Granola AI vs Otter vs Fireflies vs Cued: which AI note taker for Mac?

By Harshit Maurya, maker of Cued · Updated 1 November 2026

Pick Granola AI if you want quick no-bot notes across Mac, Windows and phone and don't need the recording. Pick Otter or Fireflies if your team wants a bot that joins Zoom, Meet and Teams and shares notes for everyone. Pick Cued if you want the recording, transcript and summary made on your own Mac, with no bot and no subscription.

The short answer: they solve different problems

All four are AI note takers: they listen to a call, write a transcript and turn it into a summary. The real differences are three questions. Does something join the call as a bot? Where does your audio go to be transcribed? And what do you pay, every month or once?

Granola AI (the AI notes app) never sends a bot. It listens to your computer's microphone and meeting audio, sends it to cloud transcription providers, keeps the transcript and your notes, and doesn't store the audio. Otter and Fireflies are built around a notetaker that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and both now offer a desktop app that records without one. Cued is a Mac app that records the call through the Mac itself and does the transcription and summary on the Mac, offline.

Granola AI, Otter, Fireflies and Cued side by side

From each company's own pricing, security, privacy and help pages, read 1 November 2026.
	Granola AI	Otter	Fireflies	Cued
Bot joins the call	Never	Yes, its notetaker joins Zoom, Teams and Meet; the desktop app can record with no bot	Yes, its Notetaker; the desktop app's Take Notes mode records with no bot	Never
Where audio is transcribed	Cloud providers (it names Deepgram and Assembly)	Not spelled out; its privacy policy names AWS for compute and storage	Not spelled out; it says data is hosted in a virtual private cloud	On your Mac, offline
Keeps the audio or video	No, audio is deleted after transcription	Yes, audio playback is listed on every plan	With the bot, yes; bot-free mode saves no audio or video	Yes, screen and both sides of the audio, in a folder on your Mac
Trains AI on your data	On anonymised data unless you opt out in Settings	Its privacy policy lists training on de-identified audio and transcripts	Says it does not train on your meetings	No; nothing is uploaded
Platforms	macOS 14+, Windows, iOS, Android	Mac (macOS 12.3+), Windows, browser, iOS, Android	Mac and Windows apps, a mobile app	Mac with Apple silicon only
Free plan	Yes, 30 days of meeting history	Yes, 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation	Yes, a few transcription credits and 400 minutes of storage	No free plan; 7-day refund
Price	$14 per user a month (Business)	$8.33 a month billed yearly, or $16.99 monthly (Pro)	$10 a month billed yearly, or $18 monthly (Pro)	One-time payment: $9 founding, then $29

Otter's pricing page also shows lower prices for India-issued cards; the table uses its standard prices. Fireflies' pricing page didn't show numbers when we read it, so its prices come from Fireflies' own guide articles on the Pro and Business plans. Cued's founding price is for the first 50 founding members.

What each one costs over a year

Subscriptions add up quietly. Here is one year for one person, at the list prices above. Business plans matter if you want things like unlimited history (Granola AI), unlimited meetings (Otter) or unlimited storage (Fireflies).

One user, 12 months, list prices read 1 November 2026. Fireflies prices exclude AI credits, which its guide says are charged separately.
Plan	Paid monthly	Paid yearly
Granola AI Business	$168	No yearly price shown
Otter Pro	$203.88	$99.96
Otter Business	$24 to $30 a month, depending on its current discount	$239.88
Fireflies Pro	$216	$120
Fireflies Business	$348	$228
Cued	$9 or $29 once, with a year of updates	Same; no renewal fee to keep using it

The free plans are real but tight. Granola AI's free plan shows 30 days of meeting history. Otter's Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month and cuts each conversation at 30 minutes. Fireflies' free plan gives a handful of credits at sign-up and 400 minutes of storage per seat. If you run more than a few calls a week, plan on paying.

Bot or no bot: why it matters on client calls

A bot shows up as an extra person in the meeting. For an internal stand-up that's fine, and it has one upside: everyone can see that notes are being taken. On a sales or client call it can feel odd, some hosts don't admit it, and Fireflies' own guide notes you may need to admit its Notetaker when the platform asks for approval.

All four now have a way to work without a bot, but they differ in what you get. Granola AI never uses one and doesn't keep the audio. Otter's desktop page says you can record with headphones on and no bot in the meeting. Fireflies' bot-free Take Notes mode uses your computer's system audio, but its guide says it doesn't save audio or video, and speakers show as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. Cued has no bot at all and keeps the full recording, screen and audio, on your Mac.

