GILD verdict
Pick Granola for personal notes from meetings people attend, with no recording kept.
Pick Otter for shared recordings or file imports, including meetings a bot attends alone. Both train their models on de-identified meeting data unless a user opts out or the workspace is on Enterprise.
GILD found no named team that has published running both or moving between them. Otter wins when the team must replay and share what was said, and Granola wins when people want better notes from meetings they attend. Granola keeps text only and builds notes around what the user types. Otter keeps audio for playback, imports recorded files, and transcribes live. It can send its notetaker to meetings or record bot-free from its desktop app.
Choosing between Granola and Otter
Choose Granola if
- People attend their own meetings and want notes shaped by what they type, with no recording kept.
- A monthly seat matters: Granola Business is US$14 per user per month, with no daily transcription limit.
- You want chat across every meeting, MCP on every plan, and the API and webhooks on Business.
Choose Otter if
- Someone needs to replay audio, import recorded files, or send a notetaker to meetings nobody can attend.
- You want live and file transcription in one of the six languages Otter supports, among them English, Spanish, French, and German.
- Annual billing suits you: Otter Pro is US$8.33 and Business US$19.99 per user per month, billed annually.
Side by side
| Dimension | Granola | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | Desktop and mobile apps capture device audio. No bot joins | A notetaker that joins Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet, or bot-free recording from the Mac and Windows desktop app, Chrome, or mobile |
| Recording | No audio kept: the desktop apps stream audio to the transcription provider in real time, and the mobile apps cache it only until transcription completes. No file upload | Audio playback on every plan. 3 lifetime file imports on Basic, 10 a month on Pro, and unlimited on Business |
| Free plan | No daily transcription limit. Notes visible in the app for 30 days | 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation |
| Paid seat, billed monthlyList prices in US dollars. | Business US$14 per user per month | Pro US$16.99. Business US$30 per user per month |
| Paid seat, billed annually | Annual billing only on Enterprise contracts, from US$35 per user per month | Pro US$8.33. Business US$19.99 per user per month |
| Model training | Anonymized data improves Granola's models by default, with a per-user opt-out. Off by default on Enterprise | The privacy policy, effective June 16, 2026, says Otter trains its own AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions. Each user can refuse training access in the Help improve Otter setting, and Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II. HIPAA with a BAA on Enterprise. Data stored in the US | Trust Center lists SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA. HIPAA is an Enterprise add-on |
| Admin and access | SSO and SCIM on Enterprise from 50 seats. MCP on every plan. API on Business and Enterprise | SSO and SCIM on Enterprise with a 100-user minimum, plus domain capture. MCP server on every plan. API and webhooks on Enterprise |
| 50 people, 20 meeting hours each a monthList prices; taxes and discounts excluded. | US$700 a month on Business at US$14 a seat. GILD's calculation from published rates, read Oct 28, 20261 | About US$1,000 a month on Business at US$19.99 a seat billed annually, in two workspaces at this headcount. GILD's calculation from published rates, read Oct 28, 20269 |
What practitioners report, side by side
Each product's figures come from its own practitioners, for the group you pick.
Overall signal
All users rate Granola +68, 122 points above Otter at −54. Most of the gap is in praise, with 44 of Granola's 57 sources positive against 12 of Otter's 82. Granola has 5 negative and Otter 56.
The score is how far positive sources lead negative ones, per 100 sources from all users that take a side. Each author behind these scores wrote one of them, so each source is one vote.
A lead of a fifth of the sources reads positive and a lead of half strong positive, with the same lines below zero. The dots run positive, mixed, negative. Run a pilot on a month of real meetings to measure how much each summary needs editing before it is shared.
Footprint on the AI Knowledge Work stack
Both cover the same 7 layers at the same depth. Coverage is each product's placement on this stack, as its product page shows it. Core is a job the product owns; Supports and Touches are jobs it helps with. Coverage says nothing about how well a product does them.
| Stage | Granola | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Assist1 layer | Touches 1 | Touches 1 |
| Find2 layers | Supports 1, Touches 1 | Supports 1, Touches 1 |
| Create2 layers | Core 1, Supports 1 | Core 1, Supports 1 |
| Analyze1 layer | Touches 1 | Touches 1 |
| Automate1 layer | Supports 1 | Supports 1 |
Show all 7 layers
| Layer | Granola | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Assist | ||
| AI assistant | Touches | Touches |
| Find | ||
| Web research | Touches | Touches |
| Enterprise search | Supports | Supports |
| Create | ||
| Documents | Supports | Supports |
| Meeting notes | Core | Core |
| Analyze | ||
| Data analysis | Touches | Touches |
| Automate | ||
| Automation | Supports | Supports |
What practitioners praise
Among all users, Granola alone has four praise themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Bot-Free Capture and Note Quality lead, at 17 of 17 and 15 of 17. Otter alone has four praise themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Live Transcription and Voice Notes & Interviews lead, at 11 of 14 and 5 of 6.
| Praised for | Granola | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Bot-Free Capture | 17 of 17 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Note Quality | 15 of 17 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Meeting Memory | 14 of 14 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Your Own Notes | 6 of 6 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Live Transcription | Not a theme in its sources | 11 of 14 |
| Voice Notes & Interviews | Not a theme in its sources | 5 of 6 |
| Searchable Record | Not a theme in its sources | 4 of 6 |
| Summaries & Action Items | Not a theme in its sources | 3 of 5 |
Each count is the sources that praise a theme, or raise it as a concern, out of those that discuss it. A row pairs the two products when both carry a theme under the same or an equivalent name.
A count ending in "so far" has under 5 sources from 3 authors among all users. "Not a theme in its sources" means GILD found no theme of that name in that product's sources.
What practitioners raise as concerns
Otter's sources raise Transcript Accuracy more often than Granola's. It is raised in 2 of the 7 Granola sources that discuss it, against 11 of 12 for Otter. Platform Gaps and Price & Plan Limits reach 5 sources from 3 authors only for Granola, at 7 of 7 and 3 of 7. Otter needs a pilot on the same meetings before you choose on either. Otter alone has three concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Uninvited Notetaker and IT Control lead, at 23 of 23 and 15 of 19.
| Raised as a concern | Granola | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & Consent | 7 of 12 | 19 of 20 |
| Transcript Accuracy | 2 of 7 | 11 of 12 |
| Platform Gaps | 7 of 7 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Price & Plan Limits | 3 of 7 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Uninvited Notetaker | Not a theme in its sources | 23 of 23 |
| IT Control | Not a theme in its sources | 15 of 19 |
| Price & Minute Caps | Not a theme in its sources | 9 of 17 |
12 sources
- Granola pricing
- Granola Help Center: Subscriptions and billing
- Granola Help Center: How transcription works
- Granola: Security, privacy, and how it all works
- Granola Help Center: Models & training
- Granola Help Center: Security, Privacy & Data FAQs
- Granola Help Center: Granola MCP
- Otter.ai
- Otter.ai pricing
- Otter.ai Privacy Policy (effective June 16, 2026)
- Otter Help Center: Provide feedback to Otter
- Otter.ai Trust Center