Grain vs Otter.ai

Grain

• Teams where a few people record and everyone else only views
• Sales and customer success teams syncing calls to HubSpot or Salesforce
• Sharing clips of customer calls with people who were not there
• Feeding meeting transcripts to Claude, ChatGPT or other AI agents

Otter.ai

• Reading a live transcript while a meeting or lecture is still going
• Students and teachers, who get a discount on Pro with a .edu address
• People who want the same notes on web, desktop and phone

Grain

• The Free plan cuts each meeting off at 45 minutes, keeps 30 days of history and has no file uploads.
• HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI coaching and trackers need Business at $29 per seat a month on annual billing.
• Starter allows 10 file uploads a month, and SAML single sign-on is limited to Enterprise.
• Grain's download page offers desktop apps for Mac and Windows only.

Otter.ai

• Basic is capped at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, and only the 25 most recent conversations stay accessible.
• Pro is still metered: 1,200 minutes a month and 90 minutes per meeting. Unlimited meetings start on Business.
• AI Chat queries are capped on every plan, at most 200 per user per month.
• SSO, SCIM, the API and webhooks are Enterprise only, and HIPAA compliance is an add-on.

Grain

Bot or bot-free capture

The desktop app for Mac and Windows transcribes the computer's audio with no bot in the call. A bot can join instead to record video, including meetings you cannot attend.

AI notes and action items

Each meeting gets a summary, next steps and an automatic recap. Custom AI prompts and custom note templates are available from the Starter plan.

Ask across meetings

Ask questions over the whole meeting library and get answers with citations that point back to the source recordings.

Clips and highlight reels

Cut shareable video clips from a recording, group them into playlists or highlight reels, and share them with teammates or clients.

MCP server and API

AI agents can query transcripts and search across meetings. Transcripts export as Markdown or open in Claude or ChatGPT. Workspace API and advanced MCP access need Business.

Coaching and CRM sync

The Business plan adds HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI coaching, trackers and team interaction metrics for sales and customer success teams.

Otter.ai

Meeting agent or bot-free recording

The notetaker can auto-join Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings from your calendar. The desktop app for Mac and Windows records without a bot joining the call.

Live transcription with speaker ID

Transcribes as people speak, labels speakers and syncs the text to audio playback. Custom vocabulary covers 5 terms on Basic and up to 800 names and 800 terms on Business.

Automated summaries

Each conversation gets an automated summary on every plan, so the main points are available without reading the full transcript.

AI Chat

Ask questions about your conversations in a chat. Monthly queries are capped per user: 20 on Basic, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business and Enterprise.

File imports and exports

Import audio or video files for transcription and export notes. Basic allows 3 imports in total and mp3 or txt export; paid plans add pdf, docx and srt.

Integrations and MCP server

Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier integrations start on Pro. An MCP server is listed on every plan, while the Otter API and webhooks are Enterprise only.

Grain

• Free$0

  Unlimited meetings with a 45-minute limit, AI notes and action items, 30-day meeting history, desktop capture and unlimited notetaker seats.

• Starter$15

  per seat / month, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)

  Unlimited meeting duration and history, custom AI prompts, admin controls, teams, Slack, personal Zapier and API access, and 10 file uploads a month.

• Business$29

  per seat / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)

  Adds HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI coaching, trackers, team interaction metrics, custom AI follow-up emails, unlimited uploads and a workspace API.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Everything in Business, plus SAML-based single sign-on, priority API support, custom invoices and a dedicated customer success manager.

Otter.ai

• Basic$0

  300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports and the 25 most recent conversations.

• Pro$8.33

  per user / month, billed annually ($16.99 billed monthly)

  1,200 minutes a month, 90 minutes per meeting, 10 file imports a month, unlimited history and extra export formats.

• Business$19.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)

  Unlimited meetings and file imports, up to 4 hours per meeting, 3 concurrent meetings, activity logs and usage analytics.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Adds SSO, SCIM, domain capture, the Otter API and webhooks, video replay and a HIPAA compliance add-on.

Grain

• Annual discount

  Lower per-seat price on annual billing

  At listed prices Starter costs $180 a year ($15 a month) instead of $19 a month, and Business $348 a year ($29 a month) instead of $39 a month, per seat.

Otter.ai

• Annual discount

  Save 51% on Pro and 33% on Business annually

  Otter's pricing page shows Pro at $8.33 per user per month on annual billing against $16.99 monthly (labeled save 51%), and Business at $19.99 against $30 (save 33%).

• Education

  20% off Pro for students and teachers

  Individual students and teachers with an email address ending in .edu get 20% off Otter Pro: $6.67 per month billed annually ($79.99) or $13.59 month to month.