Head to head

Govably vs ClerkMinutes

Both use AI to write municipal meeting minutes. They are priced and scoped very differently, and the right answer depends mostly on how many boards you run.

Last updated August 13, 2026

Short answer

Both are AI minutes tools built for clerks rather than general meeting summarizers, and both handle the things that matter: transcription, speaker identification, motions and seconds, and export to Word or PDF.

ClerkMinutes is self-serve with published pricing: $99/month for 5 meetings, 3 team members and 3 boards; $249/month for 10 meetings, 10 team members and 10 boards; a custom tier above that; and a 14-day free trial with no credit card. You can start this afternoon without talking to anyone.

Govably is one flat plan quoted by entity size, with unlimited users, meetings and boards, and it covers the agenda side — agenda builder, packets, approval workflow, citizen portal — in the same plan.

The dividing line is volume. Two boards and a couple of meetings a month, and a capped self-serve plan is the cheaper, faster answer. Eight to thirty boards and committees, several meetings a week, or more than ten people who need access, and per-plan caps become the thing you manage instead of the meetings.

Side by side

Everything in the ClerkMinutes column comes from its published pricing and product pages as of August 13, 2026. Where we are not certain, the cell says so rather than guessing.

	Govably	ClerkMinutes
Pricing model	One flat plan, priced by entity size, quoted on a demo call. No list price published.	Published self-serve tiers: $99/mo Starter, $249/mo Growth, Custom above that. 20% discount paid annually.
Meetings included	Unlimited.	5 per month (Starter), 10 per month (Growth), more on Custom.
Users / seats	Unlimited users included.	3 team members (Starter), 10 (Growth), more on Custom.
Boards / departments	Unlimited.	3 (Starter), 10 (Growth), more on Custom.
Free trial	No public trial; a demo on your own recording instead.	14 days free, no credit card required.
What the AI produces	The complete official minutes document — attendance, discussion, motions, seconds, roll-call tallies, actions — in your template.	An AI-drafted minutes document with clerk-oriented structure, including motion and second notation.
Speaker identification	AI speaker detection with voiceprints that learn your board over time, so members are recognized meeting to meeting.	AI-suggested speaker identification.
Recording sources	Paste a link: YouTube, Zoom, Vimeo, Swagit, Granicus, CivicPlus, Cablecast, TelVue — or paste a transcript. Govably fetches the audio.	Upload common audio and video formats; supports Zoom and YouTube recordings. Uploads above 5 GB are a Custom-tier item.
Minute order numbering	Automatic and sequential, and renumbers when items move.	Not described on its public pages.
Agenda building	Included: agenda builder, packet assembly with attachments, approval workflow.	Agenda tools on all plans; a collaborative agenda builder from the Growth plan.
Public / citizen portal	Included: calendar, agendas, minutes, and video on a branded public portal.	Publish agendas and minutes to your website; subscriber notifications from Growth.
Export	Word and PDF, with attached PDF exhibits embedded as real packet pages.	Export as .DOC or .PDF.
Buying process	Demo, then a quote. Set up in days.	Sign up online and start.

Choose ClerkMinutes if

You run one or two boards and meet monthly — you will not come near the plan caps.
You want to start today, on a card, without procurement or a sales call.
Knowing the price up front is part of how you evaluate software.
Your agenda process already works and you only want the minutes half solved.

Choose Govably if

You run many boards and committees, or several meetings a week, and per-month meeting caps would become a thing you manage.
More than a handful of people need access — deputies, department staff, board members — and you do not want to count seats.
Your recordings live with a video vendor (Swagit, Granicus, Cablecast, TelVue) and you want a link pasted rather than a file downloaded and re-uploaded.
You want agendas, packets, minutes and the public portal to be one system on one invoice.
Your minutes format is unusual enough that "close enough" templates have failed you before.

