Google Meet transcription, locally.
Google Meet has a built in caption stream, but it vanishes when the call ends. Notabium records the audio on your machine and gives you a permanent, searchable, speaker labelled transcript.
What Google Meet gives you out of the box
Live captions appear during the call, in the language you select. If you are on a Google Workspace plan, you can switch on "Meeting transcripts" and Google will save a Doc to your Drive. That sounds good on paper, until you notice: it only works for the host, only on paid Workspace, and the transcript lives on Google's servers. There is no way to keep it on your machine, and no way to disable Google's right to process it under their broad cloud terms.
For most users that means there is no real Meet transcription. The caption stream is ephemeral. The doc is gated behind a paid plan. And nothing is yours, locally.
What Notabium does
Notabium runs on your laptop. When you join a Meet call in your browser, Notabium can already see that the meeting URL is open (via the optional Chrome extension) and your audio device is in call mode. It pops up an overlay offering to record. One click and it starts capturing both your microphone and the audio Meet is playing.
Everything stays local. Whisper or Parakeet runs on your CPU or GPU. The transcript appears in real time. After the call ends, the meeting lands in your Notabium library, searchable across everything else you have recorded.
How to record a Meet call
- Install Notabium.
- Grant microphone and screen recording permissions on first launch.
- Open a Google Meet call in your browser.
- Click the Notabium menu bar icon and hit Record (or accept the overlay if it pops up).
- Continue the meeting normally. The transcript appears live in the app.
- End the call. Notabium auto stops. Your meeting is in the library, ready to summarise.
The Chrome extension makes it smoother
Notabium ships a free Chrome and Edge extension. When you open a meet.google.com URL, it tells the desktop daemon a meeting is about to start, so the overlay fires earlier. The extension also injects a small "record_with_notabium" button into the Meet web UI, so you can start recording without leaving the browser.
Comparison with Google's built in tools
| Google Meet (free) | Workspace (paid) | Notabium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live captions | yes | yes | yes |
| Saved transcript | no | Drive doc | local file |
| Works for participants (not host) | captions only | no | yes |
| Searchable across many meetings | no | no | yes |
| AI summary | no | via Duet AI (extra) | included on Pro |
| Audio stays on your computer | no | no | yes |
| Cost | free | $6+/user/mo | free |
FAQ
Does Notabium work with Google Meet on free Gmail accounts?
Yes. Notabium does not depend on the Google Workspace plan. It captures audio from your machine, which is independent of your Meet license.
Will my Meet captions and Notabium captions conflict?
No. Notabium runs alongside Meet. Use Meet's captions for live reading and Notabium for the permanent record.
Does the Chrome extension see my meetings?
It sees the URL of the active tab when it matches a known meeting pattern. It does not see meeting contents. Everything it reads stays on your machine and is forwarded to your local Notabium daemon on localhost:13700.
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