Looking for a Otter.ai alternative? Retext records notes without a bot, transcribes and summarizes them on your Mac, and turns the useful parts into snippets.
Retext is a Otter.ai alternative if you want no bot in your meetings, transcripts and summaries made on your Mac, and notes that become snippets. If you need calendar auto-join, speaker labels or CRM sync, Otter.ai does more.
Otter is built for meetings: its notetaker joins your calls from the calendar, names each speaker and syncs notes to Salesforce or HubSpot. Retext never sends a bot and keeps transcription and summaries on your Mac, but it hears only your microphone and has no calendar, speaker labels or CRM sync. Choose Otter for team call records, and Retext for private notes you turn into snippets.
No meeting bot, ever: nobody else on the call sees a recorder join
Transcription and summaries run on your Mac, not a server
Save as Snippet: a note's summary or action items become a ;trigger
Audio is deleted once the transcript is ready, unless you keep it
Snippets, dictation and autocomplete in the same app
| Feature | Retext | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Transcripts & Summaries | ||
| Bot-Free Recording | ||
| Both Sides of a Call | ||
| Calendar & Auto-Start | Not available | |
| Speaker Labels | Not available | |
| CRM & App Integrations | ||
| Privacy & Local Storage | ||
| Snippet Expansion | Not available | |
| Cross-Platform |
| Product | Pricing Model | Price | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retext | Freemium | Recording, on-device transcription and summaries come with every plan. See the pricing page. | Notes on your Mac, plus 5 snippets |
| Otter.ai | Freemium | Pro $16.99/user/month or $8.33 billed annually; Business $30/user/month (shown discounted to $24 on 2026-10-28) or $19.99 billed annually; Enterprise by quote | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 file imports, your 25 most recent conversations |
Migration difficulty: medium
Otter exports conversations as txt and mp3 on the free plan, and pdf, docx and srt on Pro, with bulk export on Business. Retext doesn't import notes, so keep your Otter exports as the archive and start fresh in Retext. Save the summaries and follow-ups you reuse as snippets.
Retext records notes without a bot, transcribes and summarizes them on your Mac, and turns the useful parts into snippets. Otter is built for meetings: its notetaker joins your calls from the calendar, names each speaker and syncs notes to Salesforce or HubSpot. Retext never sends a bot and keeps transcription and summaries on your Mac, but it hears only your microphone and has no calendar, speaker labels or CRM sync. Choose Otter for team call records, and Retext for private notes you turn into snippets.
A bot joins your meetings; Free conversations stop at 30 minutes; Recordings and transcripts can be used to train Otter's AI.
Yes. Otter.ai's free option: 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 file imports, your 25 most recent conversations. Paid: Pro $16.99/user/month or $8.33 billed annually; Business $30/user/month (shown discounted to $24 on 2026-10-28) or $19.99 billed annually; Enterprise by quote.
Yes. Retext's free plan includes notes on your Mac, plus 5 snippets. Recording, on-device transcription and summaries come with every plan. See the pricing page.
Otter.ai is the better choice for teams that want every call transcribed automatically, sales teams that sync call notes to a CRM and speaker-labeled transcripts you can export.
Otter exports conversations as txt and mp3 on the free plan, and pdf, docx and srt on Pro, with bulk export on Business. Retext doesn't import notes, so keep your Otter exports as the archive and start fresh in Retext. Save the summaries and follow-ups you reuse as snippets.
Download Retext, turn on Notes in Settings, and click Record Note. Your transcript and summary are written on your Mac.
Sources
Otter.ai, checked October 28, 2026: Otter pricing · Otter privacy policy · Otter: connect your calendar · Otter: speaker identification
Prices and features change. Check each vendor's site before you buy.