Comparison, updated 2026-08-15
MemorDesk vs Otter.ai
Both MemorDesk and Otter.ai automatically join Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams calls, record them, transcribe them, and generate AI summaries and action items afterward. That baseline is table stakes for both products. Where they differ is what happens to that meeting data afterward, how queries are metered, and how granular each product lets you get about who can see it.
Choose Otter.ai if
- You need to capture audio outside of Zoom/Meet/Teams today. Otter's desktop app, Chrome extension, and file uploads cover in person conversations and existing recordings, MemorDesk currently joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams only (upload support is in development, coming soon).
- You want SSO and SCIM provisioning today. Otter offers this on its Business plan, MemorDesk's SSO is planned for the Business plan but not yet available.
- You need a few more transcription languages. Otter supports 6 (English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese) with live transcription, MemorDesk currently supports 5 (English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese).
- You want a very large paid workspace on a single plan. Otter's Business plan supports up to 25 billed seats.
Choose MemorDesk if
- You want to ask about a decision from months ago and get the state of the conversation at that exact point in time, not just the latest summary. MemorDesk builds a temporal knowledge graph across your meetings, not a flat search index.
- You need per meeting and per group visibility control. Any meeting can be restricted to specific people or specific departmental groups, invisible everywhere (lists, search, action items) to everyone else.
- You want an AI assistant (Kojo) that also navigates the app for you, not just answers questions, ask it how to do something and it tells you exactly where to click on both desktop and mobile.
- You don't want a hard monthly cap on how many questions you can ask your assistant. Otter's AI Chat is capped at 20 queries a month on its free plan, 50 on Pro, and 200 on Business. MemorDesk meters assistant questions by credits instead, and you can top up credits any time rather than waiting for a monthly reset.
- You're paying for yourself, not a team. Otter's individual paid tier is $16.99/month. MemorDesk's Lite plan is ₦4,500/month (₦3,800/month billed annually, about $3), and Pro is ₦7,300/month (about $5), both well under what Otter charges for a single seat.
- You run a small team and want shared credits instead of per seat licensing. MemorDesk's Team plan includes 5 seats and pools 1,500 monthly credits across the whole workspace rather than charging per person for usage, extra seats beyond the included 5 are ₦5,000/month each. This makes MemorDesk the cheaper option against Otter at typical team sizes, a 10 person workspace runs about ₦47,000/month on MemorDesk versus $300/month for 10 Otter Business seats.
Feature by feature
Core meeting capture
| Feature | MemorDesk | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Auto joins and records Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic transcription with speaker identification | Yes | Yes |
| AI meeting summaries | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic action item extraction | Yes | Yes |
| Decision log extracted from meetings | Yes | Partial (Gist summaries and action items, no dedicated decision log) |
| Google Calendar auto join for scheduled meetings | Yes | Yes |
| Slack integration (notifications, action item DMs) | Yes | Yes |
| Export formats | PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, JSON | TXT, MP3 (free), plus PDF, DOCX, SRT (Pro and above) |
| Public share links | Yes | Yes |
| Live transcript during the call | Yes | Yes |
| Upload a recording or audio file for transcription | Coming soon | Yes |
| Capture phone calls or in person conversations | No | Partial (desktop app and Chrome extension, phone dialers on Enterprise only) |
| Transcription languages | 5 (English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese) | 6 (English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese) |
Intelligence and memory
| Feature | MemorDesk | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Semantic search across meetings | Yes | Yes (Otter AI Chat) |
| Cross meeting knowledge graph | Yes, query the state of a decision at any past point in time | No, AI Chat answers from matching transcript content |
| In-app AI assistant that also gives navigation guidance | Yes (Kojo, desktop and mobile) | No, AI Chat answers meeting questions only |
| Monthly cap on assistant questions | No hard cap, metered by credits, top up any time | Yes, 20 to 200 queries/month depending on plan |
| AI generated voice recap | Yes (Pro plan and above) | No |
| Conversation intelligence (talk time, sentiment, topic trackers) | Yes, live during the call (talk time, sentiment, topic trackers) | Not published as a dedicated feature |
Collaboration and privacy
| Feature | MemorDesk | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Per meeting visibility control (restrict to named people) | Yes | Not published |
| Departmental groups scoping which meetings a group can see | Yes (Team plan and above) | Not published |
| Compliance override so admins can still open restricted meetings | Yes, toggle per workspace | Not published |
| Action item reassignment restricted to owners/admins in team workspaces | Yes | Not published |
Security and compliance
| Feature | MemorDesk | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption at rest and in transit | AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit | AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit (Pro and above) |
| SOC 2 | In progress | Not published |
| GDPR | Yes | Not published |
| HIPAA | Coming soon | Enterprise plan, as an add-on |
| SSO | Google sign in today, SAML planned for the Business plan | SSO plus SCIM, Business plan and above |
| Audit logs | Business plan and above | Business plan and above (activity logs) |
| Two-factor authentication | Yes | Yes |
Pricing and plans
| Feature | MemorDesk | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 180 credits/month (180 minutes) | Yes, 300 transcription minutes/month, up to 5 workspace members |
| Entry paid tier (individual) | Lite, ₦4,500/month, or ₦3,800/month billed annually (about $3) | Pro, $16.99/month, Otter's entry paid tier |
| Power user tier (individual) | Pro, ₦7,300/month (about $5) | Same as above, $16.99/month, no separate power user tier |
| Pricing model | Per workspace credits, Team plan includes 5 seats with a shared pool, extra seats ₦5,000/month each | Per seat, every member licensed individually, up to 25 seats on Business |
| Cost for a 10 person team (approx.) | ₦47,000/month total (Team plan plus 5 extra seats) | $300/month total (10 x Business seats) |
| Custom / enterprise pricing | Business plan, contact sales | Enterprise plan, contact sales |
What both products do out of the box
MemorDesk records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings automatically, the same as Otter. Send MemorDesk's note taker to a Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams call (or connect your Google Calendar so it joins automatically), and it produces a full transcript, an AI summary, extracted action items, and a decisions log, no manual note taking required. This is the baseline both tools compete on, and both do it reliably.
