Grain suits sales and customer teams that record calls on video and share them across a workspace and a CRM. Dalm is for Mac users: speech is recognised on the Mac and no audio is sent, while the text syncs to our servers.
Dalm and Grain at a glance
| Grain | Dalm | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Sales, customer success and product teams in a shared workspace | One person’s meetings, files and dictation |
| Platforms | Desktop app for Mac and Windows | Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later |
| How a meeting is recorded | Your computer’s audio without a bot, or a bot that records video | Your microphone and what your Mac plays, on a call or across a table |
| Where speech becomes text | Not stated on its pages; recordings and transcripts are hosted on Amazon Web Services in the USA | On your Mac; the audio is deleted once the text exists |
| What a server keeps | Recordings and transcripts in your workspace until you delete them; 90 days of history on the free plan | The text of each meeting, which syncs to our servers automatically |
| After the meeting | AI notes, next steps and recaps; questions across all meetings; coaching and follow-up emails from Business | A summary written by a language model from the transcript and your notes |
| Video | Recorded by its bot | None; no audio or video is kept |
| Languages | Over 130 in its FAQ; 100+ in its feature list | Over a hundred, with the wider language coverage chosen once |
| Price | Free plan with one notetaker seat, 45-minute meetings and 90 days of history; paid from $15 a month for each member | Pro $16 a month, or $12 a month billed annually (paid plans are not open yet) |
The audio is deleted once the text exists; what syncs to our servers is the text, never the audio. What Grain does is taken from its home, pricing and security pages, checked on .
When Grain is the better choice
- You need the call on video. Grain’s bot records video, even of a meeting you cannot attend. Dalm keeps no audio or video at all, only the text.
- A whole team watches the same calls. Grain shares meetings automatically by settings for each team, lets teammates who do not record join as free viewers and shares a meeting with anyone by invitation or link. Dalm is one person’s archive.
- Calls feed a CRM. Grain syncs summaries, transcripts and insights to Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive deal records. Dalm does none of this.
- Managers coach on calls. From Business, Grain adds AI coaching, follow-up emails and team interaction insights.
- A security review asks for reports. Grain states SOC 2 Type II and hosts data on Amazon Web Services in the USA. Dalm holds no certification.
When Dalm is the better choice
- The speech is recognised on your Mac. Dalm turns speech into text on the Mac you are using, sends no audio anywhere and deletes the audio once the text exists. The text does leave: each transcript syncs to our servers automatically, a language model reads it to write the summary, and no setting turns that off. How local and cloud recognition differ.
- No recording to look after. There is no audio or video file on a server to share, leak or delete — only a transcript. No plan puts a limit on recording minutes, on the length of a recording, or on how long anything is kept.
- Quotes that lead back. In each summary, every point keeps a word-for-word quote. Every quote shows you where it was said — open it and the transcript opens at that place.
- Dictation in the same app. Hold a key in any app, speak, and the words go where the cursor is. Everything you say lands in one archive you can search: meetings, phone calls, conversations in the room, and what you dictate to a model.
Looking for a Grain alternative?
If you want a transcript and a summary of your own meetings without a video recording in someone’s cloud, Dalm works that way: speech is recognised on your Mac and the audio is deleted. The text still syncs to our servers, where a language model writes the summary, so it is not an app that keeps everything on one machine. If your team watches calls together, coaches on them or sends them to a CRM, Grain is built for that. A page for the minutes themselves is the meeting minutes template, and seven note takers are compared by name. Paid plans are on the pricing page.
Questions
- Is there a Grain alternative for Mac?
- Dalm is one, if you work on a Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later and need the audio of your meetings turned into a transcript and a summary. It recognises the speech on the Mac and sends no audio anywhere. The text of each meeting syncs to our servers automatically, and a language model writes the summary from it.
- Does Grain need a bot in my meetings?
- No. Grain transcribes your computer's audio without a bot, and offers a bot when you want a video recording or cannot attend. Dalm records your microphone and what your Mac plays, and keeps a transcript, not a recording; it has no video.
- How much does Grain cost?
- Grain has a free plan with one notetaker seat and viewer seats at no cost, with meetings up to 45 minutes and 90 days of history, and its paid plans start at $15 a month for each member who records. Dalm's Free plan covers meetings and dictation, and Pro is $16 a month, or $12 a month billed annually.
- Where does Grain keep my recordings?
- On Amazon Web Services in the USA, encrypted at rest, with recordings and transcripts in your workspace until you delete them; the free plan keeps 90 days of history. Dalm keeps no recording: the speech is recognised on your Mac and the audio is deleted once the text exists, while the transcript syncs to our servers.
- Can I share a meeting with my team in Dalm the way Grain does?
- Not in the same way. Grain is built for teams: meetings are shared automatically by team settings, teammates who do not record join as free viewers, and summaries go to the CRM. Dalm is a personal archive of your own meetings and dictation; you can save a transcript or a document and send it yourself.