Otter AI alternatives that keep your calls on your Mac

Otter is a meeting notes tool built around the cloud. Its Notetaker can join your Zoom, Teams and Google Meet calls, and its desktop app for Mac and Windows can record without one. Either way, the audio goes to Otter to become text: its help center says live transcription needs a connection, and a recording made offline uploads once you're back online. Conversations are stored on AWS.

The free Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, and 3 file imports for life. Pro is $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 billed yearly, at the time of writing (Otter pricing).

That suits plenty of teams. People look elsewhere when:

• They don't want a bot in the participant list, ever.
• They'd rather the audio and transcript never leave their computer.
• The free plan's 30-minute cap cuts their calls short.
• Otter trains its own models on de-identified user data, and they'd rather it didn't.

We make Koi, one of the apps below, so read this with that in mind. Everything about the others comes from their own sites, checked October 7, 2026. Plenty of lists cover every meeting tool going. This one asks a narrower question: can the call stay on your Mac?

Meeting recorders work in one of three ways, and it changes who sees what.

• A bot joins the call. Otter's Notetaker, Fathom, Fireflies, tl;dv and Notta all offer one. It shows up in the participant list and records from inside the meeting. Some hosts block bots, and some guests would rather not have one there.
• Bot-free, cloud transcription. An app on your computer captures your microphone and the computer's sound, so nobody joins the call. The audio still goes to the company's servers, or its providers, to become text. Granola, Jamie and the desktop apps of Otter, Fathom, Fireflies and tl;dv work this way.
• Fully local. The app records on your computer and turns speech into text there too. The audio isn't uploaded, and it works offline. Koi, MacWhisper with its local models, and Notta's Privacy Mode (in beta) do this.

Bot-free is about what the other people on the call see. Local is about where your data goes. They're different promises, and most apps only make the first one. If privacy is the reason you're leaving Otter, check which one you're getting.

The short version, from each company's own site.

Several, and each one draws its limit somewhere else. Fathom's free plan is the most generous on paper: unlimited recordings and transcripts. tl;dv also gives unlimited recordings and transcription, with AI notes on 10 meetings. Fireflies' free transcription is unlimited for bot meetings, but storage is 400 minutes per team. Granola's free plan keeps 30 days of history. Jamie gives you 10 AI notes a month, and Notta stops at 3 minutes per conversation.

If free has to mean local too, the list gets short. Koi's free plan includes 2 recorded calls a month, transcribed on your Mac, with unlimited dictation on top. MacWhisper's free version transcribes files on your Mac but doesn't record meetings. If you record more often, Koi's Pro, Max and Lifetime plans raise or remove the limit.

Yes, though fewer than the “no bot” crowd suggests. Three apps in this list turn speech into text on your own computer: Koi, MacWhisper with its local models, and Notta Desktop's Privacy Mode, which is still in beta. The rest are bot-free but send the audio to the cloud.

What local gets you: the transcript is a file on your Mac, it works offline, and there's nothing on a company's server to keep, share or train on. What it costs you: sharing means sending a file or an exported page yourself, there's no team library to search, and your phone won't have the notes. Speaker names are harder too, and Koi splits a call into You and Them, not by person.

Four questions sort out any meeting tool:

• Where is the audio turned into text: on your Mac, or on someone's servers?
• Is the audio or video kept afterwards, and where?
• Can the company train its models on your calls, and can you opt out?
• Does anyone on the call see that you're recording?

For Koi the answers are short. On your Mac. Kept as files on your Mac until you delete them. Nothing to train on, because the recording never leaves. And no, so tell people. Koi's server only learns when a recording started, so it can count it against your plan. With call notes on, it also passes the transcript's words to the AI, and keeps none of them.

By the usual measures, Otter takes security seriously. From its privacy and security page:

• It has a SOC 2 Type 2 report, and says it follows GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA requirements.
• Data is stored on AWS S3 with AES-256 server-side encryption.
• Recording starts only when you or a participant presses Record, or invites Otter to the meeting.
• Otter staff can see your transcripts or audio only with your explicit consent, to troubleshoot.
• Otter trains its own models on user data it de-identifies first, with no human review. Its AI providers don't train on your data.
• Deleted conversations sit in the trash for 30 days, then they're gone.
• It doesn't sell your data or show ads.

So the honest answer: Otter looks like a carefully run cloud service. Whether it's safe enough depends on whether your calls should be in a cloud service at all. If the answer is no, a local recorder takes the question off the table. Otter itself says users must ask for consent and say when they're recording.

Local isn't always the right call. Otter does better when:

• You need every speaker named, not just You and Them.
• Your team shares a library of calls and searches across them.
• You want a Notetaker that joins from your calendar, or your notes on your phone.
• You transcribe recordings and files, not just live calls. Koi doesn't transcribe files.
• You're on Windows.

Koi is the better fit when the call shouldn't leave your Mac, you hop between Zoom, Meet and Teams, and a bot in the call would feel wrong.

• Want the call, transcript and video to stay on your Mac? Koi.
• Want local transcripts with speaker labels and file transcription, paid once? MacWhisper.
• Like typing your own notes and fine with the cloud? Granola.
• Need your meeting data kept in the EU? Jamie or tl;dv.
• Want the biggest free plan? Fathom.
• Want cloud and local in one app? Notta.

Whatever you pick, recording people may need their consent where you or they are, so ask at the start of the call. Our guide to recording a Zoom meeting on a Mac covers that and the setup.