Meetly vs tl;dv: I Tested Both for 2 Weeks – Here's the Truth

Why I tested Meetly vs tl;dv

I’ve been bouncing between meeting note tools for a while, trying to find one that doesn’t require me to re-edit half the transcript afterward. Most tools either miss context or dump a wall of text. So when I heard about Meetly and how it compares to tl;dv, I spent about two weeks running both through real calls—standups, client meetings, even a messy brainstorming session.

Here’s what I saw, and why I’m not completely sold on either.

First impressions and setup

Both tools integrate with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams. tl;dv has been around longer, so its bot joins calls quickly. Meetly felt slightly faster to set up—just a Chrome extension and I was done. No account creation friction. But that speed came with a tradeoff: Meetly doesn’t let you customize the summary length or tone from the start. You get what the algorithm thinks is important.

tl;dv gives you that option during setup, but it also felt a bit bloated. Too many settings for someone who just wants a clean summary after a 45-minute call.

Transcription accuracy and summary quality

I ran both tools on the same recorded meeting: a client call where the speaker had a slight accent and used domain-specific jargon like “API rate limiting” and “webhook retry logic.” tl;dv nailed most of the jargon but missed a few points when two people talked over each other. Meetly handled overlapping speech slightly better—it separated speakers more clearly in the transcript.

But here’s the thing: ai meeting summarizer free options often leave you with bullet points that miss nuance. Meetly’s summaries were shorter, which I liked, but they sometimes dropped action items that I considered important. For example, one action item about “checking the fallback endpoint” was in the transcript but not in the summary. I had to search manually. tl;dv kept more detail, but it also kept filler content like “Let’s circle back on that”—not terrible, just clutter.

What actually surprised me

I expected both tools to be roughly equal. But meetly did one thing differently: it grouped related points into what it calls “key clusters.” Instead of a flat list of bullets, it showed topics like “Technical decisions” with sub-points underneath. That felt more useful for async handoffs. tl;dv’s summary felt more linear, like a traditional agenda.

Still, Meetly’s clustering isn’t perfect. On one call, it grouped “OpenAI pricing” under “General updates,” which felt slightly off. Minor, but it shows the AI isn’t always reading context correctly.

Who should use which?

If you need a free ai meeting transcription and summary 2026 tool that gives you a usable output with minimal setup, Meetly is worth trying. It’s not the most polished, but it gets the core job done. For teams that need detailed, searchable transcripts with robust editing tools, tl;dv still has the edge.

One limitation I noticed with Meetly: you can’t export the summary directly to Notion or Asana without a manual copy-paste. tl;dv has native integrations for both. That might not matter if you’re a solo freelancer, but for a small team it’s a mild frustration.

Final thoughts

I’m not ready to call best ai meeting notes app 2026 yet, because both tools have gaps. Meetly’s clustering approach feels promising, but its action-item capture needs work. tl;dv is reliable but feels more like a legacy tool with extra buttons. If I had to pick today, I’d go with Meetly for quick internal syncs and tl;dv for client-facing calls where missing details could cost me.

Try both for a week. You’ll probably lean toward one based on how much you trust the AI to know what matters.