On an eligible Google plan, click Meeting tools, then Recording, then Start recording. Free accounts have no record button, but with everyone’s agreement you can record the Meet tab here.
Free, no sign-up, no watermark. Pick what to record to begin.
Pick one to start. You can add or switch sources any time.
Your browser will ask for permission. Recordings stay on this device, nothing is uploaded.
Google Meet can record a call to Google Drive, but only for some accounts. Most paid Google Workspace plans include it, as do Google One plans with 2 TB of storage or more and Workspace Individual. A free personal Google account doesn’t, which is why so many people search for why they can’t record in Meet.
This guide shows Meet’s own recorder step by step, who is allowed to press it, and where the file goes. If your account doesn’t have it and everyone in the call is happy to be recorded, the second half shows how to record the Meet tab for free with the recorder on this page. It captures everyone’s voices from the tab, yours from the mic, and saves an MP4 on your computer.
Open the meeting in your browser and click Join now (or start it yourself). Meet’s recorder runs on a computer or an Android device on an eligible plan.
Click Meeting tools at the bottom right of the call, then Recording. If Recording isn’t there, your account or your role in the meeting doesn’t allow it.
Optionally choose a captions language, then click Start recording, and Start in the pop-up. Everyone in the call is told that recording has begun.
Click Meeting tools, then Recording, then Stop recording, and confirm with Stop recording. The recording also stops by itself when everyone leaves.
After processing, the video appears in the meeting organiser’s Google Drive, in the Google Meet folder, and a link is emailed to the organiser and to whoever started the recording.
Recording depends on both the account and the meeting. These plans include it, provided the Workspace administrator has allowed recording:
Within a meeting, the host can always record. Co-hosts, and people in the host’s organisation when host management is off, can record too. A guest from outside the organisation usually can’t, and nobody can record if the host’s own account isn’t eligible. With Host controls on, only the host decides.
Because Meet runs in a browser tab, a tab recorder can capture it on any account. Use this only when everyone has agreed to be recorded, and say so at the start of the call: Meet won’t announce a recording it didn’t make.
Chrome shows a “sharing this tab” bar on the Meet tab while you record, so you can see it’s working. Meet’s grid changes as people speak and the recording follows it. For more on tab capture, including switching tabs mid-recording, see the guide to recording a browser tab. Open the recorder with Screen selected to begin.
Google says Meet recordings can be started on a computer or an Android device, on an eligible plan. People who join from the iPhone app or by phone are told when a recording starts but can’t control it.
Phone browsers can’t share a tab, so the free browser method needs a computer. On a phone, the built-in screen recorder is the fallback, and whether it captures the other people’s voices varies by device; see the Android screen recording guide or the iPhone guide, and tell everyone first.
Meet saves recordings to the meeting organiser’s Google Drive, in a folder called Google Meet with a sub-folder for each meeting. The organiser is whoever created the Calendar event, or whoever started the meeting from Meet or Gmail. The link is also added to the Calendar event, and processing can take a while after a long call.
Recordings saved before July 2026 sit in a folder called Legacy Meet recordings inside the Google Meet folder; old links keep working. A browser recording made with recorder.video stays in your browser until you download it, and then goes to your usual downloads folder.
Meet tells everyone when its own recording starts and stops. Any other method relies on you, so announce it, give people the chance to turn their camera off or leave, and keep the recording only as long as you need it. Check your organisation’s policy too: many schools and workplaces don’t allow participants to record.
Recording laws differ between countries and, in the US, between states; some require every person on a call to agree. Under UK and EU data protection law a recording of identifiable people is personal data, so think about who you share it with. Google’s terms also apply to how you use Meet.
Your plan doesn’t include recording, the administrator has turned it off, you’re a guest from another organisation, or the host has kept control. Ask the host to record, or use the browser method if everyone agrees.
It goes to the organiser’s Drive, not necessarily yours, and appears only after processing. Look for the email with the link, or ask the organiser to share it.
Share the Meet tab again with Also share tab audio ticked. Sharing a window or using Firefox or Safari gives you the picture without the call’s sound.
Raise Screen audio or lower Microphone under Volume in Adjust sound and framing. The screen recording with audio guide explains the mix.
Recording only appears for eligible accounts, such as Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise plans, Workspace Individual and Google One 2 TB plans, and only if the administrator allows it and the host’s account can record.
Not with Meet’s own button. You can record the Meet tab with a browser recorder such as recorder.video, which captures the call’s sound and your mic, as long as everyone has agreed to be recorded.
Meet notifies everyone when its own recording starts. It can’t detect a screen or tab recording made with another tool, which is why you must tell people yourself.
On an eligible plan, recording can be started from an Android device. On iPhone you can’t start Meet’s recorder; the phone’s screen recorder is the alternative, with everyone’s agreement.
To the meeting organiser’s Google Drive, in the Google Meet folder, with a link emailed to the organiser and the person who started the recording and added to the Calendar event.
Don’t. Recording people without telling them is unfair and, in many places, unlawful. Announce the recording and get agreement before you start.