How we compare
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 | ||||||||
| Can run on your phone alone, 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 (answered on the iPhone, no cloud AI) | ||||||||
* Meeting memory in every conversation (your last 30 days on Plus, everything on Pro) and document attachments come with Plus and Pro. File generation is on every plan, with a monthly allowance on Free.
Prices are each vendor's list price for a single paid seat billed monthly, checked against their own pricing pages on November 2, 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 If something here is out of date, tell us at support@shouldersurf.com and we will fix it.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
Granola makes beautiful meeting notes, and its iPhone app transcribes live, but the write-up lands after the conversation ends. Otter, Fireflies, and Fathom work the same way. Hedy and Cluely do help during the meeting, so this is no longer the line it once was. Where Shoulder Surf differs is how you get that help: you tap when you want it, and the answer can come through your AirPods instead of off a screen.
You choose the AI, not just the app
Run Apple's on-device AI and your questions are answered on the iPhone itself, free, with no cloud AI involved. (Meeting audio still syncs to your own iCloud if iCloud Sync is on.) Or bring your own API key across 10 providers and more than 60 models, stored in the iOS Keychain, with requests going straight from your phone to the provider. Or use our managed cloud AI. Hedy has a solid on-device option too, and Granola's Business plan lets you pick the chat model. None of the others document a bring-your-own-key option.
A free path that is actually free
Hedy AI is $12.99/month, Cluely $19.99/month, Granola $14 per user/month, Otter $16.99/month, Fireflies $18/month, Krisp $16/month. All of them except Krisp have a free plan worth trying, and Krisp gives you a 7 day trial, so shop around. Here, on-device AI and your own API key don't need a subscription, and on either one, asking during a meeting doesn't touch the monthly cloud budget. On-device runs free on an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence; with your own key you pay the provider directly. Managed cloud AI plans start at $9.99/month.
Prompts built for how you think
Shoulder Surf ships with Catch Me Up, Help Me Respond, What Do I Need to Do?, Is That Right?, and What Are We Missing?, and you can write your own for any situation, then fire them mid-meeting with one tap. Cluely lets you customize instructions. The rest of this list decides for you what the AI does.
It sees the room, not just the screen
Cluely combines screen and audio context on the desktop. Shoulder Surf uses the rear camera, so it can take in a physical whiteboard, a printed handout, or a slide on someone else's laptop, and it can read the on-screen captions in a video call. Otter grabs slides from virtual meetings and lets you add a whiteboard photo, and Fireflies records the video. None of the others document using the phone's camera on the room while the meeting's happening. That matters most in the meetings that are not fully virtual.
You ask, it answers, not the other way around
Hedy AI is the closest thing to Shoulder Surf: it runs on your phone, no bot joins the call, and it helps in real time. The difference is the trigger. Hedy's own material describes real-time insights surfacing as the conversation goes. Shoulder Surf listens continuously and waits for you to tap. Some people want the nudge without asking, and for them Hedy is the better fit. This one is a genuine fork in the road, not a scorecard.
Full head-to-head comparisons
The bottom line
Every one of these runs on a phone now, 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, and has Android and Windows apps, plus its own on-device AI (ours is iPhone and iPad only, with free Mac and Windows companions), though it surfaces suggestions rather than waiting to be asked. Cluely pairs a desktop 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 usually 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.
Start free.
Free comes with a recurring monthly cloud-AI budget of about 5 hours a month that renews.* Plus is $9.99 a month with a 7 day free trial.
Pro is $14.99 a month.
Or skip the subscription with on-device Apple Intelligence or your own API key.
On a computer? Point your iPhone camera here to get the app.Then add Shoulder Surf Companion, free for Mac, Windows
* Based on a 1 hour meeting with typical queries and context. Actual usage may vary. Compare plans
