Krisp alternative

The Krisp alternative built for meeting notes first.

Krisp is a noise-canceller that grew an AI Meeting Assistant. The notes live in Krisp’s app, behind $16 per seat per month. If you want good local meeting notes with no bot, plain Markdown, and a folder you own, Quietly is the direct tool, for $49 once.

macOS 13+ No bot Markdown export MCP shipping next
What you get
A folder of meetings.

Plain .md. Front-matter has attendees, calendar, duration. Body is clean, LLM-polished Whisper output.

14:32
2026-05-04-q3-launch-review.md 42 min · 5 attendees
2026-05-05-1on1-jane.md 28 min
2026-05-06-customer-acme.md Recording
Why notes-first users move

Notes bolted onto a noise-canceller, behind a subscription, inside a closed app.

Notes are a side feature. Krisp's main product is noise cancellation. AI notes are an add-on, and it shows in how shallow the integrations go.

Notes live in Krisp's app. You reach them through Krisp's UI and Krisp's export, never as a plain file in your own folder.

$16 per seat per month on Pro. That is $192 a year per person, mostly for noise cancellation. The notes alone don't justify the line item.

No MCP, no Cursor, no Codex CLI. If your workflow runs on plain files and AI tools, Krisp doesn't fit it.

Side-by-side

Quietly vs Krisp.

Quietly Krisp
Primary product Meeting notes Noise cancellation
No bot joins the call Yes
Where notes live Plain .md in your folder Krisp app
Noise cancellation built-in Use Krisp alongside Industry-leading
MCP for Claude / Cursor / Codex Shipping next
Open in VS Code / any editor
Works fully offline Notes need cloud
Pricing $49 once $16/seat/mo Pro
Trade-offs

Where Krisp is better.

If you need these, run both. They aren't the same product.

Audio

Best-in-class noise removal.

Krisp's noise cancellation is excellent and well-tuned. Quietly doesn't touch audio quality, so many users keep Krisp running for that.

Voice

Live accent softening + voice clarity.

Krisp ships voice features such as accent localization and voice cancellation that Quietly doesn't have. Those features are why people pay for Krisp.

Cross-platform

Mac, Windows, Linux.

Krisp's audio engine runs on all three. Quietly is macOS-only today.

Why people switch

Where Quietly wins.

No bot

Built around the notes.

We built Quietly around your notes folder first, so it reaches into your file system, your editor, and your AI more deeply than a notes add-on can.

Local

Notes on disk, in your folder.

Krisp keeps your transcripts in its cloud and app shell. Quietly writes plain .md to a folder you choose: iCloud, your Git repo, any folder you like.

$49 once

No subscription for notes.

Krisp Pro costs $192 per seat per year, mostly for noise cancellation. If you only need the notes part, $49 once for Quietly is a much smaller line item.

MCP next

AI tools, without copy-paste.

An MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Codex CLI ships next. Today your editor's filesystem MCP and file readers already read the plain Markdown. Krisp's notes don't flow into your AI editor at all.

In-person

In-person captures.

Hallway chats, conference talks, customer dinners: open Quietly and press ⌘R for a mic-only recording. Pick Transcribe a file… to convert any audio file. Krisp's flow assumes a call.

Plain Markdown

Open in anything that reads files.

Plain .md with YAML front-matter. Open it in VS Code, search it with ripgrep, feed it to your scripts. Krisp's notes stay stuck in Krisp.

Migration

How to run Quietly alongside Krisp.

01

Keep Krisp running for noise cancellation. Leave it on as your system audio filter.

02

Turn off Krisp's AI Meeting Assistant. Krisp Settings → Meeting Assistant → off. If notes were the only reason you paid for Pro, you can cancel that tier.

03

Install Quietly and point it at a folder. New meetings save there as Markdown. Cursor, Codex CLI, and Claude Desktop read them as files today, and through MCP once that ships.

To bring in old Krisp notes, export them from the app and drop them into your folder. For help, email support@meetquietly.com.

FAQ

Things people ask before switching.

Does Quietly replace Krisp's noise cancellation?
No. Krisp's audio engine is best-in-class, and many Quietly users keep Krisp installed for noise removal. Quietly replaces Krisp's AI Meeting Assistant, the notes piece, and leaves the noise canceller alone.
Why not use Krisp's AI Meeting Assistant?
If you only read your notes inside Krisp's app, it works fine. If you live in Cursor, Codex CLI, Claude Desktop, or any tool that reads files, Krisp's notes don't reach you there. Quietly writes plain Markdown to a folder you choose, and an MCP server for AI editors ships next.
Does Quietly do anything to clean up audio?
No. That is Krisp's job. Quietly captures system audio and your mic with macOS-native APIs (Core Audio Process Tap and ScreenCaptureKit), transcribes on your Mac with Whisper, and writes Markdown. Audio quality is whatever your mic and Krisp produce.
Can Quietly read transcripts that Krisp generated?
Yes, if you export them as text or Markdown. Drop them into your Quietly folder and they sit alongside the new ones. Cursor, Codex CLI, and Claude Desktop read plain Markdown today, and an MCP server ships next.
Is Quietly $49 once?
Yes. One purchase covers two Macs and a year of updates, with no subscription. For a team, email support@meetquietly.com about multi-seat licensing. You can keep paying Krisp for noise cancellation and stop paying for notes.

Keep Krisp for the noise. Switch the notes.

Free 7-day trial · No account, no card. 7-day refund. $49 once, no subscription.

$ 49 once · 2 Macs
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