What is the best free tl;dv alternative?

Fathom has the most generous free plan if you only record video calls: unlimited recordings and AI summaries. Wave’s free plan includes 30 minutes per month but works across more surfaces (in-person recordings, phone calls, and bot-recorded meetings share the same 30 minutes), so the best free pick depends on where your conversations happen; Pro is unlimited. Importing audio or video files into the Wave app needs a subscription; the free file transcription tool on the website is separate.

Is there a tl;dv alternative that records without a bot?

Yes. The Wave desktop app captures mic and system audio directly on Mac and Windows, so no bot joins the call. Granola does the same on Mac and Windows. tl;dv’s own bot-free mode records audio only, and Fathom’s is a Mac beta. Wave also records phone calls and in-person conversations.

Which tl;dv alternative records in-person meetings?

Wave records in-person meetings from iPhone, Android, Apple Watch, and Wear OS with speaker-labeled transcription and an AI summary. Otter and Fireflies also record in person from their mobile apps, and Fathom from its iPhone app. tl;dv has no mobile app and no in-person capture path. More options: best AI note takers for in-person meetings.

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Josh Mohrer·Published July 2, 2026·Updated November 3, 2026

The 5 Best tl;dv Alternatives in 2026

tl;dv is good at what it does: recording scheduled video calls and turning them into clips and highlights a team can share. But it's bot-first (its bot-free desktop mode is audio only), it has no mobile app, and it can't record a phone call. If you need in-person capture, phone-call recording, or full bot-free recording, these are the alternatives worth considering.

352,143 people use Wave30 minutes free every month. No credit card.

The best tl;dv alternative for most people is Wave AI: it records Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams with a calendar bot or with no bot on Mac and Windows, and it also records in person on iPhone, Android, Apple Watch, and Wear OS and records phone calls, none of which tl;dv does. Fathom is the best free option for video calls, Otter.ai the most established, Fireflies.ai the pick for sales teams, and Granola the best for typed notes without a bot.

People go looking for a tl;dv alternative for a few recurring reasons: the bot can’t be in every conversation (tl;dv’s bot-free desktop mode drops video), the meetings that matter don’t always have a join link (in-person conversations, phone calls), or they want notes and summaries to be the main event rather than clips.

The right pick depends on where your conversations actually happen. Here are the five best alternatives, starting with the one that covers the most ground.

1. Wave — best overall tl;dv alternative

Wave does everything the tl;dv workflow requires — a calendar bot that joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams with speaker-labeled transcripts and AI summaries — and then keeps going where tl;dv stops:

No bot required. Wave for Mac and Windows captures mic + system audio directly, so nothing joins your call.
Phone calls. A built-in Phone Bridge records incoming and outgoing calls on iPhone and Android, on every plan (on Free, calls count toward the 30 minutes a month; Wave Pro is unlimited).
In-person and on the go. Record from your iPhone, Android phone, Apple Watch, or Wear OS watch; import existing audio and video files for transcription.
Ask your archive. Every recording is searchable, and Wave’s chat answers questions from any past transcript.

Wave’s free plan includes 30 minutes of recording per month with full transcription and summaries; paid plans start at$80 a year or $15 a month. For a head-to-head breakdown, see Wave vs tl;dv.

2. Fathom — best free option for video calls

Fathom’s free plan covers unlimited recordings, transcription and instant AI summaries for Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, and like tl;dv it records video. It joins with a bot by default (bot-free is a Mac-only beta), its iPhone app records in person, and it has no Android app and no phone-call recording.

3. Otter.ai — most established name

Otter pairs a meeting bot with real-time transcription and iPhone, Android, and web apps that record in person, which tl;dv lacks. Its free plan gives 300 min/month, capped at 30 min per conversation. No phone-call recording.

4. Fireflies.ai — best for CRM-heavy sales teams

Fireflies records with a bot, or without one from its desktop app and Chrome extension, and leans into team workflows: CRM integrations, conversation intelligence, and shared channels. Its mobile app records in person. Pro is $10 a seat per month billed yearly.

5. Granola — best no-bot notes

Granola captures your computer’s audio with no bot while you type rough notes, then writes clean ones. It runs on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android with an Apple Watch app, but doesn’t keep audio you can replay, and the free plan keeps 30 days of meeting history. See Wave vs Granola.

At a glance

Tool	Best for	Main limitation
Wave	Every conversation type — meetings, phone calls, in-person	Free plan capped at 30 min/month
Fathom	Free video-call recording	Bot by default; no phone calls
Otter.ai	Real-time transcription, known quantity	30-min free conversation cap; no phone calls
Fireflies.ai	Sales teams with CRM workflows	Team-priced; no phone calls
Granola	No-bot notes you type into	No saved audio

The bottom line

If clipping and sharing video-call moments is the whole job, tl;dv does it well and Fathom does the free version. If the job is capturing every conversation you have — on a call, in the room, on your phone — Wave is the alternative built for all of it. For every bot-free option side by side, see the best AI note takers without a bot. Or start with the free plan and see how it fits.