Yes, it’s an AI-powered dictaphone, but still a dictaphone. It’s pretty unique and very good at what it does.
The Plaud NotePin only excels with the cellphone app ‘Plaud’. This app is the heart of the NotePin; it houses the AI that takes the NotePin from microphone to AI assistant. Not only does the Plaud app have a huge range of preset prompts, ranging from ‘lecture’, to ‘mind map’, to no-frills transcription, but users can also customize prompts.
However, it’s not all perfect. The NotePin is very expensive, at $169 ($10 pricier than the previous incarnation, Plaud Note), and the Unlimited app subscription is close to $400 a year. Even so, for certain professionals, I think the NotePin is worth the cost. I’ll discuss everything in this Plaud NotePin review.
Plaud NotePin review: Cheat sheet
- Who is it for? Professionals and students
- What does it do well? It’s a kick-ass dictaphone with a seemingly infinite amount of prompts
- What does it cost? $169 for the pin, then $359 a year for the AI subscription (but there is a free tier)
- What are its weaknesses? Subscriptions can easily pile up, as we all know
Plaud NotePin: Specs
Plaud NotePin review: Price & availability
The Plaud NotePin is $169 from Amazon U.S. and £169 from Amazon U.K.. The original Plaud Note is $159, so there’s effectively a $10 increase for ultra convenience and inconspicuousness.
However, the $169 base price might not be the full cost. If you need more transcription minutes and templates, it’s an extra annual $159 for the Pro (1200 minutes a month) and $359 for the Unlimited (unlimited minutes a month).
With Unlimited, you get access to an ‘industry glossary’ that uses role-specific jargon in transcriptions. I can imagine this would be very useful for those in technical professions like medicine and engineering.
Both subscription tiers also provide tools such as custom templates and ‘Ask AI’, which is basically a personalized AI agent that can digest documents and answer specific questions.
Plaud NotePin review: Design & controls
I think the Plaud NotePin bears a design reminiscent of Apple products. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this in my local Apple Store’s lineup, amongst the Apple Watches and AirPods of late.
While I tested the silver version, the NotePin also comes in dark gray and purple, which would’ve been my choice of colorway. All three colors are as sleek and pretty as each other, though, so I think any version would be as attractive.
It’s a tiny pill-shaped device, at just 2 inches tall and 0.8 inches deep. It weighs literally half an ounce — the same as my lip balm. The NotePin is such an inconspicuous device and comes with four ways to wear to ensure maximum convenience. There’s a white watch strap, which connects with magnets and is very comfortable to wear, a lanyard, a magnet pin, and a collar clip.
There’s a removable back section, which must be removed for charging, and also acts as the magnetic pin attachment. Be careful not to lose this — it is super slim and very losable.
In terms of controls, there are very few. The NotePin is a buttonless device, so to start recording you simply hold down the middle section. It vibrates and alerts you of its recording, and then vibrates to stop recording. However, it is very hard to stop recording; I had to hold the device for a number of seconds, and it didn’t stop. I ended up just stopping it from my phone.
I would wholeheartedly recommend getting the Plaud AI app (more on that in the ‘App’ section below) to take control of the recording. Actually, in theory, the only thing you need is the Plaud app — but more on that later.
In terms of design, everything’s pretty perfect. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, as I’ll get into in the section below.
Plaud NotePin review: AI features & app
There are a few issues that mar the usability of the NotePin and make me doubt if it’s actually worth the $170 price tag.
Currently, the NotePin doesn’t link directly to Google Workspace, Zoom, or Teams. It only works with Zapier, which is a third-party automation tool. I found this finicky to use; even after connecting it to my Google Workspace, it was unable to find my upcoming meetings.
As a result, I don’t think the NotePin will be particularly useful for online meetings until it has direct connectivity with Zoom, Teams, and Google.
At the end of the day, the best features on the Plaud NotePin are its AI features. These are pretty darn good, and I can see the use case for paying $300+ for premium access.
One of my favorite aspects of Unlimited was creating my own summary prompts. I put the NotePin to the test with a series of challenges.
