Grain

Overview

Grain is an AI meeting recorder with video clip creation offering 20 free meetings total, with automatic transcription, AI summaries, and drag-to-create video clips from transcript highlights for sharing customer insights with product, marketing, and sales teams.

Unlike full-transcript competitors (Otter, tl;dv, Fathom), Grain differentiates through video clip generation - select 30-60 seconds of transcript text, click "Create Clip", and instantly generate shareable video snippet - positioning Grain as the "highlight reel tool" vs competitors' full-recording sharing.

The Clip-First Reality: Grain suits product teams, UX researchers, and customer-facing managers (5-50 people) needing to extract and share specific customer feedback moments (feature requests, pain points, objections) without forcing stakeholders to watch full 1-hour recordings. The Starter tier ($19/user/month or $15 annual = $180-228/year) is 50-90% more expensive than Otter Pro ($120/year) or Fireflies ($120/year) - justified only if clip creation is critical workflow vs basic transcription.

Automatic Meeting Join and Video Recording

1. Calendar Sync and Bot Auto-Join

• Connect Google Calendar, Outlook, or Microsoft 365 to Grain account
• Grain bot detects scheduled meetings and joins automatically as participant ("Grain Notetaker" appears in attendee list)
• Records full video with audio and screen share capture for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams
• vs Competitors: Same auto-join as Otter, tl;dv, Fireflies - table stakes feature

2. Post-Call AI Summary Generation

• After meeting ends, Grain AI processes recording and generates summary with key topics, decisions, action items
• Customizable templates for sales, product, customer support, user research
• Searchable transcript with timestamps for navigating 1-hour recordings
• vs tl;dv: Similar post-call summaries and templates - no unique advantage here

3. Drag-to-Create Video Clips from Transcript

• Click and drag to select 10-120 seconds of transcript text
• Grain automatically generates video clip matching selected transcript portion
• Edit clip title, add tags, share to Slack/Notion/email instantly
• Unique to Grain: Otter, tl;dv, Fathom don't offer drag-to-create clip generation - competitive differentiator

Why This Matters:

• Product teams share 45-second customer feature request clip to Slack #product vs forcing team to watch full 60-minute interview
• CS teams create 30-second renewal risk clip from QBR, attach to HubSpot deal record for account team visibility
• Tradeoff: Requires manual clip selection (AI doesn't auto-identify "important moments") vs competitors' single AI summary

CRM Integration and Clip Syncing (Business Tier)

Business Tier CRM Features ($39/user/month):

• Auto-sync meeting notes, transcripts, and video clips to Salesforce/HubSpot contact and opportunity records
• Push customer feedback clips to CRM for sales team context (what did customer say about competitors, pricing, timeline?)
• Track which clips viewed by team members for engagement analytics

Why This Matters:

• AEs see 60-second clip of prospect's budget concerns directly in Salesforce opportunity record vs reading text notes
• CS teams attach customer health clips to HubSpot deals for renewal risk visibility

vs Competitors:

• Otter gates CRM to Enterprise tier ($300-420/year est.)
• tl;dv includes CRM in Pro tier ($216/year) - 45% cheaper than Grain Business ($468/year)
• Fathom offers free CRM integration

Video Clip Creation from Transcript Highlights

Drag-select transcript text (10-120 seconds) and Grain automatically generates shareable video clip with timestamp matching selected portion - unique vs Otter/tl;dv/Fathom's full-recording-only sharing.

What This Means:

• Product teams extract 45-second customer feature request clips from 60-minute interviews
• Marketing teams create 30-second customer win story clips for case studies
• Limitation: Manual clip selection required (AI doesn't auto-identify "important moments") - takes 2-3 minutes per clip vs automated summary

Custom Templates for Product, Sales, Customer Support

Pre-built AI summary templates tailored to use cases: sales discovery calls, product user interviews, customer support tickets, user research sessions.

What This Means:

• Product template extracts feature requests, pain points, competitive mentions
• Sales template identifies budget, authority, need, timeline (BANT)
• vs Otter: Otter offers similar customizable templates - no unique advantage

Native Slack and Notion Integration for Async Sharing

Share video clips directly to Slack channels or embed in Notion databases without leaving Grain interface.

What This Means:

• Click "Share to Slack", select #product channel, clip appears with video preview
• Embed customer feedback clips in Notion product roadmap database for centralized knowledge
• vs Competitors: tl;dv offers same Slack/Notion sharing - table stakes feature

Grain offers three pricing tiers with annual billing discounts up to 21% savings:

Free Tier (20 Meetings Total)

$0 per user

• Total Meetings: 20 recorded meetings (lifetime, not monthly)
• Features: Automatic transcription, AI summaries, video clip creation, Slack/Notion sharing
• Integrations: Basic Slack, Notion (no CRM sync)
• Best For: Trying Grain for 1-2 months with 10-20 test meetings before committing to paid tier

Free Tier Limitations:

• ❌ Only 20 meetings total (not monthly) - hit cap after 1-2 months of usage
• ❌ No CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot locked to Business tier)
• ❌ No custom branding or advanced analytics

Starter Tier (Unlimited Recordings)

$19/user/month (monthly billing) $15/user/month (annual billing = $180/year total)

• Monthly Meetings: Unlimited recordings
• Features: Everything in Free plus unlimited meetings, custom templates, advanced search
• Integrations: Slack, Notion, Zapier (no CRM)
• Best For: Product teams (5-20 people) creating clips for feature prioritization without CRM needs

Starter Tier Value Proposition:

• 50% more expensive annually than Otter Pro ($180/year vs Otter's $120/year)
• 17% cheaper annually than tl;dv Pro ($180/year vs tl;dv's $216/year)
• Justified if video clip creation is core workflow vs basic transcription

