Comparison

Plaud vs Read AI

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Plaud

This app acts as an AI work companion, transforming spoken words into actionable notes and summaries. It supports various input methods, including audio, text, and images, and offers advanced AI processing for transcription, summarization, and insight generation. Seamlessly integrate captured information into your workflow across multiple platforms.

Highlights
  • Multimodal AI note capture
  • AI transcription in 112 languages
  • Customizable AI summaries
  • Ask Plaud for insights
  • Automated workflow integration
  • Cross-platform sync and storage
Features
Read full description

[Product Introduction] Plaud is building the world's most trusted AI work companion for professionals to elevate productivity and performance through note-taking solutions, trusted by over 2,000,000 users worldwide. With a mission to amplify human intelligence, Plaud is building the next-generation intelligence infrastructure and interfaces to capture, extract, and utilize what you say, hear, see, and think. Plaud offers a range of AI note-taking devices and solution, each designed to fit different work and life scenarios. - Plaud Note: The world’s No.1 AI note taker - Plaud Note Pro: The world’s most advanced AI note taker - Plaud NotePin / Plaud NotePin S: The world’s most wearable AI note taker - Plaud Desktop: Capture online meetings natively from the Plaud Desktop App, without a meeting bot. Whether it’s an in-person meeting, a phone call, an on-the-go conversation, or an online meeting, Plaud keeps you fully present while it handles the notes. [Plaud Intelligence] From capturing ideas on Plaud devices to retrieving and applying insights across Plaud App, web, and desktop — Plaud Intelligence is the AI engine behind every experience in the Plaud ecosystem. - Capture with multimodal input - Capture or import audio - Press or tap to highlight - Input text to add context - Enrich context with images - Extract AI transcripts & contextual summaries - AI transcription in 112 languages with speaker labels and custom vocabulary - Generate multiple summaries from one conversation automatically, empowered by 10,000+ expert templates - Developed on the best LLMs: GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Gemini 3 Pro, and more - Utilize intelligence across your workflow - Ask Plaud: Get reference-based answers, generate insights, and save as notes - AutoFlow: Automate transcription, summaries, and delivery with set rules - Cross-platform sync with unlimited cloud storage. - Export, share, and integrate into your workflow - Plaud App and Plaud Web: Manage all your notes, summaries, and insights in one place. [Privacy & Compliance] Plaud is built with enterprise-grade security and global compliance standards, so your data stays safe, private, and under your control. - ISO 27001 Compliant: Global standard for information security, keeping your data confidential, intact, and available. - ISO 27701 Compliant: Global privacy standard, ensures personal data is managed responsibly and transparently. - GDPR Compliant: Aligns with Europe's strictest privacy regulations - SOC 2 Compliant: Independently audited systems for security and confidentiality - HIPAA Compliant: Protects medical and personal health data - EN 18031 Compliant: Meets European standards for secure wireless communication [AI Plans] Starter Plan: Included with any Plaud AI note taker purchase. Enjoy 300 minutes of transcription every month. Comes with access to all Plaud Intelligence features—multimodal input, multidimensional summaries, Ask Plaud, and more. Pro Plan & Unlimited Plan: Designed for high-demanding or professional use. Pro offers 1,200 minutes per month, while Unlimited removes all time limits. Team Plan: For small to medium sized teams that want to centrally manage billing, users, and devices. PLAUD Terms of Service & END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT : https://app.plaud.ai/user-agreement Terms of Use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Read AI

This app records audio from your device and generates real-time AI-powered transcripts and summaries. It's ideal for capturing lectures, meetings, or brainstorming sessions, providing comprehensive reports that can be shared or kept private.

Highlights
  • Live transcription and summaries
  • Speaker detection
  • In-person meeting recording
  • Integration with communication channels
  • Cross-platform sync
  • Meeting notifications
Read full description