One honest point that applies to every no-bot tool: nobody in the call is told automatically. Fireflies' desktop page reminds you to get consent from everyone, and that's good advice for all of them. Say at the start that you're taking AI notes, and check the recording rules where you and the other people are.

Privacy: where your audio goes and who can learn from it

Granola AI: transcription by cloud providers such as Deepgram and Assembly, summaries by AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Notes and transcripts are stored on AWS in the US and kept until you delete them. It trains on anonymised data unless you opt out in Settings; Enterprise has training off by default.
Otter: its privacy policy, effective 16 June 2026, lists training its own AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions as one of the ways it uses data. The policy doesn't describe a way to opt out of that.
Fireflies: its security, pricing and desktop pages say it doesn't train AI models on your meetings, transcripts or conversations, and data is stored in a virtual private cloud.
Cued: recording, transcription and summaries run on the Mac with on-device models. Recordings stay in Cued's folder on your Mac and nothing is uploaded. Calendar, Google Meet links and the Prepare me brief need a connection; the rest works offline.

If your calls include client details under an NDA, health or legal matters, the question to ask is simple: does the audio leave my computer? For Granola AI it goes to cloud transcription providers, and Otter and Fireflies keep your meetings in cloud storage. For Cued it doesn't leave the Mac. The bigger companies do list security programmes: Granola AI and Fireflies say they have SOC 2 Type II, and Otter offers HIPAA compliance as an Enterprise add-on. Cued, from an indie maker, doesn't claim any certification.

How to choose in five minutes

Decide if a bot is OK. If your calls are mostly internal and your team wants shared notes in one place, Otter or Fireflies with the bot is the simple path. If you talk to clients or candidates, look at the no-bot options.
Decide if you need the recording. If you only want notes, Granola AI is enough. If you want to replay what someone said, share a clip or check a number, you need a tool that saves audio: Otter, Fireflies with its bot, or Cued.
Decide where the audio may go. If it must stay on your computer, only an on-device tool fits. Of these four, that's Cued.
Check your devices. On Windows or a phone, Cued is out: it runs only on Macs with Apple silicon. Granola AI, Otter and Fireflies all have Windows and mobile apps.
Add up a year. Multiply the monthly price by 12, add any credits, and compare it with a one-time price. Then try the free plans, or Cued with its 7-day refund, on two real calls before you commit.

Where Cued fits, and where it doesn't

Cued is a Mac app by an indie maker. It records calls in Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, Webex and Slack when they start (⌥R records any call by hand), with no bot. It writes a live transcript of both sides, then a summary with key points and action items and a drafted follow-up email you review and send yourself. ⌘K search finds things in plain words across every transcript, summary and file.

It also does things the other three don't try to: your talking points sit in the MacBook notch right under the camera, and they're hidden from screen sharing and screen recordings, along with each meeting's files and links.

The limits are real. It's Mac only, needs Apple silicon, and is made for MacBooks with a notch. It doesn't import existing audio files. Transcripts are good, not perfect: quiet, overlapping or noisy audio causes mistakes. It has no team workspace for sharing notes. And it's a one-time payment, not a subscription: $9 for the first 50 founding members, then $29 with a year of updates.

Questions

Is Granola better than Otter?

It depends on what you need. Granola AI never sends a bot and is quick for personal notes, but it doesn't keep the audio and its free plan shows 30 days of history. Otter lists audio playback, has a bot that can join Zoom, Meet and Teams for the whole team, and a desktop app that records without a bot.

Which AI note taker doesn't join as a bot?

Granola AI and Cued never use a bot. Otter's desktop app and Fireflies' desktop Take Notes mode can also record without one, though Fireflies says that mode saves no audio or video.

Does Granola save audio recordings?

No. Granola's security page says it doesn't store meeting audio; it keeps only the transcript and your notes.

Does Otter use my recordings to train its AI?

Otter's privacy policy, effective 16 June 2026, lists training its proprietary AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions as one use of data. Read the policy yourself before you record client calls.

Is there an AI note taker for Mac without a subscription?

Yes. Cued is a one-time payment, not a subscription: $9 for the first 50 founding members, then $29 with a year of updates. It records, transcribes and summarises on your Mac, with no bot.

Which of these works offline?

Of these four, Cued is the one that records, transcribes and summarises with no internet connection. Granola AI says it uses cloud transcription and AI providers, and Otter's and Fireflies' pages we read don't describe offline transcription.

Try Cued on your next call. Your script in the notch, your call recorded and summarised on your Mac.

Download for Mac