Otter.ai
Live meeting transcription with a searchable archive
otter.ai Free tier Checked 30 August 2026
- Price
- From $16.99 per user per month
- Not priced in pounds
- Trains on your data
- Yes
- Where data is processed
- Not published
- Data processing agreement
- Not published
- Setup
- Minutes
- Skill needed
- Anyone
What is Otter.ai?
Transcribes meetings live, identifies speakers, and keeps everything searchable afterwards. Longer established than most of this category, which shows in the integrations and the mobile apps rather than in the summaries.
Otter is the incumbent in meeting transcription and its strength is live capture: the transcript appears as people speak, rather than arriving after the call. That matters if you need to react during the meeting.
The free tier is a trial rather than a plan. 300 minutes is roughly five or six hour-long meetings a month.
What does Otter.ai cost in the UK?
From $16.99 per user per month.
What the free tier actually gets you
300 transcription minutes a month, 3 lifetime file imports. A real trial rather than a working free plan.
What to watch on the price
Otter states "Prices in USD" on its own pricing page. Annual billing is advertised at roughly half the monthly rate, which is a large gap: check whether you will still want it in twelve months before taking it.
Does Otter.ai train AI models on your data?
Yes
Otter's privacy policy names, among the parties it shares data with, "Data labeling service providers who provide annotation services and use the data we share to create training and evaluation data for Otter’s product features." Your meeting content therefore reaches human annotators and feeds product training. Compare Fireflies, which states the opposite in plain terms. Read on 30 August 2026.
The rest of the data position
- Where data is processed: Not published
- Data processing agreement: Not published
What do people use Otter.ai for?
- Live transcription during a call rather than after it
- Searching across every meeting for when something was agreed
- Recording in person on a phone, not just video calls
What does Otter.ai connect to?
- Zoom
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Meet
- Slack
Where does Otter.ai fall short?
- The free tier caps at 300 minutes a month, which is a handful of meetings
- Only 3 lifetime file imports on the free plan
- The annual discount is steep enough that monthly feels punitive
Who is Otter.ai for?
A good fit for
- Anyone needing live transcription
- In person meetings and interviews
- Multi-language teams
Not for
- Businesses needing a published UK data residency option
- Recording external participants without asking, which UK GDPR and PECR do not treat as optional
The Torus verdict on Otter.ai
Choose Otter over Fathom if you need live transcription as the call happens, or if you record in person. For summaries after a video call, Fathom's free tier is more generous.
What are the alternatives to Otter.ai?
Others in meetings, with what each one is for.
- Fathom from $19/user/mo Records, transcribes and summarises your meetings automatically
- Fireflies.ai from $10/user/mo Meeting recorder that files the transcript into your CRM automatically
- Grain from $19/user/mo Call recording aimed squarely at coaching sales reps
- Loom AI from $18/user/mo Screen recordings with the summary and chapters written for you