Instantly capture audio from your iPhone and view a real-time AI-generated transcript and summary with Read AI. When you meet in-person, open up Read AI, and start to record the audio from the conversation allowing you to skip manually writing notes on paper or in your notes app. Sitting in a lecture, meeting a client in person, or talking out loud to capture an idea, Read AI will record, transcribe, and summarize the audio in real time. After the conversation is complete, Read will generate a comprehensive report that you can keep private, or share with others. Notes generated from your iOS device are displayed side-by-side with your Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings within the app. Key Features: Live Transcription & Summaries Get accurate, real-time transcriptions and concise summaries to stay focused on what matters. Never ask the question again, what did we talk about? Unique Speaker Detection Read AI recognizes each speaker as a unique contributor in the AI, allowing you to distinguish one speaker from another. Enhanced Recording for In-Person Meetings New capabilities for recording and summarizing face-to-face discussions and brainstorming sessions. Seamless Integration Connects with your favorite communication channels like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, and CRM systems to simplify sharing and reviewing your notes. Cross-Platform Sync Access your notes and summaries across devices, ensuring you never miss a detail. This includes meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Notifications Never miss recording a meeting with iOS notifications that remind you of upcoming meetings, and new meeting reports, and provide a recap before a recurring meeting—no more regrets about not recording a conversation or taking notes.

Screenshots

Plaud4 screens
Read AI4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Read AI at none against Plaud's 18. Plaud's advantage is ratings volume (22K vs 929) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Plaud sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Read AI asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Plaud against 4.9 for Read AI. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Plaud has 22K ratings behind it against 929, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Plaud's written reviews are positive against 68% of Read AI's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Plaud ships an update weekly, Read AI every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Plaud versus Read AI: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlaudRead AI
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (22K ratings)4.9 (929 ratings)
Positive reviews72.9% of reviews — better68.0% of reviews
Number of ratings22K — better929
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#23 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size220 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPLAUD LLCRead AI

Customer experience

Plaud

All ratings22,497 ratings
Positive98.1%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews1,445 reviews
Positive72.9%
Neutral6.2%
Negative20.9%

Read AI

All ratings929 ratings
Positive98.1%
Neutral0.8%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive68.0%
Neutral2.0%
Negative30.0%

User reviews

Plaud

From 22K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Accurate transcription and summarization
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly app
  • 🔒 Secure and reliable device
  • 💡 Innovative features like voice differentiation
  • 🚀 Seamless integration with phone

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes and freezes
  • 🔧 Buggy and unreliable software
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🔧 Inconsistent UI and language issues
  • 🔋 Battery life concerns

Read AI

From 929 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Productivity booster
  • 👍 Great app
  • 👍 Useful features
  • 👍 Convenient mobile access
  • 👍 Helpful for in-person meetings

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Privacy concerns
  • 🐛 Buggy with playback and other functions
  • 🐛 App loading issues

Bugs and requests

Plaud

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Transcription errors, especially for non-English languages
  • Exporting issues with audio and text files
  • Inconsistent performance and app crashes
  • Connectivity problems between device and app

Requested features

6 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to pause and resume recordings
  • Improved summary quality and customization
  • Better organization and folder structure for notes
  • Integration with other productivity tools
Show 1 more
  • Support for more languages beyond English

Read AI

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Uploading issues causing lost recordings

Requested features

4 requests
  • Chromecast and AirPlay support
  • Full-screen video playback
  • Cloud sync for transcripts and summaries
  • Better mobile support and file format compatibility

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Plaud

Subscriptions12
  • Pro Plan(Monthly)$14.991 Month
  • Pro Plan(Monthly)$17.991 Month
  • Unlimited Plan(Monthly)$23.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Unlimited Plan(Monthly)3 Days trial$29.991 Month
  • Unlimited Plan(Monthly)2 variants$29.991 Month
  • Pro Plan(Annually)$99.991 Year
  • Pro Plan(Annually)7 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • Pro Plan(Annually)3 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • Unlimited Plan(Annually)7 Days trial$239.991 Year
  • Unlimited Plan(Annually)$239.991 Year
  • Annual Unlimited3 Days trial$239.991 Year
  • Unlimited Plan(Annually)1 Month trial$239.991 Year
One-time4
  • 120 Minutes Package$2.99
  • 600 Minutes Package$12.99
  • 3000 Minutes Package$59.99
Show 1 more
  • 6000 Minutes Package$99.99
None

Read AI

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Plaud free?
Plaud is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Read AI free?
Read AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Plaud or Read AI?
Plaud and Read AI are both rated 4.9 out of 5 on the App Store, from 22K and 929 ratings respectively.
Do Plaud or Read AI have ads?
Neither Plaud nor Read AI shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Plaud or Read AI?
Plaud ships an update weekly, and Read AI every 3 weeks. Most recently, Plaud was updated on September 24, 2026 and Read AI on September 23, 2026.

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