SR-7 is a personal recorder, a dictaphone in lineage and spirit, for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It records your own voice, transcribes it on the device and writes a title and a one-sentence summary with Apple Intelligence. On the Mac it also keeps each recording as a markdown file and runs a local MCP server for AI tools. It costs $7.99 once.
Otter is a cloud transcription service built around live meeting capture, with a free tier and paid plans that add speaker identification, integrations and team collaboration.
Side by side
| Point | SR-7 | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | A list of recordings, each with its transcript and, with Apple Intelligence, a title and a summary | Web dashboard organized around meetings, calendars and shared workspaces |
| Where transcription runs | On device. No server of ours is involved | In the cloud (AWS, US). Audio leaves the device by design |
| Privacy and training | No account, no telemetry. The App Store privacy label reads Data Not Collected | Trains its proprietary AI on de-identified audio and transcriptions "which may contain Personal Information"; shares data with analytics and advertising partners |
| Price model | $7.99 once, for iPhone, iPad and Mac | Free tier (300 minutes a month, a 30-minute cap per conversation, 3 imports ever), then Pro at $8.33 to $16.99 and Business at $19.99 to $30 per user per month, recurring |
| Usage limits | No minute allowance. Each recording can run up to 180 minutes | Monthly minute caps and per-conversation caps on Free and Pro |
| Live meeting transcription | No | Yes. A bot joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, on every plan including free |
| Speaker identification | No | Yes |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad and Mac, on iOS 26, iPadOS 26 or macOS 26; the Mac needs Apple silicon | Web, iOS, Android |
| Collaboration | None; one person and their own devices | Shared workspaces, cross-meeting AI Chat, CRM integrations, admin controls |
| What you get out | On the Mac, a markdown file with YAML front matter for every recording, in a folder you choose | Cloud workspace; export as TXT, DOCX, PDF or SRT per conversation (bulk export is web only) |
| AI tool access | Local MCP server with 20 tools, on the Mac | API on Enterprise plans only |
| Summaries | Automatic, on device, with Apple Intelligence | Cloud AI summaries, plus cross-meeting AI Chat |
What you see when you open each app
SR-7 opens like a native recorder: a record button and a list of recordings, each with its transcript and, with Apple Intelligence, a title and a summary. There is no dashboard to configure and no workspace to join first.
Otter opens to a web dashboard built around meetings: a calendar, conversation folders and shared workspace settings, because its job is organizing recurring calls across a team. SR-7 has no dashboard and no team view; it is built to be picked up and used in the moment.
Where the audio goes
SR-7 transcribes and summarizes on the device, and no server of ours is in the loop. If you switch on iCloud sync, your library travels between your own devices through your own iCloud account. Otter is a cloud service: recordings are processed on AWS infrastructure in the US, and Otter's own privacy policy states it uses that data to "improve and monitor the Services, including training our proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions (which may contain Personal Information)."
That data is also shared with cloud providers, data labeling providers, analytics providers and advertising partners, per the same policy. Whether that trade-off matters to you depends on what you are recording.
Two different jobs
Otter's core job is live meetings: a bot joins Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, transcribes in real time and labels who said what, on every plan including free. SR-7 does not attempt any of that; it has no meeting bot and no speaker identification.
SR-7's job is turning your own recordings, such as voice memos, field notes and the recap you speak after a conversation, into a searchable archive on your devices. On the Mac it adds a local MCP server so AI tools can read that archive directly. Otter's API is Enterprise only; SR-7's agent access comes with the app.
What you pay over time
Otter's free tier means $0 to start: 300 transcription minutes a month, a 30-minute cap per conversation, and three file imports for the life of the account. Past that, Pro and Business plans run $8.33 to $30 per user per month, billed monthly or annually, for as long as you use the service.
SR-7 is $7.99 once, for iPhone, iPad and Mac. A year of Otter beyond the free tier costs more than SR-7 costs once; the trade-off is that Otter also does things SR-7 does not attempt, like live meeting capture and team collaboration.
Which one to use
Choose Otter if
- Your recordings are meetings. A bot that joins Zoom, Meet or Teams and transcribes live with speaker labels is Otter's core job, and SR-7 does not attempt it.
- You work on a team. Shared transcripts, cross-meeting AI chat and CRM integrations only matter with collaborators, and SR-7 has none of that.
- You are on Android or Windows. SR-7 needs an iPhone, iPad or Mac on the OS 26 releases; Otter runs in any browser.
Choose SR-7 if
- You want transcription to happen on your device, and you do not want a company training its AI on your recordings.
- You would rather pay once than track a monthly minute allowance.
- Search, quotes and notes through your own AI tools matter more to you than live meeting capture.
Also compare: Apple Voice Memos, MacWhisper and Just Press Record. All five apps side by side are on the home page.
Signal Recorder SR-7
A dictaphone for thinking out loud. It records your voice and transcribes it on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
$7.99 once for iPhone, iPad and Mac. No subscription.