HearkeeperJoin the waitlist

A private, local Otter.ai alternative for Mac

Otter.ai is a mature cloud meeting assistant. Hearkeeper takes a different route: it records and transcribes on your Mac, with a consent step before every recording. Here is how they compare, and when each one fits.

Last checked:

Otter.ai is a well-known meeting assistant, and for many people it is a good choice. It can send a notetaker to your Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls, or record from its desktop app on Mac and Windows without a bot. It has apps for iPhone and Android, a Chrome extension, a free plan, and connections to tools such as Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion and Jira. If you want a service that is available today on every device you own and fits into a team’s existing tools, Otter covers a lot of ground.

Hearkeeper is not released yet. It is a Mac app built around one idea: your meetings stay on your computer.

The core difference

Where your audio goes. Otter is a cloud service. Its privacy policy names Amazon Web Services, based in the United States, as its provider for compute and data storage. The same policy says Otter trains its own AI on “de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions”. That is Otter’s documented design, and many teams are comfortable with it.

Hearkeeper does the work on your Mac instead. It captures your microphone and your computer’s audio, transcribes with whisper.cpp accelerated by Metal, and writes summaries, decisions and to-dos with a local language model. No API key is needed. Nothing is uploaded unless you choose to connect a team server or your own API key.

Bot or no bot. Otter offers both: a notetaker that joins the call, and bot-free recording from its desktop app. Hearkeeper only records from your Mac, so no bot ever appears in the participant list. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, FaceTime, and meetings or lectures in the room.

Consent. Every Hearkeeper recording starts with a consent step: read a short notice aloud, post it in the call’s chat, or both. A consent receipt is saved with the recording, so you can later show who was told and when. The recording pill stays on screen, shows up in screen shares, and has no hide button.

Icelandic. Otter lists a small set of transcription languages, and Icelandic is not among them. Hearkeeper treats Icelandic as a first-class language and detects mixed Icelandic and English on its own. It also transcribes the other languages Whisper supports, 99 in all.

Otter.ai and Hearkeeper side by side

Otter.ai Hearkeeper
Bot in the call Optional: a notetaker can join, or the desktop app records without one No. Records on your Mac; no bot joins
Where audio is processed Otter’s cloud (AWS, United States, per its privacy policy) On your Mac (whisper.cpp with Metal)
Where notes are stored Otter’s cloud One SQLite file and your own audio and note files on your disk
Works offline Not described on the pages we read Yes, fully
Consent step and receipt Not covered on the pages we read Consent step before every recording; receipt saved with the recording; pill that can’t be hidden
Icelandic transcription Not in Otter’s listed languages Yes, first-class, with mixed Icelandic and English
Platforms Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chrome, web Mac (macOS 14.2+, Apple silicon and Intel), when released; other platforms later
Price as listed Basic free (300 transcription 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 (as listed on 28 September 2026) Not announced yet

When Otter.ai is the better choice

  • You need it today. Otter is available now. Hearkeeper is still on a waitlist.
  • You use Windows, a phone or a browser. Otter runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and the web. Hearkeeper starts on the Mac only, and we have not set dates for other platforms.
  • You want the notetaker to attend for you. Otter can send its notetaker to a meeting you can’t join. Hearkeeper only records what your own Mac hears.
  • Your team lives in shared tools. Otter connects to CRMs, project tools and team chat, with plans for businesses and enterprises. Hearkeeper is built for your own Mac first.
  • You want a free plan. Otter has one. Hearkeeper’s pricing is not announced.

When Hearkeeper fits better

  • You’d rather your audio never left your computer. Transcripts, summaries and search are made on your Mac, and they keep working on a plane or anywhere without a connection.
  • You want consent built in. A consent step before every recording, a saved receipt, and a recording pill that stays visible, including in screen shares.
  • You meet in Icelandic. Icelandic is a first-class language, and mixed Icelandic and English is detected automatically.
  • You want notes you can check. Every line of the summary and every answer cites the second it was said. You can ask questions during the call and across all your meetings.
  • You want to own the files. Audio and notes are your own files, search lives in one SQLite file on disk, and notes export to Markdown.

Is Otter.ai safe?

That depends on what you are comfortable with, and it is a question about design more than about any one company. Otter describes its security work (encryption at rest and a SOC 2 Type 2 report) on its privacy and security page. The practical questions to ask of any meeting tool are: where is the audio processed, where are the transcripts stored, is the content used for training, and how are the other people in the call told. Otter answers those on its own pages, linked below. Hearkeeper’s answers are short: on your Mac, on your disk, no, and with a consent step every time.

Sources

All read on 28 September 2026.

Hearkeeper is coming to the Mac first. Join the waitlist and we’ll tell you when it’s ready.

Try Hearkeeper first

Private meeting and lecture notes, made on your own Mac. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when it’s ready.

One email when it’s ready, nothing else. Leave any time. Privacy