Zoom starts
A card asks whether to record. Record, Not this one, or Snooze. You tell the people on the call.
Guide
Transcribe a Zoom web call without a bot
To transcribe a Zoom call you join in the browser without a bot, record it on your own laptop: your microphone carries your side, and the sound your laptop plays carries everyone else's. Nothing joins the meeting, and nothing depends on the host's settings or plan. Recordist is an app that does this, and we make it. It transcribes the call and writes the notes on your laptop, and you tell the people on the call.
What Zoom offers, and what it needs from the host
Zoom has two records of its own, and both run through the host. Record to computer saves the meeting on your own laptop, but only where the host's account allows it, and a participant may have to ask the host for permission first. Meeting summary with AI Companion is started and stopped by the host or a co-host, and Zoom's help lists the paid Zoom Workplace plans it needs.
When you host, those may be all you need. On a call a client hosts, Zoom's record depends on their settings and their plan. A transcript on your own laptop needs nothing from Zoom, and the people on the call still learn of it from you first.
How it works on your own laptop
When Zoom starts using your microphone in the browser, Recordist recognises it and a small card asks "Record this meeting?" By default it asks before it records, and nothing is written to disk until you click Record. On a Mac, Recordist names the meeting from the browser's window title; on Windows and Linux it shows as Browser unless the extension is paired.
Recordist records two channels: your microphone, and the sound your laptop plays, which is everyone else on the call. It transcribes that sound with Whisper on your laptop, so it needs no captions, no host setting and no Zoom plan, and it works the same whoever hosts, in the browser or in the Zoom app. Your side is labelled You, and everyone on the other side shares one label for now, which you can rename for each meeting.
The Recordist extension for Chrome and Edge is the app's companion for browser calls. It tells the app the meeting's title and who is on the call, so the card and the notes carry them. It records nothing itself and talks to the app on your laptop and to nothing else. Get it from the Chrome Web Store, which Edge installs from too, and see what it reads and how to pair it.
When the call ends, the transcript is already there. A few minutes later the notes follow: a summary, the decisions, the open questions and the action items, each linked to the line of the transcript it came from. On Pro, the follow-up email is drafted with the notes, for you to read, change and send from your own mail. The audio is kept on your laptop, for 30 days by default or as long as you choose, so you can press the time beside any line and hear it said, while the audio is kept.
The call ends
The transcript is ready. A few minutes later the notes are written, each decision tied to the line it came from.
The record stays
The audio, the transcript and the notes stay in a folder on your laptop. Nothing went to us.
Telling the others
Nothing joins the call and nothing appears in Zoom's participant list, so telling the people on it is yours to do, as it would be with any recorder. In the app, Copy notice on the record card copies a short notice to read out or paste into the chat, and a second click while the call records marks the notice as given, with the time and the words, kept under the transcript.
If anyone says no, stop, and take notes by hand. Recording law differs by place: some places need everyone on the call to agree, some need one person. How to ask to record a call gives you the words and the rule where you and they are, and Recording law by place has general information.
Free and Pro
Free. No account and no email needed. The Mac app is signed with our Developer ID and notarised by Apple.
Recording, transcription and search are free, with no time limit, and Free writes notes for 3 calls a month. Every install includes 7 days of Pro, with no card, starting with your first recorded call of 10 minutes or more. Pro writes up every call and drafts the follow-up email with the notes. Pro is $9 a month or $90 a year for anyone who subscribes by 30 November 2026, and that price stays for as long as the subscription stays active; from 1 December 2026 new subscribers pay $15 a month or $144 a year.
Questions
Do I need the host to turn anything on?
Not through Zoom: Recordist does not use Zoom's recording, so no Zoom setting is involved. The host is one of the people on the call, though, and everyone on it needs to know, and to agree where the law asks for it.
What if I join from the Zoom app instead?
It works the same. The Zoom app and Zoom in a browser both reach you through your laptop's speakers or headset, so Recordist hears both. A Zoom call on your phone does not go through your laptop, so there is nothing to record there.
Does anything show up in the Zoom meeting?
No. Nothing joins the call, nothing is added to the participant list, and nothing is sent to Zoom. That is why telling the people on the call is yours to do, and the record card gives you the words with Copy notice.
Where do the audio and the transcript go?
They are kept on your laptop. The audio is never sent to us. With the built-in engine, the transcript and the notes are written there too. If you choose a cloud AI provider for notes, the transcript of that meeting goes from your laptop to that provider under your own account; that is your choice, off by default, and the Privacy Ledger in the app lists each request.
Is it legal to transcribe a call?
The rule depends on where you and the other people are: some places need everyone on the call to agree, some need one person. The safe habit is to ask at the start. How to ask to record a call has the words for your kind of call, Recording law by place has general information, and your lawyer has the answer for your situation.
Related: Record a Zoom call without a bot, a Google Meet call, a Teams call in the browser, and Recordist and Tactiq, compared.
Zoom's own pages, read on 15 October 2026: Enabling and starting local recordings, Using Meeting Summary with AI Companion.
Zoom, Zoom Workplace and AI Companion are trademarks of their owner, named here only to identify its products. Recordist is not affiliated with them. This page is general information and not legal advice. If something here is out of date, write to support@recordist.app and we will correct it.