Business Tier (CRM Integration + Analytics)

$39/user/month (annual billing - monthly pricing not disclosed) Estimated $468/year total (based on $39/month × 12)

• Monthly Meetings: Unlimited recordings
• Features: Everything in Starter plus CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot), advanced analytics, custom branding
• CRM: Auto-sync clips and notes to Salesforce/HubSpot contact/deal records
• Best For: Customer-facing teams (10-50 reps) needing CRM integration for customer feedback tracking

Business Tier Reality Check:

• $468/year = 117% more expensive than tl;dv Pro with CRM ($216/year)
• $468/year = 55% more expensive than Otter Enterprise estimated ($300/year)
• Hard to justify unless clip-specific CRM workflows critical (e.g., attaching clips to deals vs text notes)

Recommendation:

• Choose Grain Starter ($180/year) if you NEED video clip creation and can justify 50% premium vs Otter Pro ($120/year)
• Choose Otter Pro ($120/year) if you don't need clips and want cheapest paid tier
• Choose tl;dv ($216/year) if you need BOTH clips AND CRM integration (cheaper than Grain Business $468/year)
• Choose tl;dv or Fathom Free if you need unlimited free meetings (vs Grain's 20-meeting cap)

Recommendation:

• Choose Grain if you NEED video clip creation for sharing customer highlights with product/marketing teams AND can justify 50% premium vs Otter
• Choose Otter if you don't need clips, want cheapest paid tier ($120/year), or need mobile app for in-person meetings
• Choose tl;dv if you need BOTH clips AND CRM integration cheaper than Grain Business ($216/year vs $468/year) OR want unlimited free meetings
• Choose Fireflies if you prioritize transcription accuracy (95%+) and want cheapest CRM integration ($120/year vs Grain's $468/year)

G2 Reviews (4.6/5 stars, 280 reviews)

What Users Love:

• "Clip creation perfect for product team - turn 60-min user interview into 5 × 1-min clips shared to Slack #product" (Product Manager, Series B SaaS)
• "Notes it generates are really really good, better than Fathom and Gemini Notes" (UX Researcher, Growth-Stage)
• "Native Notion integration lets us embed customer feedback clips directly in product roadmap database" (Head of Product, Mid-Market)

What Users Complain About:

• "Free tier 20 meetings total (not monthly) feels like bait-and-switch - hit cap after 3 weeks of testing" (Founder, Seed-Stage)
• "$15/user annual 50% more than Otter Pro ($10/user) - hard to justify for basic transcription without clips" (Sales Ops, Early-Stage)
• "Business tier $39/user for CRM 117% more than tl;dv Pro ($18/user with CRM) - too expensive" (RevOps Manager, Series A)
• "No mobile app means can't record in-person customer visits - stuck with Zoom/Meet/Teams only" (Solutions Architect, Enterprise)

Capterra Reviews (4.7/5 stars, 45 reviews)

Common Themes:

• Clip Creation Best-in-Class: Users love drag-to-create video clips vs full-recording sharing
• Free Tier Too Limited: 20 meetings total (not monthly) frustrates users expecting monthly reset like Otter
• Pricing Premium Hard to Justify: $180-228/year perceived as expensive vs Otter Pro $120/year or Fireflies $120/year without clear clip value
• Great for Product Teams: Product managers, UX researchers, CS teams value shareable clips for stakeholder alignment

Our Take: Grain earns Silver medal for best video clip creation tool with drag-to-create highlights at $15-19/user/month ($180-228/year) - perfect for product teams, UX researchers, and customer-facing managers (5-50 people) needing to share 30-60 second customer feedback clips vs full-hour recordings. The unique clip-generation workflow (select transcript text → auto-create video snippet → share to Slack/Notion) differentiates Grain from full-transcript competitors. However, free tier caps at 20 meetings total (not monthly, vs tl;dv's unlimited free), Starter tier costs 50% more than Otter Pro ($180/year vs $120/year), and Business tier CRM integration 117% more expensive than tl;dv Pro ($468/year vs $216/year). Verdict: Choose Grain if video clip creation is core workflow for product/CS teams and worth 50% premium vs Otter - but prefer tl;dv for cheaper CRM integration ($216/year) or Otter Pro for cheapest basic transcription ($120/year) if not needing clips.

Grain integrates with major video conferencing platforms and offers CRM connectivity on Business tier - more expensive than tl;dv's Pro-tier CRM but includes unique clip syncing:

Video Conferencing (Native):

• Zoom - Grain bot auto-joins Zoom meetings, records video, generates clips from transcript
• Google Meet - Automatic meeting join for Google Meet with clip creation and sharing
• Microsoft Teams - Teams meeting support with recording, AI summaries, clip generation

CRM (Business Tier - $468/Year):

• Salesforce - Auto-sync meeting clips, notes, transcripts to Salesforce contact/opportunity records
• HubSpot - Push customer feedback clips and call summaries to HubSpot deals automatically

Collaboration Tools (Native):

• Slack - Share video clips and meeting highlights to Slack channels instantly
• Notion - Embed video clips and transcripts in Notion databases for knowledge management

Zapier Integration (All Tiers):

• 5,000+ app integrations via Zapier for custom clip-sharing workflows

What's Missing:

• ❌ No native Asana, Jira task creation (requires Zapier)
• ❌ No Webex support (Zoom/Meet/Teams only)
• ❌ No mobile app for in-person meeting recording

Integration Comparison:

Recommendation: Grain's Business tier ($468/year) is 117% more expensive than tl;dv Pro ($216/year) and 290% more than Fireflies Pro ($120/year) for similar CRM integration - justified only if clip-specific workflows critical.