Meeting Transcription API for Building a Notetaker (2026)
A notetaker you build gets meeting audio in three ways: a bot that joins the call, a recorder on the user's device, or a transcription API for a recording you already have. In October 2026 a bot or desktop recorder from Recall.ai costs $0.65 per meeting hour with its built-in transcript; a file sent to the MeetWave API costs $0.20 per hour with speaker labels and names, but it never joins a call.
Key numbers
- Recall.ai charges $0.50 per hour of recording for its meeting bot and the same for its Desktop Recording SDK, plus $0.15 per hour for its built-in transcription, with the first 5 hours free (as of 2026-10-21; Recall.ai pricing).
- Meeting BaaS sells prepaid tokens at $0.35 to $0.50 each; one token records one hour, and its own transcription adds 0.25 tokens per hour, so a transcribed hour costs $0.44 to $0.63 (as of 2026-10-21; Meeting BaaS pricing, how we calculated).
- The MeetWave API charges $0.12 per audio hour for text, $0.15 with speaker labels and $0.20 with speaker names, billed per second, with one free hour (as of 2026-10-21; MeetWave API pricing).
- Since 2026, Microsoft Teams holds the external meeting bots it detects in the lobby until the organizer admits them, the default value RequireApprovalWhenDetected (Microsoft Learn, Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy, 2026).
Three ways to get meeting audio
The choice is about where the audio comes from, not which speech engine you call. A bot joins the meeting as a participant and records what the platform sends it. A device recorder captures system audio and the microphone on the user's computer, so nothing joins the call. Bringing your own file means the audio already exists (a Zoom cloud recording, a phone call, an upload) and you only need text (Recall.ai pricing, MeetWave API pricing).
| Meeting bot API | Recorder on the user's device | Transcription API on your file | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joins the call | Yes, as a named participant | No | No |
| Others see it | In the participant list | No; the user shares a notice | No |
| What you build | Calendar or link handling, bot scheduling | A desktop app or extension, consent notice | Upload and a webhook or polling loop |
| Breaks when | The host or an admin refuses bots | The user's OS blocks audio capture | You have no recording |
| Price per meeting hour with transcript | $0.65 (Recall.ai), $0.44–$0.63 (Meeting BaaS) | $0.65 (Recall.ai Desktop Recording SDK) | $0.12–$0.20 (MeetWave API) |
Source: Recall.ai pricing, Meeting BaaS pricing, MeetWave API pricing, all read 2026-10-21.
Figure 1. Only the meeting bot appears in the call; the other two paths never join it. Source: Recall.ai and Meeting BaaS pricing pages, MeetWave API docs, 2026-10-21.
What a meeting bot costs and breaks
A bot is the only path that works without installing anything on the user's computer, and it costs $0.50 per recorded hour at Recall.ai before transcription (Recall.ai pricing). Recall.ai adds $0.15 per hour for its built-in transcript and keeps each recording free for 7 days, then charges $0.05 per hour retained for 30 days (Recall.ai pricing). Meeting BaaS counts one prepaid token per recorded hour with speaker diarization, and its tokens never expire (Meeting BaaS pricing).
The bot is also what hosts and admins can refuse. It shows up in the participant list under a name like "Anna's Notetaker", and the host can leave it in the waiting room or remove it (who sees an AI notetaker). Teams now holds detected bots in the lobby by default, and an admin can block them outright (what Teams changed for bots in 2026). If your users meet with customers or universities, plan for a share of meetings where the bot never gets in.
What a device recorder costs and breaks
A recorder on the user's machine avoids the participant list, at the cost of shipping and supporting a desktop app. Recall.ai prices its Desktop Recording SDK the same as its bot, $0.50 per hour of recording (Recall.ai pricing). You still owe the other people on the call a notice that you are recording; the rules on consent depend on where they are, and our bot-free notetaker list shows how existing apps handle it.
When a transcription API on your own file is enough
If your product already has the audio, you do not need a bot or a recorder: send the file and get speaker-labelled text back. The MeetWave API accepts a file up to 350 MB or 3 hours, keeps the result for 72 hours and charges per second of audio, from $0.12 per hour for text to $0.20 with speaker names (MeetWave API pricing, limits). Figure 2 shows how the price per transcribed hour compares with the bot paths. That gap holds only for audio you already have: a meeting recorded by a Recall.ai bot and sent to the MeetWave API costs $0.50 + $0.20 = $0.70 per hour, more than Recall.ai's own $0.65 (Recall.ai pricing, how we calculated).
Figure 2. A bot hour with its built-in transcript costs about three times a file you already have, transcribed with speaker names; a bot recording sent to MeetWave costs $0.70. Source: Recall.ai, Meeting BaaS and MeetWave API pricing pages, 2026-10-21.
Zoom is the common case: a cloud recording already holds an audio-only M4A file, which you can download and transcribe with names when Zoom's own transcript is missing (Zoom transcript API guide).
Where MeetWave is not the right choice
MeetWave does not join calls and does not sell a desktop recording SDK, so it cannot get audio you do not already have (MeetWave API docs). If your notetaker must record meetings the user only has a link to, you need a bot API such as Recall.ai or Meeting BaaS; you can still send the recording it produces to any transcription API (Recall.ai pricing).
How we calculated
The price per meeting hour with a transcript is the recording price plus the transcription price, both read from the vendors' public pricing pages on 2026-10-21. Recall.ai: $0.50 + $0.15 = $0.65 (Recall.ai pricing). Meeting BaaS: (1 + 0.25) tokens × $0.35 per token in the largest pack = $0.44, and × $0.50 in the smallest pack = $0.63 (Meeting BaaS pricing). MeetWave: the list price per audio hour for each feature (MeetWave API pricing). A Recall.ai bot recording transcribed by MeetWave with speaker names: $0.50 + $0.20 = $0.70. Free hours, storage fees, subscriptions and volume discounts are left out.
FAQ
What is a meeting bot API?
A service that sends a bot into a Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call as a participant, records the audio and video, and hands you the recording or a transcript. Recall.ai and Meeting BaaS are two that publish prices (Recall.ai pricing, Meeting BaaS pricing).
Can I build a notetaker without a bot?
Yes. Record on the user's device, or transcribe recordings the user already has; neither appears in the participant list (who sees an AI notetaker).
What is the cheapest way to transcribe meetings with speaker names?
If you already have the recording, a file transcription API: the MeetWave API charges $0.20 per audio hour with speaker names as of 2026-10-21 (MeetWave API pricing). A bot adds the recording price on top: a Recall.ai bot recording sent to MeetWave costs $0.50 + $0.20 = $0.70 per hour.
Can I try it on my own recording?
Yes. The audio to text tool transcribes a file in the browser, and the API gives one free hour to a new key (MeetWave API pricing).
Sources
- Recall.ai — Pricing (2026). Accessed 2026-10-21.
- Meeting BaaS — Pricing (2026). Accessed 2026-10-21.
- MeetWave — Speech-to-text API pricing (2026). Accessed 2026-10-21.
- Microsoft Learn — Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy (2026). Accessed 2026-10-21.
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