Alternative · Comparison
Looking for an Otter alternative that doesn't send your calls to the cloud?
Daisy is an open-source, local-first meeting recorder for macOS. It records both sides of a call on your Mac, transcribes on the Apple Neural Engine, summarises with your own AI key, and never uploads your transcripts.
Free during beta · Lifetime after launch · Apple Silicon (M1+) · macOS 14+
Daisy vs Otter at a glance
| Feature | Daisy | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Where transcripts & notes live | Plain Markdown in your folder — never uploaded | Otter's cloud |
| Transcription | On-device (Whisper, Apple Neural Engine) | Cloud |
| AI summary | Bring your own key — Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple Intelligence, or local Ollama / LM Studio | Otter's own AI (cloud) |
| In the meeting | No bot — captures both sides locally | Integrates with / auto-joins Zoom, Teams, Meet |
| Open source | Yes — Apache 2.0 | No — closed SaaS |
| Pricing | Free during beta · one-time after launch | Free (300 min/mo) · Pro $8.33 · Business $19.99 / user-mo (annual) |
| Platforms | macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon) | Web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows |
Where Otter is ahead — and who shouldn't switch
Otter runs everywhere — web, iOS, Android, Windows — and plugs straight into Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet, with real-time transcription, a long track record, and team features Daisy doesn't have. If you take calls across devices, need a shared team workspace, or live inside those meeting platforms, Otter is the more complete fit. Daisy is the trade when you'd rather keep everything local and open-source on a Mac, with a one-time price instead of a per-seat subscription.
Try Daisy
Free during beta. Download the signed DMG, drop it into Applications, grant the permissions on first launch, and start recording. No account, no email wall, nothing to sync.
More comparisons: Granola · Apple's built-in apps
Comparison written by the Daisy team. Otter positioning verified against otter.ai as of June 2026. If anything is out of date or wrong, open an issue at github.com/addicted-studio/daisy-app/issues and we’ll fix it.