Plaud NotePin vs Limitless Pendant: What to Buy Now That Limitless Is Gone
By Chester Takau · October 2026
You can't buy a Limitless Pendant any more, so the plaud notepin vs limitless pendant question now has one practical answer: buy the NotePin (or the $179 NotePin S) unless you already own a Pendant. Meta acquired Limitless on Dec 5, 2025 and stopped new Pendant sales the same day. The two devices also record differently. The Pendant listened all day, and the NotePin records when you press it. Below: the numbers side by side, a cost calculator, and what Pendant owners should do before support ends.
Plaud total-cost calculator
Pick a device, a plan and how many years you will keep it. Compare the result with the $199 the Limitless Pendant cost when it was on sale.Plaud NotePin vs Limitless Pendant: side by side
| Feature | Plaud NotePin / NotePin S | Limitless Pendant |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | On sale | No new sales since Dec 5, 2025 |
| Price | $159 (NotePin), $179 (NotePin S) | $199 when sold |
| Recording style | Deliberate. The NotePin S adds a button to start, stop and mark highlights | Ambient, always on |
| Battery | About 20 hours recording, 40 days standby | About 6–7 hours per charge |
| Wearing options | Magnetic pin, clip, wristband, lanyard | Pendant |
| Ongoing cost | Pro about $155/yr, Unlimited about $359/yr | Existing owners moved to Unlimited free |
| Support outlook | Active; Plaud One earbuds and Plaud Desktop added in 2026 | Promised "at least another year"; ended in the EU, UK and five other regions on Dec 19, 2025 |
The battery gap is the sharpest hardware difference. Plaud's own blog, which has a stake in this fight, says the Pendant needed daily charging and recorded calls only on speakerphone. Other reviewers have reported the Pendant's roughly 6–7 hours per charge, so the daily-charging complaint holds up independently.
What happened to Limitless
Meta bought the company formerly known as Rewind on Dec 5, 2025 (TechCrunch coverage). Existing Pendant owners moved to the Unlimited plan for free, and CEO Dan Siroker promised support for at least another year. On Dec 19, 2025, service ended in the EU, UK, Brazil, Israel, South Korea, Turkey and China. Users in those regions had until that date to export data, and the Rewind timeline records the details. EU users said they got about 14 days' notice.
A Sep 5, 2026 review update says support for existing owners runs through 2026 in supported regions, and that the Limitless FAQ gives no global shutdown date. Nobody has confirmed what happens after that: a cloud shutdown, dead devices and data deletion are all possible, and none is announced. If you bought a used Pendant, check it activates in your region first.
Always-on or press-to-record?
Reviewers praised the Pendant's ambient capture as "genuinely futuristic" because you never had to remember to start. The NotePin gives that up. Some people see press-to-record as more socially acceptable and safer under recording-consent laws, which differ by region (one-party versus all-party consent). Fast Company has written about the consent problem with AI audio wearables. Either way, if you record other people, check your local rules.
Privacy mattered to Pendant buyers. A petition to open-source the firmware says people used it for therapy sessions, medical appointments and confidential meetings, and Meta's ownership made them uneasy. The NotePin processes audio in the cloud too, so neither device keeps your recordings on-device.
Which Plaud, if you switch
- NotePin ($159): the original, and the cheapest route. It dropped to $126.99 during Plaud's July 2026 anniversary sale.
- NotePin S ($179): launched at CES on Jan 4–5, 2026, with a physical button. Mighty Gadget sees almost no reason to upgrade; Plaud's own review says the button justifies it. For one-handed, in-the-moment highlights, $20 is small money.
- Plaud Desktop: records online meetings without a bot joining the call.
- Plaud One earbuds (from $249, announced Aug 27, 2026): capture call audio played through them, which helps if phone calls are your main use. See 9to5Google's report.
The subscription is the catch. Reviewers complain about transcription minute caps, occasional language errors, limited tool integrations and the yearly fee. Use the calculator above: a NotePin S on Pro for three years comes to $644, well above the Pendant's old sticker price.
That Mark Gilroy compares Plaud's two current devices. It doesn't cover the Limitless.
If you already own a Pendant
Export your data now. This is a precaution, not a deadline: support is promised through 2026 in supported regions, with no published end date. Whether Limitless exports can be imported into Plaud isn't documented anywhere I found, so assume you'll keep them as files. Reports of a Meta pendant built on the Limitless deal come from a secondary summary of The Information and are unverified, so don't plan around it.
What this comparison is based on
This is a research comparison, not a hands-on test. I haven't recorded the same audio on both devices, so I can't rank transcription accuracy in noisy rooms. Most "Plaud wins" articles come from Plaud or from rivals selling their own alternatives, so I leaned on dated news, reviews and the companies' own timelines, and I mark Plaud-sourced claims as such. The added value is a combined spec table and a multi-year cost model.
FAQ
What is the closest replacement for the Limitless Pendant?
An October 2026 alternatives roundup calls the NotePin S the closest replacement that ships today and isn't tied to Meta. It also lists the Omi at $129, down from $179.
Does the NotePin record all the time?
No. You start and stop recording; the NotePin S does it with a button.
Do I need a Plaud subscription?
Reviews put Pro at about $155 a year and Unlimited at about $359. Plans add transcription minutes, so heavy users hit the caps on lower tiers.
Can either device record phone calls?
Plaud says the Pendant handled calls only on speakerphone. For calls, Plaud's earbuds, the Plaud One, are the device built for that.
Can I get a refund for a Pendant bought before the deal?
Buyers demanded refunds in comment sections, but I found no confirmed refund programme. Contact Limitless support directly.
Sources: TechCrunch · Rewind · Plaud CES announcement · Tom's Guide · 9to5Google · Fast Company · Mighty Gadget · Limitless alternatives roundup · Limitless review update
Updated October 2026
Transparency note: This article was researched and written by Chester Takau with AI assistance for research gathering and drafting. All recommendations reflect the author's own editorial judgment.