Aside vs Notion
Notion AI Meeting Notes puts transcripts and summaries inside your Notion pages, transcribed in the cloud. Aside is a Mac app that transcribes on your Mac and can guide you during the call.
Which should you choose?
Choose Notion if…
- Your team already works in Notion and wants notes beside its docs and databases.
- You use Windows, the web or the Notion mobile app.
- You want Notion AI to search and answer questions across meetings.
- You want Custom Agents to run when a meeting note finishes.
- You’re already on Notion’s Business plan or above.
Choose Aside if…
- You want the call transcribed on your Mac, with the audio never uploaded.
- You want guidance during the call from your own goals and answers.
- You want speaker names suggested in group calls, with the reason shown.
- You want to keep the recording, and take notes from any app with a shortcut.
Side by side
| Notion | Aside | |
|---|---|---|
| How it records | No bot. The desktop app captures system audio and your microphone. The browser and mobile app use the microphone only. | No bot. Records your microphone and the sound your Mac plays. |
| Where transcription happens | In the cloud. Offline isn’t supported. | On your Mac, with an on-device speech model. Audio is never uploaded. |
| The audio afterwards | A temporary local copy is deleted after processing. Transcripts stay until you delete them. | Kept on your Mac, with playback of both sides. |
| Notes during the call | A live transcript builds on the page, with your own notes alongside. | Press ⌃⌥N in any app to type a note. It lands in the transcript at the moment you started typing. |
| Live guidance during the call | None documented. | Optional. Goals you set fill in as dots, one line suggests your next move, and answers you prepared appear when the topic comes up. Paid plan. |
| After-call write-up | A summary with key points and action items, citing transcript lines. | A summary, the goals you reached, next steps and a follow-up email to copy. Paid plan. |
| Speaker names | English only. Works best in one-to-one calls on desktop. | Suggested from clues in the call, like a name said aloud, with the reason shown. Voices you’ve confirmed before are named for you, and you can undo it. |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, web (microphone only) and the Notion mobile app. | Mac only (Apple silicon, macOS 14.2 or later). |
| Languages | 16, per its help center. | English plus 24 European languages. |
| Integrations | Lives inside Notion. Custom Agents can run when a note finishes. | None yet. |
| Search or ask across meetings | Search and Q&A across meetings through Notion AI. | Not yet. |
| AI training on your data | No training on your data. | Nothing you record or write is used to train AI models. |
| Price | Needs the Business plan. Its pricing page showed us £16.50 per member a month; see it for your currency. | $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, for guidance and write-ups. |
| Free plan | A limited trial on Free and Plus. | Yes. Recording, notes and transcripts. |
Notion prices are from its pricing page on 8 Oct 2026.
What Notion AI Meeting Notes is
It is transcription and summaries built into Notion pages. You start it from a page or Notion Calendar, and the transcript builds on the page while you type your own notes. On desktop it hears both sides of a call without a bot.
Where Notion is stronger
Your meeting notes live with your team’s docs and databases, and Notion AI can search and answer across them. It works on Mac, Windows, the web and mobile, and its privacy terms say your data isn’t used for training.
Where Aside differs
Aside transcribes on your Mac and never uploads audio. Notion transcribes in the cloud and doesn’t support offline use. Aside also keeps the recording, names speakers in group calls, and lets you take a note from any app with ⌃⌥N.
Help during the call
Notion records and summarises. Aside can also guide you: your goals fill in as you cover them, one line suggests the next move, and the answers you prepared appear when the topic comes up.
Questions
Do I need a paid Notion plan?
For full use, yes. AI Meeting Notes is included on Business and Enterprise, with a limited trial on Free and Plus.
Which one transcribes on my computer?
Aside. It runs an on-device speech model on your Mac. Notion transcribes in the cloud.
Can Aside send notes to Notion?
Not directly yet. You can copy the summary and the follow-up email.
Does Aside work on Windows or the web?
No. Aside is a Mac app for Apple silicon Macs.
Last checked 8 Oct 2026. Products change, so check each company’s pages before you decide.
Sources
Facts about Notion come from its own pages, read on 8 Oct 2026.