How to settle it in one afternoon

Pick your hardest recent recording. Contested item, cross-talk, a roll call with an abstention or a recusal.
Run it through both. Start the ClerkMinutes trial; ask us to run the same file on a demo call.
Grade the record, not the writing: every motion captured, right mover and seconder, roll call attributed member by member, numbering sequential, attendance correct.
Time the repair — how long each draft takes you to reach filing standard. That is the only number that matters.
Then price it against your real volume: count your boards, your meetings in a busy month, and everyone who needs a login. Check that count against the plan caps before you compare monthly figures.

Who wrote this, and how to check it

Govably publishes this page, and Govably is one of the options on it — read it with that in mind. Everything stated about another vendor here comes from that vendor's own published materials or from public records, and is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of August 13, 2026. ClerkMinutes plan prices, meeting and seat limits, trial terms and feature notes are quoted from its published pricing and product pages. Vendors change their products and prices; verify anything decision-critical against the vendor directly before you buy. Found something wrong? Email team@govably.com and we will correct it.

Common questions

Govably vs ClerkMinutes

How much does ClerkMinutes cost?

ClerkMinutes publishes its pricing: a Starter plan at $99 per month (billed annually at $1,188) covering 5 monthly meetings, 3 team members and 3 boards or departments; a Growth plan at $249 per month (billed annually at $2,988) covering 10 monthly meetings, 10 team members and 10 boards, adding customizable letterhead, a collaborative agenda builder and subscriber notifications; and a Custom tier quoted on request for higher volumes, video streaming, large file uploads and branding removal. There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Figures are from its published pricing page as of August 2026.

How much does Govably cost?

Govably is one flat plan priced by the size of your governing body and quoted on a demo call — we do not publish a list price, which is a fair thing to hold against us in a comparison. What we can tell you without a call: there are no per-seat fees, no per-meeting metering, no add-on modules, and every feature in the plan is included. If you want a number before you talk to us, say so in the demo request and we will send a range for your entity size.

Which is better for a small town with two boards?

Honestly, a capped self-serve plan often is. If you run a council and a planning board, meet monthly, have two or three staff who touch minutes, and can put a subscription on a card, ClerkMinutes gets you to a draft today without a procurement process. That is a real advantage and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Which is better for a county with many boards and committees?

Govably, and the reason is structural rather than qualitative. Counties typically run a commission plus planning, zoning, appeals, health, library, and a dozen committees, with meetings clustered in the same weeks. Plans that cap boards, meetings per month, and team members force you to either ration what goes into the system or negotiate a custom tier. Unlimited boards, meetings and users removes that management problem.

What can Govably do that ClerkMinutes does not?

Two things stand out. First, agenda-side coverage in the same plan: agenda builder, packet assembly with attachments, approval workflow, and a public citizen portal, so agendas and minutes are one system rather than two subscriptions. Second, recording ingestion breadth — paste a link from YouTube, Zoom, Vimeo, Swagit, Granicus, CivicPlus or Cablecast and it pulls the audio itself, rather than asking you to download and re-upload the file. Govably also numbers minute orders automatically and renumbers them when items move.

What does ClerkMinutes do that Govably does not?

It lets you sign up and start without talking to a salesperson, and it tells you the price on its website. If your evaluation style is to try three tools quietly over a weekend before involving anyone, that matters, and Govably does not currently offer it. ClerkMinutes also publishes a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

Can we try both on the same meeting?

Yes, and you should. Pick one genuinely difficult recording — cross-talk, a roll call with an abstention, a long public comment period — and run it through both. Then grade the drafts on the record rather than the prose: every motion present, right mover and seconder, every roll call attributed correctly, numbering sequential. Time how long each draft takes you to bring to filing standard. That number is the comparison.

See what the draft actually looks like.

A 30-minute demo showing real minutes — motions, seconds, roll-call tallies — so you can compare it against anything else you are testing.

Request a Demo

Govably vs ClerkMinutes

Side by side

Choose ClerkMinutes if

Choose Govably if

How to settle it in one afternoon

Govably vs ClerkMinutes

Related answers

See what the draft actually looks like.