tl;dv

tl;dv review: generous meeting capture with powerful cross-call intelligence on paid plans

Editorial verdict: tl;dv is a strong AI meeting recorder and conversation-intelligence platform for Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. It records video, creates transcripts and AI notes, supports timestamped moments and clips, searches conversations, generates recurring multi-meeting reports, and connects findings to CRM and workflow tools. Pro serves general knowledge and automation use, while Business adds deeper sales coaching and cross-call intelligence.

The Free plan is more capable than many competitors because recording and transcription are not metered by minutes. However, free recordings are retained for three months, advanced AI allowances are limited, and all plans have a three-hour meeting ceiling plus fair-use recording thresholds. “Unlimited” therefore describes the core capture workflow, not permanent storage or every AI and integration feature.

Who tl;dv is best for

• Individuals and small teams wanting to test video meeting capture without a subscription.
• Product, research, and customer-success teams turning interviews into clips and themes.
• Sales teams syncing notes to CRM and comparing objections, playbooks, and rep behavior across calls.
• Organizations needing Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams coverage with bot or bot-free audio capture.
• AI-forward teams querying meeting knowledge through ChatGPT or Claude using the tl;dv MCP connector.

It is a weaker fit for meetings longer than three hours, unsupported conferencing platforms, organizations requiring permanent free video storage, or teams that cannot govern recording consent and organization-wide search.

How tl;dv works

Bot and bot-free recording

The service can add a recorder to supported meetings, while the desktop app can capture system audio without a meeting bot. Bot-free mode records microphone and computer audio but not meeting video, screen sharing, or chat. It may also capture unrelated system sounds and may not display an automatic recording indicator, so the user must disclose recording.

Transcripts, notes, moments, and clips

tl;dv creates a transcript and AI notes after recording. Users can mark timestamped moments, add context, mention teammates, and create shareable clips. Correct names, numbers, speakers, and key terms before turning a transcript excerpt into customer evidence or an operational decision.

Ask tl;dv and multi-meeting reports

AI can answer questions about a meeting and, on higher plans, analyze multiple calls to identify themes, objections, decisions, and patterns. Scheduled reports can deliver recurring insights. The result should link back to source meetings and timestamps; a clean summary can hide disagreement or conditional language.

CRM automation and integrations

Pro includes thousands of integrations, CRM synchronization, API and webhook access, and automation capabilities. Business adds deeper field mapping and team-wide workflows. Define CRM field ownership, overwrite behavior, duplicate handling, and approval rules before enabling automatic writes.

MCP connector

tl;dv offers an MCP connector for paid accounts, allowing supported AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Claude to search and analyze meeting transcripts. This turns the meeting library into a broader knowledge source and can combine it with other connected systems. Grant the narrowest permissions possible and prevent an assistant from publishing or changing external records without review.

Pricing

Pricing checked September 1, 2026.

• Free: $0 with unlimited meeting recordings and transcripts, video capture, timestamped notes, limited clips, limited uploads, and introductory AI notes, prompts, reports, and integration credits.
• Pro: $29 per seat monthly or $18 per seat per month annually. Adds unlimited single-meeting AI notes and Ask tl;dv, custom templates, global transcript search, unlimited uploads and storage, downloadable outputs, 5,000-plus integrations, CRM sync, API, webhooks, MCP, and priority support.
• Business: $39 per seat monthly or $29 per seat per month annually. Adds premium transcription choices, custom vocabulary, broader multilingual support, unlimited multi-meeting intelligence, scheduled reports, playbook monitoring, objection handling, AI coaching, speaker insights, and team-wide CRM automation.
• Enterprise: custom pricing with SCIM, custom SSO, organizational activity logs, privately hosted or regional AI options, advanced administration, invoicing, deployment support, and a dedicated success relationship.

Pricing may be displayed in USD or EUR using the same numeric amount. Regional discounts and promotions can vary. Confirm the live order form and contract.

The free plan’s real limits

Free recordings are stored for three months. After three days, video moves to archived storage and can take substantial time to restore for playback. Near scheduled deletion, tl;dv provides a limited download window. Transcripts and notes remain accessible under the documented archive behavior, but the plan is not a permanent free video archive.

Advanced allowances are generally lifetime limits rather than monthly resets: the first ten meetings receive full AI notes, followed by notes covering only the first portion; the plan also limits AI prompts, recurring AI reports, integration triggers, clips, and manual file uploads. Free cannot record overlapping meetings.

All plans cap a recorded or uploaded meeting at three hours. The current terms also describe weekly fair-use thresholds: up to 40 recordings on Free, 80 on Pro, and 120 on Business. Concurrent recording is limited to one meeting on Free, two on Pro, and three on Business.

