Best Meeting Bot APIs for Developers (2026)

MeetStream is the best meeting bot API for developers in 2026, for agent-first teams whose AI agents join, listen, speak and act in meetings, and for product teams built on meeting data, from $0.35 an hour on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Recall.ai, Nylas Notetaker, MeetingBaaS, Skribby, Attendee, Vexa and the Fireflies.ai API fit narrower jobs.

A meeting bot API sends a bot into a call from a meeting link and returns the recording, transcript and live media, with no integration per platform. The real difference is what happens during the call.

We build MeetStream, so weigh the ranking with that in mind. Every competitor fact below comes from the vendor's own pricing page or docs, checked in October 2026.

Quick picks: the best meeting bot APIs compared

API	Best for	Price per hour (as of October 2026)	Platforms
MeetStream	Best overall, for agent-first and product teams	$0.35 ($0.25 for select startups and at volume); in-house transcription +$0.10	Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams; Webex, GoTo Meeting, Slack huddles and WhatsApp calls in Beta
Recall.ai	Teams that want the longest-established vendor	$0.50; transcription +$0.15	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex; GoTo Meeting and Slack Huddles in beta
Nylas Notetaker	Products already built on Nylas calendar and email	Plan-based: 5 free hours a month, then $0.70 to $0.80 beyond plan hours; transcription included	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams
MeetingBaaS	EU teams that want a self-hosted path	$0.50 to $0.35 per token-hour; transcription +0.25 token	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams
Skribby	Lightweight notetakers in EU or Japan regions	$0.35 audio only; video +$0.05; transcription priced per model	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, plus Zoom and Teams webinars
Attendee	Running the full bot stack on your own servers	Hosted $0.50 to $0.35; transcription on your own provider keys	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Zoom RTMS
Vexa	An Apache 2.0 open-source transcription bot	Self-hosted free; hosted $0.30, real-time transcription +$0.20	Google Meet, Teams, Zoom
Fireflies.ai API	Integrations that read Fireflies accounts your users already have	No per-hour API rate published	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams (named as examples in its docs)

A recorded, transcribed hour is the fairer comparison: $0.45 on MeetStream ($0.35 at the startup and volume rate) against $0.65 on Recall.ai. Our Recall.ai pricing breakdown walks through the add-ons.

How did we evaluate these meeting bot APIs?

• Platform coverage: which meeting apps one API joins today, with beta marked as beta.
• Real-time audio and transcripts: data during the call, or only after it.
• Agents that speak: whether the bot can talk, chat or show an image, not only listen.
• Per-participant streams: a stream per speaker, or one mixed track.
• Price: the published cost of a recorded, transcribed hour.
• Setup: time to the first bot, platform app reviews, SDKs and agent tooling.

1. MeetStream: best overall, for agent-first and product teams

MeetStream is developer infrastructure for meetings, built agent-first. One create_bot call sends a bot into a Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams call in under ten seconds. The bot joins as a participant: it hears the room, speaks back and acts while the meeting is running. Hosted voice agents answer on a wake word and handle interruptions inside MeetStream, so you host no agent server. It can also read and post in chat and show an image or animated GIF as its video.

That makes MeetStream the best choice for two kinds of team. Agent-first teams get bots that join, listen, speak and act mid-meeting without running a media or agent stack. Product teams shipping notetakers, sales intelligence, coaching, recruiting or CRM automation get recordings, transcripts and per-participant data from one API at a lower published price than Recall.ai's.

Real-time media. Live audio streams to your WebSocket about 200 ms behind the room. Live transcripts arrive by webhook or WebSocket with speaker names, word timings and end-of-turn flags. Participant events report who is in the call.

Per-participant audio and video. Set audio_separate_streams or video_separate_streams to true for per-participant audio and video on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, at no extra charge.

