Otter.ai
Otter.ai is an AI meeting notetaker that records conversations and turns them into live transcripts, summaries and action items. Teams use it to capture sales calls, lectures and interviews so the details stay searchable afterwards.
#13 in Video & Audio ToolsTranscription SoftwareFree plan
Who it's for
Best for
Remote teams needing automated summaries and action items from daily calls
Journalists and writers transcribing long interview recordings
Not for
Organizations with strict confidentiality rules barring cloud call recording
Free plan$0
Pro$16.99/seat/mo
Business$24/seat/mo
Features
Live transcription
Live transcription runs in multiple languages with speaker recognition, showing the words as they are spoken in meetings and recordings.
Bot-free desktop recording
The Mac and Windows desktop app records conversations directly without a bot joining the call; mobile devices and the browser also capture audio.
Otter AI Chat search
Otter AI Chat searches across past meetings and connected apps to answer questions and produce follow-ups, reports and written content.
Summaries and action items
Every meeting is turned into a summary with decisions, action items and insights, and next steps are captured and assigned automatically.
Channels for shared meetings
Meetings are grouped into channels by team, project or topic so recordings stay easy to find and a group can work from one shared space.
What users say
Pros
- Long interviews and meetings come out as text, replacing hours of manual typing.
- Transcription handles strong accents at speed and stays accurate on the core note-taking job.
- Sits in the background of everyday calls, then emails notes and summaries to the group.
Cons
- AI chat and summary features intrude, with a side panel covering half the transcription page.
- A rate-limit error box can block stopping a Zoom recording mid-session.
- The subscription covers a simple capture-and-summarize pipeline that can be rebuilt cheaply elsewhere.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 50k
Alternatives
Rank#13 in category#9 in category#14 in category#20 in category
Free planYesYesYesYes
ProCuts typing on long recordings, handles accents, quick call notesAccurate, fast transcripts and a generous free tierGenerous free plan, accurate summaries, video replay, Ask FathomAccurate interview transcripts, reliable recording, endless storage
Better forBatch transcribing long pre-recorded files and exporting subtitles in 98+ languages
Weaker atCapturing live meetings in real time and automatically assigning action items