tl;dv Review
Reviewed by Carlos Gil · Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Updated 6 min readEditorially reviewed
Quick facts
- Starting price
- Free; Pro $18/seat/mo billed annually ($29 monthly)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Best for
- Sales and customer teams that want recordings, AI notes and coaching with EU data hosting
- Platforms
- Chrome extension and meeting bot, macOS and Windows desktop apps, web app
BestStacked Score
Weighted average of 5 categories. Methodology below.
Quick answer
Is tl;dv worth it in 2026?
tl;dv records and transcribes Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls, writes AI notes, and on Business monitors sales calls against your playbook. Its free plan records unlimited meetings, but AI notes cover only your first 10 meetings in full, the allowance doesn't renew, and recordings are kept for 3 months. It's worth paying for if your team wants unlimited AI notes, CRM workflows and data hosted in the EU. Pro is $18 per seat a month billed annually ($29 monthly) and Business $29 ($39). Prices were checked on tl;dv's pricing page on October 13, 2026.
- Best for
- Sales, success and recruiting teams that want recordings, AI notes, CRM workflows and coaching, with EU hosting.
- Skip it if
- You want lasting free AI notes; Fathom's free plan keeps basic summaries on every call.
- Strongest capability
- Free recording and transcription with no meeting cap, plus a bot-free desktop recorder for Mac and Windows.
- Biggest limitation
- The free AI allowance is a one-time 10 meetings, and Pro costs more per seat than Fireflies Pro on annual billing.
The Verdict
tl;dv is a capable meeting recorder with one of the most generous free plans for recording: unlimited meetings, transcription in 30+ languages and a bot-free desktop app. The catch is AI. The free plan includes AI notes on 10 meetings for the life of the account, after which only the first 10 minutes of each meeting get notes, and recordings are kept for 3 months. Pro ($18 a seat billed annually) adds unlimited notes, integrations, the API and MCP, and Business ($29) adds multi-meeting insights, scheduled reports and sales coaching. tl;dv hosts data in Europe, though AI processing can run in the US. Its own pages disagree on the mobile app, free storage and its SOC 2 report type, and fees are non-refundable. We score tl;dv 8.5/10.
Best for
Teams that want recordings with AI notes, CRM workflows and coaching, and prefer EU data hosting.
Skip if
You want free AI summaries on every call, or the lowest per-seat price for unlimited notes.
AlternativesFathom, Fireflies.ai, MeetGeek
The Background
What Is tl;dv?
tl;dv ("too long; didn't view") is made by tldx Solutions GmbH of Aachen, Germany, founded in 2020 and led by CEO Raphael Allstadt. It records meetings on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams through a bot, or without a bot through its macOS and Windows desktop app, which captures system audio. Recordings are transcribed in 30+ languages, summarised into AI notes and searchable. tl;dv says it has 3,000,000+ users on its about page and 2M+ on its homepage; both are its own figures. Its security page says all its data centers are in Europe, while its privacy policy says AI processing can take place in the US, where users choose.
The Product
tl;dv Features: What You Actually Get
Recording and transcription
Every plan records unlimited meetings and transcribes them in 30+ languages. A bot joins Zoom, Meet and Teams calls, or the desktop app for macOS and Windows records system audio with no bot. Meetings are capped at 3 hours on every plan. Pro adds premium transcription and unlimited uploads; Business adds advanced transcription and custom vocabulary.
A recruiter records every candidate interview on the free plan and searches transcripts later for specific answers.
AI notes and Ask AI
Free includes AI notes on 10 meetings and 10 Ask AI queries for the life of the account; after that, only the first 10 minutes of each meeting get notes. Pro adds unlimited AI notes, custom note templates, action-item assignment, follow-up email drafts and unlimited questions about a single meeting. Questions across many meetings are unlimited on Business.
A customer success manager asks tl;dv what a client said about renewal across the last three calls and drafts a follow-up email.
Sales coaching (Business)
Business adds AI playbook monitoring, objection handling and coaching against frameworks such as BANT and MEDDICC, plus scheduled AI reports across meetings. Team management and team-wide integrations are also Business features.
A sales manager gets a weekly report showing which reps covered budget and timeline on discovery calls.
Integrations, API and MCP
Integrations, including HubSpot and Salesforce, need a paid plan; team-wide CRM workflows set by an admin need Business. Pro includes the API (still labelled v1alpha1), webhooks for finished meetings and transcripts, and an MCP server, which tl;dv lists on its pricing page but hasn't documented publicly.
