Comparison
An Otter alternative for calls you cannot upload
If you are reading this, a tool you already use works well enough, but it sends your calls somewhere you would rather they did not go. Here is what a device-only alternative does differently, and where it is plainly worse.
Why people go looking
Three reasons come up again and again. A client contract says recordings may not be handed to a third party. A security review asks where the audio is stored and nobody can give a straight answer. Or a colleague is simply uneasy about a recorder sitting in every call.
None of those are fixed by a better privacy policy. They are fixed by the audio not leaving the building.
What stays on your computer and what needs the internet
| What | Where it happens |
|---|---|
| The recorded audio | Your computer only |
| The transcript | Your computer only |
| Notes, action items and the follow-up email | Your computer only |
| Templates and extra instructions you write | Your computer only |
| Model files, about 300 MB with the default models, on first use | Downloaded in once, never sent back out |
| Your email address and subscription status | Our servers, and only if you create an account |
| Page view counts | Our analytics, with no cookies and nothing about your meetings |
That is the entire list. What any other product does with your audio is a question for their own documentation and their data processing terms, which is the only source worth trusting on it.
What you give up
- No recorder that joins a calendar invite for you. You start each recording yourself.
- No shared workspace where a teammate can search last quarter’s calls.
- No phone app. This needs a desktop browser, Chrome or Edge.
- A few hundred megabytes to download before the first recap, and a few minutes of your own machine’s time per call.
If any of those are load-bearing for your team, a cloud assistant is the better fit and you should keep it. This is not a tool that wins on convenience.
What you get instead
Nothing uploaded means nothing to leak, nothing for a vendor to hand over and nothing to explain in a security questionnaire beyond one account row.
It also works with no connection. Once the models are in place, a recorded call can be written up on a train.
And the meeting content is deleted when you delete it, because there is no second copy somewhere else.
Try it on one meeting
The only honest test is a real call. Record one internal meeting, generate the recap, and see whether the action items are the ones you would have written down yourself.
Your audio, transcript and notes stay on your computer. The app goes online for three things only: the one-time model download, your account and billing if you choose to have one, and anonymous page counts.
Try it on your next call
Five minutes of a real meeting will tell you more than any comparison table, including the one above.
Record a meeting — freeWorks in Chrome or Edge. The first recap downloads about 300 MB of models with the defaults, once. New to it? Read how it works first.