Best free AI notetaker for Discord startups (2025 pricing)

Harmony's free plan offers 60 minutes of monthly transcription with unlimited transcript history and AI summaries for Discord, while competitors like NotesBot provide only 30-minute trials and mainstream options like Otter.ai offer 300 monthly minutes but lack native Discord support. Harmony's forever-free tier includes unlimited servers and no seat limits, making it the most Discord-focused solution for cash-conscious startups.

At a Glance

Harmony provides 60 free minutes/month with unlimited transcript storage and Discord-native commands
NotesBot's free tier is just a 30-minute trial, then starts at $3/month for 5 hours
Otter.ai includes 300 monthly transcription minutes free but doesn't natively support Discord
Fireflies offers unlimited transcription with conditions but caps storage at 800 minutes per seat
Harmony Pro costs $10 per seat/month for 600 minutes when teams need more
Most tools hide costs through storage caps, export restrictions, and per-minute overages ranging from $0.25-$3.00

Discord has quietly become the command center for a new generation of startups. Engineering standups, investor check-ins, and product syncs all happen in voice channels now, and the teams running these calls need a way to capture what was said without burning runway on expensive tools. That is where a free AI notetaker for Discord comes in.

This guide breaks down the pricing, limitations, and hidden costs of the leading options so you can pick the right one for your team in 2025.

Why do Discord-first teams need a free AI notetaker in 2025?

Missed context is expensive. When a decision gets made in a voice channel and nobody writes it down, the team spends the next week re-litigating the same points. Discord meeting transcription solves this by turning every call into a searchable, shareable record.

But not all free plans are created equal. As one industry analysis put it, "The AI transcription market in 2025 has a confusing problem: prices range from $0.10 to $4.00 per minute, 'free' tiers come with catches, and subscription models hide their true costs behind marketing language" (BrassTranscripts).

Discord-native tools like NotesBot promise to "record, transcribe, and summarize Discord calls" (NotesBot), and free tiers from mainstream players offer transcription for 69+ languages. The challenge is figuring out which plan actually covers your needs without surprise charges.

For startup productivity tools, the criteria are simple:

Native Discord commands, not clunky workarounds
Enough free minutes to cover daily standups
AI meeting summaries that surface decisions and action items
No hidden export or storage fees

Vector graphic contrasting Harmony free and Fireflies free plan feature limits with icons and check marks.

Is Harmony's forever-free plan the most generous for Discord?

Harmony is purpose-built for Discord. The free tier includes 60 minutes of transcription per month, AI summaries, unlimited transcript history, and unlimited servers. There are no seat limits and no credit card required.

Compare that to Fireflies.ai, which also advertises a free forever plan. The Fireflies free tier gives you unlimited transcription credits under certain conditions, but storage is capped at 800 mins of storage/seat, and AI summaries are limited. If you need to go back and review an old call, you may hit a wall.

Harmony's approach is different: unlimited transcript history means your meeting records never disappear.

Feature	Harmony Free	Fireflies Free
Monthly transcription	60 min	Unlimited (with conditions)
Transcript history	Unlimited	800 min storage/seat
AI summaries	Yes	Limited
Discord-native commands	Yes	No
Servers allowed	Unlimited	N/A

One-command setup: /record and /stop

Getting started takes about two minutes. Add the Harmony bot to any server, then type /record in your current voice channel to begin. When you are done, type /stop to finish recording and trigger transcript processing.

That is the entire workflow. No browser extensions, no calendar integrations, no waiting for a bot to join from a third-party dashboard.

When you outgrow free: Pro and Team tiers that scale

Harmony's paid plans are designed to grow with your team:

Plan	Price	Transcription	Key extras
Free	$0/month	60 min	AI summaries, unlimited servers
Pro	$10/seat	600 min/seat	Detailed AI summaries, 1:1 priority support
Team	Custom	Unlimited	Advanced analytics, unlimited seats

The Pro tier is a good fit for teams running multiple calls per day. The Team tier removes all limits and adds analytics for organizations that need to track meeting patterns across departments.

NotesBot: popular but paywalled after 30-minute trial

NotesBot is one of the most visible Discord notetakers on the market. It advertises "Try ALL Features FREE for 30 Minutes!" (NotesBot), which sounds generous until you realize that covers roughly one standup.

Once the trial ends, pricing kicks in fast. The Basic plan is $3/mo for 5 hours, Pro is $15/mo for 30 hours, and Ultimate is $40/mo for 100 hours. For a startup running daily calls, the Basic tier will run out in under a week.

NotesBot does deliver on features: AI-powered summaries with speaker tracking, MP3 recordings, and team-wide access via Discord roles. But the free tier is more of a demo than a daily driver.

Language support vs. storage caps

NotesBot supports 100+ languages, which is a real advantage for multilingual teams. However, the storage and quota structure means you are always watching the clock. If your team records a long product review or investor call, you could burn through a week's worth of minutes in a single session.

Key takeaway: NotesBot is feature-rich but not truly free; plan for paid tiers if you use it regularly.

