Otter vs Basil: Privacy-First Alternative for AI Meeting Notes

Otter.ai is the household name in AI meeting transcription. But is it the right choice for privacy-conscious professionals? Let's compare Otter with Basil AI, the on-device alternative that never uploads your meeting data.

Otter.ai is a cloud-based note-taking service known for live transcription and meeting summaries, widely used for business meetings, lectures, and interviews. It has multi-platform support (Web, iOS, Android) and is heavily integrated with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.

Basil AI takes a fundamentally different approach: 100% on-device processing. Your audio never leaves your iPhone or Mac, ensuring absolute privacy for confidential conversations.

Basil AI Overview

Key Features

• On-Device Transcription & Summaries: Basil uses on-device AI (leveraging Apple's iOS foundation models) to transcribe speech to text and generate meeting summaries entirely offline. It can even work in airplane mode, keeping data 100% on your device.
• Privacy & Security: Because nothing is uploaded, Basil ensures sensitive conversations remain confidential. Your voice and transcripts are never sent to any server or used to train external AI models.
• Target Users: Privacy-conscious professionals – executives, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and students – who need to record meetings or lectures without risking data leaks.
• Core Features: Real-time transcription with automatic punctuation, on-device speaker identification, and AI-generated summaries including action items and highlights.
• Platform: Available on iPhone, iPad and Mac as a universal app. A web browser version also exists, running entirely locally in the browser.
• Pricing: Free plan (60 minutes/month) and Pro plan at $9.99/month or $99.99/year for unlimited transcription.

Otter.ai: Features & Capabilities

Otter's OtterPilot AI assistant can automatically join virtual meetings (Zoom/Teams/Meet) to record and transcribe them in real time. It generates concise summaries of discussions and can identify speakers and highlight keywords. Otter also automatically captures action items and can even draft follow-up emails or notes from the meeting.

A newer feature, Otter AI Chat, lets users query their past meeting transcripts in natural language (e.g. "What did we decide about budget?") and get answers from the notes. Otter's transcripts are searchable and shareable, and it offers collaboration tools like commenting and editing shared meeting notes.

For sales teams, Otter provides conversation analytics and CRM integrations (syncing notes to Salesforce/HubSpot).

Pricing

• Free Basic plan: Up to ~300 monthly transcription minutes
• Pro plan: $16.99/month (or $8.33/month billed annually) - includes 1,200 minutes/month and advanced features
• Business plan: $20/user/month with higher limits and team collaboration features
• Enterprise plans: Enhanced security (SSO, admin controls) available

Otter's free tier is more generous than Basil's 60 min/month free, while Basil's Pro pricing ($8.33/mo annual) is comparable to Otter's Pro in cost.

User Reviews & Ease of Use

Users often praise Otter for its ease of use and reliable transcription for English. Its interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy to record and review transcripts.

G2 Rating: ~4.4/5 stars (400+ reviews)

Users highlight its accurate speech-to-text and time-saving summaries. Reviewers do note that Otter's summaries, while useful, aren't 100% accurate and may require manual editing for important meetings. One G2 user mentioned: "The summaries are vague and at times give inaccuracies… We find ourselves rewriting notes."

Privacy & Security

As a cloud service, Otter stores meeting data on its servers (not on-device). Otter has implemented security measures like:

• SOC 2 Type II compliance
• GDPR/CCPA alignment
• Deleted transcripts auto-removed after 30 days
• Two-factor authentication available

Consideration: Otter is not EU-hosted (data likely stored in US). Users must trust Otter's policies that data won't be misused. Audio is uploaded and temporarily stored, which might raise compliance issues in certain fields (legal, medical) unless an enterprise agreement is in place.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Otter's Strengths

• Rich features and integration: Calendar sync, auto-join meetings, CRM connections
• Automates meeting capture: Bot joins Zoom/Teams calls automatically
• Team collaboration: Shared transcripts, commenting, real-time editing
• Q&A on transcripts: Natural language search across all meetings
• Works across many platforms: Web, iOS, Android, desktop
• Larger free tier: 300 minutes/month vs Basil's 60 minutes

Basil's Advantages

• Absolute privacy: No audio ever leaves your device, eliminating risks of data leaks or unauthorized access
• Ideal for confidential meetings: Attorney-client privilege, patient data under HIPAA, executive strategy sessions
• Works offline: Airplane mode, secure facilities with no internet
• No account required: Install and use immediately, no login
• Lower cost for heavy users: $99/year unlimited vs Otter's per-minute caps
• Native Apple integration: Direct save to Apple Notes, Siri Shortcuts
• No bot in meetings: Record discreetly with your phone

Trade-offs

What Basil doesn't do:

• Cannot auto-join virtual meetings autonomously
• No calendar/CRM integrations (data stays local)
• No team collaboration features (no cloud sharing)
• Currently English-focused (relies on Apple's on-device models)

What Otter requires:

• Internet connection for all features
• Account creation and login
• Trust in third-party data handling
• Visible bot participant in video calls

Privacy Deep Dive: Why This Matters

For many professionals, the privacy difference between Otter and Basil is the deciding factor:

Attorney-Client Privilege

Lawyers cannot risk having confidential client discussions uploaded to third-party servers. Even with Otter's SOC 2 compliance, the mere fact that audio leaves the attorney's control could compromise privilege protections. Basil keeps everything on-device, maintaining privilege by design.

HIPAA Compliance

Healthcare providers discussing patient information need absolute certainty that PHI (Protected Health Information) isn't being transmitted to external servers. While Otter can sign BAAs (Business Associate Agreements) for enterprise customers, Basil's on-device processing eliminates the need entirely—no data leaves the device, so no third-party risk exists.

Executive Strategy

Board meetings, M&A discussions, product strategy sessions—these contain information that could move markets if leaked. Basil ensures that sensitive business intelligence stays on your iPhone, not on someone else's cloud infrastructure.

Journalism & Source Protection

Journalists protecting confidential sources cannot afford to have interview recordings stored on third-party servers that might be subject to subpoena. Basil's local-only storage protects source anonymity.

When to Choose Otter

Otter is an excellent choice if:

• You need to transcribe general business meetings without sensitive content
• Your team needs to collaborate on shared meeting notes
• You want automated meeting attendance (bot joins calls for you)
• You need CRM integration to auto-log sales calls
• You're okay with cloud storage in exchange for advanced features
• You want the largest free tier to test extensively

When to Choose Basil

Basil is the right choice if:

• You handle confidential information (legal, medical, executive, journalistic)
• Privacy compliance is non-negotiable (GDPR, HIPAA, attorney-client privilege)
• You work in secure facilities or offline environments
• You prefer simple, focused tools over feature-heavy platforms
• You want unlimited transcription at a fixed annual price
• You value data sovereignty—your data belongs to you alone

Conclusion

Both Otter and Basil are excellent AI meeting notetakers, but they serve different priorities:

Choose Otter if you need maximum features, team collaboration, and don't handle highly sensitive information.

Choose Basil if privacy is paramount and you need absolute certainty that your meeting data stays on your device.

The decision comes down to one question: Can you afford to trust a third party with your meeting data? If the answer is no, Basil is your only option.

Try the Privacy-First Alternative to Otter

100% on-device processing. No cloud uploads. No privacy compromises.

Free to try • $99/year for unlimited transcription