Otter.ai review: plans, minute limits and who it suits (2026)

Otter.ai is one of the longest-running AI transcription tools. It joins your video calls, transcribes them live, labels who said what and lets you ask an AI questions about the conversation afterwards. It also works as a recorder on your phone for in-person meetings and interviews.

This review is built from Otter’s pricing page, read on 13 October 2026. We have not used Otter for this page, so it is labelled as researched. See how we test for what that means.

What Otter includes

Live transcription. Otter transcribes as people speak, on every plan including the free one. You can follow along during the call, which is useful if you are taking notes for others or the audio is hard to hear.

Meeting bots and mobile apps. Otter lists joining Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, plus iOS and Android apps. The phone app is handy for interviews and in-person meetings, where many rivals focus only on video calls.

AI chat. You can ask questions within one meeting or across several. The number of queries is capped: 20 per user on Basic (3 per conversation), 50 on Pro and 200 on Business.

Storage and exports. Pro lists unlimited storage. Free exports are mp3 and txt; Pro adds pdf, docx and srt, which matters if you share transcripts with clients or add captions to video.

Integrations. Pro adds Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier, with a footnote that Salesforce and HubSpot are subject to user limits. Enterprise lists the Otter API and webhooks.

Otter pricing and plans (2026)

The page also showed lower Pro prices marked with an asterisk. The footnote said that offer is valid only with an India-issued credit card, so most readers should ignore it. Business showed a 20% discount on monthly billing for three months or more.

File imports differ a lot by plan: 3 in total on Basic, 10 a month on Pro, and unlimited on Business with 6,000 imported-file minutes per user.

Otter’s meeting length limits: the one that matters most

For most people the deciding number is not the price but the meeting length cap. A 30-minute free limit rules Otter out for hour-long client calls unless you pay. Pro’s 90 minutes covers most meetings, but long workshops or interviews need Business at 4 hours.

Compare that with Fireflies, which lists a 2-hour recording limit even on its free plan, though with only 400 minutes of storage per team. Our AI meeting note takers comparison sets Otter, Fireflies and Fathom side by side.

Who Otter is best for

Otter fits freelancers, consultants and small teams whose calls are mostly under 90 minutes, and people who record in person on their phone. On annual billing, Pro is one of the cheapest paid options among the note takers we have looked at.

Skip it, or go straight to Business, if your meetings run long. If you need transcription in many languages, Otter’s list of six may be too short.

Otter privacy and recording consent

Otter’s meeting assistant joins as a participant. Tell attendees at the start that the call is being recorded and transcribed, and get agreement where the law or your company policy requires it. Enterprise lists SSO, SCIM and enterprise security controls, with HIPAA compliance as an add-on.

Is Otter worth it? Our verdict

Otter is a solid, affordable transcriber with a strong mobile app and live transcription on every plan. Its meeting-length caps are the main catch, so check how long your calls really run before choosing a plan. Try the free plan on a few short meetings, and if the transcripts are accurate for your voices and accents, Otter Pro on annual billing is good value.