# Otter.ai review

An AI meeting notetaker for teams that transcribes Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls into searchable transcripts, summaries and action items, free for 300 minutes a month.

By Noah — last updated & pricing verified October 26, 2026.

> Otter.ai is an AI meeting assistant and transcription service from Otter.ai Inc. of Mountain View, California, launched in February 2018 by AISense, the company Sam Liang founded in 2016. Otter's AI notetaker joins scheduled Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls from a connected calendar, or users record in person with the iOS and Android apps and bot-free with the Mac and Windows desktop app. Otter transcribes speech in real time with speaker identification using speech recognition it builds in-house, then writes summaries, captures action items and offers AI Chat, which answers questions across past meetings and connected apps. Newer agent features include pre-call briefings, Live Assist coaching during calls, an SDR agent that runs demos on a company website, and an MCP server that lets ChatGPT and Claude query meeting history. Paid plans add longer meetings, file imports, Salesforce and HubSpot sync and admin controls, while the Otter API, webhooks, SSO and a HIPAA add-on sit on Enterprise.

## Facts

- Website: https://otter.ai
- Pricing: Free tier · paid from $8.33/mo (verified )
- License: Freemium
- Platforms: web, windows, macos, ios, android
- Best for: transcribing English-language Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls into searchable notes with automatic summaries and action items
- Standout feature: Live transcription with speaker names from Otter's in-house speech recognition, plus AI Chat that searches every past meeting and connected app, also reachable from ChatGPT and Claude through Otter's MCP server.
- Biggest weakness: Otter.ai transcribes only six languages, and the free plan's 30-minute cap per conversation and 3 lifetime file imports push regular users onto per-seat paid plans quickly; App Store reviewers also complain that past plan changes moved features they used into the higher Business tier.
- Categories: [Transcription & summaries](https://findalternative.to/categories/transcription)

## Pricing snapshot

| Plan | Price | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Basic | $0/mo | 300 transcription minutes per month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime audio/video file imports, 25 most recent conversations kept, 20 AI Chat queries per user. |
| Pro | $8.33/mo | Per user, billed annually ($16.99 billed monthly); 1,200 minutes per user per month, 90 minutes per meeting, 10 file imports per month, unlimited storage, Zapier plus Salesforce or HubSpot sync for 1 user, up to 5 billed users. |
| Business | $19.99/mo | Per user, billed annually ($30 billed monthly); unlimited meetings and in-app recordings, 6,000 imported-file minutes per user, 4 hours per meeting, 3 concurrent meetings, 200 AI Chat queries, usage analytics and activity logs, up to 25 billed users. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom pricing; SSO and SCIM (100-user license minimum), Otter API and webhooks, Sales Notetaker, custom CRM and dialer integrations, HIPAA compliance add-on. |

## Pros and cons

- Pro: Free Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month with live transcription, speaker identification and the iOS and Android apps.
- Pro: Records three ways: a notetaker that joins Zoom, Meet and Teams from your calendar, a bot-free Mac and Windows desktop app, or mobile apps for in-person meetings.
- Pro: AI Chat answers questions across all past meetings, and the MCP server lets ChatGPT and Claude query the same meeting history.
- Pro: Pro syncs notes to Salesforce or HubSpot and connects to Zapier, Slack, Notion, Jira and Asana.
- Pro: Business covers unlimited meetings of up to 4 hours each for $19.99 per user per month billed annually.
- Con: Transcription covers only English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese, far fewer languages than Fireflies.ai advertises.
- Con: The free plan stops each recording at 30 minutes and allows only 3 audio or video file imports for the life of the account.
- Con: Once connected to a calendar, the notetaker can join meetings automatically unless auto-join settings are changed, a common complaint from attendees who did not invite it.
- Con: The Otter API, webhooks, SSO and the HIPAA add-on are reserved for custom-priced Enterprise, and SSO requires a 100-user license.

## AI summary

- Otter.ai's free Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes per month, with each conversation capped at 30 minutes.
- Otter.ai Pro costs $8.33 per user per month billed annually or $16.99 billed monthly, with 1,200 minutes per user and meetings of up to 90 minutes.
- Otter.ai Business costs $19.99 per user per month billed annually or $30 billed monthly, with unlimited meetings of up to 4 hours each.
- Otter.ai reported more than 40 million users and over 1 billion meetings transcribed in October 2026.
- Otter.ai transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
- Otter.ai's iOS app holds a 4.8/5 rating from 86K ratings on the US App Store.
- Best for: transcribing Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls into searchable notes with automatic summaries and action items
- Pricing: Free for 300 minutes a month; Pro is $8.33/user/month billed annually ($16.99 monthly), Business is $19.99/user/month billed annually ($30 monthly), and Enterprise is custom-priced.
- Top alternatives: Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Tactiq, Granola, Descript, NoteGPT
- Limitation: Transcription in only six languages.
- Limitation: The free plan caps conversations at 30 minutes and allows 3 lifetime file imports.
- Limitation: API access, webhooks, SSO and HIPAA compliance are Enterprise-only.

## Alternatives

5 vetted alternatives to Otter.ai: https://findalternative.to/otter-ai — top picks: Fireflies.ai, Granola, Tactiq

## Comparisons

- https://findalternative.to/compare/fireflies-ai-vs-otter-ai
- https://findalternative.to/compare/granola-vs-otter-ai

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