Here, I asked the Plaud app to generate a summary entirely in alphabetical order. As you can see, it messed up a few times (seashell should be before seashore, and picked should be before pickled), but this was a decent first try.
For the next test, I asked the Plaud app to format the conversation like a script, which it did… kind of? There’s a new line for a new speaker, and the speaker is marked with bolded text and a colon, but it didn’t separate the speakers completely. A few lines attributed to me were uttered by my colleague Ashley.
I’m writing a fantasy novel with unusual character names in my free time. I put my characters’ names into Plaud’s ‘Industry Glossary’ and then went over the plan for the chapter I’m currently working on. I asked the NotePin to transcribe the plan in bullet points, with distinct sections for each plotline.
I’m not going to put a screenshot of the transcription for obvious reasons, but the NotePin accurately transcribed everything I said, even my obscure fantasy names. (Think Lord of the Rings level of goofy.)
However, Plaud did offer me some writing advice, which I will share.
While it didn’t necessarily teach me anything I didn’t already know, I like the reminder here. I also never actually mentioned that it was the plot of a novel, so it’s cool to see that Plaud worked that out by itself.
Afterwards, I wanted to test Plaud AI’s ability to follow a more rigid structure. I asked my boyfriend to tell me about all of the albums he’d listened to that day. For the transcription prompt, I wrote “Separate speakers, transcribe content in full sentences. Write ‘good’ or ‘bad’ after each album based on the speaker’s opinion.”
As you can see, the transcription followed the brief perfectly. There’s even a rating after each album discussion. Yes, Plaud spelled one of the band names incorrectly, but it also spelled its own name incorrectly (twice: 'Plod' and 'Plawed'), so I’m not surprised.
Overall, I’m extremely impressed with this transcription service. Although it’s not perfect and not massively usable for online meetings (yet, as Plaud claims it will have more direct links with Google, Teams, Zoom, etc at some point in 2025), I’d recommend this completely for in-person meetings, interviews, brainstorming sessions, and everything in between.
For testing purposes, I uploaded one of the NotePin’s audio recordings to ChatGPT and asked it to transcribe word-for-word. ChatGPT completely fabricated my words, and I was utterly gobsmacked.
You can see my prompt and ChatGPT’s response. I did not say any of those words it generated, which shocked me. I asked it to transcribe this same file four times, and every time it generated a different version of made-up words.
Gemini straight-up told me it couldn’t transcribe audio files.
This could’ve been the case with ChatGPT also, but at no point did ChatGPT tell me it was incapable of transcribing in its current state.
So, if you’re a journalist, creative, student transcribing lectures, or anything in between, I would definitely put my trust in the Plaud NotePin over ChatGPT.
Plaud NotePin review: Battery
Unlike the larger Plaud Note, which lasts for 30 hours of recordings, the NotePin has a battery life of 20 hours. Considering the NotePin is so tiny, I think this is a great battery life. It’s around the same (give or take a couple of hours) as professional wireless mics like the Rode Wireless Pro and Shure MoveMic Two.
The NotePin does have a 40-day standby time, so I’d recommend charging it up if you want to use it for the first time in a while. Charging is easy thanks to the USB-C charging cable and the charging base. You do have to take the magnetic strip off the back to fit the NotePin in said charging case, though.
Plaud NotePin review: Verdict
Although it’s not perfect, the NotePin is a great start. Until it has direct connectivity with online video calling apps like Google Meet, Teams, and Zoom, I wouldn’t recommend this for remote workers looking to transcribe calls. You’ve got Otter AI for that.
However, that doesn’t mean the NotePin is useless in its current form. It transcribes in-person meetings, interviews, brainstorming sessions, and even just discussions incredibly well. There’s an infinite number of prompts, and you can customize the transcription to meet your needs precisely.
I thoroughly enjoyed testing the NotePin, but it does need some work before I recommend it for everyone. Even so, I’m really impressed by the NotePin’s capability to transcribe information based on very specific prompts. It’s just expensive.
