Alternatives toShadow

Best alternatives to Shadow in 2026

Imagine having someone quietly sit in on every meeting you take, write it all down, and never once say a word or show up in the guest list — that's what Shadow does for your Mac. It listens to your meetings, whatever app you're using, and turns them into notes and to-do lists automatically, without the awkwardness of an obvious recording bot joining the call. Shadow is a macOS-native, bot-free AI meeting assistant that detects meetings at the operating-system level and captures audio plus on-screen visuals across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack huddles and Discord, without ever appearing as a visible participant. It exports notes to Markdown, Obsidian or webhooks, offers customizable automation "Skills," and processes everything locally on the device — Shadow states it does not train models on user data.

Quick comparison of Shadow alternatives

#ToolBest forPrice
1Fireflies.aiSales teams | Recruiters | Enterprise CIOs | International/multilingual teams
2FathomSales, marketing, customer success and product teams doing frequent video calls
3Otter.aiProfessionnels
4SeggWatIndie hackers, solo founders, small product teams
5VibesSmall groups of developer friends
6FluxerPrivacy-focused communities and teams wanting a self-hostable Discord alternative
7Say ToucanProduct managers et fondateurs SaaS cherchant un board de feedback simple et pas cher
8MainlyDéveloppeurs et power users gérant plusieurs domaines/adresses mail
9TraceProfessionnels en réunion régulière sur Zoom/Teams/Meet/Slack, soucieux de confidentialité et voulant éviter un abonnement
10MimicScribeCommerciaux, recruteurs, équipes customer success et professionnels enchainânt les réunions sur Mac, soucieux de confidentialité
11textlogDéveloppeurs, designers, technologues créatifs discutant de programmation, IA, design et musique
12Firefly SupportStudios de jeux mobiles, développeurs d'apps indie, apps de productivité et grand public gérant du support par email et avis app store
#1
  • 100+ language transcription, broader than most competitors
  • Deep conversation-intelligence analytics across a whole team's calls
#2
Fathom
Collaboration & Communication🌐 EN

Free AI notetaker that joins your video calls, transcribes them, and writes a summary with action items automatically — so you can actually listen instead of typing notes.

#productivity#ai#video-conferencing
fathom.ai
📄 Full details →
👥 Target audience

Sales, marketing, customer success and product teams doing frequent video calls

🌍 Target countries

Worldwide

🗣️ Available languages
EN
🔄 Alternatives
Fireflies.aiOtter.aiGrain
🔗 Visit Fathom
  • Genuinely unlimited free tier for recording and transcription
  • "Ask Fathom" lets you search your whole meeting history in plain language
#4
  • Bundles feedback, bug reports, chat, and surveys in one widget
  • Affordable entry price ($6/mo) aimed at solo founders
#5
  • Free to download
  • Privacy-conscious by design — no code, commit messages, or file paths shared
#6
  • Fully open-source (AGPLv3), no venture-capital backing
  • Self-hostable with multi-instance support across 16 voice regions
#7
Say Toucan
Collaboration & Communication🌐 EN

A simple feedback board where customers post ideas and vote, built as a cheaper alternative after the maker's own feedback tool tripled its price.

#feedback#saas#community#customer-support
saytoucan.com
📄 Full details →
👥 Target audience

Product managers et fondateurs SaaS cherchant un board de feedback simple et pas cher

🌍 Target countries

International

🗣️ Available languages
EN
🔄 Alternatives
CannyUpvotyFrillNolt
🔗 Visit Say Toucan
  • Board de feedback simple à mettre en place
  • Positionné comme alternative moins chère aux gros acteurs
#8
  • Boîte de réception unifiée multi-domaines
  • Gratuit et open source, aucun abonnement
#9
Trace
Collaboration & Communication🌐 EN

A Mac app that transcribes meetings entirely offline — no cloud, no subscription — with a keyboard shortcut to flag important moments as they happen.

#desktop-app#transcription#paid#productivity#privacy
traceapp.info
📄 Full details →
👥 Target audience

Professionnels en réunion régulière sur Zoom/Teams/Meet/Slack, soucieux de confidentialité et voulant éviter un abonnement

🌍 Target countries

International

🗣️ Available languages
EN
🔄 Alternatives
Otter.aiFireflies.aiMimicScribe
🔗 Visit Trace
  • One-time purchase — lifetime license, no subscription required
  • 100% offline, zero audio uploaded to the cloud
#10
MimicScribe
Collaboration & Communication🌐 EN

A Mac meeting assistant that transcribes calls on-device (no bot joining your meeting) and identifies who said what with claimed 97-99% speaker accuracy.

#productivity#collaboration#desktop-app#transcription#freemium
mimicscribe.app
📄 Full details →
👥 Target audience

Commerciaux, recruteurs, équipes customer success et professionnels enchainânt les réunions sur Mac, soucieux de confidentialité

🌍 Target countries

International

🗣️ Available languages
EN
🔄 Alternatives
Otter.aiFireflies.aiTrace
🔗 Visit MimicScribe
  • OS-level audio capture, no bot joins the meeting
  • 100% local processing (on-device models), no audio uploaded to the cloud
#11
textlog
Collaboration & Communication🌐 EN

A text-only social platform for developers where every post is capped at 500 characters and images aren't allowed — but code, math, and polls are.

#open-source#collaboration#community
textlog.cc
📄 Full details →
👥 Target audience

Développeurs, designers, technologues créatifs discutant de programmation, IA, design et musique

🌍 Target countries

International

🗣️ Available languages
EN
🔄 Alternatives
Twitter/XMastodon
🔗 Visit textlog
  • Rich technical formatting (markdown, LaTeX, code, tables, polls)
  • Privacy-friendly, text-only, no image tracking surface
#12
Firefly Support
Collaboration & Communication🌐 EN

AI support software for app and game developers that reads Gmail, Google Play and App Store reviews, then replies automatically in the customer's language, grounded in your own knowledge base.

#customer-support#ai-agents#helpdesk#freemium
fireflysupport.io
📄 Full details →
👥 Target audience

Studios de jeux mobiles, développeurs d'apps indie, apps de productivité et grand public gérant du support par email et avis app store

🌍 Target countries

International

🗣️ Available languages
EN
🔗 Visit Firefly Support
  • Unifie email et avis app store en un seul outil
  • IA ancrée dans une base de connaissances, pas d'invention

FAQ about Shadow alternatives

What is the best alternative to Shadow in 2026?
Based on our selection, Fireflies.ai is the best alternative to Shadow in 2026. AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls in 100+ languages and turns them into searchable, analyzable conversation data across your whole team.. See our full ranking above to compare all options.
Is Shadow free?
Shadow is a paid tool. Several alternatives in our selection offer free or freemium versions.
How many alternatives to Shadow are there?
mySelectas has listed 12 alternatives to Shadow in the Collaboration & Communication category. Our selection is updated regularly to include the best options available.