Transcription. MeetStream's in-house engine is a $0.10 an hour add-on, and you can choose Deepgram, AssemblyAI, Sarvam, JigsawStack or meeting captions per bot instead. After the call, fetch the transcript from GET /api/v1/transcript/{transcript_id}/get_transcript.

Platforms. MeetStream supports Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, plus Webex, GoTo Meeting, Slack huddles and WhatsApp calls in Beta. Beta platforms are enabled per workspace. Contact us for access. Google Meet and Teams need no setup, and Zoom needs a one-time Marketplace app.

Tooling. A hosted MCP server at mcp.meetstream.ai, a CLI, and typed TypeScript and Python SDKs let coding agents drive it. Calendar auto-join is free, join_at schedules bots, and recordings can go to your own S3-compatible or Alibaba OSS bucket. Workspace webhooks are signed and logged, and you can resend any delivery from the dashboard.

Pricing. $0.35 per bot hour, prorated to the second, and $0.25 for select startups and at volume. In-house transcription adds $0.10, 30 days of storage are included, and every account starts with $5 of free credit and no credit card. See the pricing page.

Trust and scale. Compliance: ISO 27001 certified, GDPR, HIPAA compliant with a BAA on request, SOC 2 Type 2 under audit. MeetStream has processed over 1,000,000 meeting minutes across about 80,000 bots.

Best for: agent-first teams building voice agents and copilots that act in the call, and product teams shipping notetakers, sales intelligence, coaching, recruiting or CRM automation on one meeting bot API.

2. Recall.ai: best for teams that want the longest-established vendor

Recall.ai is a long-established meeting bot API. Its bots join Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Webex, with GoTo Meeting and Slack Huddles in beta, and it ships a desktop recording SDK for capturing calls without a bot. It offers live audio, video and transcripts.

As of October 2026 it lists $0.50 per recording hour with five free hours, plus $0.15 an hour for transcription. Storage is free for seven days, then $0.05 per hour retained.

Best for: teams that want the longest-established vendor in the category. See MeetStream vs Recall.ai and our Recall.ai alternatives guide.

3. Nylas Notetaker: best if you already build on Nylas

Nylas Notetaker is the meeting bot inside the Nylas email and calendar platform. It joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and includes transcription with speaker labels and AI summaries, delivered after the meeting ends.

As of October 2026 it is sold inside Nylas plans: a free plan with five bot hours a month, Essentials at $15 a month with 10 hours then $0.80 an hour, and Pro at $49 a month with 70 hours then $0.70 an hour.

Best for: calendar products already on Nylas that want post-call recordings. See MeetStream vs Nylas Notetaker and Recall.ai vs Nylas Notetaker.

4. MeetingBaaS: best for EU teams that want a self-hosted path

MeetingBaaS is a Paris-based meeting bot API for Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, hosted or self-run from a core that is source-available under the Business Source License 1.1. It streams mixed meeting audio and live transcripts, and its speaking bots, built on Pipecat, can talk in the meeting.

As of October 2026 one token is one recording hour, from $0.50 in small packs down to $0.35 in the largest, with eight free hours. Transcription adds a quarter of a token an hour.

Best for: EU-based teams that want EU hosting or a self-hosted option. More in Recall.ai vs MeetingBaaS.

5. Skribby: best for lightweight notetakers in EU or Japan regions

Skribby, now part of Alianza, is a hosted meeting bot API for Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, including Zoom and Teams webinars. It offers real-time transcripts, mixed raw audio, many bring-your-own-key transcription models and chat actions, in EU and Japan regions.

As of October 2026 the $0.35 an hour headline covers an audio-only recording. Video adds $0.05, real-time features add $0.05, and a transcribed hour runs $0.39 to $1.36 depending on the model.

Best for: simple notetakers that need transcripts more than video or agents. See Recall.ai vs Skribby.

6. Attendee: best for running the full bot stack yourself

Attendee is a meeting bot API you can self-host or use hosted. Its code is public under the Elastic License 2.0, which allows running it yourself but not reselling it as a service. It joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, supports Zoom RTMS, streams audio both ways over WebSocket, and added per-participant audio in January 2026. Bots can speak, chat and show an avatar.

