Otter.ai is a meeting notes & transcription tool for Small businesses and Freelancers, offered as freemium ($17/mo). Founded in United States in 2016. Popular alternatives include Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Fellow.
About Otter.ai
Otter.ai is an AI meeting assistant from a Mountain View, California company founded in 2016 by Sam Liang and Yun Fu. It records conversations, transcribes them live with speaker identification, and produces summaries, outlines and action items. It works through OtterPilot, a bot that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings from your calendar, and through mobile and web recording for in-person conversations, interviews and lectures.
Transcripts are searchable and shareable, slides shown during meetings are captured into the notes, and Otter AI Chat answers questions about a single meeting or across a whole workspace of past meetings. Business and Enterprise plans add admin controls, usage analytics, CRM sync and specialized agents, such as a sales agent that assists during calls and updates CRM records. Pricing is per user with monthly minute allowances and per-conversation length limits: a free Basic tier, then Pro, Business and Enterprise.
Otter suits English-speaking teams, journalists, researchers and students who value accurate live transcripts. Its language support is limited to a few languages: English, Spanish and French, plus Japanese since late 2025. Turkish is not supported, so it is a poor fit for multilingual teams. Fathom offers a generous free plan for recording and summaries, Fireflies and tl;dv support many more languages, and Granola captures notes from device audio without a bot joining the call, which some clients prefer.
Key features of Otter.ai
- Real-time transcription with speaker identification
- Automated summaries, action items and outlines
- OtterPilot auto-join for calendar meetings
- AI Chat across meetings
- Slides capture and shared team workspace
- CRM integrations and vertical AI agents
Pros and cons
Pros
- Mature, accurate English transcription
- Live transcript during meetings
- Free tier covers light use
- Cross-meeting AI chat
Cons
- Minute limits on Basic and Pro
- Bot joining can feel intrusive
- Limited non-English support
- Per-user price higher than some rivals
Otter.ai pricing
Otter.ai uses a freemium model.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | 300 minutes/user/mo |
| Pro | $16.99 / user/mo | $8.33/mo billed annually; 1,200 minutes/user/mo |
| Business | $30 / user/mo | $19.99/mo billed annually; unlimited meeting minutes |
| Enterprise | Custom | Schedule a demo |
Source: otter.ai · checked on Oct 20, 2026
How Otter.ai compares in Meeting notes & transcription
- Rank by votes
- #1 / 15
- Starting price
- $17
- Free alternatives
- 0
0 votes from members
At the category median of $17/mo
Free or open-source tools in Meeting notes & transcription
Otter.ai ranks #1 of 15 meeting notes & transcription tools by community votes and is priced in line with the category.
Common use cases
- 1Recording and summarizing team meetings
- 2Interview transcription for journalists and researchers
- 3Sales calls synced to CRM
- 4Lecture notes for students
Best for
Individuals and teams who want live transcripts and summaries with minimal setup.
Not ideal for
Multilingual teams (tl;dv) or privacy-sensitive calls where a bot is unwelcome (Granola).
Integrations
- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Calendar
- Outlook
- Slack
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Zapier
Our take
Otter is the dependable veteran of meeting notes. Try Fathom (free) or Granola (no bot) before paying, then pick Otter if live transcripts matter.
FAQ
- What is Otter.ai?
- Otter.ai is a Meeting notes & transcription tool: AI meeting transcription and summaries.
- How much does Otter.ai cost?
- Otter.ai uses a Freemium model; paid plans start at $17 per month.
- What are the best alternatives to Otter.ai?
- Community-listed alternatives to Otter.ai include Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Fellow, Read AI.
- What does Otter.ai integrate with?
- Otter.ai integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Outlook, Slack and more.
- Which platforms does Otter.ai support?
- Otter.ai is available on web, ios, android.
- Who is Otter.ai for?
- Individuals and teams who want live transcripts and summaries with minimal setup.
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