The category
Otter popularized live transcription for meetings, with a polished web app and cloud storage for every recording. Cloak overlaps on transcription but starts from a different principle: your audio and transcript stay on your device, and the product's real job is helping you respond in the moment.
Where Cloak differs
Local-first transcription
Cloak captures system audio and transcribes it on your side. The conversation isn't uploaded to a cloud account you log into later — it lives with you.
An overlay, not just an app
Instead of a separate browser tab to glance at, Cloak's transcript and answers float in an overlay that's invisible to screen capture. You stay in the call; the help comes to you.
Live answers, grounded in your context
Otter transcribes and summarizes; Cloak also drafts what to say next, grounded in your résumé, your notes, or a dossier of the company you loaded. Transcription is table stakes — the answer is the point.
Your keys, open client
Bring your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or Groq key (free forever), or use a managed plan. The desktop client is open source and auditable.
When Otter still wins
If you want a mature, hosted transcription service with shared cloud folders, a big mobile app, and team-wide search across every past meeting in one place, a cloud transcriber is the better fit today. Choose Cloak when you want local-first privacy and real-time help, not a cloud archive.
Related
Compare Fireflies alternative, or read the AI note taker and meeting AI guides.