings and research into the app to “make the most of every thought.” Per Mem’s website, users can utilize the tool to record, transcribe and take notes during meetings, turn voice memos into streamlined notes, save websites and URLs and create handy reminders. Clutter-free by design, Mem makes organization a breeze thanks to the ability to both manually and automatically sort notes into collections so users can quickly find what they’re looking for. Similarly, Mem’s “Heads Up” functionality automatically pulls related timelines, notes and collections to ensure users have all the relevant context when browsing app entries.
Pricing: Free ($0/month), Mem Pro ($12/month) and Mem Teams (Custom pricing) plans are available
Operating Systems: iOS, Mac and Windows
Originally appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of The Compass magazine
About the Author
comments