Private AI Note Taker vs Lyonesse
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Private AI Note Taker
This app provides private, on-device AI for meeting notes and transcriptions without cloud reliance. It securely records live meetings or processes uploaded audio/video files, offering AI-generated summaries and searchable notes. Your conversations remain offline and private, never shared or used for model training.
- On-device secure and private note-taking
- Offline meeting recording and transcription
- Automatic AI-generated summaries
- Searchable transcripts and export options
- Hands-free recording with Siri Shortcuts
- Support for over 60 languages
- Choice of transcription models (Apple/WhisperKit)
Read full descriptionHide full description
Basil is a private AI note taker for meetings. Recording, transcription and summaries all run on your device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no server holding your conversations. WHY ON-DEVICE MATTERS Most AI note takers send your audio to a cloud service to be transcribed and summarized. Basil doesn't. Transcription runs on the Neural Engine, and summaries are generated locally by Apple Intelligence. There is no account to create, no subprocessor list, and no server to subpoena. RECORD ANY MEETING • In Person — capture the room with your microphone. • Computer (Mac) — capture both sides of a Zoom, Teams or Meet call without putting a bot in the meeting. Nothing joins your call, and nothing leaves your Mac. • Import existing audio or video files. Basil extracts the audio locally. TRANSCRIPTS AND SUMMARIES • A fast live transcript while you record, then a refined, higher-accuracy pass right after the session. • Transcripts include speakers names and are fully exportable. • Summaries, action items, decisions and follow-ups, generated on device. • 60+ languages. • Full-text search across everything you have recorded. BASIL FOR LAW A legal edition for attorneys and firms: • Privilege attestation — an on-device provenance record documenting that a recording was captured and processed locally. • Consent log — a timestamped attestation, built to the strictest all-party-consent standard so one workflow works in every state. • Matters and clients — organize by matter rather than by date. • Privileged & Confidential labeling on recordings, transcripts and exports. These are record-keeping tools for legal professionals. They are not legal services or legal advice, and no software can guarantee a privilege outcome. Basil's contribution is architectural: your client conversations never leave your device. ACROSS YOUR DEVICES A universal app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Your library syncs through your own iCloud account — your iCloud, not our servers. EXPORT Send notes to Apple Notes, Calendar, Reminders and Files. SUBSCRIPTIONS Basil Pro unlocks unlimited recording. Basil for Law adds the legal feature set above. Free trials are available on both. Current pricing and trial length are shown on the subscription screen in the app. - [Privacy Policy](https://basilai.app/privacy) - [Terms of Use](https://basilai.app/terms)
Lyonesse
Record audio or video and get instant, on-device transcriptions. This app allows you to ask questions about your content, generate summaries, and identify speakers, all without uploading your data to the cloud. It supports various file formats and offers offline functionality for ultimate privacy and convenience.
- On-device AI transcription
- Speaker labeling
- Summaries and action items
- Q&A across library
- Import various file types
- Offline functionality
- Export in multiple formats
Read full descriptionHide full description
Record a meeting or lecture and read the words as people speak. Ask a question about what was said, get a summary in seconds, and find any moment later with search. The transcription and AI run on your device. Lyonesse is a private workspace for the things you record and the documents you read. Recording, transcription, summaries, speaker labels, and Q&A happen locally. There is no cloud transcription provider, so it keeps working with no internet and your audio is not uploaded to be processed. No account to create. Optional iCloud sync is off by default. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Transcribe live recordings, or import an audio or video file you already have. On Mac you can also capture system audio from any app, call, or video playing on your device. - Get AI summaries in the style you want: concise, bullets, action items, or a structured outline. - Ask Lyonesse: chat across your whole library. Notes, transcripts, PDFs, and images, with follow-up questions and citations back to the source. - Read your documents. Import a PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint file or an image, then summarize it, pull out the key points, or ask it questions. - Run a private meeting assistant: link your calendar, see full-screen live captions, get on-device speaker labels, and turn a recording into drafted minutes with action items. PICK YOUR ENGINE Lyonesse ships Apple Speech and a downloadable Parakeet model for transcription, plus Apple Intelligence and a downloadable Qwen 3 model for on-device AI. Auto picks the best one available for your language and device. In our published LibriSpeech benchmark, Apple's Speech API outperformed the Whisper models Lyonesse used to ship (read it at lyonesse.app/blog/apple-speech-api-benchmark.html). BUILT FOR STUDY AND WORK - Turn a recording into study sheets, meeting minutes, or follow-up notes with Smart Drafting. - Organize notes into Projects that file themselves, then ask questions across a whole project. - Export to PDF or text with an optional summary, Q&A, and full transcript. Send action items to Apple Reminders. - Full-text search across recordings, transcripts, documents, and action items. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your recordings, documents, and transcripts stay on your device. Recording, transcription, summaries, speaker labels, document analysis, and Q&A run on-device, with no cloud AI provider in the loop. A private alternative to cloud tools like Otter, Fireflies, Rev, and ChatPDF. Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with transcription and summaries in 15 languages. Lyonesse is free to download and there is a free tier. For unlimited use, choose a subscription or a one-time Lifetime purchase. No per-minute fees. Privacy Policy: https://lyonesse.app/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://lyonesse.app/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Private AI Note Taker at 5.0 against Lyonesse's 3.8. Private AI Note Taker also leads on ratings volume (36 vs 5). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Private AI Note Taker sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Lyonesse sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Private AI Note Taker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Private AI Note Taker has 36 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 93% of Private AI Note Taker's written reviews are positive against 100% of Lyonesse's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Private AI Note Taker ships an update every 6 days, Lyonesse every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Private AI Note Taker | Lyonesse |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (36 ratings) — better | 3.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 93.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 36 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TONSOR LLC | JOSIP MARKOVIC |
Customer experience
Private AI Note Taker
Lyonesse
In-app purchases
Private AI Note Taker
- Basil AI Pro Weekly$4.997 Days
- Basil AI Pro Monthly3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Basil for Law Monthly3 Days trial$19.991 Month
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Basil AI Pro Yearly (Save 17%)7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Basil for Law Yearly7 Days trial$199.991 Year
- Basil AI Pro Lifetime$199.00
Lyonesse
- Weekly Subscription$3.997 Days
- Lyonesse Monthly$7.991 Month
- Lyonesse Annual$29.991 Year
- Lyonesse Unlimited$59.99
Questions
Is Private AI Note Taker free?
Is Lyonesse free?
Which has better reviews, Private AI Note Taker or Lyonesse?
Do Private AI Note Taker or Lyonesse have ads?
Which is updated more often, Private AI Note Taker or Lyonesse?
Other comparisons