A RevOps lead sends meeting notes to HubSpot deals automatically and triggers a Slack alert when a transcript is ready.
EU hosting and security
tl;dv says all its data centers are in Europe, it is SOC 2 compliant and customer data isn't used to train AI; its AI runs on Anthropic models through Google Vertex AI, with an EU or US choice for AI processing. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, privately hosted AI and activity logs.
A European company that needs meeting data stored in the EU picks tl;dv and sets AI processing to the EU.
Feature recap
- Unlimited free recordings and transcription in 30+ languages
- Meeting bot for Zoom, Meet and Teams, or a bot-free desktop app
- AI notes on 10 meetings free; unlimited on Pro
- Multi-meeting insights, scheduled reports and coaching on Business
- HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Slack and 5,000+ apps via Zapier
- API, webhooks and MCP from Pro
- EU data centers; no training on customer data
The Numbers
tl;dv Pricing: Every Plan Explained
tl;dv prices paid plans per seat, and only paid members count. A US visitor sees dollar prices; the page's own price data is in euros with the same numbers. Checked October 13, 2026.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Included Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Unlimited recordings and transcription, AI notes on 10 meetings and 10 Ask AI queries (lifetime), recordings kept 3 months, desktop app | Trying tl;dv or recording without AI |
| Pro | $29/seat | $18/seat/mo | Unlimited AI notes, templates, follow-up email drafts, integrations, global search, unlimited uploads and storage, API, webhooks and MCP | Individuals and small teams |
| BusinessBest value | $39/seat | $29/seat/mo | Unlimited multi-meeting insights, scheduled AI reports, playbook monitoring, objection handling, custom vocabulary, team management and team-wide integrations | Sales and success teams |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Super admin, org-wide integrations, SSO, SCIM, privately hosted AI, activity logs, optional usage-based pricing, dedicated success manager | Large organizations |
The free plan is good for recording and weak for AI: its 10 meetings of AI notes are a one-time allowance, and recordings are archived after 3 days and kept for 3 months, according to tl;dv's help center. Pro at $18 a seat billed annually costs more than Fireflies Pro ($10) and Fathom Premium ($16), but includes the API and MCP. A five-person sales team on Business pays $145 a month, or $1,740 a year, billed annually (our arithmetic). The pricing page says annual billing saves up to 40%; on the listed prices it works out to about 38% on Pro and 26% on Business. tl;dv's terms (effective May 18, 2026) say fees are non-refundable unless otherwise agreed, and you can cancel any time. The pricing FAQ says a trial of paid features is available but doesn't state its length, and nonprofits and NGOs can ask for a discount.
Read before you buy
Where tl;dv's own pages differ
Mobile app: the pricing page lists a mobile app for iOS and Android on the free plan, while the homepage FAQ says tl;dv doesn't have a native mobile app yet.
Free storage: a comparison on the pricing page says the free plan has unlimited storage, while the help center says free recordings are stored for 3 months.
SOC 2: the security and about pages describe SOC 2 Type II, while a tl;dv blog post last updated in April 2026 says it has a SOC 2 Type 1 report.
Users and founding: the about page says 3,000,000+ users and founded in 2020, while the homepage and pricing page say 2M+ users. The homepage also still shows an EU-US Privacy Shield badge, a framework struck down in 2020.
The Tradeoffs
tl;dv Pros and Cons
What we love
- Unlimited free recordings and transcription
- Bot-free desktop recorder for Mac and Windows
- Sales coaching against BANT and MEDDICC on Business
- API, webhooks and MCP from Pro
- Data centers in Europe; no training on customer data
- Paid seats only: viewers don't count
What could be better
- Free AI notes are a one-time 10 meetings
- Free recordings are kept for 3 months
- Pro costs more per seat than Fireflies Pro
- Multi-meeting questions need Business
- Fees are non-refundable
- Its own pages disagree on mobile apps, storage and SOC 2 type
The Audience
Who Should Use tl;dv?
Best for: European sales and success teams
Teams that want meeting data hosted in Europe, CRM workflows and call coaching get them on Business at $29 a seat billed annually.
Best for: recording-first teams
Recruiters and researchers who mainly need searchable recordings can use the free plan without a meeting cap, as long as 3 months of storage is enough.
Skip if: you want free AI notes forever
Fathom's free plan keeps basic AI summaries on every call; tl;dv's free AI notes run out after 10 meetings.
