Clarifi vs Cluely, Granola & LockedIn AI: Which AI Meeting Tool Fits You in 2026?

Short answer: If you mainly need better notes after every meeting — summary, decisions, actions — compare Clarifi and Granola. If you need live prompts during a call, look at Cluely. If your world is interviews and technical screens, LockedIn AI. If a visible recorder bot and a summary later are enough, tools like Otter and Fireflies will do.

"AI meeting assistant" is one label for three different jobs. Picking the wrong category is the most common mistake — and the reason so many comparison articles feel useless.

What these tools actually are (three different categories)

Before comparing brand names, separate the categories:

1. Real-time copilot — listens live and helps you respond in the moment (answers, prompts, objection handling).
2. Bot-free notetaker — captures audio on your device, you jot sparse notes, AI expands them after the call.
3. Bot notetaker — joins as a participant, records, transcribes, and summarizes when the meeting ends.

Clarifi, Cluely, and LockedIn AI compete in the first bucket. Granola owns the second. Otter, Fireflies, and Fathom are the classic third.

Quick comparison: Clarifi vs Cluely vs Granola vs LockedIn AI

Always verify competitor pricing and features before you buy — comparison pages go stale fast.

Clarifi — AI notepad for every meeting

Clarifi is a personal AI notepad for Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and in-person calls. You jot a few words; Clarifi listens on-device (no bot on the guest list); when you hang up you get a clean summary, decisions, action items, and transcript. Sign up with any email — including personal.

Strengths

• Same job as Granola: leave every call with notes you trust
• No "AI notetaker joined the meeting" awkwardness
• In-call scratchpad plus floating recording widget
• Works with personal email — built for Europe and anyone work-email tools lock out
• Free forever: unlimited meetings with 30 days of note history
• Summary, decisions, actions, and transcript after every call

Tradeoffs

• Not a live sales-copilot overlay — value is notepad + post-call clarity
• Not specialized for coding interviews the way LockedIn AI positions itself
• No team workspaces or shared People directory in v1

Best for: Individuals, freelancers, founders, and anyone with back-to-back meetings who wants better notes without a bot — especially if Granola’s work-email friction gets in the way.

Cluely — live assistant and meeting notes

Cluely markets itself as a live AI meeting assistant: real-time transcription, in-meeting help via keyboard shortcut, and polished notes — with heavy emphasis on staying invisible (no bot, invisible on screen share).

Strengths

• Strong positioning for "help me now" on calls
• Notes and live assist in one product
• Broad language and platform messaging

Tradeoffs

• Overlaps with Clarifi on bot-free capture — evaluate both on notes workflow vs live prompts
• "Undetectable" is a product design goal, not a guarantee in every screen-share setup — test your stack
• More oriented toward live assist prompts than Clarifi’s personal notepad focus

Best for: Individuals who want live prompts and automatic notes in one tool.

Visit Cluely →

Granola — bot-free AI notepad

Granola does not try to be a live sales copilot. It captures meeting audio on your device (no bot), you write minimal notes during the call, and AI turns that into structured output afterward — action items, decisions, follow-ups.

Strengths

• Excellent for people who think on the call and hate wall-of-text auto-transcripts
• Strong privacy story: no bot in the room, notes you control
• Popular with executives and consultants in back-to-back meeting cultures

Tradeoffs

• You do not get the same "answer this objection in three seconds" workflow as Clarifi or Cluely
• Value peaks after the meeting, not in the critical seconds of a hard question

Best for: Knowledge workers who want better documentation, not live coaching. When Granola beats a copilot: internal syncs and 1:1s where being present matters more than real-time AI. When a copilot beats Granola: sales calls, interviews, and negotiations — anywhere silence costs money.

Visit Granola →

LockedIn AI — interview and technical copilot

LockedIn AI focuses on live interviews and technical assessments: suggested answers, coaching feedback, document context (resume, job description), and coding assistance — with stealth as a core theme.

