Comparison · Meeting notes
TapWisper vs Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a cloud meeting-notes service whose Otter Notetaker bot can join Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls, with team sharing and a free monthly minute allowance. TapWisper records meetings on your own computer with no bot, keeps transcripts on your device, is free with no minute limits on local models, and is also a dictation app for typing in any app.
Side by side
How they compare.
Based on public information as of October 2026. Plans and features change — check Otter.ai’s site for the latest.
| TapWisper | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (MIT open source); cloud models billed by your provider | Free Basic (300 minutes/month, 30 minutes per conversation); Pro $16.99/month or $8.33/month billed annually; Business from $19.99/month billed annually |
| Open source | Yes — MIT licence | No |
| Platforms | macOS 12+, Windows 10+ (Linux from source) | Web, iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows apps |
| Where AI runs | Your choice: cloud with your own key, local on-device, or self-hosted | Otter's cloud |
| Works offline | Yes, with local models | No |
| Choose your models / own API key | OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Together AI, Soniox, 42 local models, any OpenAI-compatible server | No |
| Dictate into any app | Yes — pastes at the cursor in any app | No — meeting and recording focused |
| AI cleanup & tone | Yes — filler words, punctuation, tone by app | Not applicable |
| Edit selected text by voice | Yes — select text and speak an instruction | No |
| Meeting notes | Yes — bot-free on Mac (macOS 13+) and Windows, live transcript, AI summary | Yes — the core product; a bot joins by default, with bot-free recording in the desktop app |
| Account | No account | Yes |
| Languages | 21 + auto-detect and mixed languages (99 with local Whisper) | 6 for transcription |
Which one?
Pick the right tool for you.
Choose TapWisper if
- You don't want a bot joining your calls, or your audio stored in a vendor's cloud.
- You want unlimited meetings at no cost with local models.
- You need languages beyond Otter's six, or mixed-language meetings.
- You also want dictation in every app.
Choose Otter.ai if
- Your team shares live transcripts and notes in a common workspace.
- You want meetings captured even when you're not at your computer.
FAQ
Good questions.
Is there an Otter.ai alternative without a bot?
Yes. TapWisper records your microphone and the meeting audio on your own computer, so nothing joins the call, and writes a live transcript and summary.
How many languages does Otter.ai support?
Otter's help centre lists six transcription languages. TapWisper's speech picker lists 21 plus auto-detect, and local Whisper models cover 99.
Sources
Where these facts come from.
Download · v1.2.0
Start talking in a minute.
Free and open-source, no account. Setup walks you through permissions, your microphone and a speech engine — then you just talk.