Grain vs Otter.ai Comparison 2026
Grain's free plan gives a whole team unlimited meetings and unlimited notetaker seats, capped at 45 minutes per call, then Starter is $15 a seat a month billed annually. Otter's free plan caps at 300 total minutes a month and, separately, just three file imports for the whole lifetime of the account, then Pro is $16.99 a month, or $8.33 billed annually, cheaper than Grain's per-seat price. Grain's limit is how long one call can run; Otter's limit is how many minutes and how many imported files you get before paying.
Notes and clips from calls, free tier included
Searchable transcripts of calls and recordings
At a glance
- Grain starts cheaper, at $15.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Grain | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $15 | From $16.99 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API | Yes |
Grain
Notes and clips from calls, free tier included
Grain records and transcribes meetings, writes notes and lets a moment be clipped out and shared without anybody rewatching the recording. Its free plan carries unlimited meetings and unlimited notetaker seats, capped at forty-five minutes each and thirty days of history, which is a real working tier rather than a demo. Paying removes both limits and adds custom prompts. The conversational intelligence in the higher tiers is aimed at sales teams and does nothing for a solo creator.
Our note
The 45-minute limit rather than the seat count is what decides whether the free plan works, so check your typical call length before anything else. Against tl;dv, Grain gives away seats and caps duration while tl;dv gives away duration and caps the AI, which makes the choice a question about your calls rather than about the products.
Otter.ai
Searchable transcripts of calls and recordings
Otter sits in a meeting or takes a file and returns a transcript with the speakers separated, which is where show notes, a follow-up post or a list of clips can start. Search across everything you have ever recorded is the part people keep paying for. Three hundred free minutes a month is five hours, so a weekly interview show fits and a daily one does not.
Why people weigh these two
- Otter.ai instead of Grain
- Otter.ai keeps searchable transcripts of calls from $17 with a free tier, stronger on the transcript than the highlight.
- Grain instead of Otter.ai
- Grain pulls shareable clips and notes out of a call, aimed at highlights rather than the full searchable transcript archive Otter builds over time.
Which one should you pick
Pick Grain if your team wants everybody recording without a per-seat bill, and calls mostly run under forty-five minutes. Unlimited meetings and unlimited notetaker seats are free, so duration, not seat count or a lifetime import cap, is the only number to plan around.
Pick Otter if search across everything you have ever recorded matters, finding a quote from March in August, or you need both live meetings and uploaded files transcribed in one place. Pro is $16.99 a month, or $8.33 billed annually, cheaper than Grain's Starter seat price, but watch the free plan's three-lifetime-import limit if you plan to upload existing recordings before paying.
Common questions
- What is the strictest limit on Otter's free plan?
- Not the 300 monthly minutes, but the three lifetime file imports, a cap that never resets and is separate from the minute allowance. Grain's free plan has no import limit at all since it is built around joining live meetings rather than uploading files.
- Which is cheaper once you are paying?
- Otter's Pro plan, at $16.99 a month or $8.33 billed annually, against Grain's Starter at $15 a seat a month billed annually or $19 monthly. The annual figures put Otter meaningfully lower per person.
- Can Grain search across old recordings the way Otter does?
- Otter's listing specifically highlights search across every conversation you have recorded as a reason people keep paying. Grain's listing does not describe an equivalent cross-meeting search feature; its differentiator is clipping a moment out to share.
- Which is better for a team that all wants to record without extra cost?
- Grain: notetaker seats are unlimited and free, so cost does not rise with headcount, only with call length past 45 minutes. Otter is priced per person and per minute, so adding people to the account draws down the same shared minute pool faster.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.