Our read
Start with Granola if you want no bot in the call at all: it captures device audio and keeps notes private until you share them. Start with Otter or Fireflies if you want a calendar bot plus a bot-free route, and with Read AI if cited answers across meetings matter most; its pricing page lists Ask Read on the free plan too. Plans do not line up one to one, so compare them by constraint, not by headline price.
Which tool fits your needs?
- No bot in external calls
Granola. It transcribes from the computer's audio and does not invite a bot, and this applies on every plan. Its language list is not published, so test your language first.
www.granola.ai - Bot by default, bot-free as backup
Otter or Fireflies. Otter's OtterPilot joins via the calendar and its Mac/Windows app records without a bot; Fireflies adds a Chrome extension, desktop and mobile apps, and file import.
otter.ai · fireflies.ai - Cited answers across meetings
Read AI. Ask Read answers questions on decisions, owners and open items with citations, and the pricing page lists it on the free plan, which is capped at five transcripts a month. It joins as a visible participant.
www.read.ai · www.read.ai - Many languages and connected tools
Fireflies. It advertises 100+ languages and 200+ connected tools, but languages beyond the main five are labelled beta on its pricing page.
fireflies.ai · fireflies.ai
Four meeting assistants compared on the same five criteria, from vendor product and pricing pages read on 17 October 2026.
| Criterion | Granola | Read AI | Fireflies | Otter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capture with or without a bot | Granola No bot; uses computer audio Applies on all plans | Read AI Visible participant; optional-attendance agent Bot-free detail not confirmed | Fireflies Bot plus extension, apps, uploads | Otter Calendar bot plus bot-free desktop app |
GranolaGranola uses the computer's audio and does not invite a bot to the call. Notes are private by default and shared only if you choose.[1] Read AIRead AI joins Meet, Zoom and Teams as a participant that everyone can see. It also offers an agent that summarizes meetings you cannot attend.[2] FirefliesFireflies sends a bot by invitation or calendar, and also offers a Chrome extension, mobile and desktop apps, dialer integrations and audio or video file upload.[3] OtterOtterPilot joins Zoom, Teams and Meet through the calendar. The Mac and Windows desktop app records without a bot in the call.[4] | ||||
| Languages and transcription | Granola Multilingual claimed; no list Quality not measured | Read AI More than 16 languages | Fireflies 100+ claimed; most are beta Home page and pricing page differ | Otter Six languages |
GranolaGranola's pricing page says all plans are multilingual but gives no language list, so the number and quality of languages are unknown.[1] Read AIRead AI lists more than 16 languages on all plans, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Japanese and Spanish.[2] FirefliesFireflies advertises 100+ languages with auto-detection. Its pricing page names English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian as supported and calls 100+ others beta.[3] [5] OtterOtter lists English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese on its pricing page.[4] [6] | ||||
| Search and actions | Granola AI chat across meetings; 30 days free Unlimited history on paid plans | Read AI Ask Read with citations, free plan included Free plan: 5 transcripts a month | Fireflies Meeting search and AskFred | Otter AI Chat plus MCP server |
GranolaGranola offers AI chat across meetings on every plan. History is limited to 30 days on the free plan and unlimited on Business and Enterprise.[1] Read AIAsk Read answers questions on decisions, owners and open items with citations, and the pricing page lists it on the free plan as well as paid plans.[2] FirefliesFireflies offers search across meetings and AskFred for natural-language questions, plus global search and topic detection listed on pricing.[3] OtterOtter AI Chat searches meetings and connected apps. An MCP server lets Claude and ChatGPT reach meeting knowledge.[4] | ||||
| Sharing and integrations | Granola Slack free; Notion, Zapier, HubSpot paid Salesforce only on Enterprise | Read AI Premium integrations from Pro One license per workspace user | Fireflies 200+ tools; CRM and Zapier paid | Otter Zapier, Salesforce, HubSpot; channels or links Custom integrations on Enterprise |
GranolaShared folders and Slack are available on the free plan. Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Affinity and the API come with Business; Salesforce and admin controls with Enterprise.[1] Read AINotion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence, Slack, Zapier and webhooks are premium integrations from Pro. A workspace needs one license per user.[2] FirefliesFireflies claims 200+ connected tools across CRM, project management, ATS and Slack. Its pricing page keeps API, CRM and Zapier for paid plans.[3] OtterOtter lists Zapier, Salesforce, HubSpot and Dropbox, with sharing through private channels or public links.[4] | ||||
| Privacy and price | Granola $0 / $14 / $35 per user per month HIPAA, SSO, SCIM only Enterprise | Read AI Free: 5 meetings; Pro $15 annual HIPAA only on Enterprise+ | Fireflies $0 / $10 / $19 / $39 per seat, annual | Otter Free 300 min; Pro $8.33; Business $19.99 SSO, SCIM, HIPAA option on Enterprise |
GranolaGranola costs $0, $14 and $35 per user per month. The vendor lists SOC 2 Type II on all plans and a data processing agreement, and says every plan can opt out of model training.[7] [8] [1] Read AIRead AI's free plan covers five meetings a month and Pro is $15 a month billed annually. The vendor says data is not used for training by default and offers a DPA.[2] [9] [10] FirefliesFireflies lists Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise at $0, $10, $19 and $39 per seat per month billed annually. It lists SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA, and no training on data by default.[11] [12] [13] OtterOtter's free plan gives 300 minutes a month. Pro is $8.33 and Business $19.99 per user per month billed annually; Enterprise is quoted individually.[4] [6] | ||||
Sources
Four ways to capture the same meeting
All four tools turn a meeting into a transcript, a summary and action items, then let you search the archive. They differ in how they get the audio. Granola listens to your computer and sends no participant into the call. Read AI joins as a visible participant. Fireflies and Otter send a bot by default and keep other routes available.
