# Shadow

According to OpenAITools.app telemetry verified on 2026-11-11, Shadow (shadow.do) is an AI platform indexed under AI Meeting Assistant generating 17.8K monthly visits with a month-over-month traffic delta of -815 (-4.4%). Its primary geographic market is United States (34.7% traffic share), and it operates on a Freemium pricing model. Top competing alternatives by monthly volume include Notion (173.44M visits/mo), Notion AI (13.46M visits/mo), Genspark (10.22M visits/mo).

The AI meeting assistant that records without a bot and hands your agent the notes

## Key Telemetry & Specifications

| Metric | Value |
| :--- | :--- |
| Tool Name | Shadow |
| Handle | shadow |
| Status | active |
| Origin | independent |
| Maintenance | active |
| Official Domain | shadow.do |
| Website URL | https://www.shadow.do |
| Categories | AI Meeting Assistant, AI Transcription, AI Note Taker, AI Summarizer, AI Email Generator, AI Task Management, AI Report Generator, AI Chatbot |
| Pricing Model | Freemium |
| Monthly Visits | 17,796 |
| MoM Traffic Change | -815 |
| MoM Growth Rate | -4.4% |
| Primary Market | United States |
| Market Share | 34.7% |
| Direct Visits | 7,167 |
| Organic Search Visits | — |
| Social Visits | — |
| Referral Visits | 1,864 |
| Email Visits | 496 |
| Review Score | 4.3 |
| Saved Count | 1 |
| Supported Platforms | Website |
| Billing Platforms |  |
| Attributes | Features: Website; Pricing: Free |
| Tags | AI meeting assistant, Meeting transcription, Meeting summary, Action item tracking, Workflow automation, Voice recognition, Productivity, Note-taking |

## Overview

Shadow starts from a complaint many knowledge workers share about meeting assistants: the bot that joins your call, the note-taker that locks your history behind a subscription, and the data that leaves your machine for someone else's servers. Shadow's answer is a native Mac app that operates entirely in the background. It has no bot that joins the meeting, auto-detects when a call begins, records and transcribes it locally, and stops on its own when the call ends. Speaker identification is done in real time, so transcripts arrive labelled with who said what.

The output is deliberately portable. Every meeting is written to your Mac as Markdown — transcripts, notes, and Skill results — with every call and every person linked into a knowledge base. You can open the folder as an Obsidian vault, sync it with iCloud Drive or Google Drive, search it with Spotlight, or point any AI agent at it. Shadow emphasises that there is a built-in advantage: because agents read the raw files rather than a connector's filtered view, tools like Claude, Codex, or OpenClaw get the complete context.

Between calls, Shadow is more than a note-taker. Press a keyboard shortcut on any screen and it can see what you're looking at, hear what you say, or read selected text, then run an Action Skill to produce an email, a set of notes, or code. Skills are just prompts you can edit or write from scratch, and a webhook can forward results to Zapier, n8n, or Make. The privacy stance is equally concrete: transcription is local, audio does not leave the device, meeting content is never used for model training, and you choose which Skills are allowed to call AI at all.

## Pricing & Plans

Shadow is free to start, and the developer's stated policy is that every meeting is saved to your Mac as Markdown with no history limit on any plan — you keep the files even if you stop paying. For current paid tiers, check the pricing page inside the app.

## Key Features & Capabilities

- **Bot-free auto recording:** Shadow detects when a call starts, records automatically, and stops at the end — no bot in the meeting, nothing to remember to press.
- **On-device transcription:** Transcription runs on your Mac, with real-time speaker identification so you always know who said what.
- **Markdown you own:** Every call is saved as a clean .md file locally, openable as an Obsidian vault, backed up with iCloud or Drive, or searchable by Spotlight.
- **Meeting and Action Skills:** Run prompts on a completed call (notes, BANT, follow-ups, summaries) plus shortcut-driven actions on your screen between meetings.
- **Webhooks and automation:** A webhook pushes transcripts and Skill results into Zapier, n8n, or Make so meetings feed your existing workflows.

## Primary Use Cases

- **Bot-free meeting notes (Knowledge Worker):** Stop taking notes in meetings — Shadow records and transcribes automatically, then runs your Meeting Skills to produce notes and follow-ups.
- **Automated CRM-ready follow-ups (Sales Representative):** Sales calls get a BANT breakdown and a follow-up email the moment the call ends, driven by a Skill you can tailor to your process.
- **Agent-readable meeting memory (AI Power User):** Give Claude, Codex, or another agent a Markdown folder of every call and contact so it has the context a connector would hide.
- **Voice and screen actions between calls (Developer or Founder):** Use shortcut-driven Action Skills to dictate an email, rewrite selected text, or draft code from whatever is on your screen.

