An Otter alternative that doesn't join your meetings.
Chirp records the call from your Mac itself. No bot appears in the participant list, the audio never leaves your computer, and the transcript labels each speaker automatically. One purchase, no monthly plan.
Free for 7 days. No account, no card.
Otter is built for the cloud. That's the trade.
Otter is built around the cloud, and for some teams that's exactly right: live shared notes, a workspace everyone can read, transcripts on any device. But the way it gets there is a bot that joins your call, audio that's processed on their servers, and a subscription with minute caps. The free plan stops at 300 minutes a month, Pro at 1,200.
I wanted the transcript without any of that. No bot tile making the call feel recorded-by-a-stranger, no audio leaving the room, no meter running. So Chirp records the meeting from your Mac itself and does the whole job on-device.
What recording on your own Mac changes
No bot joins the call
Chirp captures the meeting audio on your Mac. There's no extra participant for people to wonder about, and no bot for a host to admit or block.
Nothing is uploaded
The recording and the transcript stay on your Mac. Nothing about the meeting touches a server.
No minute caps
Transcription runs on your own machine, so there's nothing to meter. Record every meeting, however long, every day.
Speaker labels, automatic
Chirp figures out who said what and labels each speaker in the transcript, all on-device.
Works with any meeting app
Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, a webinar in a browser tab. If your Mac can play it, Chirp can record and transcribe it.
Pay once
$39 for one Mac, every feature included, all future updates. No per-seat monthly plan.
This is what you get, with no bot on the call.
A live call becomes a labeled transcript, and the speaker library learns each voice for next time.
FaceTime100% on-device · Speaker profiles never leave your Mac
Side by side
As of June 2026. Check otter.ai for their current plans.
What Otter does better
Live collaboration
Otter's shared workspaces, comments, and highlights are real strengths. If your team works inside the transcript together during the call, that's Otter's home turf.
Any device, any platform
Otter runs in a browser and on phones. Chirp is a Mac app, and the transcript lives on your Mac unless you export it.
Calendar automation
Otter can auto-join scheduled meetings from your calendar. Chirp can start recording automatically when it detects a meeting on your Mac, but the deep calendar integrations are theirs.
If your whole team lives in shared meeting notes, Otter earns its subscription. If what you actually want is a private, accurate transcript of every call on your Mac, that's the job Chirp was built for.
Questions
How does Chirp record a meeting without a bot?
Chirp captures the meeting audio that plays through your Mac, plus your microphone. Nothing joins the call, so it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or anything else you can hear on your Mac.
Do I need to be the meeting host?
No. Because Chirp records on your Mac rather than joining the call, it works in meetings you don't control. You should still tell people you're recording, the same as with any recorder, and recording rules vary by region.
Are there monthly minute limits?
No. Transcription runs on your own Mac, so there's no per-minute cost to meter. Otter's free plan caps at 300 minutes a month and Pro at 1,200; Chirp has no caps at all.
Can I share transcripts with my team?
You can export any transcript to Markdown or SRT and share it however you like. What Chirp doesn't have is Otter-style live shared workspaces, so if your team annotates notes together during the call, Otter genuinely fits that better.
Does Chirp work offline?
Yes. After the initial download, recording and transcription work with no internet connection, and your audio is never uploaded anywhere.