Otter.ai
Real-time AI meeting transcription with summaries, action items, and slide capture.
Otter.ai has been the dominant name in AI meeting transcription since 2016. It automatically joins your video calls, produces real-time transcripts, highlights key moments, and delivers post-meeting summaries. The free tier is among the most generous in the category.
What Otter Does
During meetings:
- Real-time transcription as the meeting happens (visible to participants)
- Speaker identification (labels who said what)
- Live summary updates in real-time
- Otter AI Chat for asking questions during the meeting
After meetings:
- Full searchable transcript
- AI summary (key takeaways, action items, outline)
- Automatic slide capture from shared screens
- Integration with calendars for automatic meeting joining
Otter AI Chat:
- Ask questions about the meeting content (“What did Sarah say about the budget?”)
- Generate follow-up emails
- Summarize multiple meetings at once
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Transcription | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | 300 min/month | 30 min max per meeting |
| Pro | $16.99/month | 1,200 min/month | Unlimited meeting length |
| Business | $30/user/month | 6,000 min/month | Team features, admin |
The free tier at 300 minutes/month (5 hours) covers occasional use meaningfully. For daily meeting transcription, Pro is required.
Otter vs. MeetGeek
Both are strong meeting transcription tools. Key differences:
| Feature | Otter.ai | MeetGeek |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time transcription | ✅ | ❌ (post-meeting) |
| Free tier | 300 min/month | 5 hours/month |
| Summary quality | Good | Very good |
| Action item extraction | ✅ | ✅ |
| CRM integration | Business tier | All plans |
| Slide capture | ✅ | ❌ |
| Starting paid price | $16.99/month | $15/month |
Otter’s advantage: real-time transcription (participants can read along during the meeting) and automatic slide capture.
MeetGeek’s advantage: better AI summaries, more sophisticated action item extraction, and stronger CRM integration at lower tiers.
What It’s Best At
Sales teams: Real-time transcript lets salespeople focus on the conversation without note-taking. Post-meeting, the AI summary covers action items for CRM updates.
Research and user interviews: Searchable transcripts across all your interviews. Ask Otter Chat questions across your entire research library.
Team alignment: Async meeting summaries distributed to team members who couldn’t attend. Reduces the need for all-hands meetings when records are solid.
Podcast and content production: Transcripts for long-form recordings without paying professional transcription rates.
The Limitations
Accuracy: Otter is strong on clear audio with native speakers. Accents, background noise, and multiple simultaneous speakers reduce accuracy. For critical transcripts, always verify against the recording.
Privacy: Otter processes audio through their cloud servers. For sensitive meetings (legal, medical, financial), verify their data processing agreements match your compliance requirements. Business plans have stronger data governance options.
Storage: Older recordings are eventually archived on lower tiers, not an issue for most users but worth knowing for long-term research archives.
Verdict
A reliable, accessible meeting transcription tool with a strong free tier. Real-time transcription is a genuine differentiator. The AI summaries are good but MeetGeek’s are better structured for action items. Best for teams that want real-time visibility during meetings and a searchable long-term transcript archive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Otter.ai free? Yes, the free tier provides 300 minutes of transcription per month with real-time transcription and basic AI summaries. Pro ($16.99/month) and Business ($30/user/month) plans add higher limits, CRM integrations, and team features.
How accurate is Otter.ai’s transcription? Otter is highly accurate for clear audio with native English speakers, typically 90%+ on clean recordings. Accuracy drops with accents, background noise, multiple simultaneous speakers, or heavy technical jargon.
Does Otter join Zoom and Google Meet automatically? Yes, Otter Assistant joins scheduled Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings automatically when connected to your calendar. Other participants can see the bot in the meeting.
How does Otter compare to Fireflies.ai? Otter has better real-time transcription visibility during meetings. Fireflies has more comprehensive conversation analytics (talk-time ratios, sentiment) and stronger CRM integrations. Both have comparable free tier limits.