Otter.ai and Fireflies both take meeting notes automatically. We compare transcription accuracy, integrations, AI summaries, and pricing.
Missed details in meetings are expensive. A single forgotten action item can derail a project, and manually taking notes means you stop listening. That is why AI meeting-note tools have become standard equipment for remote teams: they join your calls, record, transcribe, and summarize so you can pay full attention. Otter.ai and Fireflies are the two best-known names in this space, and at first glance they look identical — both transcribe meetings automatically and generate AI summaries. But they were built for different jobs. Otter.ai leans toward live, in-meeting assistance: real-time captions, an assistant that can answer questions about what was just said, and strong integrations with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Fireflies leans toward the after-meeting workflow: capturing calls across more sources (including dialers and phone calls), and routing insights into CRMs, project tools, and custom workflows. In this comparison we break down transcription accuracy, integrations, AI summaries, and pricing so you can pick the one that fits your workflow.
Otter.ai is one of the original AI meeting assistants, founded in 2016 in Mountain View, California. It built its reputation on real-time transcription — Otter Pilot can join your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls automatically and produce a live transcript with speaker labels as the conversation happens. That live dimension is what sets it apart: alongside the transcript you get live captions, and the newer Otter AI Chat lets you ask questions mid-meeting (“what did Sarah say about the deadline?”) and get answers drawn from the transcript.
The standout product feature is that Otter treats the meeting as a live, searchable document rather than just a recording to process later. After the call you get an automated summary with key action items, decisions, and takeaways, and you can click any summary line to jump back to the exact moment in the transcript or recording. Search across all your meetings, share transcripts, and comment on specific lines — the library of past meetings becomes a searchable knowledge base of everything your team has discussed. Otter also handles speaker identification automatically, distinguishing voices even in crowded calls, and you can tag speakers or assign action items to teammates so nothing falls through the cracks. Integrations with Slack and task managers let summaries flow into your existing channels without copy-pasting.
On the free plan you get 300 transcription minutes per month with a 30-minute cap per meeting — enough for an individual to try it on real calls. Paid plans raise the caps substantially: the Pro tier at $8.33 per user per month on annual billing gives you 1,200 minutes a month with 90-minute meetings, while the Business tier at $19.99 per user per month on annual billing supports unlimited meetings up to four hours long. The pricing model charges per user, so costs scale with team size. Otter is ideal for knowledge workers, students, journalists, and anyone who wants a live companion during meetings rather than a post-call processing pipeline — especially users who rely on Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams as their primary conferencing platforms.
Fireflies was founded in 2016 with a broader capture-first philosophy: its bot, Fred, joins meetings across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and more, and it also handles sources Otter does not — phone calls via dialers and even in-person conversations recorded through the mobile app. Where Otter emphasizes the live experience, Fireflies emphasizes what happens after the call: deep integrations with CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, project tools, and workflow automation that push meeting data where the rest of your work lives.
Fireflies’ free tier is generous on capture: 800 minutes of storage with transcription and summaries included. Paid plans shift the focus to storage and intelligence: Pro at $10 per user per month on annual billing offers 8,000 minutes of storage with unlimited transcription and AI summaries, while Business at $19 per user per month on annual billing adds unlimited storage plus conversation intelligence — analytics on talk ratios, sentiment, and topic trends across your calls. For sales teams, the conversation intelligence layer is the killer feature: managers can review call analytics, coach reps, and track keyword mentions without listening to every recording.
Fireflies also supports custom workflows and API access on higher tiers, so teams can build automations like “push the summary of every call to Slack and log action items in Asana.” The Enterprise tier at $39 per user per month on annual billing adds HIPAA compliance and SSO for regulated industries. Topic trackers are another differentiator: you can define custom keywords and phrases, and Fireflies will automatically flag every call where they come up — useful for tracking competitor mentions, pricing objections, or feature requests. The searchable call library supports filters by date, participant, sentiment, and custom criteria, so finding “that call where the client mentioned the budget” takes seconds. Fireflies is ideal for sales and customer-success teams that live in their CRM, agencies that need to process dozens of client calls, and anyone whose meetings extend beyond the big three conferencing platforms into phone calls and dialers.
