The Otter AI alternative that runs on your own computer

Why people look for an Otter alternative

Otter is one of the best known AI note takers, and it does a lot well. Still, the same few reasons come up again and again when people start searching for something else:

• Free plan limits. As of October 2026, Otter's free Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, caps each meeting at 30 minutes, keeps only your 25 most recent conversations, and allows 3 imported files in total. A single hour-long meeting does not fit.
• The bot in the meeting. Otter's Notetaker can join Zoom, Teams and Google Meet calls as a participant. Some clients and colleagues find that off-putting, and some companies block meeting bots outright.
• Privacy. Otter transcribes and stores conversations in its cloud. For legal, medical, HR or confidential client work, some people would rather the audio never leave their computer. Our guide Is Otter AI safe? goes into more detail.
• Cost for heavy users. Paid plans still have monthly minute pools and meeting-length caps, so people with back-to-back calls end up on the higher tiers.

Otter.ai in brief: a fair summary

Otter is a cloud transcription and meeting assistant. Its Notetaker joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet to record and write notes, and it also has a desktop app for Mac and Windows that can record meetings without the bot, a Chrome extension, and iPhone and Android apps for in-person conversations.

Its strengths are real: polished mobile apps, easy sharing of transcripts with a team, AI chat across your conversations, custom vocabulary, and transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. If your team already lives in Otter and shares notes there every day, that collaboration is hard to replace.

Hark vs Otter at a glance

Otter prices and limits from otter.ai/pricing, checked October 2026.

How Hark is different

It records the computer, not the meeting

Hark records your microphone and your computer's audio as separate tracks. Because it listens to the computer rather than joining the call, it works with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack huddles or a phone call through your laptop, and nobody sees a notetaker join. One honest caveat: on a Mac, Hark records the microphone only for now, so the other side is captured only if it plays out loud through your speakers.

Transcription stays on your machine

Hark shows a live transcript during the meeting, then makes a more accurate one when it ends, using a speech model that runs on your computer. Your audio is not uploaded to be transcribed. After a one-time model download, it works offline, and there are no minute counts because your own computer does the work. Read more in local AI transcription.

It learns voices

Hark works out how many people spoke and who said what. Listen to a short clip of each voice, name them once, and Hark suggests their name in every future meeting. If it gets someone wrong, mark who was speaking on the timeline and update the transcript.

AI notes when you want them

With the $12/month subscription (or the 2-day preview every new account gets), Claude writes meeting notes in the style you pick, titles your meetings, and proofreads the transcript against your list of names and terms. For these features the transcript text, not the audio, is sent to Claude.

When to choose Hark

• You have long or frequent meetings and keep hitting Otter's minute or length limits.
• You do not want a bot in your calls, or your company or clients block them.
• You want your recordings and transcripts kept on your own computer.
• You talk to the same people often and want them named automatically.
• You work on Windows or Linux and your meetings are in English.

When to stay with Otter

• You need transcripts in Spanish, French, German, Japanese or Chinese. Hark is English only.
• You record mostly on your phone. Hark has no mobile app.
• Your team shares and comments on transcripts together. Hark has no team workspace.
• You are on a Mac and need the other side of the call recorded cleanly through headphones. Otter's desktop app captures system audio on macOS; Hark does not yet.
• You rely on calendar integration to join and record meetings automatically.

Other Otter alternatives worth a look

• Fathom. A bot-based note taker for Zoom, Meet and Teams with unlimited free recordings. Good if you like the bot model but want a more generous free plan. See Fathom vs Otter.
• Fireflies.ai. Strong integrations and many languages, aimed at sales and teams. See Otter vs Fireflies.
• Granola. A bot-free notepad for Mac and Windows that improves your own notes with AI. See Granola vs Otter.

How to switch from Otter to Hark

1. In Otter, open each conversation you want to keep and export the audio (mp3) and, if you like, the transcript text.
2. Download Hark free for Windows, Mac or Linux and sign in with your email (no card needed).
3. Let Hark download its speech models once (about 730 MB).
4. Drag your exported mp3 files into Hark, or use File > Import. Hark transcribes each one and separates the voices.
5. Name the people in your first few meetings. From then on, Hark suggests them automatically.
6. For your next live call, press record in Hark instead of inviting the Otter bot.

Recording laws vary by place, and some require everyone on the call to agree. Always tell people you are recording and get their consent.