Best AI Tools for Summarising Meeting Notes in 2026
Writing up meeting notes is one of the most universal time-wasters in professional life. Every team does it, almost nobody enjoys it, and the result is often inconsistent — buried in someone's notebook, never actioned, impossible to find when you need it six months later. AI tools now handle transcription, summarisation, and action point extraction automatically, turning every meeting into a searchable written record within minutes of finishing.
This guide covers the best AI tools for meeting notes and transcription in 2026 — from standalone transcription apps to AI features built into tools you may already pay for.
Quick Comparison Table
| Tool | Best For | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Live transcription & automatic summaries | Free – £17/mo | Get Otter.ai → |
| Microsoft Copilot | Teams meeting summaries for M365 users | From £22/mo | Get Copilot → |
| Fireflies.ai | Auto-joining meetings & CRM integration | Free – £19/mo | Get Fireflies → |
| Notion AI | Storing, searching & summarising past meeting notes | From £16/mo | Get Notion → |
| ChatGPT Plus | Summarising existing notes or transcripts | £20/mo | Get ChatGPT Plus → |
For most UK professionals: Otter.ai free tier covers 300 minutes of transcription per month — enough for most people's meeting schedule at zero cost. Upgrade to Pro (£17/mo) when you need more. If your organisation already pays for Microsoft 365, check whether Copilot is available before buying anything else.
The 5 Best AI Tools for Meeting Notes
1. Otter.ai
Free tierOtter.ai is the most widely used meeting transcription tool in the UK and the best starting point for anyone who wants AI meeting notes without a complex setup. It automatically transcribes meetings in real time, identifies speakers, and produces a summary with key points and action items at the end. The free tier (300 minutes/month) covers most professionals' meeting load before needing an upgrade.
- •Live transcription: Records and transcribes in real time — works in person, on Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet.
- •AI summary: Produces a concise summary of the meeting automatically — no manual note-taking required.
- •Action items: Automatically identifies and extracts action points from the conversation.
- •Searchable archive: Every past meeting is searchable — find what was said about any topic across months of meetings in seconds.
2. Microsoft Copilot
Best for: Microsoft Teams usersIf your organisation uses Microsoft Teams for meetings, Copilot is the most seamless meeting notes solution available. It integrates directly into Teams, transcribes the meeting, and produces a structured summary with action items — all without leaving the Microsoft 365 environment. For organisations already paying for M365 Business, check whether Copilot is included in your plan before buying a separate tool.
- •Meeting recap: Auto-generates a structured summary after every Teams call — shared with all participants.
- •Action items: Identifies who said they would do what and by when — extracted from conversation automatically.
- •Meeting catch-up: If you joined late, ask Copilot "what did I miss?" and get an instant summary of the discussion so far.
- •Outlook integration: Meeting summaries automatically filed alongside the calendar invite — searchable from Outlook.
3. Fireflies.ai
Free tierFireflies.ai is particularly strong for sales teams and client-facing roles where meeting notes need to feed into a CRM system. It auto-joins your meetings via a bot, transcribes and summarises the conversation, and can push key details directly into Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and other CRMs. For teams doing multiple client calls a day, this eliminates hours of manual CRM data entry every week.
- •Auto-join bot: Fireflies joins your calendar meetings automatically — no manual recording needed.
- •CRM sync: Pushes meeting summaries and action items directly into Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive and others.
- •Topic tracking: Search across all your past meetings for any topic, keyword, or phrase — across months of calls.
- •Conversation intelligence: Tracks talk-time ratios, questions asked, and sentiment — useful for sales coaching.
4. Notion AI
Best for: Storing, searching & summarising past notesNotion doesn't record meetings — but it's the best place to store and work with meeting notes once you have them. Paste in a transcript or rough notes and ask Notion AI to produce a structured summary, extract action items, or rewrite the notes in a format suitable for sharing with stakeholders. Over time, your entire meeting history becomes a searchable knowledge base.
- •Paste & summarise: Paste an Otter.ai transcript into Notion and ask AI to produce a structured summary with action items.
- •Format for stakeholders: Rewrite rough notes into a polished summary suitable for sharing with people who weren't in the meeting.
- •Searchable archive: Every meeting note stored in Notion is searchable by AI — "what did we decide about the budget in Q1?" returns the relevant extract instantly.
5. ChatGPT Plus
Best for: Summarising existing transcripts & notesChatGPT Plus doesn't transcribe meetings but it excels at summarising any text you give it. Paste in a long transcript, a set of rough notes, or even a chaotic email chain about what was decided in a meeting, and ask ChatGPT to produce a clean, structured summary. It handles long documents better than most specialist tools and can reformat the output for any audience.
- •Basic summary: "Summarise these meeting notes into: key decisions, action items with owners, and open questions."
- •Stakeholder version: "Rewrite this meeting summary for a senior leadership audience in 3 bullet points."
- •Action email: "Write a follow-up email from these meeting notes summarising what was agreed and who is doing what."
Which Tool Should You Start With?
Pick based on how your meetings happen:
Individual professional
Otter.ai free tier. Zero cost, works on any platform, 300 minutes a month. Start here before spending anything.
Microsoft 365 organisation
Check if Microsoft Copilot is available on your existing plan first. If so, it's already paid for and integrates directly into Teams.
Sales or client-facing team
Fireflies.ai for automatic CRM sync after every call. The free tier is generous enough to test properly before committing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related guides on AI4WORK.uk
Start with Otter.ai's free tier — it costs nothing, works on any platform, and immediately eliminates the need to write meeting notes manually. If you're on Microsoft Teams, check whether Copilot is already available on your plan. For sales teams doing multiple client calls a day, Fireflies.ai adds CRM integration that saves hours of data entry every week.
UK Compliance Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Always obtain participant consent before recording any meeting under UK GDPR.