Here is how Otter.ai and Fireflies compare on the features that matter most when you pick a meeting notes tool.
| Feature | Otter.ai | Fireflies |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 300 transcription minutes per month, 30-minute cap per meeting | 800 minutes of storage with transcription and summaries |
| Entry paid price | $16.99/mo or $8.33/mo billed annually (Pro) | $18/mo or $10/mo billed annually (Pro) |
| Standout feature | Live transcription, live captions, and in-meeting AI chat (Otter Pilot) | Conversation intelligence analytics (talk ratios, sentiment, trends) plus CRM-native workflows |
| Ease of use | Very simple: connect your calendar, Otter joins automatically; minimal setup | Simple for capture, deeper setup for CRM integrations and custom workflows |
| Meeting platform support | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, plus dialers, phone calls, and in-person via mobile |
| AI summaries | Automatic post-meeting summaries with action items, decisions, and takeaways | AI summaries on all tiers; Business adds conversation intelligence insights |
| Transcription quality | High accuracy with speaker labels, live as the meeting happens | High accuracy with speaker labels; processed shortly after the call |
| Collaboration | Share transcripts, comment on lines, search across all meetings | Share recordings and transcripts, comments, team workspaces |
| Integrations | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot | 80+ integrations: Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Asana, Notion, Zapier, API |
| API access | Available on Business and Enterprise plans | Available on Business and Enterprise plans |
| Support | Email and help center; priority support on Business | Email and help center; priority support on Business and Enterprise |
| Best for | Individuals and teams who want a live in-meeting assistant | Sales teams and anyone needing post-call CRM workflows |
On paper, Otter.ai and Fireflies look similarly priced, but the way they meter usage is quite different — minutes of transcription versus minutes of storage — so the right choice depends on how you actually use meetings.
Otter.ai starts free: 300 transcription minutes per month with a hard 30-minute cap per meeting, which is genuinely useful for an individual taking notes on short calls but limiting if you run hour-long meetings. Pro costs $16.99 per user per month on monthly billing, or $8.33 per user per month when billed annually — that annual price is one of the cheaper entry points in this category, and it raises you to 1,200 minutes a month with 90-minute meetings. The Business tier runs $30 per user per month monthly or $19.99 per user per month annually, and its big advantage is volume: unlimited meetings with a four-hour cap, plus API access. Enterprise is custom-quoted. Because Otter bills per user, a five-person team on Business would run roughly $100 a month annually — predictable, and fine for a team where everyone attends meetings.
Fireflies also starts free, and its free tier is arguably more generous for evaluation: 800 minutes of storage with transcription and AI summaries included — that is more than two and a half times Otter’s free minute allowance. Pro is $18 per month or $10 per user per month on annual billing, which buys 8,000 minutes of storage plus unlimited transcription and AI summaries — note that on paid plans transcription itself becomes unlimited and only storage is capped, so you stop worrying about running out of minutes mid-month. Business at $29 per month or $19 per user per month annually moves to unlimited storage and adds the conversation intelligence analytics layer. Enterprise at $39 per user per month on annual billing adds HIPAA compliance and SSO.
The annual discounts are significant on both sides: roughly 50% off for Otter Pro ($16.99 down to $8.33) and about 44% off for Fireflies Pro ($18 down to $10). If you only need basic meeting notes and want the cheapest possible entry, Fireflies’ free tier gives you the most room to grow before paying. If you attend long meetings and want unlimited meetings per month, Otter’s Business tier at $19.99 per user per month annually is the cleaner fit. Sales teams that will use conversation intelligence should weigh Fireflies Business ($19 per user per month annually) against buying a separate call-coaching tool — Fireflies’ analytics often replace a dedicated sales-coaching subscription, which changes the value math in its favor. One more practical note: both tools bill per user, so the true cost for a team of ten on business tiers is roughly $200 a month either way — at that point, pick based on workflow fit, not the $1 monthly difference. Annual billing is worth it if you are committed: both vendors offer roughly 45-50% discounts for paying yearly, and these are tools you will use daily once adopted.
