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Otter.ai: Features, Pricing, and Alternatives (2026)

Meeting notetaker that joins the call and writes the recap

Website Last reviewed August 26, 2026

Best for: Individuals and teams who want meeting notes without taking any

The most complete notetaker for individuals and small teams, and the free plan is genuinely enough to judge it. Count your meeting minutes before choosing a tier: that limit, not the feature list, is what forces the upgrade.

  • Who it's forIndividuals, Students, Freelancers
  • Not ideal forMeetings that cannot admit a visible bot as a participant
  • Price from$16.99/mo · free plan
  • In category#2 of 4 in Meeting notes · category median $18/mo

What is Otter.ai?

Otter joins your Zoom, Teams or Google Meet call as a participant and writes a transcript while people are still talking.

Live captions run in the window, speakers are labelled once you tag their voices, and the summary with decisions and action items lands within a minute of the call ending.

You can also ask questions across meetings: what did the client say about the deadline, in any call this quarter. That cross-meeting search is what separates it from a recorder.

AI workflows go one step further and turn a recurring meeting into a repeatable output, so a weekly standup produces the same status document every week without anyone writing it. The limits are worth reading before you commit, because Otter meters minutes rather than meetings.

The free plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month and stops a conversation at 30 minutes. 33 on annual billing. Business at $30 removes the meeting cap, allows four-hour calls and unlimited imports. The API and SSO are Enterprise only.

Made by Otter.aiMountain View, USAFounded 2016Launched Feb 2018

Otter.ai key features

  1. Joins the call as a participant

    Works across Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet without you starting a recording or installing anything in the meeting.

  2. Live transcript and captions

    Text appears while people speak, with speaker labels once their voices are tagged.

  3. Summary with action items

    Decisions and follow-ups with owners are produced within a minute of the call ending.

  4. AI Chat across meetings

    Ask a question spanning every call you have recorded, rather than searching one transcript at a time.

  5. AI workflows

    Turn a recurring meeting into a repeatable output, so a weekly standup always produces the same status document.

  6. Team vocabulary

    Teach it product names and jargon so the transcript stops mangling the words that matter most.

Otter.ai pricing and plans

Basic

Free

  • 300 transcription minutes per month
  • 30 minutes per conversation
  • Live transcription and speaker identification
  • 3 lifetime file imports
Most popular

Pro

$16.99/month

  • $8.33 per user per month on annual billing
  • 1,200 minutes per month
  • Up to 90 minutes per meeting
  • 10 file imports per month
  • Advanced search, export and playback

Business

$30/month

  • $19.99 per user per month on annual billing
  • Unlimited meetings and recordings
  • Up to 4 hours per meeting
  • 6,000 minutes per user
  • Admin activity logs and usage analytics
Free plan
300 transcription minutes per month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 20 AI Chat queries
Enterprise
Custom pricing on request
Discounts
20 percent off Pro for students and teachers with a .edu address; annual billing saves up to 51 percent

Pricing checked on August 26, 2026.See Otter.ai's pricing page

Otter.ai pros and cons

Pros

  • Joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet on every plan, free included
  • AI Chat searches across every meeting, not one transcript at a time
  • Summary with owners and action items arrives a minute after the call
  • Annual billing halves the Pro price

Cons

  • Metered in minutes, so a busy week exhausts the free and Pro allowances
  • API, SSO and HIPAA are locked to Enterprise
  • Accuracy drops sharply on crosstalk and strong accents

Otter.ai platforms, API and integrations

4 platforms

API available

Public API for developers. API documentation

6 integrations

3 languages

English, French, Spanish

Inputs and outputs

Accepts Audio, VideoProduces Text

1 AI model

Proprietary speech recognition

Is Otter.ai secure? Privacy, compliance and support

Data privacy

  • May train on user data (check opt-out settings)
  • Retention: Recordings and transcripts are stored in your workspace until deleted; enterprise agreements cover retention and training exclusion
  • Data region: US

Compliance

  • SOC 2
  • GDPR
  • HIPAA

Team features

  • SSO: yes
  • Team workspace: yes

Support channels

  • Email
  • Documentation
  • Community
  • Dedicated manager

Who is Otter.ai best for?

Individuals and teams who want meeting notes without taking any. Otter.ai targets individuals, students, freelancers, small and mid-size businesses, enterprises.

Use cases

Categories

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Otter.ai FAQ

Is Otter.ai free?

Yes, with 300 transcription minutes a month and a 30 minute cap per conversation. Longer calls and file imports need Pro at $16.99 per month, or $8.33 on annual billing.

How much does Otter.ai cost?

Pro is $16.99 per user per month, or $8.33 billed annually. Business is $30 per user per month, or $19.99 annually. Enterprise is quoted.

Does Otter.ai work with Zoom, Teams and Google Meet?

Yes, on every plan including the free one. It joins as a participant rather than requiring you to start a recording.

How accurate is Otter.ai transcription?

High on clear audio in English, noticeably lower with crosstalk, strong accents or specialist vocabulary. Team vocabulary lets you teach it product names, which fixes the most visible errors.

Does Otter.ai have an API?

The API and webhooks are Enterprise features, alongside SSO, SCIM and the HIPAA add-on. Lower plans have no programmatic access.

Can Otter.ai answer questions across several meetings?

Yes. AI Chat searches every call in your workspace rather than one transcript, with 20 queries a month on free, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business.