Best Cluely alternative: Jarvis AI Assistant.

Nothing listens until you press Cmd+/: Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is a screen-aware desktop AI assistant you invoke.

How we put this list together: Jarvis is our product — this site is getjarvis.eu — so treat the #1 spot as an editorial opinion with an obvious interest, and check the sourced facts yourself. Every price and tier name on this page was checked in July 2026 against the vendors' own public pricing pages (cluely.com/pricing, granola.ai/pricing, highlightai.com/pricing, otter.ai/pricing, saner.ai/pricing). Where a vendor does not publish something — Cluely's and Saner.ai's exact annual dollar amounts, Highlight AI's supported OS list, the underlying model names behind most of these products — we say so rather than quoting a number. Each named limitation is drawn from the same vendor pages, not from third-party reviews.

1. Jarvis — An on-demand, screen-aware desktop assistant. Press Cmd+/ on macOS or Ctrl+/ on Windows and a floating bar screenshots the active window, answers questions about it, and acts in your apps through 30+ OAuth connectors (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, Figma, Microsoft 365). Inference runs on cloud models routed through Jarvis’s GDPR-aligned backend, with persistent memory across sessions — there is no always-on audio capture by design. Pricing: Free: $0 — 40 requests/week. Pro: $16/month ($144/year billed annually). Unlimited: $32/month. Checked July 2026. Platforms: macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows 10+, Linux. Known limitation: Cloud-only inference — Jarvis needs an internet connection and has no offline mode, and because it deliberately ships no always-on audio capture it does not do live in-call transcription. Pick Jarvis if: you want one shortcut that makes AI screen-aware across email, docs, code, and dashboards — not just meetings — with EU data residency and a real free tier. 2. Granola — An AI notepad for meetings that captures notes alongside computer audio — no bot joins the call — and layers AI chat on top of your meeting transcripts and history. For most people searching for a Cluely alternative, this is the closest match to what they actually want: reliable meeting notes without an overlay whispering answers. Pricing: Basic: $0/user/month — AI meeting notes, limited meeting history, AI chat, shared folders, templates. Business: $14/user/month — unlimited notes and history, advanced AI models, integrations (Attio, Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Affinity, Zapier), API access. Enterprise: $35/user/month — adds SSO, admin controls, priority support. Checked July 2026. Platforms: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android. Known limitation: Pricing is strictly per-seat with no flat team rate — per granola.ai/pricing, cost scales linearly at $14 or $35 per user per month, which adds up quickly for larger teams versus flat-rate tools. Pick Granola if: meetings are the whole job: you want clean per-user meeting notes with strong integrations (Notion, HubSpot, Slack) and don’t mind per-seat billing. 3. Highlight AI — A desktop AI assistant for individuals with unlimited chat on auto-selected base models, local audio transcription, daily briefs, and integrations — all on the free tier. A credit system on the $20/month Pro plan unlocks premium and flagship models, cloud transcription, and enhanced meeting notes, and it supports bring-your-own-API-key for Anthropic or OpenAI. Pricing: Free: $0 — unlimited chats with auto-selected base models, local audio transcription, daily briefs, all integrations. Pro: $20/month — 2,000 credits/month for premium/flagship models, cloud transcription, enhanced meeting notes. Teams: “Coming soon”, pricing not published. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Desktop app; the vendor’s pricing page does not itemize supported operating systems. Known limitation: Its Teams plan — the tier most comparable to a dedicated meeting assistant — is explicitly “Coming soon” on highlightai.com/pricing, with no live price or ship date, so team meeting workflows aren’t purchasable yet. Pick Highlight AI if: you want a genuinely free general-purpose desktop assistant with local transcription and don’t need team-oriented meeting features today. 4. Otter.ai — The long-established AI meeting notetaker: it transcribes meetings, interviews, and conversations into searchable notes with summaries and action items. The most widely adopted and widely integrated pick if pure transcription is what you need. Pricing: Basic: free forever — 300 transcription minutes/month, 30-minute cap per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports. Pro: $16.99/user/month billed monthly, or $8.33/user/month billed annually. Business: $30/user/month billed monthly, or $19.99/user/month billed annually. Enterprise: custom pricing. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Web app plus desktop and mobile clients. Known limitation: Per otter.ai/pricing, the free Basic tier caps transcription at 300 minutes per month and 30 minutes per single conversation — anyone with back-to-back meetings hits the ceiling fast and needs a paid seat. Pick Otter.ai if: you want the most established meeting-transcription tool with the widest adoption and are fine with per-seat plans and minute caps. 5. Saner.ai — An AI notes and task assistant rather than a meeting tool: it syncs notes, PDFs, email, Slack, and calendar into one searchable AI memory layer, with a “Reasoning Mode” for planning-style queries. The pick if what you actually wanted from an assistant is a second brain, not a call overlay. Pricing: Free: $0 — 30 AI requests/month, 100 notes, 100MB storage. Starter: $8/month — 30 AI requests/day, 1,000 notes, 5GB storage. Standard: $16/month — “unlimited*” AI messages under a fair-use clause, 100 AI requests/day, unlimited notes, 100GB storage. Yearly billing is discounted 20%; the vendor does not itemize annual dollar amounts. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Web app, Chrome extension, mobile app. Known limitation: Even the top $16/month Standard tier’s “unlimited” AI messages are asterisked on saner.ai/pricing — capped by a “reasonable use” clause in the Terms of Service, with a 100-requests/day limit still applying. Pick Saner.ai if: your priority is a searchable personal knowledge base and lightweight task assistant rather than live meeting capture or screen awareness.

