Granola vs Otter.ai

Granola

• People who do not want a recording bot visible in their calls
• Note-takers who like to type their own points and have them filled out afterwards
• Back-to-back meeting schedules across Zoom, Google Meet and Teams

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

Granola

• The free Basic plan shows only the last 30 days of notes; older notes need a Business subscription to view.
• Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity and Zapier integrations start on Business; Salesforce, SSO and SCIM are Enterprise only.
• Basic and Business are billed monthly only; annual billing is offered on Enterprise contracts.
• There is no web app or browser extension, and the Mac app needs macOS 14 or later.

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.

Granola

Bot-free capture

Transcribes from your device's microphone and system audio, so it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or other call software without adding a participant to the meeting.

Notes built on what you type

Type rough notes during the call and Granola expands them into a full write-up using the transcript. Custom templates control the structure of the result.

Chat across meetings

Ask questions about one meeting or your whole history, such as what you agreed to do this week. Basic uses automatic model choice; paid plans let you pick the model.

Shared folders

Notes are private until you share them. Shared folders give a team a common place for meeting notes and are included on every plan.

MCP and API access

An MCP connection lets assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT read your meeting notes. Basic exposes personal notes from the last 30 days; API access starts on Business.

Phone apps for in-person meetings

The iPhone and Android apps take notes away from the desk, for walking meetings, conferences or coffee catch-ups, and there is an Apple Watch app.

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.

Granola

• Basic$0

  AI meeting notes, chat across meetings, shared folders and note templates, with 30 days of meeting history.

• Business$14

  per user / month, billed monthly

  Unlimited history, model selection in chat, pre-meeting briefs, API access and integrations such as Notion, HubSpot and Zapier.

• Enterprise$35

  per user / month, monthly or annual contract

  Starting price. Adds SSO, SCIM, workspace-wide admin policies, usage analytics, HIPAA-compliant workspaces and Salesforce.

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.

Granola

• Startups

  1 year of Business free for startups

  Granola's startup program gives accepted companies 12 months of the Business plan at no cost. It is open to startups with fewer than 30 employees that have raised a pre-seed or seed round.

• Education

  12 months free for students

  Currently enrolled students at accredited universities in the US, UK and Canada can apply for 12 months of Granola Business free.

• Nonprofit

  50% off Business for nonprofits

  Registered nonprofits get 50% off the Business plan after verifying their status through Goodstack. Approval is at Granola's discretion.

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.