Delta vs Plaud: which tool for a psychologist's session notes?

Delta and Plaud are two AI tools that turn a conversation into text, but they meet different needs. Plaud is a small audio capture device paired with a transcription and summary app, built for every kind of job. Delta is a clinical assistant that writes the report for each session and keeps each patient's record up to date.

This page compares the two for a psychologist in private practice in France, Belgium or Switzerland. It is published by Delta. We have tried to be as fair as possible, including where Plaud does better. Information about Plaud comes from its European website (eu.plaud.ai) and its privacy policy, both consulted on 15 October 2026.

At a glance

• Plaud suits you if you want a device to capture meetings, conferences, calls or interviews outside the practice, and your notes do not contain patient data.
• Delta suits you if you want a session note ready to review, filed in the right patient record, with health data hosted in France by an HDS-certified provider.

Plaud in a few lines

Plaud is a brand of audio capture devices linked to an app called Plaud Intelligence. The company that handles the data is Plaud Inc., based in Delaware in the United States, according to its privacy policy. Its website mentions more than 2.5 million users worldwide.

The range includes several devices. The Plaud Note and Note Pro are thin, credit-card-sized devices that can attach to the back of a phone. The NotePin can be worn as a pin, a clip, a wristband or a necklace. According to its website, the app transcribes in 112 languages, tells speakers apart and offers summaries based on thousands of templates.

Plaud has a page dedicated to healthcare. It mainly targets doctors, nurses, researchers and medical students. It offers medical report templates (SOAP, BIRP) and templates for specialities such as emergency care or psychotherapy. Psychologists are not named among the target users.

Delta in a few lines

Delta is the clinical assistant for mental health and allied health professionals, psychologists included. You take notes in one of two ways. During the session, Delta transcribes what is said. Or, after the session, you dictate your observations. You can also add written notes.

Delta then generates the session report, with a short summary, a detailed summary and topics for the next session. It takes your profession into account. It also updates the patient record, with a summary of care and the goals being tracked. You can therefore find the whole course of care and how it has evolved in one place. Delta also drafts letters, certificates and assessment reports.

Delta works in the browser. A Mac and Windows app is recommended during sessions.

What sets them apart

Hardware and total cost

With Plaud, you first buy a device. On its European website, the Plaud Note and NotePin are listed at €169.90, the NotePin S at €179 and the Note Pro at €189. The device gives access to the free Starter plan, which includes 300 minutes of transcription per month, or five hours.

Beyond that, you need a subscription. The Pro plan costs €19.99 per month on monthly billing, for 1,200 minutes a month, or 20 hours. The Unlimited plan costs €34.99 per month on monthly billing, with no minute limit. Both are cheaper on annual billing. If you transcribe more than 20 hours of sessions a month, the Unlimited plan is the one that applies, on top of the price of the device.

Delta works in the browser and with a Mac and Windows app. The subscription costs €29 per month including VAT on an annual plan, or €348 a year, or €35 per month including VAT on a monthly plan with no commitment. A free plan also covers 10 sessions a month. The trial lasts 14 days, with no card required.

How notes are taken

Plaud's strength is its hardware. According to its website, the Note Pro picks up voices up to five metres away. It runs for up to 30 hours of continuous audio capture, or 50 hours in endurance mode, and 60 days on standby, with 64 GB of storage. The NotePin runs for up to 20 hours. Attached to the back of a phone, the Note can also capture phone calls. For a training day, a home visit or a conference, that is a real advantage.

Delta works in the browser or in its Mac and Windows app. For each session, you choose. Either Delta transcribes what is said, or you dictate your observations after the session, without capturing the conversation with the patient. This second mode helps with patients who prefer that no transcript of the session is made.

A transcript or a clinical note

Plaud produces a transcript and a summary for each audio file. You pick a summary template, sort your files into folders, then you can query all of them with the Ask Plaud feature. The pages we read do not describe a record per patient that tracks progress from one session to the next.

Delta starts from the patient. Each report is filed in the patient's record. The record keeps a summary of care and the goals being tracked, updated after each session. Topics to pick up next time are suggested in the report. For a psychologist who follows patients over several months, this is the main difference.

Where the data goes

According to its Trust Center, Plaud has data centres in the United States, Europe (Frankfurt), Singapore and Japan. For AI models, European users go through subprocessors hosted in the European Union. Plaud says it uses the GPT, Claude and Gemini models, with a contractual commitment to zero training and zero retention by these providers. It also says it does not train on your data unless you opt in through the settings.

Plaud lists ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, EN 18031 and GDPR. HDS certification is not stated on its website. Its privacy policy says data is stored in the user's region, with servers in the United States, Germany, Japan and Singapore. It also says data may be accessed outside your country, with safeguards such as standard contractual clauses. Audio files, transcripts and summaries are kept in your Plaud cloud space when sync is used.

In its reference framework for medical and allied health practices, the CNIL (the French data protection authority) points out that when software holding patient records is hosted by a third party, that provider must be approved or certified to host health data, under Article L.1111-8 of the French Public Health Code. This framework targets health professionals in private practice and does not name psychologists. But a psychologist's session notes contain health data, so the hosting question arises too. Our guide to HDS-certified hosting covers this in detail.

Delta hosts data in France with an HDS-certified provider, and AI processing also takes place in France. The patient's name and identifying details are pseudonymised before the AI step. No audio file is kept, as the audio is only used during the session to produce the transcript. Data is never used to train a model and is encrypted in transit and at rest.

Consent and professional confidentiality

The French code of ethics for psychologists sets out professional secrecy (Article 7) and the duty to seek free and informed consent (Article 9). It also asks psychologists to process and archive their notes in a way that protects people's privacy (Article 23). These rules apply whatever tool you use.

On its healthcare page, Plaud reminds users to tell the people present and get their agreement before capturing a conversation. With Delta, the rule is the same before transcribing a session. Inform the patient, explain what the tool is for and note their agreement in the record. Our article on patient consent for AI note-taking sets out a simple approach.

For confidentiality, the real question is where the data travels. With a device, an audio file of the session exists, first in the device's memory, then in Plaud's cloud if sync is used. With Delta, no audio file is kept. See also our article on professional confidentiality and AI.

Which tool for which practitioner?

Choose Plaud if you mainly need to capture conversations outside the practice, such as team meetings, training, conferences or calls. Its battery life, range and many languages are real strengths. For sessions with your patients, first check with Plaud where the data is processed and whether the hosting meets your obligations.

Choose Delta if you want a session note ready to review, filed in the right record, and a record of care that builds up session after session. Delta also suits you if you want data to stay in France with an HDS-certified provider, the patient's name pseudonymised before the AI step, and no audio file kept.

The two tools are not mutually exclusive. A psychologist can keep a Plaud device for meetings and use Delta for sessions. Delta does not handle scheduling or invoicing, so you keep your practice management software for those.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

To see the other tools on the market, read our comparison of AI note-taking software for psychologists. We also compare Delta and ChatGPT. For the method, see our guide to AI note-taking in therapy sessions. To find out more about Delta, visit the Delta page for psychologists.

Sources

• Plaud, Trust Center and privacy policy (updated 16 June 2026), consulted on 15 October 2026.
• Plaud, plan pricing, Note Pro page and NotePin page and help article on call capture, consulted on 15 October 2026.
• Plaud, healthcare page, consulted on 15 October 2026.
• French code of ethics for psychologists, consolidated version of 9 September 2021 (in French).
• CNIL, reference framework for medical and allied health practices (in French).

Is any information about Plaud out of date? Write to us and we will correct the page.