You’re in a meeting and want to take notes, but by the time you open your laptop, the moment has already passed. Or you’re on a call with a client and trying to scribble notes on a piece of paper that you won’t be able to find later anyway. Plaud is an AI-powered voice recorder the size of a credit card that records conversations, automatically transcribes and summarizes them into notes and mind maps.
Who is behind Plaud?
Plaud was founded in 2021 and from the beginning focused on combining hardware with artificial intelligence. The company deliberately chose a crowdfunding strategy to bring their first product, the Plaud Note, to market. Through Kickstarter and Indiegogo, they raised more than $1.5 million, demonstrating significant demand for a modern voice recorder that goes beyond just recording.
Instead of choosing traditional investors, Plaud first built a community of early adopters who immediately started using the product and providing feedback. This approach has pros and cons: you have immediate customers and revenue, but you also need to deliver quickly to thousands of backers with high expectations. The company continues to operate as bootstrapped for now, meaning they’re not dependent on venture capital but are more reliant on subscription revenue to grow.
Who is Plaud for?
Plaud is built for people who have lots of conversations and need to do something with them. Journalists conducting interviews, students attending lectures, sales professionals who want to review client calls, and consultants documenting meetings. The device works best if you’re regularly in situations where you need to record quickly without hassle with apps or settings.
But it’s not for everyone. If you don’t want to carry an extra device, however thin, there are software solutions that simply run on your phone. You also need to consider that the hardware itself costs money, separate from the subscription. Those purely looking for free transcription software without an additional purchase should look at alternatives. And if you have strong privacy concerns about cloud processing via American servers, this probably isn’t your first choice.
What can Plaud do?
The free version of Plaud offers 300 minutes of transcription per month and basic summaries. For unlimited transcription, advanced AI features like mind maps and to-do lists, and more extensive summaries, you need a paid subscription. Here are the key features:
- Recording via vibration sensor: The device uses a VCS sensor (Vibration Conduction Sensor) that captures sound through vibrations in your phone case. This means you can record phone calls regardless of which app you’re using – WhatsApp, Teams, regular phone, doesn’t matter. You don’t need to connect any cables or adjust settings.
- AI transcription in 112 languages: Plaud converts spoken text into written text in over a hundred languages. The accuracy is generally good, though the device sometimes struggles with strong accents or dialects. The transcription happens via the cloud, not locally on the device.
- Automatic summaries: After a recording ends, you can have the app generate a summary through ChatGPT. The system extracts the key points and puts them in a clear format. This saves a ton of time if you have an hour-long conversation and only need the decision points.
- Mind maps and to-do lists: The AI can also create visual mind maps of your conversation or automatically extract action items and convert them into a task list. Handy if you want to immediately see who needs to do what after a meeting.
- Speaker recognition: The system recognizes different speakers in a conversation and labels them in the transcription. This works fairly well with clear voices, but can get mixed up when people talk over each other or if the audio quality is poor.
- MagSafe attachment: For iPhone users, there’s a MagSafe version that magnetically clicks to the back of your phone. This makes the device easy to take with you without having to think about it separately. For Android users, there’s an adhesive version.
- Long battery life: The device lasts about 30 hours on a full charge with continuous recording. In standby mode, it lasts much longer. Charging happens via a proprietary cable, which means you can’t lose it when you’re traveling.
- Simple operation: There’s one button on the device. Press it to start recording, press it again to stop. No menus, no settings on the device itself. Everything else is handled through the app.
The device itself is only 3 millimeters thin, making it thinner than most credit cards. It fits easily in your wallet or phone case. Recordings are stored locally on the device (64GB internal storage) and synced to the cloud app once you’re connected again.
What does Plaud cost?
Plaud has a free Starter plan with 300 minutes of transcription per month and basic summaries. That’s enough to try it out or for light use, but if you regularly record meetings, you’ll burn through that pretty quickly.
The Pro plan costs $1.99 per month or $1.99 per year (which breaks down to $1.33 per month). That gets you more transcription minutes and more advanced AI features. The Unlimited plan costs $1.99 per month or $1.99 per year ($1 per month) and gives you unlimited transcription and all premium features like mind maps and to-do lists.
There’s no free trial for the paid plans, which is a bummer. You can start with the free plan to see if the tool works for you, but you won’t get the full experience. Don’t forget that on top of the subscription, you also need to buy the hardware itself – that costs around $1 for the basic version.
What should you watch out for?
Plaud’s customer service gets a lot of criticism. Users report that responses are slow or sometimes don’t come at all, especially for technical issues. For a product that combines hardware and software, that’s frustrating – when something doesn’t work, you want a quick answer.
The app has frequent sync issues. Recordings you make don’t always show up right away in the app, or the transcription gets stuck. That’s frustrating when you’ve just recorded an important conversation and need to do something with it quickly. Some users also report crashes or bugs when generating summaries.
The device uses a proprietary charging cable. That means you can’t just use a USB-C cable you already have, but need to always carry that specific charger with you. If you lose it or forget it, you can’t charge the device until you order a new one.
The transcription struggles with strong accents or dialects. If you record a lot of conversations with people who don’t speak standard Dutch or English, the accuracy can drop significantly. That’s true for all AI transcription tools really, but it’s good to know you’ll probably still need to review and correct the text.
Your data is processed through Google Cloud servers in the United States and via OpenAI. Plaud does offer options for local storage on the device itself, but for the AI features, the audio still needs to go to the cloud. If you’re working with sensitive information or privacy-sensitive conversations, you need to keep that in mind.
Plaud alternatives
If Plaud isn’t quite what you’re looking for, there are other options:
- Otter.ai: Choose this if you don’t want to buy a physical device. Otter is a pure software solution that runs on your phone or computer. It has similar AI features but you’re dependent on your phone’s microphone for recording quality.
- Limitless (formerly Rewind): Choose this if you’re looking for an always-on recorder that you wear as a necklace. Limitless is a wearable pendant that continuously records and indexes everything. It’s more focused on personal memory than on structured notes.
- Sony Voice Recorders: Choose this if you don’t want a subscription and don’t need AI. Sony makes traditional voice recorders with excellent hardware and audio quality, but without built-in transcription or summaries. You pay once for the device and nothing more.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about Plaud:
Can Plaud record phone calls?
Yes, the Plaud Note uses a vibration sensor that captures sound directly from the phone casing. That works with any phone and any app, whether you’re calling via WhatsApp, Teams, or just the standard phone app. You don’t need to adjust any settings.
Is a subscription required?
Not for basic use. You can record and play back without a subscription. But for AI transcription and summaries, you’ll need a paid subscription after the free 300 minutes per month. Without a subscription, it’s basically just a voice recorder without smart features.
Where is my data stored?
Data is processed through Google Cloud servers in the United States and via OpenAI for the AI features. Plaud does offer options for local storage on the device itself, but as soon as you want transcription or summaries, the audio goes to the cloud. Keep that in mind if you’re working with confidential information.
Conclusion
Plaud combines solid hardware with useful AI features in a compact form factor. The recording quality is good, the battery lasts a long time, and the one-button operation is intuitive. But the app has growing pains, the customer service leaves something to be desired, and you’re dependent on a subscription for most of the useful features. It’s a good choice if you regularly need to document conversations and are willing to pay for convenience. But if you only occasionally need to record something or don’t want to buy hardware, there are better alternatives.
