Grain vs Otter for investor meetings

Reviewed 2026-10-15

Short answer: Grain for an investment team that records every founder call and wants unlimited meeting length, exports, and an API from its first paid plan; Otter for a solo investor who wants the lowest price and a mobile app for in-person meetings.

Both send a bot into Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, write AI notes with action items, and offer a free plan. They split on limits and on what you can take with you: Otter caps meeting length on every plan and keeps its API for Enterprise, while Grain lifts the length cap and opens its API from Starter.

Verdict

Grain, which holds the Meeting Intelligence slot in our Investor Stack. Starter, at $15 per seat per month on annual billing, removes the meeting-length cap and keeps unlimited history, transcripts download on every plan, and the API opens from Starter. Pick Otter if you're a solo investor on a tight budget: Pro is $8.33 per user per month on annual billing, and its iOS and Android apps record in-person meetings.

Grain holds the Meeting Intelligence slot in the Investor Stack

Grain vs Otter: side by side

Grain vs Otter, compared
Criterion	Grain	Otter
Free plan	Unlimited meetings up to 45 minutes each; 30-day meeting history	300 transcription minutes a month; 30 minutes per conversation; 25 most recent conversations
Paid plans	Starter $15/seat/month billed annually ($19 monthly); Business $29 ($39 monthly); Enterprise custom	Pro $8.33/user/month billed annually ($16.99 monthly); Business $19.99 ($30 monthly); Enterprise custom
Meeting length	Unlimited from Starter	Pro: up to 90 minutes. Business: up to 4 hours
Records	Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack huddles; desktop capture without a bot on Mac and Windows	Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet; iOS and Android apps; desktop app without a bot
CRM sync	HubSpot and Salesforce on Business and Enterprise. Affinity not listed	Salesforce or HubSpot notes: 1 user on Pro, 5 on Business, unlimited on Enterprise. Affinity not listed
Exports and API	MP4 video and transcripts (Markdown, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT); API from Starter	Basic: TXT and MP3. Pro: adds PDF, DOCX, SRT. Bulk export from Business. API on Enterprise only
SSO	SAML SSO on Enterprise	Enterprise, minimum 100-user licence
Training on your data	Not addressed on Grain's pages; it says no customer data is retained when LLM providers generate notes	Privacy policy: trains Otter's own AI on de-identified recordings and transcripts. Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default
Startup offer	50% off Starter or Business for 6 months through Grain's partner network	None listed

What each costs

Otter is cheaper per seat. Pro is $8.33 per user per month on annual billing or $16.99 monthly, for up to 5 billed users. Business is $19.99 per user per month on annual billing or $30 monthly.

Grain Starter is $15 per seat per month on annual billing or $19 monthly, and Business is $29 or $39. Grain charges only for seats that record, upload, or import meetings; everyone else joins as a free viewer. Grain lists no required annual contract and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Meeting length and history

Founder calls and partner meetings often run past an hour. Otter caps each conversation at 30 minutes on its free plan, 90 minutes on Pro, and 4 hours on Business and Enterprise. Grain's free plan caps meetings at 45 minutes and keeps 30 days of history; from Starter, meeting length and history are both unlimited.

Getting notes into your CRM and out of the tool

Neither lists a native Affinity integration, so investors on Affinity will connect through Zapier or the API. Grain syncs with HubSpot and Salesforce from Business; Otter syncs notes to Salesforce or HubSpot for 1 user on Pro and 5 on Business.

On exports, Grain downloads video as MP4 and transcripts in Markdown, DOCX, PDF, SRT, or VTT, and opens a personal API from Starter. Otter's free plan exports TXT and MP3 only, bulk export starts at Business, and its public API is for Enterprise customers.

What happens to your recordings

Otter's privacy policy says it trains its own AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions, which may contain personal information; Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default. Grain's pages don't say whether recordings train models; they say no customer data is retained when its LLM providers generate notes. Both hold SOC 2 Type II reports.

For confidential founder conversations, ask either vendor for its training terms in writing before you record.

When Otter is the better choice

Grain holds our meeting slot. Pick Otter when:

You're a solo investor and most calls fit within 90 minutes: Pro is $8.33 a month on annual billing against Grain Starter's $15.
You record in-person meetings on your phone: Otter has iOS and Android apps.
Your meetings are only on Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet and you don't need an API.

Facts are checked against each vendor's own pages, listed below; the verdict is our opinion. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's site. See disclosures.

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