That makes the choice less about features than about the room you sit in. In a client call, a bot named after a vendor can prompt questions. In an internal stand-up, nobody will notice. Shortlist on that constraint first, then on language and plan.
Bot or no bot is not a clean split
Only Granola is bot-free everywhere. It records device audio on macOS and Windows, with iOS and Android apps, and keeps notes private until you share them. Otter's desktop app on Mac and Windows also records without a bot, so Otter covers both modes. Fireflies lists a Chrome extension for Google Meet, a desktop app, a mobile app for in-person conversations and file upload.
Read AI is the least clear case. It describes a participant everyone can see, and an agent that summarizes meetings you cannot attend. Whether it has a mode with no participant at all was not established, so ask for a demo of exactly that if you need it.
Search across past meetings
Read AI's strength here is citations: Ask Read answers who decided what and what remains open, with sources, and its pricing page lists it on the free plan. Pro adds access to Claude and GPT models inside search. Otter AI Chat searches meetings and connected apps, and its MCP server lets Claude and ChatGPT query the archive. Fireflies offers AskFred and global search.
Granola ties search to the plan. Chat across meetings is on every plan, but the free plan reaches back only 30 days; Business and Enterprise are unlimited. If your value is a long memory of client conversations, price the paid tier, not the free one.
Sharing, CRM and the plan that unlocks it
Integrations sit behind plans in every case. Granola shares folders and connects Slack for free, then adds Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Affinity and the API at Business, and Salesforce at Enterprise. Read AI starts premium integrations, including Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence and Zapier, at Pro. Otter reserves Salesforce and HubSpot for paid plans, and Fireflies keeps API, CRM and Zapier paid.
If a CRM write-back decides the purchase, Fireflies is the one to test first: it advertises 200+ connected tools spanning CRM, project management and ATS. Check that your specific CRM and field mapping work on the plan you can afford. Our separate Fireflies and Grain comparison covers clips and CRM sync in more depth.
Privacy, price and what stays unknown
Granola's three plans cost $0, $14 and $35 per user per month, with SOC 2 Type II listed on all and HIPAA, SSO and SCIM only on Enterprise. On model training, Granola says every plan can opt out, with the setting enforced workspace-wide on Enterprise, where training is off by default and third-party AI providers cannot train on customer data.
Fireflies lists $0, $10, $19 and $39 per seat billed annually, and Read AI and Fireflies both state that data is not used for training by default. Read AI also offers a data processing agreement and standard contractual clauses; its privacy page describes them for EU and EEA workspace customers. Otter starts at $8.33 for Pro and caps the free plan at 300 minutes. Read AI's free plan stops at five transcripts a month, and HIPAA is limited to its top tier.
Limits of this comparison: the free plans cap different things (history, minutes, meetings), so they cannot be ranked. Transcription quality was not measured, and the number of customers displayed for each tool says nothing about it. Granola's language list is not published. Fireflies' 100+ language claim and its beta label on the pricing page differ in emphasis.
How to settle the final two
Editorial recommendation, not a vendor capability: record the same real meeting in your two finalists, in the language you actually use, and compare speaker attribution and action items by hand. For a bot-based tool, also note who in the call asks about the participant.
Granola's confirmed customer pages include Brex, Vanta and Zapier, covered in our existing Granola guide; that guide, not this one, is where to see how team notes get shared.
Method and limits
2026-10-17
This dated snapshot counts distinct companies in public customer evidence. CONFIRMED means a case study, named testimonial or press source; DECLARED means the company itself told usedby; OBSERVED means a vendor listing; SIGNAL means a job post. All four count, but their strength differs. Removed and unlevelled lines are excluded. Examples are a capped selection verified within 90 days. Vendor facts are sourced records checked within 60 days. Coverage is uneven and missing evidence is unknown. These figures measure neither market share nor product performance; capture dates are not adoption dates.
