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Alternatives

Best tl;dv alternatives in 2026

Data compiled by Toolradar Updated How we rate

Cite this list: Toolradar, best tl;dv alternatives 2026, toolradar.com/alternatives/tldv

6 direct alternatives to tl;dv, compared on pricing, features, and best-for use cases. Pick the right replacement without the marketing fluff.

Quick answer

  • Fathom is the top alternative to tl;dv on our list, followed by Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai.
  • 5 of the 6 alternatives have a free plan, starting with Fathom.
  • Highest rated: Fathom, 4.9 out of 5 from 7,187 ratings, Sep 2026.
Publications that cover the tools tracked here
  • TechCrunch
  • Bloomberg
  • The Information
  • Fortune
  • The Verge
  • 6 alternatives
  • 5 with a free plan

Top 3 alternatives to tl;dv

  1. Fathom logo

    Fathom

    #1 Top pick

    AI notetaker that summarizes your meetings so you can focus on the conversation.

    Starting price

    From $19 /mo

    Cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026

    4.9 /5 across G2 and Trustpilot · 7,187 ratings, Sep 2026

    Our take

    Best overall

  2. Fireflies.ai logo

    AI meeting transcription and search

    Starting price

    From $10 /mo

    Cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026

    4.7 /5 on G2 · 753 ratings, Sep 2026

    Our take

    Most affordable

  3. Otter.ai logo

    AI meeting notes and transcription

    Starting price

    From $16.99 /mo

    Cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026

    4.4 /5 across G2 and Capterra · 608 ratings, Sep 2026

tl;dv vs 6 alternatives

tl;dv and its alternatives compared on starting price (cheapest paid plan, monthly, as of November 2026), free plan and average user rating.
tl;dv logo
tl;dv Compared tool
Price: $18/mo Free plan: Yes 4.7 out of 5, from 537 ratings on G2 (537)
Fathom logo
Fathom
Price: $19/mo Free plan: Yes 4.9 out of 5, from 7,187 ratings across G2 and Trustpilot (7,187)
Fireflies.ai logo
Fireflies.ai
Price: $10/mo Free plan: Yes 4.7 out of 5, from 753 ratings on G2 (753)
Otter.ai logo
Otter.ai
Price: $16.99/mo Free plan: Yes 4.4 out of 5, from 608 ratings across G2 and Capterra (608)
Grain logo
Grain
Price: $19/mo Free plan: Yes 4.7 out of 5, from 313 ratings on G2 (313)
Sorinai logo
Sorinai
Price: $15/mo Free plan: Yes n/a
AI Transcribe logo
AI Transcribe
Price: Not published Free plan: No n/a

Why people consider alternatives to tl;dv

tl;dv records and transcribes meetings so you never have to take notes again. AI generates summaries with key moments and action items. Timestamp and clip important parts for easy sharing. Search across all your meeting recordings.

Teams most often switch away when one of these starts to bite:

  • Pricing at scale as usage or premium tiers add up.
  • Missing integrations with the rest of your stack.
  • Performance or scale limits as your needs grow.
  • A specific feature gap you have hit in note-taking.

The 6 alternatives below cover the same core job (note-taking) with different trade-offs.

tl;dv by the numbers

Toolradar data: tl;dv's entry paid plan ($18/user/mo, billed monthly) ranks #10 of 13 (joint) for price among the Video Conferencing tools with a verified entry price per user, where the median is $12/user/mo. It is listed as an alternative to 70 other tools on Toolradar, ranking #1 of 64 in Video Conferencing. As of Nov 2026.

tl;dv compared with 64 Video Conferencing tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
Metric tl;dv Peer median Position (1 is best)
Entry paid plan $18/user/mo, billed monthly $12/user/mo #10 of 13 (joint) tools priced per user, verified price
Free plan Yes 64% have one n/a
Listed as an alternative to 70 tools 3 #1 of 64
User rating 4.7/5 (across the web, 537 ratings) 4.4/5 #4 of 43 (joint) tools with 20+ reviews
Compare-page visits, last 30 days 89 visits 32 #5 of 20 tools with 20+ compare-page visits

Listed as an alternative to: #1 on 2026-10-16 to #1 on 2026-11-02 (rank among 64 tools, 1 is best).

Each position is counted among the tools that have data for that row, as noted under it. A lower entry price ranks higher; prices are read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis. All Video Conferencing data · How we compute this. Advertising and placement fees are not inputs to any position. Visit counts include visits from every source.

Cite this: Toolradar, “tl;dv by the numbers”, Nov 2026.

