No bot joins the call
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
One purchase. Everything included.
Second does not need to store your meetings on our servers, so it does not need to become another monthly bill.
$19
One-time payment- Local transcription on Apple Silicon
- Speaker diarization
- AI summary + action items
- Audio recording saved locally
- Notes searchable with macOS Spotlight
- Google Calendar integration
- Multi-language support
- Role-based and custom vocabularies
- CLI access
- Works with Claude Code and Codex
See how it stacks up
No bot. No cloud meeting archive. No subscription. The features that matter, compared honestly.
| Feature | Second | Granola | Fireflies | Otter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy & architecture | ||||
| No bot joins the call | ||||
| Audio never leaves device by default | ||||
| Works offline for the core loop | ||||
| Local transcription on Apple Silicon | ||||
| Core functionality | ||||
| Calendar integration | ||||
| AI summary + action items | ||||
| Searchable meeting archive | ||||
| Manual notes during recording | ||||
| Apple ecosystem | ||||
| Spotlight-friendly local files | ||||
| CLI | ||||
| Cross-meeting intelligence | ||||
Privacy & architecture
Audio never leaves device by default
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Works offline for the core loop
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Local transcription on Apple Silicon
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Core functionality
Calendar integration
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
AI summary + action items
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Searchable meeting archive
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Manual notes during recording
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Apple ecosystem
Spotlight-friendly local files
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
CLI
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Cross-meeting intelligence
Second
Granola
Fireflies
Otter
Why one payment, not a subscription.
Every other meeting notes app charges monthly. That's fine when there are ongoing server costs to justify it — your audio lives on their infrastructure, their AI processes it, their storage holds it.
Second is different by design. Your audio stays on your Mac. Your transcription runs on Apple Silicon. Your notes are files on your device. There are no servers to run for you. No servers means no subscription.
$19. Pay once, use every meeting.
One purchase. Every meeting, forever.
Native Mac app. Local at the core. Structured enough for the work that happens after the call. $19, one time.