Comparison
Scriben vs Pocket
Both cost $129. Both turn conversations into transcripts, summaries and action items. So the checkout price decides nothing, and these four rows decide everything.
- The device
- $129
- $129
- What it costs you over three years
- from $666Device, plus Pocket Pro renewed
- $129The pen. Nothing after it
- Transcription and summaries
- Pocket ProListed under the paid subscription
- IncludedNo tier they sit behind
- Writes on paper
- NoA recorder that clips to a phone
- YesA real 0.6mm ballpoint
Start here
What Pocket does better.
Pocket turns a conversation into a mind map, not just a summary. If you think in branches rather than paragraphs, that is a real output we do not produce. It also offers a contact microphone aimed at capturing phone calls, which we do not match. Weigh both before you read the rest of this page.
Over time
The same $129, three years later.
Pocket Pro is sold in fixed terms rather than monthly. The bars below use Pocket’s lowest listed twelve-month price, which is the most favourable reading of their own pricing.
After one year
After two years
After three years
Pocket figures checked on 14 September 2026 from the published Pocket store catalogue at heypocket.com. Several Pocket Pro offers run at once: twelve-month access is listed between $179 and $239.99, and six-month access between $79 and $99. The bars take the $179 figure. At the top of their range the three-year total is higher than shown. Prices change; check theirs before you decide, and tell us if anything here has gone out of date.
Included
What the same money buys.
Every line marked Pocket Pro is a capability Pocket lists under the paid subscription rather than with the device.
- Automatic transcription
- Pocket Pro
- ✓
- Summaries and action items
- Pocket Pro
- ✓
- Speaker separation
- Pocket Pro
- ✓
- Bulk export of your own recordings
- Pocket Pro
- ✓
- Unlimited cloud history
- Pocket Pro
- ✓
- Mind maps
- Pocket Pro
- —
- Writes in real ink while it captures
- —
- ✓
- Your notes readable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Zed over MCP
- —
- ✓
Pocket Pro contents taken from the feature list published with the subscription itself, 14 September 2026.
The rest of it
Everything else, side by side.
- Scriben
- What it is
- A recorder that attaches to the back of a phone.
- A pen with a recorder in it.
- How far back your history goes
- “Unlimited cloud history” is listed under Pocket Pro.
- Yours, with no tier attached to it.
- What you carry
- The recorder, plus the phone it attaches to.
- The pen. It records to its own 64GB for up to 18 hours with no phone and no network.
- Reaching your own notes from your own tools
- Through Pocket’s app.
- Read-only over MCP from Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Zed, plus native actions in 9,000+ apps.
The real differences
Two, once you look past the price tag.
01 / The same $129 buys a different amount of product
On Pocket, the transcription, the summaries, the speaker separation and the export of your own recordings are listed under Pocket Pro. On Scriben the pen is the whole purchase, and there is no second thing to buy for it to keep working.
02 / One of them writes
Pocket clips to your phone, so the object in the conversation is a recorder. Scriben is a pen, writing in real ink the whole time it captures. You still tell people what it does. What changes is that after they agree, nothing new has appeared on the table.
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.
- Turns a conversation into a mind map, not just a summary
- Contact microphone aimed at capturing phone calls
- Attaches to the back of a phone with MagSafe
- Transcription and summaries are listed under Pocket Pro
- Speaker separation and bulk export are Pro as well
- Unlimited cloud history is a Pro feature
- It is a recorder, so it is a new object on the table
Scriben
- $129 once, then nothing — no tier, no minutes
- Writes in real ink the whole time it is capturing
- 18 hours and 64GB with no phone, app or network
- Notes readable over MCP from Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Zed
- No mind maps. You get a transcript, a summary and action items
- No contact microphone, so phone calls are not the job it is built for
Questions
The ones people actually ask.
Is Pocket cheaper than Scriben?
Does Scriben do mind maps?
Do I need my phone with me?
Can I get my recordings out?
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 Pocket if the mind map is the output you actually want, or if capturing phone calls is the job. Buy Scriben if you would rather the $129 be the last money you spend on it, and if you want the thing in your hand to be a pen you were going to use anyway.
§Recording and consent requirements vary by jurisdiction and setting. Record openly, ask first, and follow the rules that apply where you are. Our guide to recording lawfully sets out how.