Uploads and language behavior

Free users receive a small lifetime upload allowance; Pro and Business permit unlimited uploads under their terms. Uploaded audio or video must be no longer than three hours and currently lacks automatic speaker recognition, so participants appear with generic labels.

Users can select tl;dv’s transcription model or, on applicable tiers, Whisper. Business supports multi-language conversation handling and custom vocabulary. Transcription language is not the same as translation. Test each required language, accent, and switching pattern with representative audio.

Strengths

• Unlimited free core recording and transcription provide a meaningful evaluation period.
• Video, timestamped moments, clips, and transcripts make evidence easy to share.
• Pro combines meeting search, AI, integrations, CRM sync, uploads, API, webhooks, and MCP.
• Business offers unusually useful multi-meeting reports, sales playbooks, objections, and coaching.
• Bot and bot-free capture support different meeting expectations.
• US and EU-oriented AI-hosting choices can help regional governance discussions.

Limitations and risks

• Free video storage expires, and archived playback is not immediate.
• Advanced free features are lifetime allocations rather than recurring monthly capacity.
• Every plan has a three-hour meeting ceiling and weekly fair-use thresholds.
• Uploaded files do not currently identify speakers automatically.
• CRM automation can turn an AI misunderstanding into operational data.
• Bot-free recording is less visible to participants and increases the importance of explicit notice.
• Multi-meeting AI and MCP can expose information beyond a user’s expected meeting-by-meeting context.

A practical tl;dv evaluation

1. Choose three meeting types. Test a sales call, research interview, and internal planning meeting.
2. Define consent. Create calendar notice, verbal disclosure, refusal handling, and a non-recorded alternative.
3. Compare capture modes. Test the meeting bot and bot-free desktop recording, noting video, audio, and notification differences.
4. Score the transcript. Review speakers, names, numbers, dates, jargon, interruptions, and multilingual segments.
5. Test AI with evidence. Compare notes, Ask tl;dv, and a multi-meeting report against source timestamps.
6. Exercise sharing defaults. Verify personal, team, organization, attendee-email, clip, and public-link visibility.
7. Sandbox CRM automation. Test field mapping, duplicates, overwrite, failures, revocation, and deletion.
8. Connect MCP cautiously. Use a test workspace, inspect requested permissions, and attempt only read-oriented queries first.
9. Simulate retention. Export and delete test meetings and verify the archive, transcript, clips, integrations, and connected assistants.

Consent, visibility, and meeting etiquette

Recording requirements vary by jurisdiction, sector, contract, employment context, and participant location. Enable automatic consent requests where appropriate, provide advance notice, and repeat disclosure at the beginning. A bot’s name or presence may not be legally sufficient, and bot-free capture can be completely unobvious.

Set sharing rules by meeting type. A sales sync may be team-visible while a candidate interview, legal consultation, security incident, or employee discussion should remain restricted or unrecorded. Automatic post-meeting emails can expose a recording to the wrong distribution list if calendar attendees are not checked.

Privacy, security, AI hosting, and governance

Review tl;dv’s current DPA, subprocessors, privacy policy, security documentation, SOC 2 materials, retention, deletion, data locations, and model-provider terms. The product offers a choice between US-hosted AI using Anthropic and EU-oriented hosting in France using Mistral for supported configurations. Confirm exact coverage, processing flows, and contract language rather than assuming one setting governs every integration.

CRM, Zapier, API, webhooks, MCP, and AI assistants create additional data paths. Apply least privilege, rotate credentials, restrict public links and exports, and document how data-subject or customer deletion requests propagate. Conversation analytics and coaching should assist a manager, not become an opaque automated employment decision.

Alternatives

• Fathom: generous individual recording and strong summaries with straightforward team intelligence.
• Fireflies.ai: broad languages, integrations, AI Skills, and conversation analytics.
• Otter.ai: excellent live collaborative transcripts and cross-meeting chat.
• Grain: focused on customer research, highlight clips, and qualitative insight.
• Gong: deeper enterprise sales intelligence, revenue workflows, and coaching at higher cost.
• Native Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams features: worth comparing when data consolidation matters most.

Final recommendation

Choose tl;dv when unlimited core capture, video evidence, clips, integrations, and cross-call intelligence fit the workflow. Free is an excellent trial but not a durable video archive. Pro is the practical general-business tier for AI, search, CRM, integrations, uploads, and MCP. Business is justified by multilingual quality, unlimited multi-meeting analysis, scheduled reports, coaching, and deeper automation. Enterprise is appropriate for advanced identity, hosting, audit, and deployment requirements.

Run a consent-aware pilot that tests retention, weekly volume, concurrent calls, AI evidence, CRM writes, MCP access, and deletion. If tl;dv turns meetings into trustworthy reusable insight without broadening access beyond policy, it can be a powerful operational memory. If recording and search permissions are unclear, the same intelligence layer can expose more than the organization intended.