Granola vs. Plaud vs. Fireflies vs. Otter: which AI note taker fits your work?

An AI note taker should make it easier to pay attention.

If you spend most of your day on video calls and want something that stays out of the way, start with Granola. If you want a physical button to capture conversations without opening a phone app, look at Plaud. Fireflies is my pick for teams that need meeting information to move into other tools. Otter deserves a close look if reviewing, correcting, and exporting transcripts is your priority.

I use Granola. I like how quietly it runs on my computer and that I can also use the mobile app. I've used Fireflies, too, and have had a good experience with its transcription and ease of access. I haven't personally used Plaud, but I've seen people use the recorder attached to their phone. That is a useful idea, with one significant catch: phone-attached recording does not work when the call audio goes to your Bluetooth headphones.

This comparison combines that experience with current product documentation. It is not a controlled accuracy test of all four products. Prices and features were checked on September 28, 2026. Prices below are in U.S. dollars, before tax.

The quick recommendation

Those are recommendations about fit. They are not a claim that one product wins every meeting.

Can it capture the conversations you actually have?

“Supports phone calls” can mean a recorder attached to a handset, an app placing an outbound call, or importing a recording afterward. Those are very different experiences.

In this table, video-call support means capturing the conversation. It does not necessarily mean saving the video.

Sources: Granola capture, Granola mobile, Granola phone calls, Plaud Desktop, Fireflies capture options, Otter Desktop, and Otter phone-call imports.

Granola: my pick for a day full of video calls

The appeal is simple. Start a note, have the conversation, and return to the information afterward. Granola uses your computer's audio and microphone without adding a participant to the call. You can also jot down the points you care about, which help shape the enhanced notes. That is a good fit for someone who wants to stay involved in the conversation and still exercise judgment about what matters. How Granola builds its notes.

There are limits. Granola does not provide an audio recording to replay. Its mobile app cannot capture a Zoom or Teams call running in another app on the same phone. Mobile phone-call support is for outbound calls through its iPhone dialer, in supported countries, including the U.S. It does not cover incoming calls or Android phone calls. Audio handling, mobile limits, and phone-call availability.

Plaud: my pick when the physical device is the point

Some people will reliably press a button on a recorder but will not consistently open an app before a conversation. That habit matters. A tool only helps with the conversations you actually capture.

Choose the device carefully. Note and Note Pro support phone-attached call recording. NotePin and NotePin S do not have that dedicated capability. The wearable models are primarily for conversations happening around you. NotePin recording and NotePin S phone-call limits.

The headphone catch applies to both Note and Note Pro. Their handset capture depends on sound or vibration from the phone. When the other person's voice goes to your earbuds, the recorder cannot capture it that way. Wired headphones have the same problem. If you take most calls on AirPods, this could decide the purchase for you. Plaud Note headphone guidance and Note Pro audio guidance.

Plaud Desktop is a separate capture method that can record computer audio with headphones. Its individual-account setup currently requires a bound Plaud device. You can avoid opening the phone app to start a hardware recording, but you still use Plaud software to set up the device and process or manage the output. Desktop audio and device requirements.

Fireflies and Otter: both can now work without a bot

Older comparisons often put these two in the “a bot joins your meeting” category. That is incomplete today. Both have desktop capture that can operate without a meeting participant.

Fireflies has a consequential tradeoff between modes: its current desktop “Take Notes” mode does not save audio or video and does not provide named speaker labels. Its bot mode provides those capabilities. Fireflies also documents capturing iPhone calls through a Mac and phone calls through Windows Phone Link. That is computer-routed capture, not a promise that its mobile app records every handset call. Fireflies desktop modes.

Otter's desktop app supports bot-free recording on Mac and Windows, including when you wear headphones. Its mobile phone-call workflow is different: record the call through a supported phone feature, then import it. Otter Desktop and phone-call workflow.

Winner for my usual video-call day: Granola. The alternatives' new capture options make that a preference about the experience, rather than an exclusive feature advantage.

What will it cost each month?

Annual plans usually collect the full year upfront. The monthly equivalent is useful for comparison, but it is not the amount billed each month. This table uses standard individual and small-team prices, excluding temporary promotions and negotiated enterprise plans.

Pricing sources: Granola, Plaud, Fireflies, and Otter. Annual monthly equivalents are the vendors' displayed figures and may be rounded or truncated.

