Granola vs Otter vs Fireflies (2026): meeting AI, compared
Short answer: These three aren't really competing on the same axis, which is why there's no single winner. Granola wins for individuals who type notes during meetings — it merges what you typed with the transcript. Otter wins on raw transcription accuracy alone. Fireflies wins for teams that need meeting output synced automatically into Slack, CRMs, and project tools. Pick based on your actual workflow, not a benchmark score.
Side-by-side
| Tool | Best at | Free tier | Entry paid price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granola | Typed notes + transcript merge | Yes, limited history | $14/user/mo |
| Otter | Raw transcription accuracy | Yes, limited minutes | Business tier, see review |
| Fireflies | Deep Slack/CRM/project-tool sync | Yes, unlimited transcription | $18/mo (Pro) |
Granola — best for individuals who type notes
Granola's whole pitch is a small workflow change: it transcribes the call in the background while you type your own rough notes, then merges the two into a summary that reflects what you actually flagged as important, not just everything that was said. This is meaningfully better than pure transcription for anyone who already jots a few words during meetings — but the advantage evaporates if you don't type anything, since the merge has nothing of yours to work with. Business tier is $14/user/month with unlimited history and integrations into Notion, Slack, HubSpot, and Zapier.
Otter — best raw transcription accuracy
Otter remains the accuracy benchmark in this category. If your priority is a clean, reliable transcript — regardless of whether you took any notes yourself — Otter is the safer bet, especially for multi-speaker meetings where diarization quality matters. It doesn't have Granola's typed-notes merge or Fireflies' integration depth, but it does the core job of turning speech into accurate text better than either.
Fireflies.ai — best for teams with deep tool integrations
Fireflies' differentiator isn't transcription quality or workflow cleverness — it's reach. Meeting summaries and action items sync automatically into Slack, CRMs, and project management tools without manual copy-paste, which matters enormously for teams and barely at all for individuals. The free tier's unlimited transcription is also the most generous of the three, though AI summaries are metered separately by credits.
Which should you use?
- You type notes during meetings: Granola.
- You just want the most accurate transcript: Otter.
- Your team needs notes synced into Slack/CRM automatically: Fireflies.
- Multi-speaker meetings, 10+ participants: Otter or Fireflies — both handle diarization better than Granola's typed-notes approach when you're not the one typing.
For the full ranking with more use-case picks, see best AI for meeting notes.