These two get compared constantly and they are not really the same product. Otter is a transcription service that also summarises. Granola is a notepad that also listens. The difference decides which one is right for you far more than any feature list. (Disclosure: we make a notes app, Clair Mind, which does not do meeting transcription at all. Referee only.)
At a glance
| Granola | Otter | |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | You type sparse notes; AI expands them after | It transcribes everything, then summarises |
| How it captures | System audio on your machine — no bot joins | Sends a bot into the meeting, or records in-app |
| Output | An enhanced version of your notes | A full transcript plus AI summary |
| Platforms | Desktop Mac and Windows, iOS; no Android or full web app | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension |
| Free tier | Free plan, limited history | Free plan with a monthly transcription-minute cap |
| Paid | Around $14/user/month for the business tier | Pro and Business per-user tiers, cheaper billed annually |
| Best at | Your own thinking, kept and sharpened | Searchable records, files, team workflows |
Pricing moves; both sites are the authority.
The actual philosophical difference
Otter answers "what was said." Granola answers "what did I take from this."
Otter's output is a record. Everything is captured, timestamped, speaker-labelled and searchable, and the AI summary sits on top of it. When the question later is did they actually commit to the March date, that is what you want.
Granola's output is your notes, better. You type fragments during the call — the same terse capture as rapid logging — and afterwards it fills them out using what it heard. The result reads like something you wrote, because the structure and emphasis are yours. It only expands what you flagged as mattering.
That difference has a real consequence for retention, and it is the honest argument for the Granola model: a transcript you did not write requires no engagement, and produces none. Typing the four things that mattered is shallow work, but it is work — see levels of processing and why writing helps memory. An AI summary of a meeting you attended passively is a document you will read once, if that.
The bot question
Otter's default mode sends a participant into the call. Everyone sees "Otter.ai Notetaker joined." That is either a feature — it is honest, and it captures calls you are not on — or an intrusion, depending on the room. Some organisations block meeting bots outright.
Granola records the system audio on your own machine. Nothing joins, nobody is notified by the software, and it works on any call your speakers can play, including ones your calendar does not know about.
Which raises the part neither marketing page leads with: the fact that no bot appears does not remove the obligation to say you are recording. In several jurisdictions all-party consent is the legal standard, and in most workplaces it is the social one regardless. Say it out loud at the start. The tool that makes recording invisible makes the disclosure your job.
Platform reality
This decides it for a lot of people before anything else does.
Granola is desktop-first: a Mac and Windows app, with iOS for phone calls. No Android app, and no full web version. If you take calls on a Chromebook or an Android phone, the conversation ends here.
Otter runs on the web, iOS, Android and as a Chrome extension, and it will also transcribe uploaded audio and video files — which matters if your work includes interviews, lectures or recordings that were never a live meeting.
Choose Granola if
- You already take notes in meetings and want them sharper, not replaced.
- You are on Mac or Windows and mostly in scheduled calls.
- Bots in calls are awkward for your clients or blocked by your company.
- You want the output to sound like you, because it is going into your own notes.
Choose Otter if
- You need the record: exact wording, speaker attribution, searchable history.
- You are on Android, or you live in a browser.
- You transcribe uploaded files as well as live calls.
- You are buying for a team that needs shared workspaces, admin controls and CRM-shaped workflows.
What both get wrong about meetings
Neither tool fixes the actual failure mode, which is that nothing happens afterwards. A perfect transcript and a beautiful summary both sit unread if the decisions and the follow-ups do not leave the tool and land somewhere you look every day.
The discipline is unglamorous: after the call, pull out the three lines that are actually yours — what was decided, what you owe, what you are waiting on — and put them where your work lives. How to take meeting notes covers the format, and best notes app for meetings covers where they should land. The transcript is a source, not a note.
There is also a privacy floor worth setting deliberately. Both services process your conversations in the cloud. For most business calls that is a normal trade; for legal, medical, HR or personal material it may not be, and no summary quality argument outweighs that. See best private notes app.
Related: best notes app for meetings, how to take 1-1 notes, and the wider note app comparisons.