COMPARISONEvery claim sourced · verified Jun 2026

Granola vs Ottex: the honest comparison.

Ottex is the broader Mac/iOS voice tool for dictation, file transcription, meetings, and finished outputs. Granola is the focused meeting-notes product with Windows and Android support plus team memory.

Ottex

Mac, iOS · Free tier · $14/mo · PAYG

Ottex is unusually broad for a young Mac/iOS-first tool: it turns dictation and meetings into emails, tickets, CRM updates, notes, and docs, but it is not the pick if you need Windows, Android, web, browser extension, or compliance paperwork.

Choose if

You want one tool for system-wide dictation, meeting recording, and finished written outcomes like follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs
You want a real free path: unlimited local dictation, file transcription, and meetings on Mac with Whisper/Parakeet, or BYOK instead of a forced subscription
You need multilingual dictation with 100+ languages, auto-detection, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules

Look elsewhere if

You need Windows, Android, Linux, web access, or a browser extension
You need mature team infrastructure such as a shared workspace, API/webhooks, third-party note destinations, or assistant chat over transcripts today.

Granola

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android · Limited free · $18/mo

Granola is a strong bot-free meeting notes tool with polished AI summaries and team memory, but it is not a general dictation or file-transcription app.

Choose if

You want bot-free meeting capture that records from your mic and computer audio without joining calls.
You want AI meeting notes shaped by your own notes, with action items, decisions, follow-up emails, and reusable prompts.
You want a team meeting memory with shared workspaces, folders, cross-meeting Q&A, and Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar support.

Look elsewhere if

You need system-wide dictation, hotkeys, voice commands, auto-formatting, snippets, or text insertion into other apps.
You need imported audio or video file transcription, batch processing, timestamps, or export controls with public vendor claims behind them.

The evidence

What actually differs, claim by claim.

Each section opens with the takeaway. The table underneath is the receipt — every cell carries its source and the date we checked it.

Pricing

Ottex wins price flexibility: unlimited local or BYOK free, PAYG at $0.2/hour, Pro at $14/mo, and Team at $24/seat/mo. Granola has a Basic plan capped at 25 meetings/month and Business at $18/seat/mo, so it is cheaper than Ottex Team for paid team seats but covers meetings only.

See the evidence — 8 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Granola
Free tier	YesWhisper & Parakeet run on your Mac. Dictation and meetings, $0.	Partial25 meetings/month
Subscription	$14/mo$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.	$18/moBusiness is $18 per member/month or $14 per member/month billed annually.
Pay-as-you-go / one-timeEscape the flat subscription	$0.2/hourHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).	NoSubscription only
Bring your own keyPay the model provider, not the middleman	YesOpenRouter, Google AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and compatible providers.	No public claim
Education discount	NoSame pricing for everyone.	No public claim

Platforms

Granola wins platform coverage with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Ottex is Mac and iOS only, so Ottex is the wrong pick if Windows, Android, Linux, web access, or a browser extension is required.

See the evidence — 3 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Granola
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Native app footprintLight on memory, instant to invoke	YesNative Swift app, ~50MB RAM.	No public claim

Meetings & team memory

Granola wins focused meeting capture because it records bot-free from the mic and computer audio and adds team meeting memory. Ottex also supports meetings, but its stated edge is breadth across dictation, file transcription, and finished outputs rather than mature shared meeting infrastructure.

See the evidence — 11 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Granola
Meeting recordingThe call is captured at all	YesWith speaker separation.	YesGranola records and transcribes meetings without joining as a bot.
Bot-free captureNo "recording bot" joins your call	YesSystem-audio capture, no bot joins the call.	YesGranola does not send a bot to meetings.
Speaker separation	Yes	No public claim
Calendar detection	YesCalendar-based meeting detection.	YesGranola surfaces calendar events and can start notes from upcoming meetings.
Cross-meeting search	Yes	YesAsk Granola can answer across past meetings.
Shared team memory	PartialPublic share links, not a full team workspace.	YesBusiness workspaces include shared notes and folders for teams.

From meeting to finished work

Ottex wins when meeting intelligence needs to become finished work: follow-up emails, Linear tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs. Granola is stronger for meeting notes, action items, decisions, follow-up emails, reusable prompts, folders, shared workspaces, and cross-meeting Q&A.