Note-Taking leaderboards from Toolradar data

Toolradar ranks Note-Taking tools on one measure at a time, only where at least 8 tools have data. As of Nov 2026.

CSV download of these Note-Taking leaderboards, licensed CC BY 4.0

Lowest entry price, plans with no stated unit

Cheapest standard paid plan per month (annual prices divided by 12), read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis.

Counted among 77 tools with no stated price unit, verified price.

Lowest entry price, plans with no stated unit, Note-Taking tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Entry plan
1 ReadyTab $0.58/mo, billed yearly
2 Apple Notes $0.99/mo, billed monthly
2 GoodNotes $0.99/mo, billed yearly
4 Fide Island $1/mo, billed monthly
5 SaidTrace $1.50/mo, billed yearly

Lowest entry price, per-user plans

Cheapest standard paid plan per month (annual prices divided by 12), read on vendor pages and compared only with tools priced on the same basis.

Counted among 15 tools priced per user, verified price.

Lowest entry price, per-user plans, Note-Taking tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Entry plan
1 Noty.ai $3.33/user/mo, billed yearly
2 Obsidian $4/user/mo, billed monthly
3 XMind $4.92/user/mo, billed yearly
4 Dayboard $5/user/mo, billed monthly
4 WebCatalog $5/user/mo, billed yearly

Most visited, last 30 days

Distinct visitor sessions on the tool's Toolradar page over the last 30 days, with bots excluded by our analytics. A session counts once however many times it reloads the page.

Counted among 13 tools with 50+ visits.

Most visited, last 30 days, Note-Taking tools on Toolradar, as of Nov 2026
# Tool Visits
1 Notion 354 visits
2 Joplin 314 visits
3 Obsidian 293 visits
4 Simplenote 280 visits
5 Logseq 222 visits

A position exists only when at least 8 tools have data for that metric. 92 of 213 Note-Taking tools have a verified price; the others publish none we could read (often "contact sales"). Advertising and placement fees are not inputs to any position. Visit counts include visits from every source. How we compute this. Cite this: Toolradar, “Note-Taking leaderboards”, Nov 2026. Data licensed CC BY 4.0. All Note-Taking statistics.

6 alternatives to tl;dv

Ranked by G2 and Capterra ratings, media mentions, and editor review, plus how directly they replace tl;dv. "Verified competitor" means that tool's own team confirmed it competes with tl;dv; it does not change the order. Notes "From the ... team" are written by those vendors, not by us.

  1. 1
    Fathom logo

    Fathom

    Free plan Higher rated by users

    AI notetaker that summarizes your meetings so you can focus on the conversation.

    4.9 /5 across G2 and Trustpilot · 7,187 ratings, Sep 2026

    From $19/user/mo, billed monthly; free plan available

  2. 2
    Fireflies.ai logo

    Fireflies.ai

    Free plan

    AI meeting transcription and search

    4.7 /5 on G2 · 753 ratings, Sep 2026

    From $10/user/mo, billed monthly; free plan available

  3. 3
    Otter.ai logo

    Otter.ai

    Free plan

    AI meeting notes and transcription

    4.4 /5 across G2 and Capterra · 608 ratings, Sep 2026

    From $16.99/user/mo, billed monthly; free plan available

  4. 4
    Grain logo

    Grain

    Free plan

    AI meeting notes and highlights

    4.7 /5 on G2 · 313 ratings, Sep 2026

    From $19/seat/mo, billed monthly; free plan available

  5. 5
    Sorinai logo

    Sorinai

    Free plan

    Transcribe, summarize, and automate notes for any meeting

    From $15/user/mo, billed monthly; free plan available

  6. 6
    AI Transcribe logo

    AI Transcribe

    Paid Verified competitor

    Get speaker-labeled transcripts in 32 languages, plus notes and action items

    Price not published

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to tl;dv?

Based on real-signal scoring (G2 and Capterra ratings, media mentions, and editorial review), the top alternatives to tl;dv are Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai. Each solves the same core job with different trade-offs on pricing, features, and integrations.

Is there a free alternative to tl;dv?

There is no fully free alternative in this list. Fathom is freemium: a permanent free tier plus paid plans (AI notetaker that summarizes your meetings so you can focus on the conversation).

Why do people look for tl;dv alternatives?

Common reasons teams switch away from tl;dv: pricing that scales aggressively, missing integrations with the rest of their stack, performance or scale limits, or a specific feature gap in note-taking. The alternatives on this page solve the same core problem with different trade-offs.

Side-by-side comparisons

In-depth comparison pages for tl;dv versus each alternative.

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