Shoulder Surf vs. the top meeting tools
Hedy AI, Cluely, and Granola are the most commonly mentioned alternatives. Here's how Shoulder Surf compares to each, plus the biggest names in meeting transcription.
| Feature | Shoulder Surf Free / BYOK | Hedy AI $12.99/mo | Cluely $19.99/mo | Granola $14/user/mo | Otter.ai $16.99/mo | Fireflies $18/mo | Krisp $16/mo | Fathom Free / $20/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy & Independence | ||||||||
| Runs entirely on your phone, no desktop install | ||||||||
| Use your own API keys, no subscription required | ||||||||
| Real-Time Intelligence | ||||||||
| Customizable prompt modes | ||||||||
| Real-time tap-to-respond during live meetings | ||||||||
| Camera-based screen capture for visual context | ||||||||
| Reads the meeting's on-screen captions | ||||||||
| Audio transcription + visual context combined | ||||||||
| Follow-up questions via single tap | ||||||||
| Compatibility | ||||||||
| Works with any meeting platform | ||||||||
| No bot joins the meeting | ||||||||
| Private audio delivery via AirPods or Bluetooth | ||||||||
| Flexibility & Memory | ||||||||
| Post-meeting summary with sentiment analysis | ||||||||
| Configurable context (transcript, images, history) | ||||||||
| Generates Excel, Word, and Gantt files from meetings* | ||||||||
| Meeting memory across sessions* | ||||||||
| On-device AI option (no data leaves your phone) | ||||||||
* Meeting memory and document generation require the Pro subscription at $14.99/month.
Prices are each vendor's list price for a single paid seat billed monthly, checked against their own pricing pages on July 31, 2026. Several of these products offer cheaper annual billing, and this category changes fast, so check before you buy. If something here is out of date, tell us at support@shouldersurf.com and we will fix it.
Why this matters
Help during the meeting, not just after
You choose the AI, not just the app
A free path that is actually free
Prompts built for how you think
It sees the room, not just the screen
You ask, it answers, not the other way around
Full head-to-head comparisons
The bottom line
Four of these now run on a phone, so pick on what you actually want from the moment. Granola makes the best write-up in the category and is the right call if your team lives in Notion, Slack, or HubSpot, but the value lands after the call. Hedy AI is the closest thing to what we built, is a dollar cheaper, and reaches Android and Windows, which we never will, though it surfaces suggestions rather than waiting to be asked. Cluely pairs a Mac app with an iPhone app and is the cheapest way to try real-time help for a single week. Otter, Fireflies, Krisp, and Fathom are transcript-first tools built for teams that need a searchable archive, and Fireflies puts a bot in your call to get it.
Shoulder Surf is for one specific person: you want help while the conversation is still happening, on tap rather than pushed at you, delivered quietly through your AirPods, from a phone on the desk that sees the room as well as hears it. And you want to decide where your data goes, whether that means Apple's on-device model, your own API key, or our managed AI. If none of that is what you are shopping for, one of the others above is a better buy, and we would rather tell you that here.