Where Otter has broader reach, for now
Otter captures from a few more places today, its desktop app and Chrome extension can record in person conversations and system audio, and it accepts uploaded audio and video files. MemorDesk is closing that gap, upload support for existing recordings and audio files is already in development. Otter also edges out MemorDesk on transcription languages, 6 versus 5, and offers SSO with SCIM provisioning today at the Business tier, while MemorDesk's SSO is planned but not yet shipped.
A knowledge graph vs a metered chat window
Otter AI Chat searches your meetings and connected apps and answers from what it finds, but it is capped, 20 questions a month on the free plan, 50 on Pro, 200 on Business. MemorDesk's assistant, Kojo, is metered by credits instead of a hard question cap, and it draws on a knowledge graph built from every meeting rather than a flat search index, so it can tell you what was true about a decision at a specific point in the past, not just surface the most relevant excerpt. Ask MemorDesk's assistant, Kojo, about a decision from three months ago and it reconstructs the state of that decision at that time.
Per meeting visibility vs workspace wide access
Otter's plans scale workspace size (5 members on Basic and Pro, up to 25 on Business) but don't publish a way to restrict an individual meeting to a subset of people. MemorDesk's visibility system is per meeting by default: every recorded meeting can be set to Everyone in workspace, Specific groups, or Only me and people I invite, and a restricted meeting disappears completely (not just hidden from a list, but excluded from search, action items, decisions, and the AI assistant's answers) for anyone outside its audience.
Pricing shape: per seat vs shared credits
Otter prices per seat, every teammate needs their own paid license to use paid features. MemorDesk's Team plan instead includes 5 seats and pools 1,500 credits a month across the whole workspace, anyone within those seats can use the assistant and it draws from the shared pool rather than each person paying for their own usage. Worked out for a 10 person team, that is about ₦47,000/month total on MemorDesk versus $300/month for 10 Otter Business seats. The gap holds for individuals too: Otter's individual paid tier is $16.99/month, MemorDesk's Lite plan is about $3/month and Pro is about $5/month, well under Otter. Compare exact numbers on the [MemorDesk pricing page](/pricing).
Why teams pick MemorDesk
Time aware
MemorDesk's knowledge graph remembers what was true at a past point in time, not just the latest state
No query cap
Kojo is metered by credits, not a fixed number of questions per month
~₦47,000
Approximate monthly cost for a 10 person team on MemorDesk, versus $300/month for 10 Otter Business seats
Frequently asked questions
Does MemorDesk actually record and transcribe meetings, or is it just a search tool over other transcripts?
MemorDesk records meetings itself. Send its note taker to a Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams call, or connect Google Calendar so it joins automatically, and it produces the recording, transcript, AI summary, action items, and decisions log directly. It does not depend on another transcription tool.
How many languages does MemorDesk transcribe, compared to Otter?
MemorDesk currently supports 5: English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese. Otter supports 6 with live transcription: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Chinese.
Can I upload an existing meeting recording or audio file to MemorDesk?
Not yet, this is in development and coming soon. Once it ships, you'll be able to upload a recording or audio file directly and get the same AI transcript, summary, action items, and decisions MemorDesk generates for meetings it joins live. Otter already supports file uploads today.
Does Otter's AI Chat have a limit on how many questions I can ask?
Yes. Otter caps AI Chat at 20 queries a month on the free plan, 50 on Pro, and 200 on Business, only Enterprise is unlimited. MemorDesk's assistant, Kojo, is not capped by a fixed monthly question count, it is metered by credits instead, and you can buy more credits any time rather than waiting for a monthly reset.
Is MemorDesk HIPAA compliant?
Not yet, HIPAA compliance is coming soon. Otter offers HIPAA as an add-on on its Enterprise plan today. If HIPAA is a hard requirement right now, Otter's Enterprise plan is the better fit until MemorDesk's ships.
Does MemorDesk have SSO?
Google sign in is available on every MemorDesk plan today. SAML 2.0 SSO for identity providers like Okta and Azure AD is planned for the Business plan but not yet available. Otter offers SSO with SCIM provisioning on its Business plan today.
Is MemorDesk cheaper than Otter?
Yes, for individuals and typical teams alike. Otter's individual paid tier is $16.99/month. MemorDesk's Lite plan is about $3/month and Pro is about $5/month, well under Otter. For teams, Otter's Business plan is $30/month per seat, while MemorDesk's Team plan includes 5 seats and pools credits across the whole workspace instead of licensing each person for usage, with extra seats beyond the included 5 at ₦5,000/month each. For a 10 person team, that works out to about ₦47,000/month total on MemorDesk versus $300/month for 10 Otter Business seats. See exact current pricing on the [MemorDesk pricing page](/pricing) and [Otter pricing page](https://otter.ai/pricing).
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