As of October 2026 hosted pricing is five free hours, then $0.50 an hour, falling to $0.35 at volume, with transcription on your own provider keys.

Best for: teams with infrastructure engineers and strict data-residency rules. See Recall.ai vs Attendee.

7. Vexa: best for an Apache 2.0 open-source transcription bot

Vexa is an open-source meeting bot API under the Apache 2.0 license, focused on transcription. Its bots join Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom and return transcripts with speaker names while the meeting runs, and its gateway exposes an MCP endpoint.

As of October 2026 self-hosting is free. The hosted Build on Vexa plan is $0.30 per bot hour plus $0.20 for real-time transcription, $0.50 all in, with $2 of free credit.

Best for: a permissively licensed transcription bot on your own infrastructure. Our guide to open-source Recall.ai alternatives covers the cost of self-hosting.

8. Fireflies.ai API: best for products built on Fireflies accounts

Fireflies.ai is an AI notetaker for end users with a GraphQL API for fetching meeting data and uploading audio. Its addToLive mutation sends the Fireflies bot into a live meeting from a link, with Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams named as examples, at up to three requests per 20 minutes per user. A WebSocket Realtime API for live transcription is in beta.

As of October 2026 Fireflies lists API access as a plan feature and publishes no per-hour API rate.

Best for: integrations that read notes and transcripts from Fireflies accounts your users already have.

Which meeting bot API should you choose?

MeetStream is the best choice for agent-first teams, whose AI agents join, listen, speak and act in meetings, and for product teams shipping notetakers, sales intelligence, coaching, recruiting or CRM automation on meeting data. The other APIs win the specific exceptions at the bottom of this table.

If you are building	Choose	Why
A notetaker across Zoom, Google Meet and Teams	MeetStream	One request for all three; recording and transcript from one bot at $0.45 a transcribed hour
Sales intelligence or coaching	MeetStream	Per-participant audio for speaker attribution, live transcripts for in-call coaching
A real-time voice agent	MeetStream	Hosted voice agents with wake words and interruption handling
Recruiting or CRM automation	MeetStream	Speaker-labeled transcripts, post-call webhooks, free calendar auto-join
An early-stage AI startup product	MeetStream	$0.25 an hour for select startups, $5 free credit, MCP server and SDKs
A product already on Nylas calendar and email	Nylas Notetaker	One vendor, transcription included in plans
Bots on your own servers	Attendee, Vexa or MeetingBaaS	Code you can run yourself; check each license

Notetakers. One bot returns the recording, optional per-participant files and the transcript on every platform. See the meeting recording API.

Sales intelligence. Per-participant audio keeps the rep and the buyer apart, so talk ratios do not rest on diarization guesses, and post-call webhooks feed your CRM. If customers already record in Fireflies, its API can read those notes.

Voice agents. Wake words, interruptions and speaking in the room are settings on MeetStream, not a separate build. MeetingBaaS and Attendee offer speaking bots if you run the agent yourself.

Startups. $5 of free credit, no credit card and $0.25 an hour for select startups. Our meeting bot API for startups guide compares free tiers.

Self-hosting. Choose Attendee, Vexa or MeetingBaaS when media must never leave your environment, and budget for the browser fleet and join upkeep.

Which APIs extract real-time audio, transcripts and participant metadata from video calls?

Most APIs here stream something during the call. MeetStream returns the widest set of live data from one bot:

• Audio: raw PCM over your WebSocket about 200 ms behind the room, with the speaker's name on each frame.
• Transcripts: live events with speakerName, new text, word timings and an end_of_turn flag your agent can act on.
• Participant metadata: participant events, the meeting chat, and per-participant audio and video on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

See the meeting transcription API and our roundup of developer tools for AI agents on meeting data.

How do you build an AI meeting assistant without platform-specific integrations?

