ParrotChecked 24 September 2026
Parrot vs Meetily
Both are free, open-source meeting recorders that run on your own computer and never send a bot into the call. The difference is timing. Meetily gives you a transcript and a summary after the meeting. Parrot also helps during it, with answers from your own documents. Meetily runs on Windows too; Parrot is Mac only.
Released 24 Sept 2026. 17 MB. macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. or build from source
The short answer
Pick Parrot if
you're on a Mac and want help while the call is still going, or want speaker names without paying.
Pick Meetily if
you need Windows, want the bigger community, or only need a private transcript and summary after each call.
The big differences
Price
Parrot
YesFree, no account
Meetily
YesFree, Pro from $10 a month
Where your audio goes
Parrot
YesStays on your Mac
Meetily
YesStays on your computer
Help during the call
Parrot
YesAnswers from your documents
Meetily
PartlyA live transcript only
What help during the call looks like
When the other side asks something your documents cover, the answer appears on a card within seconds, with the file it came from. Open questions stay pinned until you answer them, and a one-line coach tells you how the call is going.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Parrot | Meetily |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy | ||
| Bot in the call | YesNo. It records what your Mac plays and hears. | YesNo. It records your mic and system audio on your computer. |
| Where your audio goes | YesStays on your Mac. Sent out only if you pick Groq or Deepgram for transcription. | YesStays on your computer. Transcribed on device with Whisper or Parakeet. |
| Works offline | YesYes, with Whisper and Ollama. | YesYes, with local models and Ollama. |
| Open source | YesYes, GPL-3.0. | YesCommunity edition yes, MIT. Pro is a separate, closed codebase. |
| During the call | ||
| Help during the call | YesYes. Answers from your own documents, open questions pinned, a live coach. | PartlyA live transcript. No suggestions or answers during the call. |
| Choice of AI | YesClaude, Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible server, with your own keys. | YesOllama, or your own key for Claude, OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter and others. |
| Cost and platforms | ||
| Price | YesFree. No paid plan. Cloud AI with your own key costs a few cents per call hour. | YesCommunity edition free. Pro is $10 per user a month, billed yearly. |
| Runs on | PartlyMac only: macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. | YesMac (Apple Silicon) and Windows. Linux if you build it yourself. |
Where Meetily is better
- It runs on Windows as well as Mac, and on Linux if you build it.
- A much bigger community: about 31,000 GitHub stars.
- Two on-device speech engines, Whisper and Parakeet, and it can translate to English.
- Pro adds summary templates and PDF or Word export.
Where Parrot is better
- Help during the call: answers from your own documents, pinned questions and a live coach. Meetily writes its notes after.
- Speaker names are free and run on your Mac. In Meetily, speaker identification is part of Pro.
- One free app with everything in it, not a free edition next to a paid one.
Try both on the same call
- 1
Keep Meetily
Nothing to cancel or move. Parrot works on its own, next to what you already use.
- 2
Hit record in Parrot on your next call
It records what your Mac hears, so both can record the same call.
- 3
Compare afterwards
Read both sets of notes and keep whichever helped more. Parrot costs nothing to try or to keep.
Questions
- Can I use Parrot and Meetily together?
- Yes. They don't touch each other, and Parrot never joins the call, so it adds nothing the other people can see.
- Why is Parrot free?
- It started as Uygar's own tool for client calls and is open source under GPL-3.0. There are no servers to pay for, because it all runs on your Mac. If you use cloud AI, you pay that provider directly with your own key, usually a few cents per call hour.
- Can I bring my Meetily recordings?
- If you have the audio as a file, yes. Drop it on Parrot and it's transcribed, split by speaker and summarised like a live call. Notes you wrote in Meetily stay there.
- Is Parrot on Windows or iPhone?
- No. Parrot is Mac only: macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. If you need another platform, Meetily is the better pick.
Sources, checked 24 September 2026
Checked on 24 September 2026 against their own pages. Prices and features change, so check before you buy. If something here is out of date, email me and I'll fix it.
