Otter’s Notetaker joins your call by default, its desktop app uploads the audio even when the bot stays out, and Pro costs $16.99 a month for as long as you use it. Quietly captures the same meetings on your Mac and gives you a transcript as clean, saved as plain Markdown with nothing uploaded, for $49 once.
Plain .md. Front-matter has attendees, calendar, duration. Body is clean, LLM-polished Whisper output.
The Notetaker shows up in the call. “Jane’s Notetaker (Otter.ai)” joins as a participant in front of your customers, your candidates, and your legal counterparties.
Audio and transcripts live in Otter's cloud, bot or no bot. The desktop app's botless recording still uploads the audio to transcribe it. A breach, a terms change, or an acquisition turns that into a problem you have to explain.
$16.99 a month, with no end date. Even billed yearly, Pro costs $99.96 a year to ask Otter's chatbot about meetings you attended yourself.
Locked inside Otter's app. Your transcripts open in Otter and nowhere else. Cursor, Codex, and Claude can't reach them.
| Quietly | Otter | |
|---|---|---|
| How audio is captured | System audio + mic, on your Mac | Notetaker bot by default; desktop app uploads |
| Where transcript lives | Your Mac, Markdown | Otter cloud |
| Note format | Plain .md | Web app + .txt/.docx |
| Works offline (after activation) | ||
| MCP for Claude / Cursor / Codex | Shipping next | |
| In-person meetings | Mic mode | Mobile or desktop app, uploaded |
| NDA / sensitive call friendly | No bot, no cloud copy | Cloud copy, bot by default |
| Pricing | $49 once | $16.99/mo Pro · $30/seat Business |
If any of these are dealbreakers for you, stay on Otter, or compare the best Otter alternatives for Mac.
Otter shows captions as people speak, which helps with accessibility and live demos. Quietly transcribes after the call.
Otter has full mobile recording. Quietly is macOS-only today; a phone port is on the roadmap.
Otter Business pushes notes into your CRM. With Quietly, you write a script that reads the Markdown from your folder and pushes it wherever you need.
A bot that announces itself on a sensitive call is the reason many people leave Otter. Quietly captures system audio with no third party in the room.
Audio stays on your Mac, and so does the transcript unless you pick a cloud model for Chat. The app only goes online for model downloads, update checks, license validation, Google Calendar polling if you turn it on, and Chat on a cloud model instead of a local one in Ollama or LM Studio.
Otter Pro costs $16.99 a month, or $99.96 a year billed up front. Quietly costs $49 once, and the version you bought keeps working.
An MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Codex CLI ships next. Today the notes are plain Markdown that your editor's file readers already pick up. You don't need Otter's chatbot tier.
Open Quietly and press ⌘R for a mic-only recording. Pick Transcribe a file… to convert any audio file. Otter records these on its phone and desktop apps too, then uploads them to transcribe.
VS Code, Atlas.ti, Cursor, Codex CLI, your shell. Otter makes you export. Quietly's notes start out as files.
Export your Otter transcripts. Settings → Export → choose .txt or .docx.
Convert them to Markdown. Run pandoc on the .docx files, or rename the .txt exports to .md.
Drop them into your Quietly folder. Cursor, Codex, and Claude read them on their next pass.
If you get stuck, email support@meetquietly.com and we'll help.
Or read the buyer’s guides: best local meeting note takers for Mac and AI note takers that don’t join your meetings.
Free 7-day trial · No account, no card. 7-day refund. $49 once, no subscription.