Otter vs Fireflies

Short version: if you mostly need transcripts of calls in English, Otter Pro is the cheaper paid plan at $8.33 a month billed yearly. If you want the stronger free plan, transcripts in more languages, or video of your calls, Fireflies is the better fit, with Pro at $10 a month billed yearly.

Both tools join your Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams calls, write a transcript, and hand you a summary with action items afterward.

What you pay

Plan	Otter	Fireflies
Free	$0: 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, your 25 most recent conversations	$0: unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team
Entry paid	Pro, $8.33/user/mo billed yearly ($16.99 monthly)	Pro, $10/seat/mo billed yearly ($18 monthly)
Teams	Business, $19.99/user/mo billed yearly ($30 monthly)	Business, $19/seat/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly)
Large orgs	Enterprise, custom pricing	Enterprise, $39/seat/mo, yearly only
Longest single recording	30 min Free, 90 min Pro, 4 hours Business	2 hours Free and Pro, 3 hours Business, 4 hours Enterprise

Prices are in US dollars, before tax. Checked October 18, 2026.

Where Otter wins

• A cheaper Pro plan. Otter Pro is $8.33 a month billed yearly or $16.99 monthly, less than Fireflies Pro either way.
• Unlimited storage on Pro, with 1,200 transcription minutes a month.
• A student discount. Students and teachers with a .edu email get 20% off Pro.
• Long meetings on Business. Business has no monthly minute cap and transcribes up to 4 hours per meeting.

Watch out for: the free plan is tight, with a 30-minute limit per conversation, and Pro still caps a meeting at 90 minutes. Otter transcribes six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.

Where Fireflies wins

• A roomier free plan. Transcription is unlimited for meetings the bot joins, the Chrome extension and the mobile app, though storage is capped at 400 minutes per team.
• More languages. Fireflies transcribes in more than 100 languages.
• Video of your calls. Paid plans record meeting video, not just audio.
• A bot-free option. On every plan, you can use the Chrome extension to capture Google Meet calls without a notetaker joining.

Watch out for: recordings stop at 2 hours on Free and Pro, and Pro storage is 8,000 minutes per seat. Business removes the storage cap.

Privacy and recording

Fireflies says it's SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant, and that your data is "never used for AI training." Enterprise adds HIPAA compliance and a transcript-and-summary-only mode. Otter's Enterprise plan adds a recording disclaimer email, Microsoft Teams recording permission capture, and a HIPAA add-on. If your workplace has rules about recording calls, check them before you turn on any notetaker.

What about Granola and Fathom?

If you're shopping for the best AI meeting notes app, two more are worth a look. Granola is a notepad that captures audio from your device instead of sending a bot. It's free with 30 days of meeting history, and Business is $14 per user a month. Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcription. Its Premium plan for individuals is $20 a month, or $16 billed yearly.

Which one should you pick?

• Lowest price for one person: Otter Pro at $8.33 a month billed yearly.
• You want a free plan you can actually live on: Fireflies Free.
• Your calls aren't in English, or switch languages: Fireflies.
• Your meetings often run past 2 hours: Otter Business, which handles up to 4 hours.
• You'd rather no bot join your calls: Granola, or the Fireflies Chrome extension for Google Meet.
• You're a student or teacher: check Otter's .edu discount first.

Both are free to start, so record the same meeting with each and keep the one whose notes you actually reread. For every tool we track here, see our list of the best AI tools for meeting notes.