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Granola vs Otter (and a local option)

Granola and Otter.ai are two of the most common choices for AI meeting notes. Here is how they differ, from each vendor's own pages, and where an on-device app like Hearkeeper fits.

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Granola and Otter.ai both turn meetings into notes, and both are good at it. They take different approaches, though. Otter is a meeting assistant that can join your calls for you. Granola calls itself an AI notepad: you write as much or as little as you like during the meeting, and it uses the meeting’s context to write the notes. This page compares the two as fairly as we can, and then says where Hearkeeper, a local app we make, would fit. Hearkeeper is not released yet, so for most people choosing today the real choice is between the first two.

Bots and how they record

Otter gives you both options. Its notetaker can join your Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls, and can join them automatically from your calendar. Its desktop app for Mac and Windows can also record without a bot, in Slack huddles, Zoom, Google Meet and in person.

Granola never adds a bot. It uses your computer’s audio and transcribes in the background, so nothing changes in the participant list.

If you want a notetaker to cover meetings you can’t join, Otter does that and Granola doesn’t. If you don’t want anything visible in the call, both can work that way.

Where your meetings go

Both are cloud services with data in the United States.

Otter’s privacy policy names Amazon Web Services, in the United States, as its provider for compute and storage. It also says Otter trains its own AI on “de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions”.

Granola’s security page says it does not store meeting audio. It transcribes in real time on Mac and Windows through third-party providers (it names Deepgram and Assembly) and uses AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic for notes. Notes and transcripts are stored in a US-hosted AWS Virtual Private Cloud. Granola says third parties may not train on your data, and that it trains on anonymised data unless you opt out in Settings; on the Enterprise plan that training is off by default.

So the difference here is narrower than it might seem: Otter keeps recordings, Granola keeps notes and transcripts but not the audio, and both use your content to improve their own AI unless you (at Granola) opt out.

Languages, platforms and price

Languages. Otter’s published language list is short. Granola’s help center lists 31 desktop languages. Neither list includes Icelandic.

Platforms. Both run on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. Otter also has a Chrome extension and a web app; Granola also has an Apple Watch app.

Price. Both have free plans with limits. Otter’s free Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, at most 30 minutes per conversation. Granola’s free Basic plan keeps 30 days of meeting history.

Granola, Otter and Hearkeeper side by side

Granola Otter.ai Hearkeeper
Bot in the call No. Captures device audio Optional: a notetaker joins, or the desktop app records without one No. Records on your Mac
Where audio is processed Cloud transcription providers (Deepgram, Assembly) Otter’s cloud (AWS, United States) On your Mac (whisper.cpp with Metal)
Audio kept No Yes, in Otter’s cloud Yes, as your own file
Where notes are stored US-hosted AWS Virtual Private Cloud Otter’s cloud One SQLite file and your own files on your disk
Training on your meetings Anonymised data, unless you opt out De-identified audio and transcriptions No. Nothing is uploaded unless you connect a server or your own API key
Icelandic Not in the 31 listed desktop languages Not in the listed languages Yes, first-class, with mixed Icelandic and English
Platforms Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chrome, web Mac (macOS 14.2+), when released; other platforms later
Price as listed Basic free (30 days of history); Business $14 per user a month; Enterprise $35 per user a month Basic free (300 minutes a month); Pro $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 billed yearly; Business $30, or $19.99 billed yearly; Enterprise on request Not announced yet

Prices as listed on 28 September 2026.

When Granola is the better choice

  • You like to write your own notes and want AI to fill in the rest.
  • You never want a bot in the call. Granola doesn’t have one.
  • You’d rather the audio wasn’t kept. Granola transcribes and doesn’t store it.
  • You want unlimited meetings at a lower listed price. Granola’s Business plan is $14 per user a month, with unlimited notes and history.

When Otter is the better choice

  • You want a notetaker to attend for you, including meetings you can’t join.
  • You want to keep the recording and play it back next to the transcript.
  • Your free use is measured in minutes, not days. Otter’s free plan counts transcription minutes; Granola’s free plan limits meeting history to 30 days.
  • You work in many tools. Otter lists integrations with Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, Jira, Asana and more, and has a Chrome extension and web app.

Where a local option fits

If what brought you to this comparison is privacy, notice that Granola and Otter answer the question the same way at heart: your meetings are processed in a US cloud. That suits many people. If it doesn’t suit you, the choice is less about Granola or Otter than about whether you want the cloud involved at all.

That is the gap Hearkeeper is built for. It records your microphone and your computer’s audio on your Mac, with no bot, in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, FaceTime and in the room. It transcribes on the Mac, with live captions about two to four seconds behind and a final pass that separates speakers, and writes summaries, decisions and to-dos with a local language model, with no API key. Every line cites the second it was said. Before every recording there is a consent step, a receipt is saved, and the recording pill stays visible, including in screen shares. Icelandic is a first-class language, among 99. It is Mac-only at first, not released yet, and pricing is not announced.

There is more detail in our Granola comparison and our Otter.ai comparison.

Sources

All read on 28 September 2026.

If a local option sounds right, Hearkeeper is coming to the Mac first. Join the waitlist to hear when it’s ready.

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