Granola is the better app overall, scoring 8.5 to 8.0. Granola wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Otter.ai on 0.
Busy professionals who sit in back-to-back video meetings
Students, journalists and teams who want searchable transcripts of every meeting
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Granola | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Assistants | AI Assistants |
| Category rank | #7 of 16 | #13 of 16 |
| Developer | Granola | Otter.ai |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Granola better than Otter.ai?
Granola is the better app overall, scoring 8.5 to 8.0. Granola wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Otter.ai on 0.
Which is cheaper, Granola or Otter.ai?
Granola: Free plan keeps 30 days of notes; Business is $14 per user a month. Otter.ai: Free: 300 minutes a month; Pro is $8.33 a month billed yearly or $16.99 monthly. On value for money, Granola scores higher.
Do Granola and Otter.ai work on the same devices?
Only Otter.ai runs on Web.
Which is more private, Granola or Otter.ai?
Granola scores higher on privacy (7.2/10). Granola doesn't store meeting audio, and notes are encrypted at rest. It trains on anonymized data by default, with an opt-out in Settings. The App Store label links audio, contacts and usage to you.
Strengths and weaknesses
Granola
- No bot joins your calls
- Turns your rough notes into clean summaries
- Works with Zoom, Meet, Teams and in person
- Free plan keeps only 30 days of notes
- No audio recording to replay later
- Trains on anonymized data unless you opt out
Granola listens to your meetings through your computer or phone's audio, so no bot joins the call. You jot rough notes as usual, and afterwards it merges them with the transcript into clean, structured notes using templates you choose. Chat across past meetings, share them in team Spaces, or send them to Slack, Notion or HubSpot. The free plan keeps only 30 days of history, and training on anonymized data is on unless you opt out.
Full Granola review
Otter.ai
- Years of experience with meeting and lecture transcripts
- Free plan includes 300 minutes a month
- Apps for phone, computer and web
- Free conversations stop at 30 minutes
- Trains AI on recordings with personal details removed, by default
- Faces a class action lawsuit over recording consent
Otter has typed up meetings and lectures for years. It writes live transcripts with speaker labels. Its notetaker can join Zoom, Meet and Teams on its own. AI Chat answers questions across your meetings. A new desktop app records calls and chats outside scheduled meetings. The free plan works but stops each conversation at 30 minutes. Otter trains its AI on recordings with personal details removed. It also faces a class action lawsuit over recording consent.
Full Otter.ai review