A few limits deserve a closer look. Fireflies' free-plan documentation says unlimited transcription requires Auto Join; do not assume every free capture method is unlimited. Its pricing page labels the 400-minute storage allowance per team, while its help article says per seat. Confirm that detail before using the free plan across a team. Advanced AI features and some imports can also incur extra charges. Free-plan conditions, paid AI credits, and upload limits.

Otter separates in-app recording from imported files. Pro includes ten imports per month, while Business's pricing comparison lists a 6,000-minute monthly import allowance. “Unlimited” in one row does not remove the other limits. Otter plan details.

The physical device changes Plaud's first-year cost

Device prices: Plaud product catalog. Note Pro features: device details. Totals are device price plus the $99.99 annual Pro subscription, before tax, accessories, or discounts. You can stay on Starter if 300 minutes a month is enough. Granola, Fireflies, and Otter require no proprietary recording device.

Price recommendation: try the free software plans before buying a device. Otter Pro has the lowest listed annual monthly equivalent among the paid software-only options here. For frequent meetings, compare the plan that covers your actual hours. A cheap plan you outgrow in the second week is not the cheapest usable plan.

Can ChatGPT or Claude use your meeting information?

This is where meeting notes can become more useful. You might ask your AI assistant to compare three customer conversations, prepare for a follow-up, or find the decision behind a project change.

MCP, short for Model Context Protocol, is a way for the assistant to retrieve information from another tool. A product using an AI model internally is a different capability from letting your own ChatGPT or Claude account access your notes.

Sources: Granola MCP, Plaud MCP, Fireflies MCP, and Otter MCP.

Winner on basic connector availability: a four-way tie. Granola remains my choice when I want my usual meeting notes available to an assistant. Fireflies gets my overall integration recommendation when a team also needs shared meeting workflows and exports. Those are different reasons to choose a product.

Before buying specifically for a connector, verify availability in your AI account and workspace. The AI assistant's subscription, permissions, and data policies also apply; connecting it does not make those costs or settings disappear.

How good are the transcripts and summaries?

There are three separate questions here. Did it capture the words? Did it assign them to the right person? Did the summary preserve what the group actually decided?

A transcript can get most words right and still turn “we could deliver Friday” into an action item that says “deliver Friday.” That small change creates a very different commitment.

I would not turn advertised accuracy percentages into a ranking. The published comparisons reviewed did not establish a current, reproducible test of all four products using equivalent audio and capture conditions. My positive experience with Fireflies is useful context, but it is not a laboratory result.

Sources: Granola note traceability, Plaud outputs, Plaud audio troubleshooting, Fireflies capture tradeoffs, and Otter accuracy guidance.

My picks: Granola for notes shaped by your judgment; Otter for a transcript-review workflow. There is no measured accuracy champion in this article.

Run the same three kinds of conversation through your finalists: a normal video call, an in-person discussion, and a call full of names, numbers, and commitments. Check ten important facts against what was said. Count missing decisions, incorrect owners, invented deadlines, and the minutes you spend fixing the output. That is a more useful buying test than whether the summary sounds polished.

How easily can you get your transcripts out?

A share link is convenient. A downloadable file is portable. Check both before you build a year's worth of meeting history in a tool.

Sources: Granola historical export, Plaud export formats, Fireflies downloads, and Otter exports.

Winner for export flexibility: Fireflies on a paid plan. Its structured JSON and CSV options are useful when meeting information needs to feed another workflow. Plaud is a strong choice for ordinary document exports. Granola's CSV backup is useful, but the emailed export is less immediate than downloading a file from a meeting.

My overall recommendation

For a leader whose day is mostly video calls, start with Granola. That is the tool I use, and its low-profile desktop experience is the reason. The mobile app makes it useful beyond the desk, provided you understand its phone-call limits.

Choose Plaud Note or Note Pro if your work happens in rooms, on the move, and on handset calls, and a physical recorder is something you will actually use. If your calls happen through Bluetooth headphones, that handset-recording advantage largely disappears. Choose a NotePin model for wearable in-person capture, not for the phone-attached feature.

Choose Fireflies when the bigger requirement is getting meeting information into the team's work. Choose Otter when you want to spend more time working directly with a transcript and its audio, especially if a modest paid plan covers your volume.

Whatever you choose, tell people when you are capturing the conversation and follow your organization's rules. Decide who can see the notes, where they go, and who checks commitments before they become tasks. Granola's team guidance and Flyte's approach to human review.

The useful question after a week is straightforward: Did this help you pay attention, remember what mattered, and follow through with less work?

That is what you are buying.