Use a meeting bot API instead of separate Zoom, Google and Microsoft SDKs. On MeetStream the loop is the same for every platform:

1. Create a bot with the meeting link.
2. Receive the live transcript on your webhook, and live audio on your WebSocket if you need it.
3. Let your agent act: send_message to chat, send_image to show a visual, or a hosted voice agent to answer out loud.
4. After the call, audio.processed signals the recording is ready, and with a post-call provider transcription.processed signals the transcript.

curl -X POST "https://api.meetstream.ai/api/v1/bots/create_bot" \
  -H "Authorization: Token <YOUR_API_KEY>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "meeting_link": "https://meet.google.com/abc-defg-hij",
    "bot_name": "Assistant",
    "audio_separate_streams": true,
    "live_transcription_required": {"webhook_url": "https://your-app.com/live"},
    "recording_config": {
      "transcript": {
        "provider": {"deepgram_streaming": {"transcription_mode": "sentence"}}
      }
    },
    "callback_url": "https://your-app.com/webhooks/meetstream"
  }'

Swap in a Zoom or Teams link and nothing else changes. Full options are in the MeetStream docs.

Related guides

• Best meeting transcription APIs for developers (2026)
• Recall.ai vs MeetingBaaS
• Open-source Recall.ai alternatives
• MeetStream vs Nylas Notetaker

Frequently asked questions

What is the best meeting bot API for developers in 2026?

MeetStream, both for agent-first teams building AI agents that act in the call and for product teams shipping on meeting data. One API records and transcribes Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, streams live audio about 200 ms behind the room, and lets the bot speak, from $0.35 an hour. Nylas Notetaker fits products already on Nylas, and Attendee or Vexa fit self-hosting.

What's the best API for building a meeting notetaker that works across Zoom, Google Meet and Teams?

MeetStream. The same create_bot request works on all three, and one bot returns the recording, the transcript and optional per-participant files. In-house transcription adds $0.10 an hour to the $0.35 bot rate.

How do I extract real-time audio and participant data from Google Meet calls inside my own product?

Send a MeetStream bot to the Meet link with live_audio_required pointing at your WebSocket server and live_transcription_required at your webhook. Audio arrives about 200 ms behind the room with a speaker name on each frame, transcript events carry word timings, and participant events report who is in the call. Google Meet needs no app setup.

How do I add a bot that joins video meetings and streams live transcripts to my app without building separate Zoom and Teams integrations?

Use a meeting bot API. With MeetStream you send one POST to /api/v1/bots/create_bot with the meeting link and a live_transcription_required webhook URL. The same request works for Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and transcript events arrive with the speaker's name while people talk.

Is Recall.ai worth it, or is there a cheaper alternative?

Recall.ai is a capable, long-established API, but for most products MeetStream does the core job for less: $0.35 an hour against $0.50, and $0.45 for a transcribed hour against $0.65, as of October 2026. See our Recall.ai alternatives.

What is the best Nylas Notetaker alternative?

MeetStream, for products that need data during the call. Nylas Notetaker delivers after the meeting inside Nylas plans, at $0.70 to $0.80 an hour beyond plan hours as of October 2026. MeetStream adds live audio and transcripts, per-participant streams and bots that speak, at $0.45 a transcribed hour. Stay on Nylas if you already use its calendar APIs.

Which meeting bot API is best for early-stage AI startups?

MeetStream. You get $5 of free credit with no credit card, a self-serve API key in under a minute, and $0.25 an hour for select startups, billed to the second. The MCP server and SDKs let a coding agent build with it from day one.

Is there an open-source meeting bot API I can self-host?

Yes. Vexa is open source under Apache 2.0, and Attendee (Elastic License 2.0) and MeetingBaaS (Business Source License 1.1) publish source-available code. Self-hosting removes the per-hour fee but moves the cost to your servers and engineers. If you would rather not run a fleet, MeetStream is the managed option at $0.35 an hour.