The honest comparison
How private is your meeting tool, really?
Most meeting tools answer the same three questions the same way: your audio is processed in their cloud, stored under their terms, and run through a model you don't control. Here's where each one stands on the things that decide whether your meetings stay yours.
| Daisy | Otter | Fireflies | Fathom | Granola | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botless meeting recording | 1 | 1 | |||
| Processed entirely on your device | |||||
| Your recordings & data stay on your machine | |||||
| Bring your own AI model or key | |||||
| No account required | |||||
| Works fully offline | |||||
| PHI can stay on your device (no BAA with us) |
Summaries, Q&A, and analysis need a language model — with Daisy you run one locally or bring your own key, so even that step can stay private. Everything else (recording, transcription, speaker identification, search) is on-device. Is Daisy truly local?
Download Daisy
30-day trial · no account · Linux · Windows · macOS
Notes & honesty
- Fireflies and Fathom — botless is an option, not the architecture. Both default to a notetaker bot in the participant list and both now offer a bot-free desktop capture mode as well (Fireflies on Mac and Windows; Fathom on Mac, in beta). The mark reflects that the option exists; the audio still goes to their cloud either way.
- “Processed entirely on your device” — recording, transcription, and speaker identification run locally; only AI features optionally send text to a model you choose. Granola is botless but captures audio locally and then processes notes in its cloud, which is why it earns the botless mark but not the on-device / data-residence ones.
- Otter captures virtual meetings with the OtterPilot bot; its bot-free recording is for in-person conversations on the phone and desktop apps.
- “PHI can stay on your device” — cloud tools can be HIPAA-friendly by signing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with you, but that means they hold your PHI as your business associate. In Daisy’s local configuration the PHI never leaves your machine, so there is no business associate to add or audit. See the HIPAA configuration guide.
- Cells reflect each vendor's publicly documented behavior as of August 2026 and cover structural facts only — processing location, data residence, bring-your-own model, botless capture, account requirement, and offline use. Products change; check the vendor's current docs before relying on any single cell.