Otter vs Fireflies: Which AI Meeting Notetaker Should You Use?

Which should you pick?

• Best free planFireflies.ai

  Fireflies Free advertises unlimited transcription with 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits, though its comparison table marks Free transcription as limited Fireflies pricing ↗. Otter Basic gives 300 minutes a month with a 30 minute cap per conversation Otter pricing ↗.

• Best paid priceOtter.ai

  Otter Pro is $8.33 a month billed yearly, or $16.99 billed monthly Otter pricing ↗. Fireflies Pro is $10 per seat a month billed yearly Fireflies pricing ↗, though it has no transcription minute cap, while Otter Pro stops at 1,200 minutes a month Fireflies pricing ↗ Otter pricing ↗.

• Best for many languagesFireflies.ai

  Fireflies lists 100+ transcription languages even on Free Fireflies pricing ↗ Fireflies features ↗.

• Best for recording without a botOtter.ai

  Otter's desktop app records from Mac or Windows without a bot joining the call Otter features ↗.

• Best for long meetings on a budgetTie

  Otter Pro allows up to 90 minutes per meeting Otter pricing ↗, while Fireflies lists a two hour recording limit on Free and Pro Fireflies pricing ↗.

• Best for health care teamsFireflies.ai

  Fireflies lists HIPAA compliance on its Enterprise plan Fireflies pricing ↗. Otter offers HIPAA compliance as an Enterprise add on Otter pricing ↗.

Side by side

From each vendor’s own pages, checked Oct 9, 2026. Prices change often.

Pricing and free plans

Otter's free Basic plan includes 300 minutes of transcription per user per month, a 30 minute limit per conversation, three lifetime file imports, 20 AI chat queries a month and access to only your 25 most recent conversations Otter pricing ↗. Otter Pro costs $16.99 a month billed monthly or $8.33 a month billed yearly, and raises you to 1,200 minutes, 90 minute meetings and 10 imports a month Otter pricing ↗. Business is $30 a month list or $19.99 billed yearly, with unlimited meetings and four hour conversations Otter pricing ↗.

Fireflies' free plan offers unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits Fireflies pricing ↗. Pro is $10 per seat a month billed yearly and adds unlimited summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, video recording and downloads Fireflies pricing ↗. Business is $19 per seat billed yearly with unlimited storage and conversation intelligence, and Enterprise is $39 per seat, annual only Fireflies pricing ↗.

Fireflies' pricing page shows only yearly prices, with higher struck through figures that are not labeled as monthly rates Fireflies pricing ↗. Otter shows promotional prices with asterisks it does not explain Otter pricing ↗. Confirm the final price at checkout.

Features compared

Both tools send a notetaker to your calls on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet and return transcripts, summaries and action items Otter pricing ↗ Fireflies pricing ↗ Otter features ↗. Both let you ask questions across past meetings: Otter calls this AI Chat Otter features ↗ and Fireflies calls it AskFred Fireflies features ↗.

Otter's standout is live transcription with speaker recognition that you can follow during the call, plus a desktop app that records without a bot joining Otter features ↗. It also offers role based agents for sales, education, media and recruiting Otter features ↗.

Fireflies goes wider. It lists 100+ languages with auto detection, Live Assist for real time suggestions during meetings, talk time and sentiment analytics, 200+ AI Skills, and connections to dialers like Aircall and RingCentral Fireflies features ↗. It also offers an MCP server to bring meeting notes into tools like Claude and ChatGPT Fireflies features ↗.

Integrations and security

Otter Pro connects to Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier, with user limits on the CRM connections, and every plan includes an Otter MCP server Otter pricing ↗. Enterprise adds custom CRM and dialer integrations, an API and webhooks, and SSO Otter pricing ↗.

Fireflies names Salesforce, HubSpot, Asana, Trello, Slack, Lever, Greenhouse and BambooHR among its integrations Fireflies features ↗, and its pricing page says paid plans get unlimited integrations Fireflies pricing ↗.

On security, Fireflies says it is SOC 2 Type II and GDPR aligned, lists HIPAA on Enterprise, and says customer data is never used for AI training Fireflies features ↗ Fireflies pricing ↗. Those are vendor claims. Otter lists HIPAA as an Enterprise add on Otter pricing ↗. If you discuss patient or client health information on calls, you will need an enterprise plan from either vendor and the right agreement in place.

Who should pick which

Fireflies is the better value for most small teams that meet often. Its plans do not cap transcription minutes the way Otter's do, and it handles far more languages Fireflies pricing ↗ Otter pricing ↗. Otter Pro is slightly cheaper on yearly billing, $8.33 against $10 a seat, but stops at 1,200 minutes a month Otter pricing ↗ Fireflies pricing ↗.

Otter is a better fit if you want to read a live transcript during the meeting, if you prefer the desktop app's bot free recording because clients dislike bots, or if your meetings are short and mostly in English, where the 300 free minutes may be enough Otter features ↗ Otter pricing ↗.

Sales teams should compare the CRM details closely. Otter limits how many users can sync to Salesforce and HubSpot on Pro and Business Otter pricing ↗, while Fireflies adds conversation intelligence on Business Fireflies pricing ↗.

• Multilingual team or clients: Fireflies
• Cheapest yearly paid seat: Otter Pro
• Wants bot free recording: Otter desktop app
• Short English meetings on a free plan: Otter Basic
• Long meetings over two hours: Otter Business

What notetakers can't do, and what to check first

A notetaker is good at the parts of a meeting nobody enjoys: writing down who said what, pulling out action items and making past calls searchable. Otter says users report saving over four hours a week on transcription and summaries Otter features ↗, and Fireflies advertises 95 percent transcription accuracy Fireflies features ↗. Treat both as vendor claims and judge them on your own calls.

What it cannot do is understand context the way a person in the room does. A summary may miss sarcasm, an unspoken disagreement or a decision that was implied rather than stated. It may also attach an action item to the wrong person when voices are similar or people talk over each other.

The best habit is a quick human review. Have the meeting owner skim the summary and fix the action items before it goes out to the group. That takes two minutes and prevents a wrong note from becoming the official record.

For client calls, think about the client's view too. Some people are uncomfortable when a bot joins the call. Otter's desktop recording avoids that by capturing audio from your own computer Otter features ↗, but you should still tell people they are being recorded.

Recording laws vary. Many places require consent from some or all people on a call, so tell participants that a notetaker is recording and give them a chance to object. Turn off auto join for sensitive meetings, such as HR conversations or calls with patients.

Check retention too. Otter's free plan only keeps your 25 most recent conversations Otter pricing ↗, and Fireflies' free plan limits storage to 400 minutes per team Fireflies pricing ↗. If you need to keep records, plan for a paid tier or export your notes regularly.

Finally, test accuracy on your own calls. Accents, crosstalk and industry terms all affect transcripts. Both tools let you add custom vocabulary or names on paid plans, which helps with product and client names Otter pricing ↗.

How we compared them

We used Otter's and Fireflies' pricing and product pages, checked October 9, 2026 Otter pricing ↗ Fireflies pricing ↗ Otter features ↗ Fireflies features ↗. We have not tested these tools hands on for this comparison yet. Hands on testing is in progress; we'll update this page with results.

Try them

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