You’re on a video call, but your neighbor starts drilling. Or your colleague is calling from a busy café. Or your dog decides that now is the perfect time to bark. Krisp is an AI tool that filters out this kind of background noise from your conversations. It also transcribes your meetings and automatically creates summaries.
Who is behind Krisp?
Little public information is available about the exact founders and founding year of Krisp. What we do know: the tool has grown into a platform used on more than 200 million devices worldwide. That’s a substantial number for a tool focused on a specific problem: background noise during online conversations.
In recent years, the company has focused on developing AI technology that runs locally on your device. This means your audio doesn’t need to go to the cloud for processing, which appeals to privacy-conscious users. This choice for local processing is no coincidence – it aligns with the growing demand for tools that don’t unnecessarily share your data.
With that huge user base, Krisp has positioned itself as a serious player in the audio optimization market for remote work. The tool is used by freelancers, remote teams, and call centers that deal with varying sound environments on a daily basis.
Who is Krisp for?
Krisp is built for people who regularly have online meetings or calls but aren’t always in a quiet environment. Think of remote workers working from home with kids in the background, freelancers working from coworking spaces or cafés, or call center employees sitting in a noisy office environment. If you regularly deal with unpredictable background noise, Krisp is worth considering.
But the tool isn’t suitable for everyone. Musicians or people making audio recordings are better off looking for something else. Krisp also filters out music, because the algorithm sees it as unwanted sound. Linux desktop users also have limited options, as the tool doesn’t have full support for that platform.
What can Krisp do?
The free version of Krisp offers 60 minutes of noise cancellation per day and unlimited transcriptions. For features like unlimited noise cancellation, call recording, and full access to AI summaries, you need a paid plan. Here’s what the tool can do:
- AI Noise Cancellation: The core feature. Krisp filters out background noises like voices, traffic, keyboard typing, and pets from your audio. It works bidirectionally, so both what you hear and what others hear from you is filtered.
- Echo Cancellation: If you’re not using headphones, echo can occur. Krisp automatically detects and removes that echo, making conversations sound more natural.
- Meeting Transcription: Your meetings are automatically transcribed to text. Handy if you want to look something up afterwards or if you weren’t able to take notes on everything live. The transcription happens without a bot needing to join your meeting.
- AI Meeting Notes: The tool automatically creates summaries of your conversations, with action items and key topics. You don’t have to scroll through an hour of transcript yourself to find what was decided.
- Accent Localization: A newer feature that can adjust your accent. For example, if you speak English with a strong accent, Krisp can neutralize it or adjust it to a different accent. This can be useful for international calls where intelligibility is important.
- Call Recording: You can record conversations and listen back later. This only happens if you activate it; nothing is saved by default.
Krisp installs itself as a virtual microphone and speaker on your system. This means you can use it with virtually any app that uses audio: Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack, Discord, you name it. You simply select Krisp as your audio input and output, and the tool does the rest in the background.
What’s notable is that all audio processing happens locally on your device. Your audio doesn’t go to a server somewhere in the cloud to be filtered. This is a deliberate choice for privacy, but it also means your computer needs to have some processing power to run it smoothly.
What does Krisp cost?
Krisp has a free plan that gives you 60 minutes of noise cancellation per day. You also get unlimited transcriptions and 2 AI summaries per day. For many people who have occasional meetings, that’s enough to try out the tool and see if it adds value.
The Pro plan costs $1 per month if you pay monthly. If you choose an annual subscription, you pay $1 per year, which works out to $1 per month. That’s a significant discount if you use the tool regularly. With Pro, you get unlimited noise cancellation, call recording, and full access to all AI features without daily limits.
There’s also a 14-day free trial available for the Pro plan. This lets you test all the features before you decide to pay. That’s handy, because whether noise cancellation works well also depends on your specific situation and equipment.
What should you watch out for?
The noise cancellation generally works well, but sometimes it can make your voice sound a bit robotic. This happens especially when there’s a lot of background noise that needs to be filtered. It’s a trade-off: would you rather have a little distortion or a lot of background noise? For most situations, that distortion is acceptable, but if audio quality is crucial for your work, you should test this out.
Because all processing happens locally, Krisp can demand quite a bit of CPU capacity. On older computers or laptops with limited specs, this can be noticeable. Your computer will work harder, the fan might get louder, and with extremely old hardware, it could even lead to stuttering. So check whether your system is powerful enough.
Customer service gets mixed reviews. Some users report that support is slow to respond or that issues remain unresolved for a long time. If you need help quickly, that can be frustrating. The tool itself usually works well, but if you run into a bug, you’ll need to be patient.
For people who only have occasional meetings, the price of $1 per month might feel a bit steep. You’re paying for unlimited use, but if you only need the tool a few times a week, the free version with 60 minutes per day is probably sufficient. So calculate how much you’d actually use the tool before paying.
Krisp alternatives
Krisp isn’t the only tool that filters background noise or transcribes meetings. Here are a few alternatives you can consider:
- NVIDIA Broadcast: Completely free, but you do need an NVIDIA RTX graphics card. If you already have one, this is a strong option. The noise cancellation works just as well, and you pay nothing. The downside is that it only works with specific hardware.
- Otter.ai: Focuses primarily on transcription and notes. The transcription quality is often better than Krisp’s, but it doesn’t have live noise cancellation. Choose this if you mainly need good notes and summaries, and less audio filtering.
- Utterly: A lighter alternative with fewer features, but still effective for basic noise blocking. If you don’t need transcriptions or AI summaries, but just want to filter out background noise, this is a simpler and cheaper option.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to questions that are frequently asked about Krisp:
Does Krisp work with Zoom and Teams?
Yes, Krisp works with virtually all applications that use audio. It installs itself as a virtual microphone and speaker on your system, so you can select it in Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack, Discord, and other tools. You don’t need to configure anything special, just choose Krisp as your audio device.
Is Krisp completely free?
There’s a free version that offers 60 minutes of noise cancellation per day, plus unlimited transcriptions and 2 AI summaries per day. For unlimited use and all features, you need a paid subscription. The free version is sufficient to properly test the tool and use it for light to moderate needs.
Are my conversations recorded?
Not by default. All audio processing happens locally on your own device for privacy. Recordings are only made if you activate the call recording feature. So you have complete control over what is or isn’t saved.
Conclusion
Krisp solves a concrete problem: background noise during online calls. The noise cancellation works well, the privacy-friendly approach with local processing is a plus, and the integration with virtually all apps makes it practical. For remote workers, freelancers, and call center employees who regularly work in changing environments, it can be worth the investment. The free version with 60 minutes per day is sufficient to test whether it fits your situation. Just watch out for the CPU load if you have an older computer, and calculate whether you have enough meetings to justify the paid plan. For occasional use, the free version is fine; for daily use, Pro is a logical step.