## Strengths

- No bot joins your call, so meetings stay natural
- Local, on-device transcription with no history limits
- Meetings stored as portable Markdown that works with Obsidian and AI agents
- Flexible Skills you can edit or write from scratch
- Webhooks to Zapier, n8n, and Make plus a free tier to start

## Limitations

- Mac-only — there is no Windows or web app
- Local-first storage means you manage your own folder, sync, and backups
- By design it records without a bot, so you are responsible for getting consent from other participants
- Skill output quality still depends on prompt craft, though Skills ship with sensible defaults

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How does Shadow record a meeting without a bot?
Downloads and starts on Mac alone; Shadow auto-detects your meeting (Zoom, Google Meet, Huddles, and more) and begins recording without any button press, then stops when the call ends. Transcripts and outputs are saved locally as Markdown.

### What are Meeting Skills and Action Skills?
Shadow defines Skills as prompts. Meeting Skills run on a call when it ends — meeting notes, BANT breakdowns, action items, follow-up emails. Action Skills run when you press their keyboard shortcut on any screen, using your voice, screen content, or selected text.

### Where does my data go?
Recording stays on your Mac and is never used to train AI models. Transcription happens locally, so audio never leaves your device. Only the Skills you explicitly enable run AI on your meeting content.

### Can my AI agents read my meetings?
Yes. Shadow writes a Markdown knowledge base of your meetings where every call and every person is linked, so Claude, Codex, OpenClaw, or any agent that can read the folder gets full context — not just what a connector permits.

### Is there a free plan?
Yes. There is a free tier to start, and meetings are kept with no history limit on any plan, so nothing is held back behind a paywall.

### What is Shadow's monthly traffic and growth trend?
Shadow currently receives 17.8K monthly visits, with a month-over-month traffic change of -815 (-4.4% growth rate). Its primary source market is United States (34.7% share), including 7.17K direct visits/mo and — organic search visits/mo.

### Is Shadow free? What is its pricing model?
Shadow operates on a Freemium pricing model. Shadow is free to start, and the developer's stated policy is that every meeting is saved to your Mac as Markdown with no history limit on any plan — you keep the files even if you stop paying. For current paid tiers, check the pricing page inside the app. Supported billing and checkout platforms include: not listed.

### What are the best Shadow alternatives in 2026?
Based on OpenAITools.app category traffic and feature fit, the top five alternatives to Shadow are: 1. Notion (173.44M visits/mo); 2. Notion AI (13.46M visits/mo); 3. Genspark (10.22M visits/mo); 4. Otter AI (7.36M visits/mo); 5. Tactiq (6.52M visits/mo).

### Which platforms and core AI capabilities does Shadow support?
Shadow is classified under AI Meeting Assistant, AI Transcription, AI Note Taker, AI Summarizer, supports the following platforms: Website, and its core capability tags include: AI meeting assistant, Meeting transcription, Meeting summary, Action item tracking, Workflow automation, Voice recognition.

## Alternatives

| Tool Name | Monthly Visits | Pricing Model | Compare |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| [Notion](https://openaitools.app/tool/t) | 173,441,670 | Freemium | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/shadow-vs-t) |
| [Notion AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/notion-ai) | 13,460,455 | Freemium, Paid, Contact for Pricing | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/notion-ai-vs-shadow) |
| [Genspark](https://openaitools.app/tool/a86wdsptamdqabrshqj83xmhyjqgs2jk) | 10,215,720 | Freemium, Paid, Contact for Pricing | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/a86wdsptamdqabrshqj83xmhyjqgs2jk-vs-shadow) |
| [Otter AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/otter-ai) | 7,360,981 | Freemium | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/otter-ai-vs-shadow) |
| [Tactiq](https://openaitools.app/tool/tactiq) | 6,521,542 | Freemium | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/shadow-vs-tactiq) |
| [Fathom](https://openaitools.app/tool/fathom-2-0) | 5,620,385 | Freemium, Free Trial | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/fathom-2-0-vs-shadow) |
| [Fireflies.ai](https://openaitools.app/tool/fireflies-ai) | 4,411,502 | Freemium | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/fireflies-ai-vs-shadow) |
| [Read Speaker Coach](https://openaitools.app/tool/read-speaker-coach) | 4,071,302 | Freemium, Paid | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/read-speaker-coach-vs-shadow) |
| [Notta](https://openaitools.app/tool/notta) | 2,585,354 | Freemium, Paid, Contact for Pricing | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/notta-vs-shadow) |
| [ScreenApp](https://openaitools.app/tool/screenapp) | 1,690,456 | Freemium | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/screenapp-vs-shadow) |
| [Transcribe Audio to Text](https://openaitools.app/tool/transcribe-audio-to-text) | 1,631,811 | Freemium | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/shadow-vs-transcribe-audio-to-text) |
| [Dooray!](https://openaitools.app/tool/dooray) | 1,532,922 | Freemium, Free Trial, Paid, Contact for Pricing | [Compare](https://openaitools.app/compare/dooray-vs-shadow) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/tool/shadow