The best Cluely alternative — at a fraction of the price
Meeting Notes gives you everything Cluely offers — real-time AI answers, invisible overlay, screenshot solver, mock interviews — for $9.99/mo instead of $29–49/mo. Free plan available. No API key required.
In 2025, security researchers documented that Cluely was transmitting user resume content and audio transcripts to remote servers without explicit user consent or disclosure. Meeting Notes processes all audio locally on your device and never stores or transmits session audio. Your resume stays on-device only.
Meeting Notes vs Cluely — full comparison
| Feature | Meeting Notes | Cluely |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99/mo (or free) | $29–49/mo |
| Free plan | ✓ 1 session/mo, 10 Q&A | ✗ No free tier |
| Invisible overlay (excluded from screen capture) | ✓ OS-level setContentProtection | ✓ Same technology |
| Real-time AI answers (<2 s) | ✓ Streams word-by-word | ✓ |
| Screenshot / whiteboard solver | ✓ ⌘+Shift+S | ✓ |
| Resume-tailored answers | ✓ On-device only | ✓ Sent to servers |
| STAR behavioral answers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mock interview mode | ✓ Easy / Medium / Hard + AI debrief | Limited |
| Post-session debrief | ✓ | ✗ |
| Windows support | ✓ Windows 10/11 | ✗ Mac only |
| Android support | ✓ Android 8.0+ | ✗ |
| Audio stays on device | ✓ Never transmitted | ✗ Sent to servers |
| No API key required | ✓ | ✓ |
| Money-back guarantee | ✓ 14 days | 7 days |
Why people switch from Cluely to Meeting Notes
80% lower price
Meeting Notes Pro is $9.99/mo. Cluely starts at $29/mo and goes up to $49/mo. Over a year that's $360–$480 in savings.
True audio privacy
Meeting Notes transcribes audio entirely on your device using a local model. Session audio is never sent to any server. Cluely transmits your audio to remote servers.
Windows & Android
Cluely is Mac-only. Meeting Notes runs on macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel), Windows 10/11, and Android 8.0+.
Mock interviews + debrief
Practice with role-specific questions, AI scoring, and a detailed post-session debrief. Cluely offers limited practice features with no debrief.
How Meeting Notes stays invisible to screen sharing
Both Cluely and Meeting Notes use the OS-level content protection API (setContentProtection on macOS / SetWindowDisplayAffinity on Windows). This tells the OS to exclude the window from all screen capture at the hardware compositor level — before pixels ever reach Zoom, Teams, OBS, or any screen recording software.
This is not a software trick. The overlay genuinely cannot be captured by any recording tool running on the same machine. Meeting Notes uses this same technology but charges 5× less than Cluely.
Pricing comparison: Meeting Notes vs competitors
| Tool | Monthly price | Free plan | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting Notes | $9.99/mo (free tier available) | ✓ | Mac, Windows, Android |
| Cluely | $29–49/mo | ✗ | Mac only |
| Parakeet AI | $29/mo | ✗ | Mac only |
| Final Round AI | $149/mo | ✗ | Mac, Windows |
| Interview Kickstart | $999+ (course) | ✗ | Web only (no overlay) |
Mac · Windows · Android · No credit card required · 14-day money-back guarantee on Pro
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Cluely alternative?
Meeting Notes is the leading Cluely alternative in 2026. It matches Cluely's core feature set — invisible overlay, real-time AI answers, screenshot solver — while costing 80% less and running on Windows and Android in addition to Mac.
Is Meeting Notes really invisible to Zoom and screen recording?
Yes. Meeting Notes uses the OS-level setContentProtection API (macOS) and SetWindowDisplayAffinity(AFFINITY_EXCLUDE_FROM_CAPTURE) (Windows), which excludes the overlay from all screen capture at the hardware level. Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, OBS, and Loom cannot capture it.
Has Cluely had privacy problems?
Yes. In 2025, security researchers documented that Cluely was transmitting user resume content and audio transcripts to remote servers without explicit disclosure. Meeting Notes processes audio entirely on-device with a local model and never transmits session audio. Your data does not leave your machine.
Does Meeting Notes work on Windows?
Yes. Meeting Notes runs on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows 10/11, and Android 8.0+. Cluely is Mac-only — if you need a Windows interview copilot, Meeting Notes is the best available option.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. Meeting Notes Free includes 1 session per month and up to 10 Q&A exchanges. Meeting Notes Pro is $9.99/mo (or $7.99/mo billed annually) and includes unlimited sessions, the screenshot solver, all answer styles, and mock interview mode. Cluely has no free tier.