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Kajo vs Dovetail
Dovetail is a cloud research repository: Free covers one project, everything else is a sales-led Enterprise contract, and transcript translation, redaction, and AI clustering are Enterprise-only. Kajo is a desktop app: transcribe interviews on your machine, file them by study, ask a folder — or, with a confirm, the whole library — and get cited answers, then export REFI-QDA to NVivo, MAXQDA, or ATLAS.ti. One $49 purchase unlocks unlimited imports and Lifetime convenience (watch folders, batch export) — one payment, no subscription.
Dovetail keeps the corpus in its cloud and the AI behind an Enterprise contract. Kajo keeps interviews on your own machine, files them by study, and answers with citations — a participant's voice never uploads.
Why people choose Kajo over Dovetail
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Participants' audio never uploads
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No Enterprise contract for AI features
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Ask a study folder, get cited answers
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REFI-QDA export to NVivo, MAXQDA, ATLAS.ti
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One purchase, no seats
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Your installed version keeps working
Kajo vs Dovetail: side by side
| Feature | Kajo | Dovetail |
|---|---|---|
| Where interviews live | On your machine | Dovetail's cloud (AWS; US, EU, or AU region) |
| Plans | Free, then $49 launch / $99 standard | Free (one project) or Enterprise (custom, sales-led); no public per-seat tier |
| Cited chat | Yes — on your machine | Yes (cloud) |
| Transcript translation | On your machine, 59 languages | Enterprise-only (beta) |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
Three reasons Kajo exists
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Local-first / private by default
Your audio never leaves your laptop.
Audio is transcribed on-device — there is no cloud-processing path. Private by architecture.
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Cross-platform, including Linux
Mac, Windows, and Linux — one product, three operating systems.
Native installers for all three. Linux is a first-class target, not a port — the only local audio knowledge base that takes it seriously.
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Cited chat
Ask questions across your archive — get cited answers.
Chat with your entire library using a local model. Every answer links back to the exact moment in the recording — no copy/paste.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kajo a private alternative to Dovetail?
Yes. Kajo transcribes interviews on your machine, files them into study folders, and answers questions across a folder with citations — without uploading a participant's voice to a cloud repository.
Does Kajo charge per seat?
No. Dovetail's plans are Free (one project) or Enterprise (custom, sales-led); no public per-seat tier. Kajo is one $49 purchase per person after a free tier of 5 files or 150 minutes of audio — total, for life.
Can I move my Dovetail interviews into Kajo?
Bring the original recordings. Kajo imports audio and video files (MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4 and more) and transcribes them on your machine; it does not import Dovetail's transcript or highlight exports.
Does Dovetail's AI cite sources too?
Yes — Answers link back to the source; included on Free for one project. The difference is where it runs: Dovetail answers in its cloud; Kajo retrieves and answers on your machine, scoped to the folder you are in.