The short answer
JotMe is a live translation and transcription service for meetings. Its Mac and Windows app listens to your microphone and to the audio your computer plays, and JotMe's docs say it does not join the call as a bot. It adds speaker labels, AI notes, summaries, recordings, file transcription and shared caption links, and its docs list 200 or more languages and dialects.
At the time of checking, JotMe's free plan gives 20 minutes of live translation a month, Pro is $20 a user a month and Premium is $30, with half off when you pay for a year. These plans count minutes, and JotMe's docs list settings that spend them at two or five times the clock.
Fraze does only the captions and the translation, and does both on your computer. No audio or text is uploaded and there is no minute meter. It has fewer languages and no notes, summaries or speaker labels, so if you need the meeting written up, JotMe is the better buy.
What JotMe does
- Live translated captions, and a transcript with speaker labels and timestamps.
- AI meeting notes, summaries, and an Ask JotMe question box.
- Recordings in your account, and transcription of audio and video files you upload.
- Captions shared by link, QR code or on-camera subtitles, and translations read aloud.
- iPhone and Android apps, and team plans with an admin dashboard.
You install the Mac or Windows app, pick the spoken language and the language you want to read, and press start. Its docs say the only requirement is that the meeting audio comes out of your computer and your voice goes into it, which covers Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack huddles and browser webinars.
JotMe gives more than one language number. Its docs languages page says 200 or more languages and dialects for the desktop app. The pickers on the same page count options, regional variants included: 85 spoken on the Basic model, 145 on Premium Quality and 199 translation outputs. The Fast model is listed at 100 or more spoken languages, and the Chrome extension, which reads Google Meet's own caption text, at 77 or more.
JotMe pricing at the time of checking
- Free, $0: 20 live translation minutes a month, 50 transcription minutes, 5 AI credits.
- Pro, $20 a month, or $10 a month billed annually at $120: 200 translation minutes, 500 transcription minutes, 20 credits, unlimited Google Meet transcription in the Chrome extension.
- Premium, $30 a month, or $15 a month billed annually at $180: 500 translation minutes, 2,000 transcription minutes, 50 credits, and sharing your translation minutes with guests.
- Teams shows a starting price of $60 on the monthly tab and $30 on the annual tab. JotMe's pricing docs set a minimum of 2 users. Enterprise is quoted.
- A one-time top-up adds 500 live translation minutes for one month, and minutes only.
Those are the plans in JotMe's pricing section on 19 September 2026, per user per month. Prices and allowances change, so read the page before you buy.
How the minutes are counted matters as much as the number, and JotMe documents it. The Basic model spends one minute per minute. Its usage limits page says the Premium Quality model spends minutes at two times, the Fast model and speech to speech at five times, and multilingual output multiplies by the number of target languages. A caption shared by link or QR code draws each guest's connected time from the host's pool. Pausing stops the meter. So 500 minutes lasts 500 minutes on the Basic model with one target language and no guests.
Where the work happens
No bot joins the call, because the app listens on your own machine. From there JotMe is an online service. Its privacy page says transcripts, notes and saved recordings are stored in your JotMe account. Its privacy notice lists captions, speaker names and audio recordings among what the desktop app collects, says data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and names AWS and OpenAI as examples of the outside providers it uses. JotMe says customer data is not used to train its AI models, and its docs say it does not publish which speech and translation models it uses.
Fraze is built the other way round. Turning speech into text and translating it both run on your computer. After the first download of the language files it works with Wi-Fi off, and no audio or transcript text is uploaded. That is the trade: an online service can do much more, and a local one keeps the words on your machine.
JotMe and Fraze side by side
| How it hears a call | Languages | Where it runs | Price when checked | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JotMe | No bot, the app hears your computer | 200+ languages and dialects listed | Online, saved to your JotMe account | Free 20 min a month, then $20 or $30 per user a month |
| Fraze | No bot, the app hears your computer | 25 spoken, about 50 translation | On your computer | 30 free minutes, then $29.99 once or $2.99 a month |
Five columns cannot hold everything. JotMe's notes, summaries, speaker labels, recordings, file transcription, shared links, phone apps and team billing have no match in Fraze, which handles live audio only. Fraze's 25 spoken languages are European, with more on macOS 26 and later, including Japanese, Korean and Chinese, and it translates to or from English. It can float a small caption window over your call and keeps a history you can export.
When JotMe is the better pick
- You want the meeting written up: notes, a summary, action items, speaker labels.
- You need a language Fraze does not cover. JotMe's spoken-language lists are much longer.
- Other people need the captions too. JotMe shares them by link, QR code or on camera.
- You want to transcribe a file you already have. Fraze only handles live audio.
- You need it on a phone or an Intel Mac. JotMe lists downloads for both.
- You are buying for a team and want central billing and an admin dashboard.
If you want cloud features from the people who make Fraze, Verli (verli.app) is the sibling product: more languages, runs in a browser, does summaries and sharing, and sends audio to the cloud to do it.
When Fraze is the better pick
- The words must not leave the machine, because of the subject or a rule at work.
- You listen for hours: streams, lectures, long calls. Nothing counts down.
- You are often offline, on a plane or a hotel connection that keeps dropping.
- You want one price instead of planning minutes, credits and seats.
The first 30 minutes are free on every Fraze account, with no card. After that it is $29.99 once or $2.99 a month, both unlimited, with no per-minute meter. A free Fraze account is required. It carries the plan and never sees audio or transcripts.
One thing applies to both: in some places you have to tell the other people in a conversation before you transcribe it. JotMe's privacy page makes the same point.
Questions
What is JotMe AI?
An online service for multilingual meetings. Its Mac and Windows app shows live translated captions of a call without joining it as a bot, and adds speaker labels, AI notes, summaries and recordings. JotMe also lists iPhone and Android apps and a Chrome extension for Google Meet.
How much does JotMe cost?
At the time of checking, JotMe lists a free plan with 20 minutes of live translation a month, Pro at $20 a user a month or $10 billed annually, and Premium at $30 or $15 billed annually. Teams shows a starting price of $60, or $30 on the annual tab, and Enterprise is quoted.
Does JotMe join my meeting as a bot?
No. JotMe's privacy page says it is not a meeting bot, does not appear in the participant list, and the host does not have to approve it. It listens on your own machine. Fraze does too, and neither needs the host to enable anything.
Is there a JotMe alternative that runs on my computer?
Fraze is one. It captions any audio your computer plays, or your microphone, and translates each line, with both steps running locally. No audio or text is uploaded and it works with Wi-Fi off after the first language download. It does not do notes, summaries, speaker labels or file transcription, which JotMe does.
How many languages does JotMe support?
JotMe's docs say 200 or more languages and dialects for the desktop app. The pickers on the same page list 85 spoken-language options on the Basic model, 145 on Premium Quality and 199 translation outputs, counting regional variants. Fraze covers 25 spoken languages, more on macOS 26 and later, and about 50 translation languages to or from English.