Otter.ai vs. Fireflies.ai: generous minutes, but Discord is an after-thought

Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai are the two names that come up most often in AI notetaker comparisons. Both offer robust free tiers, but neither is built for Discord.

Otter.ai's free plan includes 300 monthly transcription minutes, live transcription, and speaker identification. It works well for Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Discord is not on the list.

Fireflies.ai is more generous on storage, offering 800 mins of storage/seat on the free plan, plus unlimited transcription under specific conditions. It integrates with over 50 apps, but again, Discord is not a core platform.

On G2, Otter.ai's entry-level paid plan is listed at $240.00 per user per year, while Fireflies offers a free entry-level option. For startups already on Discord, neither tool offers a native experience.

Accuracy vs. conversation intelligence

The two platforms take different approaches to transcription quality:

Metric	Otter.ai	Fireflies.ai
Transcription accuracy	85-95%	80-90%
Primary strength	Accuracy, collaboration	Conversation intelligence, CRM integrations
Best for	Small teams, individuals	Sales teams, enterprises

Otter.ai is the better choice if raw transcription quality matters most. Fireflies.ai shines when you need analytics and integrations with tools like Salesforce. Neither is optimized for Discord voice channels.

Iceberg metaphor showing small free offering above water and large hidden transcription costs below surface.

What hidden costs lurk in 2025 transcription pricing?

Free tiers often come with strings attached. Before committing to any tool, watch for these common traps:

Storage caps: Fireflies limits free users to 800 minutes of stored recordings. Once you hit that limit, older meetings may become inaccessible.
Per-minute overages: Transcription prices typically range from $0.25 to $3.00 per audio minute (SpeakAI). If you exceed your plan's allowance, overage fees add up fast.
Subscription base fees: Many services charge $10 to $35 per month plus a per-minute rate. That monthly fee is easy to overlook when comparing plans.
Export format paywalls: Some tools restrict export formats (TXT, SRT, VTT) to paid tiers.
Speaker identification fees: Separating speakers can be a premium feature on certain platforms.

Gartner projects worldwide spending on generative AI models will reach $14.2 billion in 2025, which means the market is evolving quickly. Pricing structures will continue to shift, so review your plan's terms every quarter.

How to pick the right Discord notetaker as a startup founder

Use this checklist to evaluate your options:

Native Discord support: Does the tool join voice channels directly, or do you need a workaround?
Free minutes: Are the included minutes enough for your weekly meeting load?
Transcript history: Will old recordings stay accessible, or do storage caps apply?
AI summaries: Does the free tier include summaries, or is that a paid feature?
Team sharing: Can you share one subscription across your team using Discord roles? NotesBot allows this (NotesBot), which can stretch a paid plan further.
Invite team members: Fireflies lets you invite team members to your workspace for shared transcription credits, which helps small teams pool resources.

For Discord-first startups, the answer usually comes down to whether you want a tool built specifically for Discord or one that treats it as an after-thought. Harmony falls into the first category, with native commands, unlimited servers, and no storage caps on transcript history.

Fireflies and Otter are strong choices if your meetings happen on Zoom or Google Meet. On G2, 80.2% of Fireflies reviews come from small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, which suggests the tool resonates with early-stage teams.

Conclusion & next steps

The right AI notetaker saves your team hours every week. As one productivity study found, "Companies that bring AI into their workflows are seeing huge wins: 72% report higher productivity and 59% see better job satisfaction."

For Discord-first startups, Harmony offers the most straightforward path: a forever-free plan with 60 minutes of transcription, AI summaries, and unlimited transcript history. Setup takes two minutes, and there are no hidden fees.

If you need more than 60 minutes per month, the Pro tier at $10/seat gives you 600 minutes plus detailed summaries and priority support. For larger teams, the custom Team plan removes all limits.

Harmony AI helps you "offload the low-energy administrative tasks that drain your focus" (Harmony), so you can spend more time building and less time re-watching recordings.

Invite the bot to your server, type /record, and start capturing your next standup. Your future self will thank you when someone asks, "Wait, what did we decide last week?"

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Harmony's free plan ideal for Discord startups?

Harmony's free plan is tailored for Discord, offering 60 minutes of transcription per month, AI summaries, unlimited transcript history, and no server limits, making it a perfect fit for startups using Discord for meetings.

How does Harmony compare to Fireflies.ai in terms of free plan features?

Harmony offers 60 minutes of transcription with unlimited transcript history, while Fireflies.ai provides unlimited transcription under conditions but limits storage to 800 minutes per seat. Harmony's plan is more straightforward with no hidden costs.

What are the limitations of NotesBot's free trial?

NotesBot offers a 30-minute free trial, which is limited for regular use. After the trial, users must choose a paid plan, with the Basic plan starting at $3/month for 5 hours of transcription.

Why might startups prefer Harmony over Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai for Discord?

Harmony is specifically designed for Discord, offering native commands and unlimited servers, unlike Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai, which are not optimized for Discord and focus on other platforms like Zoom and Google Meet.

What hidden costs should be considered in AI transcription services?

Common hidden costs include storage caps, per-minute overages, subscription base fees, export format restrictions, and speaker identification fees. It's important to review these aspects before choosing a service.