Users describe Granola as an incredible productivity tool that effectively helps them focus during meetings by eliminating the need to take manual notes. The application is praised for its clean, simple interface and ease of use. Reviews consistently highlight it as a must-have work productivity solution with a 4.8-star rating based on user feedback.

Otter.ai receives mixed reviews from users, with significant criticism regarding its multi-speaker transcript accuracy and core feature reliability. While some users find it useful for basic recording and transcription needs, others report that the product doesn't perform as advertised and has persistent bugs. Customer complaints also include issues with pricing transparency and inadequate customer support, resulting in a 3.8-star rating overall.

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Granola offers a clean, discreet approach to meeting notes by running locally on Mac computers without requiring meeting bots. Its strength lies in combining user-written notes with AI enhancement to produce well-structured summaries using customizable templates. However, its platform limitations are significant, with Mac-only desktop support and no mobile apps currently available, while integrations remain minimal with only basic calendar sync and limited third-party connections.

Otter.ai provides comprehensive transcription services with real-time capabilities, speaker identification, and live meeting participation through its bot assistant. The platform offers broader accessibility with mobile apps, web access, and a generous free tier that makes it appealing for students and casual users. Its main weaknesses include verbose, poorly structured transcripts that can be difficult to navigate, along with accuracy issues in complex audio situations and intrusive meeting management features.

Granola best serves Mac-using professionals who prefer minimal meeting disruption and want personalized, well-formatted notes without visible AI assistants joining calls. Its template system and local processing appeal to users who value privacy and structured output over comprehensive transcription. The tool works well for executives, consultants, or anyone who takes selective notes during meetings and wants AI enhancement afterward.

Otter.ai suits users who need comprehensive transcription services across multiple platforms and devices, particularly students, researchers, and teams requiring searchable meeting archives. Its real-time transcription and mobile accessibility make it ideal for interviews, lectures, and collaborative environments where multiple participants need access to full conversation records. The generous free tier makes it accessible for budget-conscious users who prioritize transcription volume over note structure.

Why users switch away from Granola or Otter.ai

Platform compatibility limitations significantly impact user flexibility, particularly for those using Windows systems or requiring mobile access. Granola operates exclusively on Mac devices, leaving Windows users unable to access the platform. The absence of mobile applications means users cannot access their meeting notes or use the service when away from their desktop, creating gaps in workflow continuity for professionals who need notes on mobile devices.

Audio capture dependencies create technical barriers that force users to seek alternatives. Granola's reliance on system audio capture means the application fails to function when users employ certain meeting room hardware or audio configurations that bypass system audio routing. This technical limitation makes the tool unreliable in various meeting environments, particularly corporate settings with specialized audio-visual equipment.

Integration and workflow constraints limit Granola's utility within existing business systems. The platform offers limited integrations compared to alternatives, with only basic calendar sync and Notion export functionality, while HubSpot integration remains in beta. Users requiring comprehensive CRM updates, automated follow-up email generation, or extensive third-party platform connectivity must switch to tools like Otter.ai, which provides OtterPilot automation for CRM updates and broader integration capabilities across multiple business platforms.

Users switch away from Otter.ai because its transcripts are overly verbose and lack structure, making it difficult to quickly locate key takeaways from meetings. The output format requires significant manual effort to extract actionable information from lengthy, unorganized transcription data.

Transcription accuracy issues present another obstacle, particularly with complex audio environments where Otter.ai struggles with speaker identification and produces transcription errors. These accuracy problems undermine the reliability of the automated notes and summaries.

The Otter.ai assistant creates meeting management complications by sending spam calendar invites and joining unwanted meetings when not properly configured. Additionally, the free version imposes a 40-minute limitation on Zoom meetings, restricting functionality for users who need longer session coverage.

FAQs

Would Granola work for in-person meetings? What about Otter.ai?

Granola has partial support for in-person meetings - the Mac app can capture in-room audio locally, but there's no mobile app yet (though mobile apps are "coming soon"). Otter.ai works well for in-person meetings and can transcribe live in-person conversations via its mobile app.

Does either of these tools require a meeting bot to join the meeting?

Granola does not require a meeting bot - it runs on your computer and listens to meetings without needing a bot in the call by capturing system audio. Otter.ai can use a meeting assistant/bot that joins meetings in real time, though it also offers other recording methods.

What do users say about the quality of transcriptions?

For Granola, users report that it produces quality notes and well-organized summaries. For Otter.ai, users have mixed feedback - while many appreciate the transcription capabilities, some note that accuracy can suffer with complex audio, with mistakes in transcription or speaker identification. Users also mention that Otter.ai transcripts can be overly verbose and lack structure.

Do these tools help a user follow up with action items from the meeting? How so?

Granola helps with follow-up by structuring notes into sections like "next steps" and offers an AI assistant that can generate follow-up content such as drafting email summaries of meetings. Otter.ai has "OtterPilot" which auto-generates summaries, follow-up emails, and CRM updates.

Do these tools integrate with software like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Linear?

Granola has limited integrations - it includes calendar sync and Notion export, with HubSpot integration currently in beta. Otter.ai has more extensive integrations, working with Zoom, Slack, and pushing notes to HubSpot and Notion via OtterPilot.

Another alternative: Circleback

Circleback provides best-in-class AI-powered meeting notes and automations. We support over 100 languages and automatic participant identification in both in-person and online meetings.

• Automatically-identified and assigned action items

• AI-enabled search across all meetings

• Automations with 100+ app integrations

• Industry-leading security with SOC 2 Type II, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and HIPAA compliance

• Ability to capture both online and in-person meetings with desktop and mobile apps