How SlateNotes compares

Coming soon for iPhone. (SlateNotes product page)

Records on iPhone and turns that audio into a transcript, summary, and notes on the device after a one-time model download. No account and no cloud sync. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Recording and real-time transcription in a web browser or the Otter mobile app. (Otter Help: Record a conversation)

Plaud Note is a hardware recorder plus the Plaud App. (Plaud Note product page)

Speech in your audio recordings can be transcribed to text in Voice Memos. You can view the transcription while you are recording or after. (View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone)

Coming soon for iPhone. Requires iOS 18.0 or later. No App Store link yet. (SlateNotes product page)

Otter's website. (otter.ai)

iOS and Android apps. (Otter Help: Download the Otter mobile app)

Available on the App Store. (Otter on the App Store)

Available on Google Play. (Otter on Google Play)

Official download page lists iPhone, iPad, and Android. (Download Plaud Apps)

Available on iPhone 12 or later in English (all variants), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese; not available in all countries or regions. (View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone)

Apple also documents Voice Memos transcription on iPad. (View a Voice Memos transcription on iPad)

Apple also documents Voice Memos transcription on Mac. (View a transcription of a recording on Mac)

No account and no sign-in. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Web recording steps start with "Sign in to Otter.ai". (Otter Help: Record a conversation)

"To access most features of the Service, you must register for an account." Registration may include name, email, phone number, or other contact information. (Otter.ai Terms of Service)

You can sign in to the Plaud App with Google, Apple, or an email account. (Create a Plaud account)

When Voice Memos is turned on in iCloud settings or iCloud preferences, your recordings appear and update automatically on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac where you are signed in to the same Apple Account. (Make a recording in Voice Memos on iPhone)

Transcription runs on the device after a one-time model download. NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 is the default engine. Whisper Large-V3 Turbo is a Pro feature on iPhones with 6 GB or more of RAM. Apple's on-device speech recognition is the fallback. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Record with the microphone, or import an m4a, mp3, wav, aiff, or caf file. Asks for microphone access to record. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Your recordings and transcripts are never uploaded to us or any AI service. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Speech-recognition models download from Hugging Face, without your recording or note content. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

An active internet connection is required for real-time transcription. (Otter Help: Record a conversation)

After recording, "The recording must be processed before it’s available for viewing." (Otter Help: Record a conversation)

The privacy policy lists using meeting and uploaded information to improve and monitor the Services, including training proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions. (Otter.ai Privacy Policy)

When you request a transcription or summary (Plaud App v4.0.x or later): audio is stored on the device (and in Plaud cloud if Cloud Sync is enabled); audio or transcript is transmitted to an AI provider's API (OpenAI, Google, or Microsoft); the transcript or summary is returned to the Plaud Mobile App and saved to your Plaud account. (How your data is used in AI processing — for v4.0.x or later)

Speech in your audio recordings can be transcribed to text in Voice Memos. You can view the transcription while you are recording or after. (View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone)

When Voice Memos is turned on in iCloud settings or iCloud preferences, your recordings appear and update automatically on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac where you are signed in to the same Apple Account. (Make a recording in Voice Memos on iPhone)

Summaries use Apple's on-device Foundation Models. Chapters and action items are built on the iPhone from the transcript. SlateNotes does not use Apple's Private Cloud Compute for summaries. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

When you request a summary, audio or transcript is transmitted to an AI provider's API (OpenAI, Google, or Microsoft) and the summary is returned to the Plaud App and saved to your Plaud account. AI features are initiated at the user's request. (How your data is used in AI processing — for v4.0.x or later)

With Apple Intelligence, you can use Writing Tools to summarize transcripts with a tap. Apple Intelligence availability is limited (devices, languages, regions) as described on that same page. (View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone)

Recordings, transcripts, summaries, and notes are stored on the device. This version does not sync to iCloud or any other service. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Custom dictionary words stay on the iPhone. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

"When you use the Services, you may provide us with your audio recordings (Audio Recordings)". (Otter.ai Privacy Policy)

By default data is stored locally on the device; Private Cloud Sync is disabled by default and requires opt-in. (AI Data Usage Transparency Policy)

If Cloud Sync is disabled, recordings stay on the device and the cloud is contacted on demand only when you request AI processing; Plaud says it then does not retain a server-side copy of the recordings. (How your data is used in AI processing — for v4.0.x or later)

When Voice Memos is turned on in iCloud settings or iCloud preferences, your recordings appear and update automatically on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac where you are signed in to the same Apple Account. (Make a recording in Voice Memos on iPhone)

Analytics (Amplitude and Firebase) never include your note text, titles or search queries, and can be turned off in Settings. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

We ask our analytics provider not to store your IP address or city. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Amplitude identifies your install only by a random ID created on your device. It isn't your Apple advertising ID, it isn't tied to an account, and it's replaced with a new one when you use Delete All Data or turn analytics off. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Ads are non-personalized ads only (npa=1). The app does not ask for permission to track you or access your advertising identifier. The app does not show an App Tracking Transparency prompt. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

At most one banner on the Recent Notes screen, when ads are turned on and you do not have Pro. Ads are never shown while recording, playing audio, or while a recording is being processed. Pro has no ads. (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Google AdMob receives your IP address to serve ads (when ads are shown). (SlateNotes privacy policy)

Device information includes IP address; approximate location may be inferred from IP address. (Otter.ai Privacy Policy)