Granola vs Otter.ai (2026)
Side-by-side comparison of Granola vs Otter.ai: pricing, capabilities, integrations, deployment complexity, and ratings. Last updated October 27, 2026 by The AI Agent Index Editorial Team.
Data sourced from The AI Agent Index
Granola and Otter.ai both produce notes from meetings, and they start from opposite ends. Otter sends a bot to scheduled Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls, transcribes them live with speaker labels and produces summaries, action items and follow-ups. Granola never joins the call. It captures audio from the device you are using, so it works with any meeting app, and you jot rough notes that it fills out from the transcript afterward. That difference explains the human-in-loop row. Granola reads Required because recording starts manually for each meeting and it never auto-joins or auto-records. Otter reads Optional because its bot joins calendar meetings on its own. Granola also deletes the audio once a meeting is transcribed and keeps only the transcript and notes, so there is no recording to play back, while Otter keeps recordings in its app. The starting-price row compares two different terms. Both products have a free plan. Otter's figure is the Pro rate billed annually, and month to month it costs more. Granola's figure is its Business rate billed monthly. The free plans are shaped differently too. Otter Basic caps transcription minutes each month, while Granola Basic gives unlimited AI meeting notes and keeps 30 days of note history in the app. Both rows show the same four security chips, and on both products HIPAA coverage needs the Enterprise plan and a signed Business Associate Agreement. Granola's Enterprise plan can be bought in the app, which is why its pricing reads Public, while Otter sells Enterprise through a demo. The data-training row needs reading as a pair. Granola trains its own models on anonymized customer data by default, with an opt-out for each user on every plan, and Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default. Otter's privacy policy says it trains its proprietary AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions, which may contain personal information, and Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default. Neither product is a no, and on both the Enterprise plan carries the stronger default. Language coverage differs widely. Otter lists transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified). Granola's multi-language transcription covers 31 languages on desktop and 17 on mobile. Each product reaches past the meeting in a different direction. Otter also sells an SDR Agent that qualifies leads and books meetings from a company website, and a Recruiting Agent that syncs candidate notes with Greenhouse. Granola's additions stay with the person in the meeting: chat across past meetings with citations and saved prompts called Recipes. Business and Enterprise add briefs before a meeting and drafted follow-up emails after it, with a review step before anything is sent. Both publish an MCP server. Otter includes it on every plan, including Basic, and Granola runs as an official connector in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Microsoft 365 Copilot, with Basic users reaching their own notes from the last 30 days. For CRMs, Otter connects to Salesforce and HubSpot from Pro, while Granola connects natively to HubSpot, Attio and Affinity on Business and lists Salesforce on Enterprise. On the companies themselves, Otter says it passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025, and Granola, based in London, raised a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation in March 2026. Otter carries the larger G2 review base of the two. Choose Granola if you do not want a bot in the call, meet in person or across many meeting apps, or need transcription beyond six languages. Choose Otter if you want a bot to join and record calendar meetings automatically, want recordings to play back, or want its sales and recruiting agents alongside the notes.
Granola
by Granola, Inc.
Bot-free AI meeting notepad for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch. Captures device audio from any call without joining it. Free plan, Business $14 per user per month.
Best for
People who want meeting notes without a bot joining the call, across any meeting app and in person, with transcription in many languages
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Otter.ai
by Otter.ai
AI meeting agent that joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet to transcribe, summarize and sync notes to CRM, plus SDR and Recruiting agents and an MCP server. Free plan, Pro $8.33/user/mo billed annually.
Best for
Teams that want a bot to join and record calendar meetings automatically, with recordings to replay and SDR and Recruiting agents alongside the notes
Capabilities
Granola
Otter.ai
Pros & Limitations
Editorial assessmentGranola
Pros
- ✓Captures audio from the device instead of sending a bot into the call, so it works with any meeting app, with apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch.
- ✓The free Basic plan includes unlimited AI meeting notes, AI chat, Recipes, templates, shared folders and the Slack integration, and its MCP server reaches Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other AI tools on every plan.
- ✓Enterprise adds HIPAA-compliant workspaces with a Business Associate Agreement, SCIM and an audit API at a published $35 per user per month, bought in the app.
Limitations
- –Recording must be started manually for each meeting because Granola does not auto-join or auto-record calls, so a meeting nobody starts is not captured.