See the evidence — 8 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Granola
Decisions, owners, action itemsLeave the meeting with next steps clear	YesDecisions with owners extracted.	YesGranola can extract decisions from meetings through templates and AI notes.
Follow-up email draftedThe outcome is sent, not summarized	YesDrafted from templates or your own.	YesRecipes can generate follow-up emails from meetings.
CRM update / ticket draft	YesStructured for the target app.	YesGranola lists Attio as an integration for sending meeting notes to CRM records.
Your rough notes steer the result	YesRough notes and instructions steer the result.	YesUser notes are used to guide the generated meeting notes.

Dictation & transcription AI

Ottex wins dictation AI outright: system-wide dictation, file transcription, BYOK, local models, 100+ languages, auto-detection, mixed-language speech, personal vocabulary, and per-app output rules. Granola does not offer dictation, file transcription, BYOK, local models, or a stated language count.

See the evidence — 7 claims across 2 toolsverified Jun 2026

	Ottex	Granola
Engines	Cloud: Whisper, Gemini 3 Flash, Voxtral. Local: Whisper, Parakeet v3.Hosted routing, BYOK, or fully local.	No public claim
Local / on-device optionAudio never leaves the machine	YesWhisper and Parakeet v3 run fully on-device.	NoGranola states it requires an internet connection to transcribe and generate notes.
Model selection per task	YesChoose the model per task and per provider.	No public claim
Languages & mixed speechWork that crosses languages mid-sentence	Yes100+ languages · Mid-sentence language switching.	No public claim
Per-app output rules	YesPer-app output rules: exact in AI chats, polished in email.	NoNot supported

Cost

What a year actually costs at your volume.

Personal or team — switch tabs. Subscriptions are flat; usage-based pricing depends on how much you speak and meet.

You dictate about 3 h a week≈ 23,400 words at ~130 wpm

0 h5 h10 h

and sit in 4 h of meetings a weekhours you'd want captured and turned into follow-ups

0 h7.5 h15 h

Fill the gaps with:

Dictation appadded to meetings-only toolsMeetings appadded to dictation-only tools

OttexOttex Provider — PAYG$135/yrHosted models at cost: dictation ~$0.2/h, meetings ~$0.5/h (~$3/mo average).

OttexPro$168/yr$14/mo — unlimited dictation and meeting intelligence, all hosted models included.

GranolaBusiness$168/yr$168 + $0Business is $18 per member/month or $14 per member/month billed annually. · Unlimited meetings

Estimates, not quotes. Striped bar segments are the cost of the second app you picked above to cover the gap — rankings use that combined total. PAYG and BYOK usage are estimated at provider at-cost rates ($0.2/h dictation, $0.5/h meetings) — bring-your-own-key plans still pay the model provider per use. One-time licenses are amortized over 2 years. Subscriptions use published pricing, checked Jun 2026.

FAQ

Questions people actually ask.

Ottex vs Granola: which should I pick?

Pick Ottex if you want one Mac/iOS tool for dictation, file transcription, meetings, and finished outputs like emails, tickets, CRM updates, PRDs, and docs. Pick Granola if meetings are the job and you need bot-free notes, shared workspaces, folders, cross-meeting Q&A, or Windows and Android support.

Is Ottex free?

Yes. Ottex has free local AI and free BYOK paths, plus PAYG at $0.2/hour, Pro at $14/mo, Team at $24/seat/mo, and Enterprise custom pricing.

Is Granola free?

Granola has a Basic free plan capped at 25 meetings/month. Its paid Business plan is $18/seat/mo with unlimited meetings, and Enterprise is custom.

How much does Ottex and Granola cost?

Ottex can be free with local AI or your own key, $0.2/hour on PAYG, $14/mo for Pro, or $24/seat/mo for Team. Granola is free for 25 meetings/month, then $18/seat/mo for Business with unlimited meetings.

Is Ottex safe?

Ottex is the stronger privacy pick if you want local AI or BYOK because it offers local models and your own key. Granola does not offer local models or BYOK in the provided plan data.

Does Ottex or Granola work on Windows or Android?

Granola works on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Ottex works on Mac and iOS only, so choose Granola if Windows or Android support is required.

Does Ottex or Granola use a bot to record meetings?

Granola is explicitly bot-free and records from your mic and computer audio without joining calls. Ottex supports meeting recording, but the provided data does not claim the same bot-free capture model.

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