Genio Notes vs Otter.ai vs Jamworks

An honest feature and policy comparison of Genio Notes, Otter.ai and Jamworks to find the best note-taking tool for your institution with a focus on features, accessibility, AI usage and data security.

4 min read

Published: 23 Feb 2026

About this comparison

This article provides a technical and regulatory deep dive into three AI-enhanced note-taking platforms: Genio Notes, Otter.ai, and Jamworks.

This includes a feature list and serves as a due diligence framework for Higher Education institutions. It evaluates each tool through three critical lenses:

Pedagogical Efficacy: How each tool handles specialized academic content, such as STEM equations, slide integration, and "active" versus "passive" note-taking methodologies.
Accessibility Compliance: A rigorous comparison of public legal documentation, including WCAG 2.1 AA status, third-party VPAT/ACR availability, and manual vs. automated testing protocols.
Data Sovereignty & Security: An analysis of institutional-grade security certifications (SOC 2 Type II, HECVAT 4.0) and specific policies regarding the use of student data in AI model training.

Methodology: All data is synthesized from the most recent publicly available disclosures (as of February 2026) and independent efficacy research to assist procurement officers and disability services in making evidence-based software selections.

What are key factors to consider when evaluating a digital note taking tool?

We understand that there is a process of due diligence and the decision-making required to choose the best tool for your institution. Product comparisons are often intentionally vague or contain out of date information, making it difficult to know what will actually meet your requirements.

When purchasing a new tool, you are investing in more than features:

you are paying for the security of your students’ data
ensuring the most accessible option for those who need it
choosing the most effective resource to enhance learning outcomes at your institution.

To help you with this, we’ve also done a thorough policy analysis below to give you an idea of what to look for.

How have we formulated this comparative analysis?

The tables below contain the most up-to-date, publicly available information as of 16th February 2026 from three popular tools and the companies behind them.

We want to give you the facts so you can make the decision that works best for your institution–and most importantly, for your students. As it’s possible that not everything is publicly available (although it’s good practice to be as transparent as possible) we’d always recommend reaching out to the vendor directly with any questions.

How do the product features of Genio Notes, Jamworks, and Otter.ai compare?

Institutions will all have a slightly different priority when it comes to the features they need and want for their students. A feature analysis is a useful way to determine whether the tools you’re choosing offer the best balance of features for your students.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of all features and functions, but it should give you a good idea of what is on offer from each provider.

Feature category	Feature detail	Genio Notes	Jamworks	Otter.ai
Recording Options (All providers offer audio and microphone recording as standard)	Web Extension	✅	❌	✅
	Time-stamped notes synced with audio	✅	❌	✅
	Ability to pause during recording	✅	❌	✅
	Video Capture	❌ (currently in beta for Institution Wide customers)	✅	❌
	Meeting Agent	❌	❌	✅
Note Taking	Freehand Notes	✅ (Scribble)	❌	❌
	Text Formatting	✅	✅	❌
	Headings and Structure	✅	✅	❌
Transcription	Identify Speaker in Transcript	✅	✅	✅
Transcription	Edit Transcript	❌	✅	✅
Live Captions (Demo links included as delivery and accuracy may vary)	Captioning demo	Genio Notes demo	Jamworks demo	Otter.ai demo
	Captions	✅ (Notes only version also available)	✅	✅
	Identify Speaker in Live Captions	❌	✅	✅
Slide Functionality	Upload multiple documents	✅	❌	❌
	Slides integrated with audio and notes feed	✅	❌	❌
	Slide Annotations	✅	❌	❌
	Pull text from slides	✅	❌	❌
	Upload multiple slides/documents	✅	❌	❌
	Automatic Slide Screenshots	❌	❌	✅
STEM Features	Equations displayed in Transcript	✅ (beta)	❌	❌
	Ability to input equations as notes	✅	❌	❌
	Equations displayed in outline/summary	✅	✅	❌
	OCR Image/Text recognition	❌	✅	❌
Study Features	Quizzes	✅	✅	❌
	Quiz Personalization	✅	❌	❌
	Chapters (Outline/Highlights)	✅	✅	✅
	Chatbot	❌	✅	✅
	Automatically Enhanced Notes	❌	✅	❌
	Automated Summary	❌	✅	✅
Additional Features and Organization	Note Taking Skills Course Included	✅	❌	❌
	Focus Timer	✅	❌	❌
	Tasks List	✅	❌	✅
	Key word search	✅	❌	✅
	Dark Mode	✅	✅	✅
	Focused Reading	❌	✅	❌

How do Genio, Jamworks, and Otter.ai's policies and documentation compare?