The Methodology
How We Reviewed tl;dv
This is an editorial review, not a documented hands-on test. We didn't use a tl;dv account for this review. It's based on tl;dv's pricing page, homepage, desktop-app, coaching, integrations, security, about and imprint pages, help-center articles on free-plan limits, pricing, CRM workflows and cancellation, its API documentation, terms of service and privacy policy, all checked on October 13, 2026. Where tl;dv's pages differ, we report both statements. No transcription-accuracy or time-saving results are claimed.
Our editorial evaluation considers product information, official documentation, pricing, features and professional experience. It is not a claim of documented hands-on testing.
Our review methodology →What changed
- : First published. Editorial review based on tl;dv's pricing, product, integrations, security, about and imprint pages, help-center articles, API docs, terms and privacy policy, all checked October 13, 2026. Sub-scores are provisional pending editorial approval.
The Field
tl;dv vs The Competition
tl;dv competes with other AI note-takers on free-plan limits, per-seat price and CRM features. Prices below were checked on each vendor's pricing page on October 13, 2026.
| Tool | Starting Price | Free plan | Best Feature | BS Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tl;dv | Free; Pro $18/seat/mo billed annually ($29 monthly) | Yes | Recording and transcription | 8.5/10 |
| Fathom | Free; Premium $16/mo billed annually ($20 monthly) | Yes | Free plan with no recording cap and basic summaries | 9.2/10 |
| Fireflies.ai | Free; Pro $10/seat/mo billed annually ($18 monthly) | Yes | Broad integrations and conversation intelligence | 8.7/10 |
| Otter | Free; Pro $8.33/mo billed annually ($16.99 monthly) | Yes | Live transcription | 8.8/10 |
| MeetGeek | Free; Pro $9.99/mo billed annually ($15.99 monthly) | Yes | Bot and bot-free capture with many CRMs | 8.8/10 |
Fathom: Fathom's free plan keeps basic AI summaries on every call, where tl;dv's free AI notes stop after 10 meetings. tl;dv adds a bot-free desktop recorder on every plan and EU hosting.Read our Fathom review →
Fireflies.ai: Fireflies Pro is cheaper per seat on annual billing and lists 100+ integrations. tl;dv's Business plan adds playbook-based coaching.Read our Fireflies.ai review →
Otter: Otter transcribes live during the call and costs less per seat. tl;dv's free plan has no monthly minute cap, while Otter's stops at 300 minutes.Read our Otter review →
MeetGeek: MeetGeek Pro is cheaper per seat and connects to more CRMs, including Pipedrive and Attio. tl;dv's free plan records more without a time cap.Read our MeetGeek review →
In The Wild
How People Actually Use tl;dv
A five-person sales team
Business ($29 a seat billed annually, $1,740 a year for five) adds coaching against your playbook, scheduled reports and team-wide HubSpot or Salesforce workflows.
A recruiter on a budget
The free plan records and transcribes unlimited interviews. Export anything you need before the 3-month storage limit, or move to Pro for unlimited storage.
A developer building on meeting data
Pro includes the API and webhooks for finished meetings and transcripts. The API is still labelled alpha, so plan for changes.
The Ecosystem
tl;dv Integrations
tl;dv integrates natively with CRMs, chat and project tools, and connects to 5,000+ more apps through Zapier.
- →HubSpot and Salesforce (team workflows on Business)
- →Zoho CRM
- →Slack and Microsoft Teams
- →ClickUp, Asana, Jira and monday.com
- →Google Drive, Dropbox and Box
- →Salesloft and Greenhouse
- →Zapier (5,000+ apps); API, webhooks and MCP (Pro and up)
Integrations need a paid plan. Pipedrive and Notion aren't on tl;dv's integrations page; use Zapier for those. Organization-wide API automation needs Enterprise.
Common Questions
tl;dv FAQ
The Final Word
Should You Use tl;dv?
tl;dv is a solid choice for teams that want unlimited recordings, AI notes, CRM workflows and coaching, especially if EU data hosting matters. Its free plan is best treated as a recorder with a short AI trial built in, because the 10 meetings of AI notes don't renew. Pro is pricier per seat than Fireflies, but includes the API and MCP; Business is where coaching and cross-meeting insights start. Check the storage and mobile-app details yourself, since tl;dv's pages disagree. We score tl;dv 8.5/10.
Yes, if
You want recordings with AI notes, CRM workflows and coaching, and prefer EU data hosting.
No, if
You want free AI summaries on every call or the cheapest per-seat plan.
About the reviewer
Carlos Gil
Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Carlos Gil is the bestselling author of The End of Marketing, a LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of The Best Network. He brings 15+ years in marketing to practical reviews of AI, SaaS, email marketing, creator, and ecommerce software.
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