Strengths

• Deep fit for job seekers and technical interview loops
• Dual-layer copilot plus coach positioning
• Tailoring to your background and the role

Tradeoffs

• Narrower everyday meeting workflow than a general sales copilot
• Not positioned as a team knowledge product for sharing call recaps across an org

Best for: Candidates in live interviews and coding screens — not necessarily a revenue team running daily pipeline calls.

Visit LockedIn AI →

Otter, Fireflies & Fathom — when a notetaker is enough

These tools join as a visible participant (or equivalent), record, transcribe, and summarize. They excel at async handoffs, compliance-friendly documentation, and searchable meeting libraries.

They are weak when a bot on the call hurts trust (sales, interviews, sensitive clients) or when you needed help during the objection, not in the recap.

Read: AI Meeting Assistant — notetaker vs real-time copilot explained →

How to choose

Choose Clarifi if

• You want Granola-style notes without work-email friction
• You leave every call wanting a summary, decisions, and actions you trust
• You refuse to add a bot to the guest list
• You want a floating recording widget and in-call scratchpad

Choose Cluely if

• You want a single tool for live assist plus auto notes and their UX fits your workflow
• You are comparing primarily on real-time invisible assist

Choose Granola if

• Your pain is documentation after meetings, not live Q&A
• You prefer typing sparse notes and letting AI structure them later
• Bot-free privacy is non-negotiable and a US/work-email product fits you

Choose LockedIn AI if

• Your primary use case is interviews and technical screens, not everyday meetings

Choose Otter / Fireflies / Fathom if

• Post-call summaries are enough and a meeting bot is acceptable

Clarifi pricing

Clarifi starts free — unlimited meetings with 30 days of note history. Paid plans unlock longer history and team features when you need them:

• Free — unlimited meetings, 30-day note history, AI summary after every call
• Pro — $19/month: unlimited history and personal power features
• Pro+ — $39/seat/month: team sharing when you outgrow a personal notepad

Do not treat competitor prices as facts in this article — check their sites the week you subscribe.

FAQ

What is the difference between Clarifi and Cluely?

Both avoid joining as a bot. Clarifi is a personal AI notepad — light notes during the call, polished summary after — with a floating widget and scratchpad. Cluely emphasizes live prompts plus instant meeting notes. Pick Clarifi if you want Granola-style notes without work-email friction; pick Cluely if you want in-call assist prompts.

Is Granola a good Cluely or Clarifi alternative?

Granola and Clarifi solve the same core job: bot-free AI notes after meetings. Granola is the US/work-email-skewed option; Clarifi is built for anyone (personal email OK), with a floating widget and scratchpad. Cluely is a different category — live assist prompts. If you need better post-meeting documentation, Granola and Clarifi belong on your shortlist.

Which AI meeting tool is best for sales calls?

For live objection handling during a call, prioritize real-time copilots like Cluely. For leaving every sales call with notes you trust (summary, decisions, next steps), Clarifi or Granola fit better — Clarifi if you want personal-email signup and a during-meeting widget.

Do Clarifi, Cluely, and Granola join Zoom as a bot?

Clarifi, Cluely, and Granola all market a no-bot or bot-free experience compared with traditional notetakers like Otter and Fireflies. Always confirm behavior in your exact meeting setup before relying on it in a client-facing call.

What is LockedIn AI best for?

LockedIn AI is built for live interviews and technical assessments — suggested answers, coaching, and coding help — rather than general team meeting documentation or shared sales playbooks.

Is an undetectable AI meeting assistant ethical?

Using AI to answer accurately and prepare better is different from misrepresenting your skills or inventing facts. For a deeper ethics breakdown, see our post on using AI in meetings.

Read: Is Using AI in Meetings Cheating? →

Bottom line

The best AI meeting tool in 2026 is not one name on a list — it is the one that matches when you need help. Granola and Clarifi win post-meeting clarity (Clarifi adds personal-email access, a floating widget, and scratchpad). LockedIn AI wins interview loops. Cluely competes for live assistance without a bot. Clarifi is built for people who want notes they trust after every call — free forever with 30-day history.

Questions or takes? Find us on X @Clarifi_ai.