Otter.ai

Otter.ai is software for recording, transcribing, summarizing, and organizing spoken conversations. It supports virtual meetings, in-person discussions, interviews, lectures, and other voice recordings.

The platform provides live transcription, speaker identification, searchable transcripts, automated summaries, action items, and AI Chat. It is available through the web, Mac and Windows desktop applications, and iOS and Android apps.

Otter.ai, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in April 2016. The company lists its headquarters in Mountain View, California, and identifies Sam Liang as co-founder and chief executive officer.

Otter can transcribe conversations in real time and identify speakers. Users can edit transcripts, highlight passages, add comments, assign action items, and share notes with other people.

Automated summaries generate outlines, key points, and follow-up items after meetings. AI Chat can answer questions about individual conversations or broader meeting history, subject to plan limits.

Otter supports Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet workflows. Its desktop application can record conversations without requiring an AI attendee to join the meeting. The service also supports calendar connections, Slack, Dropbox, Zapier, HubSpot, and Salesforce integrations.

Enterprise features include SSO, SCIM, domain capture, administrative controls, activity logs, usage analytics, custom integrations, HIPAA compliance as an add-on, and API and webhook access.

Otter offers a Basic plan at no charge. The current Basic plan includes 300 monthly transcription minutes, live transcription, speaker identification, AI Chat, mobile applications, three lifetime audio or video imports, and access for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet workflows.

The Pro plan costs $16.99 per user monthly when billed monthly, or $8.33 per user monthly on the annual pricing display. It includes 1,200 in-app recording minutes, up to 90 minutes per meeting, unlimited storage, advanced search and export, team vocabulary, and Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier integrations.

The Business plan costs $30 per user monthly on the monthly pricing display, or $19.99 per user monthly on the annual pricing display. It adds unlimited meetings and in-app recordings, longer meetings up to four hours, enhanced administration, usage analytics, concurrent meeting support, and prioritized support.

Enterprise pricing is quotation-based. Enterprise adds custom integrations, SSO, SCIM, domain capture, enterprise controls, API and webhooks, custom workflows, and a customer success program.

The Basic plan is free indefinitely. Otter also offers a Business free trial that requires payment information, although the public help article does not specify a fixed trial duration.

Pros

• Combines live transcription, summaries, action items, search, and collaboration.
• Supports web, desktop, and mobile recording workflows.
• Offers a permanent free plan for basic testing and personal use.
• Provides CRM integrations and API access for larger organizations.
• Supports both virtual meetings and in-person audio capture.

Cons

• Free and lower-tier plans impose transcription, import, meeting-length, or AI query limits.
• Enterprise API access is restricted to Enterprise workspaces.
• Transcription quality can decline with background noise, overlapping speech, accents, or specialized terminology.
• Advanced administration, custom workflows, and several integrations require higher-priced plans.
• Business trial enrollment requires a payment card and may convert to paid billing if not canceled.

Fireflies.ai is a comparable meeting assistant with transcription, summaries, conversation search, and workflow integrations. Fathom is another alternative for meeting recording, summaries, and action tracking. tl;dv focuses on meeting transcription, highlights, and video-based review. Read AI provides meeting summaries and meeting analytics. Notta offers transcription for meetings, interviews, and other recorded content.

Otter is particularly relevant for users who need live captions, mobile recording, in-person capture, and searchable transcripts. Teams prioritizing CRM automation, video clips, meeting analytics, or different free-plan limits may prefer another product.

Does Otter.ai have a free plan?
Yes. The Basic plan is free and includes 300 transcription minutes each month, along with limited audio or video imports.

Does Otter.ai offer a free trial?
Otter provides a free Basic plan and a separate Business free trial. The Business trial requires payment information, and the public help documentation does not state a standard duration.

Which meeting platforms does Otter support?
Otter supports Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet workflows. It also offers web, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android access.

Does Otter.ai provide an API?
Yes. Otter’s public API is available to Enterprise workspaces. It can provide programmatic access to channels, conversations, transcripts, audio, action items, insights, outlines, and workspace information.

Which integrations does Otter.ai offer?
Documented integrations and connected services include Zoom, Slack, Dropbox, Zapier, HubSpot, Salesforce, and calendar connections for Google, Microsoft, and Apple calendars.

Can Otter transcribe uploaded recordings?
Yes. Otter supports audio and video file imports, with the number of permitted imports depending on the subscription plan.