Comparison
Scriben vs Plaud Note
Both are small recorders that turn talk into notes. Three things actually separate them: what the AI costs after you have paid for the hardware, whether the device still works with nothing else switched on, and whether your own notes are yours to query from somewhere else.
- The device
- $159
- $129
- Three years, on Plaud’s Pro plan
- $807Device, plus $17.99 a month
- $129The pen. Nothing after it
- What the AI is metered in
- Minutes300 free a month; 1,200 on Pro
- NothingNo tier, no minute count
- Records for longer on a charge
- 30 hrsThis one is theirs
- 18 hrsPlus 64GB, roughly 400 hours stored
Start here
What Plaud does better.
Plaud Note records for 30 hours on one charge. Scriben records for 18. If the thing that decides it for you is a single very long day, a deposition that runs into the evening and a flight afterwards, that gap is real and you should weigh it rather than take our word for the rest.
Over time
What the metering adds up to.
Plaud’s free Starter plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, which is five hours. The bars price Pro, the plan you move to when five hours a month is not enough.
After one year
After two years
After three years
Plaud figures checked on 13 September 2026 from the Plaud Note product page and the Plaud AI plan pricing page: device $159, Pro $17.99 a month for 1,200 minutes, Unlimited $29.99 a month. On Unlimited the three-year total is higher than shown. Prices and plans change; check theirs before you decide.
The rest of it
Everything else, side by side.
The headline numbers are above. These are the rows that decide it for fewer people, and every Plaud figure here is taken from Plaud’s own published pages, not from a review.
- Plaud Note
- Scriben
- Minutes you did not use
- Do not carry over. Extra minutes are sold as one-time top-ups in 600, 3,000 and 6,000 minute packs.
- There are no minutes to run out of.
- Storage on the device
- 64 GB.
- 64 GB, roughly 400 hours before you sync.
- Writes on paper
- No. It is a recorder.
- Yes. A real 0.6mm ballpoint, refills in the box. It is the pen you were already holding.
- Reaching your own notes from your own tools
- Through Plaud’s apps.
- Read-only access over MCP from Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Zed, plus native actions in 9,000+ apps.
Plaud figures checked on 13 September 2026: price, recording time and storage from the Plaud Note product page, plans and minute limits from the Plaud AI plan pricing page. Prices and plans change. Check theirs before you decide, and tell us if anything here has gone out of date.
The real differences
Three, and they are not spec-sheet lines.
01 / It writes
You tell people it records, the same as you would with anything else. What changes is what happens after they agree: the pen goes on the table because you were going to write with it anyway, and it keeps writing in real ink the whole time. No laptop opens, and nothing sits between you.
02 / It works with nothing switched on
Capture happens on the pen itself. No phone unlocked, no app in the foreground, no network. You sync later, when you choose to. A basement meeting room and a flight are the same to it.
03 / The memory opens to your own tools
Your notes, summaries, action items and memory are readable over MCP from Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Zed. The record of your own conversations is not locked inside one company’s app.
In short
What each one is good and bad at.
Both columns carry real drawbacks, ours included. A comparison where one side has nothing against it is an advert.
Plaud Note
- Records for 30 hours on one charge, against our 18
- 60 days of standby
- 64GB of storage on the device
- The AI is metered in transcription minutes
- The free Starter plan is 300 minutes a month — five hours
- Pro is $17.99 a month; Unlimited is $29.99
- Minutes you did not use do not carry over
Scriben
- $129 once, $0 a month, and nothing is metered
- Writes in real ink the whole time it is capturing
- 64GB, roughly 400 hours before you sync
- Notes readable over MCP from Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Zed
- 18 hours on a charge, not 30. If one very long day decides it, that gap is real
- $129 against their $159 buys a smaller battery
Questions
The ones people actually ask.
Is Plaud better than Scriben?
How much does Plaud cost per year?
What happens when I run out of minutes?
Do either of them need my phone to record?
Which should I buy?
Also worth comparing
The other three.
Anyone choosing between two of these is usually choosing between four. Every page uses the same rules and dates its sources.
Honestly
Which one to buy.
Buy Plaud if the single longest recording you make is what decides it, and a metered plan does not bother you. Buy Scriben if you would rather never think about minutes again, if you want the thing in your hand to be a pen, and if you want to ask your own notes a question from the tools you already work in.
§Recording and consent requirements vary by jurisdiction and setting. Record openly, ask first, and follow the rules that apply where you are. See our recording and consent guidance.