- –Audio is deleted after transcription, so there is no recording to play back, and the free Basic plan shows only the last 30 days of notes in the app.
- –HIPAA coverage, SSO, SCIM and a workspace-wide training opt-out require Enterprise, SSO is offered to teams of 50 or more users, and Business allows only a per-user opt-out.
Otter.ai
Pros
- ✓The meeting agent joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls automatically and produces live transcripts, summaries and action items, and AI Chat searches across past meetings.
- ✓The Otter MCP server is included on every plan, including the free Basic plan, so assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can search meeting transcripts.
- ✓SDR and Recruiting agents extend Otter beyond note-taking, with CRM sync for Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics, and HIPAA is available on Enterprise with a BAA.
Limitations
- –Basic includes 300 transcription minutes a month and 3 lifetime file imports, and Pro caps meetings at 90 minutes and file imports at 10 a month, so frequent or long meetings need Business or above.
- –Transcription supports six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified).
- –The privacy policy permits training on de-identified recordings and transcripts, and only Enterprise workspaces are opted out of model training by default.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Granola vs Otter.ai?
Granola and Otter.ai both produce notes from meetings, and they start from opposite ends. Otter sends a bot to scheduled Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls, transcribes them live with speaker labels and produces summaries, action items and follow-ups. Granola never joins the call. It captures audio from the device you are using, so it works with any meeting app, and you jot rough notes that it fills out from the transcript afterward. That difference explains the human-in-loop row. Granola reads Required because recording starts manually for each meeting and it never auto-joins or auto-records. Otter reads Optional because its bot joins calendar meetings on its own. Granola also deletes the audio once a meeting is transcribed and keeps only the transcript and notes, so there is no recording to play back, while Otter keeps recordings in its app. The starting-price row compares two different terms. Both products have a free plan. Otter's figure is the Pro rate billed annually, and month to month it costs more. Granola's figure is its Business rate billed monthly. The free plans are shaped differently too. Otter Basic caps transcription minutes each month, while Granola Basic gives unlimited AI meeting notes and keeps 30 days of note history in the app. Both rows show the same four security chips, and on both products HIPAA coverage needs the Enterprise plan and a signed Business Associate Agreement. Granola's Enterprise plan can be bought in the app, which is why its pricing reads Public, while Otter sells Enterprise through a demo. The data-training row needs reading as a pair. Granola trains its own models on anonymized customer data by default, with an opt-out for each user on every plan, and Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default. Otter's privacy policy says it trains its proprietary AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions, which may contain personal information, and Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default. Neither product is a no, and on both the Enterprise plan carries the stronger default. Language coverage differs widely. Otter lists transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified). Granola's multi-language transcription covers 31 languages on desktop and 17 on mobile. Each product reaches past the meeting in a different direction. Otter also sells an SDR Agent that qualifies leads and books meetings from a company website, and a Recruiting Agent that syncs candidate notes with Greenhouse. Granola's additions stay with the person in the meeting: chat across past meetings with citations and saved prompts called Recipes. Business and Enterprise add briefs before a meeting and drafted follow-up emails after it, with a review step before anything is sent. Both publish an MCP server. Otter includes it on every plan, including Basic, and Granola runs as an official connector in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Microsoft 365 Copilot, with Basic users reaching their own notes from the last 30 days. For CRMs, Otter connects to Salesforce and HubSpot from Pro, while Granola connects natively to HubSpot, Attio and Affinity on Business and lists Salesforce on Enterprise. On the companies themselves, Otter says it passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025, and Granola, based in London, raised a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation in March 2026. Otter carries the larger G2 review base of the two. Choose Granola if you do not want a bot in the call, meet in person or across many meeting apps, or need transcription beyond six languages. Choose Otter if you want a bot to join and record calendar meetings automatically, want recordings to play back, or want its sales and recruiting agents alongside the notes.
Which is best for my team: Granola vs Otter.ai?
Granola is best for: People who want meeting notes without a bot joining the call, across any meeting app and in person, with transcription in many languages. Otter.ai is best for: Teams that want a bot to join and record calendar meetings automatically, with recordings to replay and SDR and Recruiting agents alongside the notes.
How does pricing compare between Granola vs Otter.ai?
Granola uses a freemium model, starting at $14 per month. Otter.ai uses a freemium model, starting at $8.33 per month on an annual commitment (month-to-month costs more).
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