Perfect Recall vs. Spoke [Otter Alternatives, 2021]

Looking for Otter alternatives? Choose the right platform for meeting transcriptions. Read our review and feature comparison of Perfect Recall vs. Spoke.

Written by Andrey Kholkin

ROUND

Client App vs. Server Bot

What does this mean client app vs. server bot recordings?

Client app means you have to download a desktop app to record and upload the meetings.

As with Loom - you can recording meetings or something else

However Loom doesn't transcribe your video - you would need an extra tool (e.g. Happyscribe).

Also Spoke will work with any meeting app (not just Zoom).

While Perfect Recall offers server bot to do the recordings for you,

A bot will join your meeting, record and upload.

The cool thing about a server bot:

No need to install any app
Will work from mobile (not just Windows/Mac)
Does not consume resources (slow down your PC or internet)
If your internet drops recording and uploading will continue
Auto-detects Zoom meetings from your calendar
No need to attend meeting to record

The reason I like Perfect Recall is that it automates a larger chunk of the process.

Spoke is already a step forward - it automates transcription.

While Perfect Recall automates recording, uploading and transcription.

The entire process can go on auto-pilot without your intervention.

Set it up once and forget about it.

Which is even cooler if you intend to record meetings that you don't attend - from employees or colleagues.

Versus having to explain your team mates how to use Spoke.

The only down-side of Perfect Recall:

Because it's server-side, an integration needs to be built for each meeting app.

Currently only Zoom is supported (although Google Meets is in the roadmap).

However, the limitation of Perfect Recall is something that will be improved over time.

While the limitations of the desktop app can't be overcome.

For this reason I consider Perfect Recall to be the winner of this round:

Perfect Recall - 8/10 (Winner)

Spoke - 5/10

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

PERFECT RECALL

SPOKE APP

Features

Nothing beats a side-by-side features comparison

(Check the table below)

ROUND

	Perfect Recall	Spoke
Server Bot
Client App
Transcription
Languages	7	70+
Video Editor
Highlighter
Notes
Speaker Separation
Supported Apps	Zoom	any
Calendar Sync
Team Members
Search Keywords	ROADMAP	BUGGY
Public Link Share

Server Bot

This is the biggest advantage of Perfect Recall (PR) over Spoke.

You can set it up once and forget about it.

The recordings and transcriptions will be collected on auto-pilot.

This is huge, as I buy LTDs to automate my workflow as much as possible.

Client App

Both tools have a downloadable desktop app for recordings.

Spoke's app can record literally anything, even your desktop - not just meetings.

While PR's app only records Zoom (just like the server bot).

I would prefer not to use the desktop app at all - as it takes away a lot of the automation.

But it's currently needed for speaker separation.

As in, the transcripts getting grouped by speaker vs. just one huge spaghetti bowl.

This feature isn't supported with the bot (yet).

So as far as the client app goes, Spoke takes the lead.

Video Editor

Both video editors have a highlighting function.

You can select pieces of text (transcript) and create cropped videos.

They do work a bit different:

PR - Each highlight will create it's own mini-video.

Spoke - Each highlight will be appended to the video.

Spoke's workflow does make more sense to me.

I can interview a client, then inside the editor quickly highlight the best parts and boom I have a testimonial video.

At the moment with PR you need an external tool to glue those chunks together.

PR has been working on this feature since 3 weeks and will be released very soon.

Also, editing text has a better UX with Spoke.

You can just edit the transcript and it will auto-save.

With PR you must hit "edit", then the text is transformed into input fields and after you hit "save".

I did enjoy more Spoke's video editor, hopefully this is something PR can improve.

Calendar Sync & Team Members

In PR you can add your team members.

Once they sync their Google Calendar the automation from PR will take over.

The server bot will automatically join the Zoom meetings from the calendar and record.

Since Spoke only supports a client app these features cannot be implemented.

Search Keywords

A great feature would be able to search ALL transcripts for specific words or keywords.

I tested this with Spoke and in many queries where I knew the word was in the transcript the search returned nothing - so I classified this feature as buggy.

PR has this in the roadmap to implement, but there is no estimated release date.

So I call it a tie here for this feature - buggy or nothing is the same for me.

Features score

I was having a real hard time to decide who's the winner of this round.

Spoke has a better UX and a better video editor.

It supports 70+ languages and works with any meeting app.

But, PR with the bot feature automates the entire process from start to end.

Combined together with calendar sync and team members.

It creates unparalleled automation power.

But since I already gave them the first round for that I'll give this one to Spoke for the video editor itself.

Perfect Recall - 7/10

Spoke - 8/10 (Winner)

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

PERFECT RECALL

SPOKE APP

ROUND

Pricing

Last but not least, the pricing.

Each PR code costs $269.

You get unlimited video storage and 30 recordings / month.

You can stack up to 4 codes to get 120 recordings / month.

Yikes! Quite expensive if you stack.

While Spoke's Tier 3 costs $299.

I'll only consider this tier since it's were you get the best value.

You'll get 27h of transcription / month.

For meetings of 1h, you get 27 recordings / month.

The price of a single PR code is higher but you get more value then with Spoke fully stacked.

Of course it also depends on the duration of the meetings.

Many will avoid PR just because they spiked the price from $69/code to $269/code.

However, I do think PR still gives best value - despite the price spike.

And you have the possibility to stack.

To put things in another perspective:

HappyScribe was $79/code for 2h / month of transcriptions.

Even a full stack of HappyScribe gives you 20h / month for $790 - still less than PR.

I just won't give PR a perfect 10 in the pricing score because of the price spike.

Pricing score

Perfect Recall - 7/10 (Winner)

Spoke - 5/10

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

PERFECT RECALL

SPOKE APP

Battle Decision

PERFECT RECALL

I’ll give Perfect Recall the win.

Here’s why:

Full automation from start to end - setup once and forget
Better pricing with a single code than tier 3
Less competition - if Loom adds a transcription feature then Spoke will be out of business

Perfect Recall (PR) still has room for improvement - especially with the video editor.

However, these are minor issues they can fix.

When I buy an LTD I look carefully at their "Unique Selling Point" (USP).

Many apps come to Appsumo trying to be the next Loom (Berrycast).

Or trying to be the next Wistia (Vadootv player).

But the truth is, market leaders keep 90% of revenue - the rest just fight for scraps.

So most of these tools will eventually die out or come back to Appsumo for 3 more rounds.

So either they need to be very well funded (Airmeet) to compete with the big boys or they need innovation to disrupt the market.

This is what I see PR is doing.

They created a unique concept with the bots - they will have a much higher probability to gain MRR and survive on the long run.

Which makes this a great investment.

I'm not worried about the small issues, these can be fixed over the coming months.

Like adding more languages, integrating with more apps (e.g. Google Meet) or improving the UX on the video builder.