Why people switch: The framing is a liability; The core differentiator costs $149.99/month; You want screen-aware on demand, not always-on; You want it to do more than meetings; You care about EU data residency.

Pick a competitor instead if: You need live meeting transcription and notes — Jarvis deliberately has no always-on audio mode, so it will not transcribe your calls. Granola (free Basic tier, $14/user/month Business) or Otter.ai (free 300 min/month, Pro from $8.33/user/month annual) are purpose-built for exactly this. You want a live in-call prompting overlay — That is literally Cluely’s product — real-time answers during the conversation, with the screen-share-hidden mode on its $149.99/month tier. Jarvis will not whisper answers mid-call; if that is the job, Jarvis is the wrong tool. You want a personal knowledge base, not screen capture — If the goal is searching your own notes, PDFs, and email rather than asking about what is on screen, Saner.ai’s memory layer ($8–$16/month) is closer to what you need than any screen-aware assistant. You want unlimited free AI chat with zero budget — Highlight AI’s free tier includes unlimited chats on auto-selected base models plus local transcription. Jarvis’s free plan is capped at 40 requests/week.

What is the best Cluely alternative in 2026? Jarvis for on-demand screen-aware help across all your apps; Granola or Otter.ai if what you actually need is meeting transcription; Saner.ai if you want an AI knowledge base; Highlight AI if you want a free general desktop assistant.

Is Cluely detectable in meetings? Per cluely.com/pricing (July 2026), the “hidden from meeting screen-share software” capability is gated behind the $149.99/month Pro + Undetectability tier — the standard $19.99/month Pro plan does not include it. We cannot independently verify any vendor’s undetectability claims. Jarvis takes the opposite approach: it is an on-demand assistant with nothing designed to hide.

Are tools like Cluely allowed at work? That depends on your employer’s policy and local recording-consent law — always-on audio capture of calls can require consent from everyone recorded, and many companies and interview processes explicitly prohibit covert AI assistance. An on-demand assistant that screenshots your own screen when you invoke it sits much closer to ordinary productivity software, but check your policy if in doubt.

Is there a free Cluely alternative? Yes, every tool on this list has a free tier: Jarvis (40 requests/week), Highlight AI (unlimited base-model chats), Granola (Basic, limited history), Otter.ai (300 minutes/month), and Saner.ai (30 AI requests/month). Cluely itself also has a limited free tier.

Which Cluely alternatives work on Windows? Jarvis runs on Windows 10+ (plus macOS on Apple Silicon and Intel, and Linux). Cluely and Granola both ship Windows desktop apps. Otter.ai and Saner.ai work from any OS via the web. Highlight AI’s pricing page does not itemize supported operating systems.

Does Jarvis work in Zoom and Google Meet calls? Jarvis works over any app including meeting windows — press Cmd+/ or Ctrl+/ and ask about what is on screen. It does not transcribe audio continuously by design; use Granola or Otter.ai for that.

Alternatives · Cluely alternatives · Last updated July 28, 2026