Features
Parley next to the alternatives
Six products people ask us about, in one table: four software notetakers and two hardware recorders. The short version: on Android we are the only one here that turns speech into text on the phone itself, the hardware wins on battery and room pickup, and we are behind on platforms, integrations and certification.
Two things we will not blur. Phone recordings are the on-device case; browser recordings upload their audio to us and on to our transcription provider. The AI write-up is cloud on every product in this table, ours included.
| Parley | Otter.ai | Fathom | Granola | Jamie | Plaud | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A bot joins your call | Never | By default yes, botless modes exist | Your choice per meeting | No | No | No, a recorder you carry | No, a recorder you carry |
| Where speech becomes text | On the phone (Android). Browser recordings are transcribed in the cloud | Cloud, on every path | Cloud, on every path | Cloud. Tried on-device, moved it off | Cloud, in Frankfurt | Cloud, after it syncs | Cloud, on every path |
| Where the AI write-up is generated | Cloud, every platform | Cloud | Cloud | Cloud | Cloud | Cloud | Cloud |
| Is the recording itself kept | Your device, or your own Drive (opt-in). We keep none | Kept in Otter's cloud | Kept, unlimited, forever | Keeps no audio at all | Deleted after transcription | On the device, plus their cloud | On the device; cloud copy only with sync on |
| A meeting with no video call at all | What the Android app is for | Yes, phone and desktop | Not today. iOS app announced | Yes, on mobile | Yes | Yes, that is the product | Yes, that is the product |
| Records with no connection | Yes on Android, write-up queues | Captures, transcribes only after upload | No on-device path documented | No, cloud transcription | No, cloud transcription | Yes, transcribes after sync | Yes, transcribes after upload |
| Voice matching, and where the voiceprint lives | On the phone, opt-in, never uploaded | Yes, profiles stored in the account | Yes, not in a shared room | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Speaker labels; voiceprint location not documented |
| Trains AI on your content | No | Yes by default, de-identified | Yes by default, opt-out | Yes by default, opt-out | No | Not documented | Not by default, opt-in exists |
| Devices | Android app. No iOS app: iPhone, Windows and Mac use the browser | Web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows | Mac and Windows. iOS announced | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | The device, plus iOS, Android and web apps | The device, plus iOS, Android and web apps |
| What the free plan gives you | 3 write-ups a month, free phone recording | 300 minutes a month, 30 per meeting | Unlimited recording, 5 advanced summaries | Unlimited notes, last 30 days visible | More generous than ours | Unlimited write-ups, visible 30 days | 300 transcription minutes a month |
| Entry price | From EUR 5.99, not per seat, first month free | $8.33 billed annually, per seat | $16 billed annually, per seat | $14, per seat, monthly only | Per seat, see their pricing | €109 device, Pro from $16.59 a month | €189 device, plans from free |
| How long one recording can be | Unlimited on the phone, 2 h in a browser | 30 min free, up to 4 h on Business | No published limit | No published limit | Per-plan limits | Storage-bound; days of audio per charge | 30 hours per charge; transcription metered monthly |
| Integrations | Gmail, Google Calendar, Teams and Outlook. A short list | More than two dozen, plus MCP | CRMs, Slack, Notion, MCP, API | CRMs and MCP, mostly paid tiers | Ahead of us | Not documented | Not documented |
| Published certification and data residency | No certification published. Our servers are in the EU, but our AI provider's endpoint is global | SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, HIPAA. US hosted | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR. US hosted | SOC 2 Type 2. Not HIPAA. US hosted | EU hosted, ahead of us here | Encryption claims, no certification published | ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR; EU option. Ahead of us |
| Templates and write-up styles | 20 styles across 4 kinds of conversation | Meeting templates on paid plans | Template library, advanced ones capped on free | Pre-built and fully custom templates | Not documented | Not documented | Advertises a large template library |
| Beyond meeting notes | Mind maps, a journal, tasks, Ask Parley | Otter AI Chat | — | — | — | — | — |
| To use it on a computer | Nothing to install. It opens in the browser | A browser, or their Mac or Windows app | Their Mac or Windows app | Their Mac or Windows app | Their Mac or Windows app | A browser, but the recording comes from the device | A browser, but the recording comes from the device |
Checked against each product's own public pages: Otter, Fathom, Granola and Jamie on 25 August 2026, Pocket and Plaud on 28 August 2026. Prices are list prices on those dates.
About this comparison
Parley is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Otter.ai, Fathom, Granola, Jamie, Pocket or Plaud. Each name is a trademark of its owner, used here only to identify the product being compared. Every detail comes from those companies' own public pages on the dates given above, summarised in good faith and deliberately shortened for this table. Products change. Write to us if anything here is out of date and we will correct it.
Record your next meeting
Free on Android: the phone records the room, 3 write-ups a month, no card.