tl;dv alternative

Meeting notes, not meeting clips.

tl;dv is built around video — clips, highlights, a bot in the call, recordings in their cloud, AI behind tiers. If you just want clean notes in a folder you own — no bot, plain .md your AI reads — Quietly is the simpler shape, 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

Bot in the call. Video in their cloud. AI gated by tier.

tl;dv's bot joins. Customer calls, candidate interviews, internal 1:1s — every meeting gets a third participant.

Full video recording in tl;dv's cloud. Great for highlight reels; less great when an exec's 1:1 ends up in a vendor breach.

Pro $29/seat, Business $98/seat. AI summaries, custom reports, multi-meeting analysis are all behind paid tiers.

Closed UI. Notes and clips live in tl;dv's web app; Cursor, Codex, and Claude can't reach them natively.

Side-by-side

Quietly vs tl;dv.

Quietly tl;dv
No bot joins the call Bot in every call
Output Markdown notes Video clips + transcript
Where it lives Your Mac tl;dv's cloud
MCP for Claude / Cursor / Codex Shipping next
Open in VS Code / any editor
Works fully offline
Sharable video timestamps Not the goal Yes
Pricing $49 once Free / $29 / $98 seat
Honest take

Where tl;dv is better.

tl;dv has real strengths. If you need them, stay there.

Video

Sharable video clips.

tl;dv's killer feature: trim a 30-second clip from a customer call, drop the link in Slack. Quietly does notes only — no video clipping.

Cross-platform

Mac, Windows, web.

tl;dv runs anywhere. Quietly is macOS-only today.

Free tier

Generous free tier.

tl;dv's free tier covers a lot if you can live with the bot, the cloud, and the upsell.

Why people switch

Where Quietly wins.

No bot

No bot, no clip request.

tl;dv was great when “share a clip with the team” was a value prop. For people who just want their own notes searchable in their own tools, the bot is just a price they pay.

Local

No video uploaded anywhere.

Quietly captures audio locally and writes Markdown. tl;dv records full video and uploads it to their cloud — surface area you may not need or want.

$49 once

One seat pays for itself.

tl;dv Pro = $348/seat/year. Quietly = $49 once. After two months, even on a single seat, you're ahead — forever.

MCP next

AI editors, natively.

An MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Codex CLI is shipping next; until then, your editor reads the plain Markdown directly. tl;dv's AI features are inside their app — they don't flow into your editor.

In-person

No meeting URL needed.

Hallway chats, in-person customer meetings, voice memos — open Quietly and hit ⌘R for the mic. Pick Transcribe a file… for any audio file. tl;dv assumes a Zoom / Meet / Teams link.

Plain Markdown

Open in anything that reads files.

Plain .md in your repo, your iCloud folder, any folder you pick. tl;dv's notes are inside their UI; Quietly's never were.

Migration

Switching from tl;dv in 10 minutes.

01

Export your tl;dv data. Settings → Export. You'll get transcripts and metadata. Video clips can stay on tl;dv if you still want them.

02

Disable the auto-joining notetaker. tl;dv → Settings → Calendar → toggle off. Remove pending bot invites if needed.

03

Drop the export into your Quietly folder. Cursor, Codex CLI, and Claude Desktop see your back catalogue right away.

If you need clip-sharing, run tl;dv free alongside for that one workflow — they're not strictly the same product. Questions: support@meetquietly.com.

FAQ

Things people ask before switching.

Does Quietly do video clip sharing like tl;dv?
No — that's tl;dv's strongest feature and we won't try to match it. If your team's workflow is “share a 30-second clip in Slack,” stay on tl;dv or run it free alongside Quietly. Quietly is for the notes-and-search-and-AI side of the same problem.
Why is Quietly better for AI-assisted recall?
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Codex CLI is shipping next; until then, your editor reads the plain Markdown directly via filesystem MCP or file readers. Either way you ask “what did we decide about pricing in last week's standup?” inside the AI tool you already use. tl;dv's AI features run inside tl;dv's app and don't flow into your editor.
Pricing math vs tl;dv?
tl;dv Pro is $29/seat/mo = $348/seat/year; Business is $98/seat. Quietly is $49 once per person (2 Macs each), no renewal — you break even on a single seat in roughly two months. Buying for a team? Email support@meetquietly.com about multi-seat licensing.
Will I lose my call recordings?
No. tl;dv's account export gives you transcripts and metadata. Video clips can stay on tl;dv (free tier) if you still want them. Quietly captures audio + writes Markdown going forward.
Does Quietly send a bot to my Zoom, Meet, or Teams calls?
Never. Capture happens entirely on your Mac with macOS-native system audio capture (Core Audio Process Tap / ScreenCaptureKit) — no third-party participant in the call.

Notes, not video clips.

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

$ 49 once · 2 Macs
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