vs. the field
Skip the device. Keep the quality.
You don’t need a $160 wearable to get a transcript. The phone in your pocket has a microphone good enough for the conversations you actually have — meetings, interviews, calls, voice notes. Below, a feature-by-feature look at how Loqui stacks up against Plaud, Pocket, and Otter, plus an honest take on when one of them might serve you better.
Year-one cost
Tell us how much you record. We’ll show you the bill.
Slide to your expected monthly recording minutes. The calculator picks the cheapest plan from each service that covers that volume, then adds any required hardware. Output is sorted ascending; the gold-bordered card is the lowest year-one total at your chosen volume.
Estimates based on May 2026 pricing and publicly listed plans. Plaud and Pocket prices include the lowest-priced device that supports their respective service tiers; both companies frequently run promotional discounts. Otter assumes monthly billing without annual discount. Loqui assumes annual billing where applicable.
Feature comparison
Same feature, four answers. Pick the one you’d rather pay for.
Italic cells with a gold dot are rows where Loqui wins outright. Plain rows are ones where the field has tradeoffs — we don’t pretend otherwise.
| Feature | Loqui | Plaud | Otter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware required | None | $159–$189 device | ~$160 device | None |
| Free tier minutes | 180 + 600 bonus | 300 (with device) | Unlimited (with device) | 300 |
| Premium-accuracy on free tier | Yes | Yes | No (gated to Pro) | No (gated to Pro) |
| Mid-tier subscription | $54.99/yr (Pro) | $99.99/yr + device | $239.88/yr + device | $203.88/yr (Pro) |
| Year-1 mid-tier total | $54.99 | $258.99 | $399.88 | $203.88 |
| Top-tier subscription | $199.99/yr (Unlimited) | $239.99/yr + device | $239.88/yr + device | $360/yr (Business) |
| Year-1 top-tier total | $199.99 | $398.99 | $399.88 | $360.00 |
| Audio storage | Deleted post-transcript | Retained on device + cloud | Retained | Retained |
| Transcript ownership | Your Drive / iCloud | Plaud cloud | Pocket cloud | Otter cloud |
| Cross-platform | iOS + Android | iOS + Android (device-tied) | iOS + Android (device-tied) | Web + iOS + Android |
| Phone-call recording | Yes (with consent) | Limited | Limited | No |
| Always-on capture | No (tap to record) | Wearable, manual | Wearable, manual | Auto-joins meetings |
| Templates / output styles | 20+ professional | 10,000+ marketed | 100+ (Pro) | Limited |
Honest take
When a hardware recorder might be the right call.
Loqui isn’t the answer for every scenario. The phone microphone is excellent for one-on-one and small-room conversations. It’s weaker than a dedicated 4-MEMS array recorder for these:
Far-field meeting capture
Large conference rooms with the speaker more than ~10 feet from the device. Plaud's Note Pro picks up voices at 16 feet with a 4-MEMS array; an iPhone in your pocket struggles past 8.
Ambient pendant capture
Walking-around use where pulling out a phone breaks flow. The NotePin and Pocket pendant clip on. Loqui requires the phone to be accessible, which is fine for most professionals but not for everyone.
Multi-day field battery
Plaud devices run for ~30 hours of recording. iPhones don't. If you're away from a charger for days at a time and need to capture across the whole window, a dedicated recorder is more reliable.
Audio retention is required
Loqui deletes audio post-transcription. If your workflow requires keeping the original audio for later review or compliance, you need a tool that retains it — Plaud and Pocket do, Loqui doesn't.
For everyone else — the 80%+ of professionals who record one-on-ones, small-team meetings, interviews, and personal voice notes — the phone in your pocket is enough.
Migration
Bring your transcripts with you.
Loqui is Markdown-native. Whatever tool you’re leaving, export your archive once, drop it in your Loqui folder, and your history lives alongside everything you record from here on.
From Plaud
Export from the Plaud app
Plaud allows transcript export as PDF or text. Move the exports to your Loqui folder in Drive or iCloud manually. Future recordings made with Loqui will land in the same folder.
From Pocket
Bulk export available on Pro
Pocket Pro includes bulk export. Once exported, drop the files in the Loqui folder structure (Loqui/YYYY-MM/) and they're alongside future Loqui transcripts.
From Otter
Export to Markdown or DOCX
Otter exports to several formats. Markdown is the cleanest match for Loqui's native format. Drag exported files into your Drive or iCloud folder and they're searchable alongside new transcripts.
Try it
Free for 30 days. 600 minutes on us. No card required.
Drop in beside Plaud, Pocket, or Otter. Replace them when you’re ready.