Once you’ve determined which features you prefer, it’s also important to review and scrutinize the vendor’s approach to data privacy, security and accessibility before entering into a contract with them. Here are the steps to ensure you get the full picture:

Ensure the provider has comprehensive, formal, published policies available for review, such as a privacy notice, data security policy, and an accessibility statement.
Verify the vendor’s practices by asking for recent compliance reports (e.g. SOC 2 Type II).
Use our handy Vendor Questions guide below to ask any questions you may still have related to data security, efficacy or conformance to accessibility standards.

View Vendor Questions guide

Why is it essential to examine a vendor's policies and documentation?

If there are gaps in the vendor’s documentation, or their answers to your questions don't align with their policies, it creates a "compliance gap" that could leave your institution vulnerable.

By signing a contract despite these inconsistencies or missing documentation, you might unintentionally take on the vendor's operational risks as your own. If something goes wrong, like a security incident or an accessibility issue, it can be more difficult to defend your choice of provider if potential red flags were overlooked during the vetting process.

		Genio Notes	Jamworks	Otter.ai
Accessibility	Up to date accessibility statement (updated within last 12 months)	✅ Last updated October 2025 States partial WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, evidenced by third-party ACR/VPAT	❌ Last updated November 2021 States full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, no public evidence to support	❌ None available
	Publicly available third-party ACR/VPAT	✅ Genio Notes VPAT - December 2025	❌ Service agreements state that one can be requested, unsure if third-party or self-authored	❌ One can be requested, unclear if third-party or self-authored
	Public remediation plan for WCAG compliance by April 2026	✅ Genio’s Remediation Plan	❌ Ask vendor about commitment to accessibility compliance	❌ Ask vendor about commitment to accessibility compliance
	Manual accessibility testing	✅ Manually tested by our internal engineering team, and by Level Access for regular accessibility audits.	❌ Uses automated testing, and is reported to use accessibility overlays (these third-party widgets are not recommended as they can create accessibility issues)	❌ No testing information publicly available, ask provider
	Accessibility Profiles	❌	✅ Provided by third-party as part of accessibility overlay widget	❌
Privacy Policies and Data Certifications	Privacy Policy publicly available	✅	✅	✅
	List of third party providers (data processors) publicly available	✅	✅	✅
	Penetration Testing for IT Security	✅ Download 2025 Penetration Test attestation report	❌ Not publicly available, ask provider	❌ Not publicly available, ask provider
	Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT)	✅ Download HECVAT Full Version 4.0	❌ Not publicly available, ask provider	❌ Not publicly available, ask provider
	SOC 2 Type II Compliant	✅ Current SOC 2 Type II report and previous years can be requested	❌ Not publicly available, ask provider	✅ Can be requested
	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)	❌	❌ Not publicly available, ask provider	✅ Can be requested
Evidence and Research	Student Testimonials	✅ Testimonial Gallery Case Studies and User Stories	✅	✅
	Institution Case Study	✅ Volunteer State Student Retention	❌	✅ UC Davis Accommodations
	Independent Research	✅ ESSA Level 3 Efficacy Study, recognised by LXD Research	❌ No publicly available research, ask provider	❌ No publicly available research, ask provider
	Badges/Certification	✅ Digital Promise Research Based Design Digital Promise/CAST UDL Product Certification ICEIE: Bronze Efficacy Certificate	❌ No publicly available certifications, ask provider	❌ No publicly available certifications, ask provider
Use of AI and Learning Approach	Student data not used to train AI models	✅ Genio AI Hub & FAQs	✅	❌ De-identified data is used to train AI
	Promotes encoding during note taking	✅ Active note taking	❌ Automated notes	❌ Automated notes
	AI used in study tools	✅ See ‘Study Tools’ above	✅ See ‘Study Tools’ above	✅ See ‘Study Tools’ above
	Policies around AI use in learning	✅ Read public AI pledge	❌	❌