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Otter.ai is the better fit if your primary need is a live companion during the meeting itself. Knowledge workers who attend many video calls on Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams will benefit most: Otter Pilot joins automatically, you read captions in real time, and you can ask Otter AI Chat questions about the discussion without breaking your focus. Students, journalists, and researchers who need accurate, searchable transcripts of interviews or lectures also get a lot of value from the free tier’s 300 minutes and the strong search across meetings. Teams where everyone takes notes collaboratively benefit from the comment-on-transcript workflow. Finally, if you run regular long meetings — all-hands, board sessions, training — Otter Business’s unlimited meetings with a four-hour cap and $19.99 per user per month annual price is a straightforward, predictable deal.
Fireflies is the better fit if your value comes from what happens after the call. Sales teams are the headline audience: automatic capture from dialers and phone calls, conversation intelligence analytics for coaching, and summaries that land directly in Salesforce or HubSpot remove hours of manual CRM data entry. Customer-success teams that run dozens of client check-ins per week get the same benefit. Agencies and consultants who need to share clean call summaries with clients without sharing raw recordings will like the workspace controls. Organizations in regulated industries should look at the Enterprise tier’s HIPAA compliance and SSO. And if you simply want the most generous free tier to start with, Fireflies’ 800 minutes of storage make it the easier tool to adopt before spending anything. Remote managers overseeing distributed teams also benefit: instead of attending every meeting, you can skim summaries and sentiment scores to stay informed, and topic trackers alert you whenever a client raises a risk keyword.
Choose Otter.ai if you want the best live, in-meeting experience: real-time transcription, captions, and an AI chat that answers questions while the call is still running. It is the better tool for individuals, remote teams on the big three conferencing platforms, and anyone who treats the meeting itself as the product. Choose Fireflies if you want the better post-meeting system: broader capture (calls and dialers included), deep CRM integration, and conversation intelligence for sales coaching. If your workflow is “meeting → CRM → action,” Fireflies wins. For pure meeting-note quality during the call, Otter wins. Neither is a bad choice — pick based on whether your pain is inside the meeting or after it.
Which is cheaper, Otter.ai or Fireflies?
On annual billing, Otter Pro is $8.33 per user per month and Fireflies Pro is $10 per user per month — Otter is slightly cheaper at the entry tier. But Fireflies’ free tier is more generous (800 minutes of storage vs Otter’s 300 minutes), and Fireflies’ paid plans offer unlimited transcription rather than capped minutes.
Which tool is better for sales teams?
Fireflies, clearly. It captures phone calls and dialers (not just video meetings), offers conversation intelligence analytics for coaching, and integrates natively with Salesforce and HubSpot. Managers can track talk ratios, keyword mentions, and sentiment across a whole team of reps — analytics Otter simply does not offer.
Does Otter.ai work with Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Otter Pilot joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings automatically once connected to your calendar. Fireflies covers the same three platforms plus Webex and phone calls.
Can I switch from Otter to Fireflies or vice versa?
Yes — both tools export transcripts, and both will re-process historical meetings in different ways, but your existing archive does not migrate automatically. The bigger switching cost is integrations: if your team has wired Fireflies into Salesforce workflows or Otter into daily meeting habits, rebuilding that is the real work.
Is there a free option for meeting transcription?
Both tools have free tiers. Fireflies gives you 800 minutes of storage with transcription and summaries; Otter gives you 300 transcription minutes per month with a 30-minute per-meeting cap. Try both free before committing to a paid plan.
Which is better for long meetings?
Otter.ai’s Business tier supports unlimited meetings up to four hours long at $19.99 per user per month annually. Fireflies Business offers unlimited storage at $19 per user per month annually. Both handle long meetings well on their business tiers; on lower tiers, watch Otter’s per-meeting caps.
