--- title: "Caven vs Otter.ai: AI Notes for Confidential Work" description: "Caven vs Otter.ai: bot or bot-free capture, US or EU processing, own-cloud hosting and AI training, compared for European legal and finance teams." url: https://caven.io/compare/otter language: en publisher: "Caven BV" --- # Caven vs Otter.ai: The Otter.ai alternative built for confidential work Some tools optimise for fast notes or broad cloud convenience. Caven is built for a harder problem: confidential meeting intelligence for regulated professional teams. ## TL;DR for Busy Teams Otter.ai is a popular US transcription tool: its assistant joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet calls as a bot, and a desktop app can also record without one. Recordings are stored in the United States, and Otter’s privacy policy allows training its AI on de-identified recordings and transcripts. Caven never sends a bot, processes in the EU, can run in your own cloud or on-premise, pseudonymizes names before AI processing and never trains on your data. For general note-taking Otter works well; for confidential client and deal meetings in Europe, Caven is the safer fit. ## Comparing Otter.ai against Caven’s feature list | Requirement | Caven | Otter.ai | | --- | --- | --- | | Recording: No bot in the call | Yes | Optional (desktop app) | | Recording: Any meeting platform | Yes | Partial | | Recording: In-person meetings | Yes | Yes | | Recording: Phone calls, own number | Beta | Import, or Zoom Phone / RingCentral | | Data & hosting: Processed in the EU | Yes | No (United States) | | Data & hosting: Runs in your own cloud | Yes | Archive copy to S3 only | | Data & hosting: On-premise | Yes | Not publicly offered | | Data & hosting: No AI training on your data | Yes | Trains on de-identified data | | Data & hosting: Pseudonymization before AI | Yes | Not publicly offered | | Fit for regulated work: NetDocuments | Yes | Not publicly offered | | Fit for regulated work: Custom contract terms & DPA | Yes | Locked behind Enterprise plan | | Fit for regulated work: Advance notice with opt-out | Yes | Partial (email, no opt-out) | | Fit for regulated work: Certifications | ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA | | Fit for regulated work: Built for legal & finance | Yes | No | Otter.ai column based on Otter.ai’s public documentation as of October 2026. “Partial” means the capability exists in some form or only in some setups; “Not publicly offered” means the vendor’s public pages do not mention it. Plans and features change, so check the vendor’s site for current details. ## What Caven is built for - **Bot-free by design:** A core requirement for sensitive client and deal conversations. Nobody joins the call but the people you invited. - **Controlled custody:** Keep recordings and AI processing in Caven’s EU cloud, in your own cloud, or fully on-premise. - **Filed where your work lives:** Summaries and transcripts go straight into iManage, NetDocuments or SharePoint, next to the matter or deal, instead of staying trapped in a note app. Pseudonymization and encrypted recordings keep exposure low along the way. ## Which platform is right for you? Many teams compare AI meeting tools on summary quality alone. For legal, finance, M&A, private banking and compliance workflows, the better questions are: can the tool work without a meeting bot, can you control where recordings and transcripts live, and can outputs flow into your professional systems? If your priority is lightweight personal note-taking for non-sensitive internal meetings, a general tool may be enough. If you handle regulated client work, deal work, committee work or confidential advisory, the bar is much higher. Caven’s advantage is not one isolated feature: it is the combination of bot-free capture, controlled custody, pseudonymization-aware design, encrypted recordings and embedded workflows for regulated teams. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Caven a good Otter.ai alternative for European teams? Yes, especially for confidential meetings. Caven records without a bot, processes in the EU, can run in your own cloud or on-premise, pseudonymizes names before AI processing and is built by a Belgian, ISO 27001 certified company. ### Does Otter.ai join meetings as a bot? By default, yes: Otter’s assistant joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls as a participant. Otter’s desktop app for Mac and Windows can also record Zoom, Google Meet and Slack huddles without a bot. ### Does Otter.ai store data in the EU? Otter’s privacy policy names Amazon Web Services in the United States for storage, and Otter does not publicly offer EU hosting, own-cloud or on-premise deployment. ### Does Otter.ai train AI on my recordings? Otter’s privacy policy says it trains its AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions, which may contain personal information. Caven never uses your recordings to train AI models. ### Where does Caven process recordings? In the EU. Caven can also run in your own AWS, Azure or Google Cloud account, or fully on-premise on your own servers (Enterprise). Recordings are encrypted and never used to train AI models. ### Can Caven file meeting notes into our document management system? Yes. Caven sends summaries and transcripts to iManage and NetDocuments, as well as SharePoint, OneDrive and Google Drive, so every meeting ends up next to the matter or deal it belongs to. ### Does Caven join meetings as a bot? No. Caven records from your desktop for Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex and any other platform, and from your phone for in-person meetings. With your calendar connected, it can notify attendees in advance with an option to object. ## Further reading - [Caven vs Otter.ai: Which AI Meeting Recorder Is Right for You?](https://caven.io/blog/caven-vs-otter-ai.md) - [Best Meeting Recorder for Regulated Industries (2026)](https://caven.io/blog/best-meeting-recorder-regulated-industries.md) ## Next steps - [Book a demo](https://caven.io/book-a-demo) - [Start a 14-day free trial or the free plan](https://caven.io/pricing) - [Download the desktop app](https://caven.io/download)