13 Top Otter.ai Alternatives & Competitors to Try in 2024

Picture yourself in an important meeting. You need to concentrate fully to actively participate in the conversation, and as a result, you’re struggling to take notes and record action items while trying to stay engaged. The solution to this dilemma? Meeting transcription software. 

While Otter.ai may instantly be top of your mind as a transcription tool, it’s not the only solution out there. Keep in mind, Otter.ai is limited in the sense that it only transcribes English audio, and it’s a bit more expensive than many of its alternatives. 

In this article, I’ve compiled 13 Otter.ai alternatives that will help you transcribe meetings and other audio quickly and accurately. Whether you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to Otter.ai or want a more comprehensive meeting productivity solution, you’ll find the perfect tool here. 

Otter.ai competitor breakdown

^{* Starting price as of July 2024}

Why you might need an alternative to Otter

While Otter.ai has a good range of features for business needs, it falls short in areas where some of its alternatives excel. Below are some reasons why you may want to consider finding an alternative to Otter.ai. 

• You want multilingual transcription. Otter.ai only supports transcription in English. So if you need to transcribe more than English, you may want an Otter.ai alternative, like Notta (which supports 58 languages).

• You don’t like its transcription limits. With the free version of Otter.ai, you get a maximum transcription duration of 30 minutes per meeting. Longer than that, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

• You want better customer support. After going through the Otter.ai website, I’ve discovered they only provide email support. Nowadays, most services offer other ways to get support, like phone and live chat.

• You need software that integrates better with your workflow. Otter.ai integrates with many types of software, but it may not connect with your most important tools.

Read our full review of Otter.ai to get to know the tool better.

13 best Otter.ai competitors

1. Notta: Best for accurate audio/video files and live meeting transcription

Notta is an AI transcription tool that can convert audio to text in a few seconds. Notta can transcribe audio files and audio from web pages, as well as create live transcriptions from online meetings. Afterward, you can edit, organize, or export the transcript in multiple formats.

You can also record your meetings and automatically generate transcripts of your conversations. Notta will even summarize the meeting using AI, and generate action items and meeting minutes to help ensure everyone knows the next steps after a call. 

Notta is widely available on Windows, Mac, and mobile devices and also has a Chrome extension. With Notta, you can: 

• Record live conversations, including lectures, meetings, and interviews, and transcribe them automatically. 

• Upload audio/video files in a variety of formats, including WAV, MP3, M4A, CAF, AIFF, AVI, MP4, RMVB, FLV, MOV, and WMV.

• Transcribe online meetings, as Notta can sync with your Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook events and will automatically send a meeting bot to your scheduled Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams meetings.

Key features

• Real-time transcription with edit and highlight features

• Notta Bot attends meetings on your behalf and automatically transcribes them

• Summarize meetings using AI templates for instant meeting minutes

• Automatically generated chapters and action items for better follow-ups

• Supports up to 58 transcription languages

• Translates transcriptions into over 40 languages

• Export transcripts to TXT, DOCX, SRT, PDF, and EXCEL format for easy sharing

• Collaborative transcripts you can share via link

• Integrates with popular meeting platforms, Notion, Salesforce, and more

Pricing

• Free plan available

• Pro: $14.99/month (for one user)

• Business: $27.99/month/user

• Enterprise: Custom pricing 

Supported OS

• Android

• Google Chrome

• iOS

• macOS

• Windows

Notta vs Otter.ai

One thing to note about Otter.ai is that it’s pretty easy to set up. Plus, its UI is fairly intuitive, which allows users with different levels of tech experience to navigate through it with ease. However, its transcript accuracy isn’t always reliable, and it takes a lot of editing to get an error-free transcript. 

Notta, on the other hand, performs better than Otter.ai in terms of multilingual transcription and easy editing. Plus, it has a very high accuracy rate for transcriptions, meaning there’s little post-editing required. As one of the top-rated transcription and voice-to-text tools on the market, Notta is a reliable, versatile alternative to Otter.ai. 

See how Notta compares with Otter.ai.

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Notta accurately records every word and detail spoken during meetings, lectures and interviews in real-time. You can also upload audio or video in any format and get a text transcript back in seconds.

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2. Descript: Best for speaker labeling

Descript is mainly an audio and video editor with screen recording and transcription functions. It allows you to record or upload videos and audio for immediate transcription. You can then edit the video and audio files by simply making changes to the transcript generated.

In terms of online meetings, Descript can also help you record and transcribe sessions on web conferencing platforms.

Key features

• Live video recording and editable transcriptions

• AI-powered speaker identification

• Multi-user collaboration 

• Supports transcription in 22 languages

• High-level data security

• Supports multiple import formats (DOC, RTF, SRT, VTT) 

Pricing

• Free plan available

• Creator: $15/month/user

• Pro: $30/month/user 

• Business: $50/month/user 

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• macOS

• Windows

Descript vs Otter.ai

Otter.ai supports the transcription of both live meetings and recorded podcasts or videos. Since it caters to teams and organizations, it also offers integrations with multiple editing and team collaboration tools. 

However, if you mainly want transcriptions for your podcast or videos, then Descript is a better alternative to Otter.ai. 

Descript has a native desktop app for Windows and Mac, which Otter.ai lacks—asOtter.ai only has a web app. Additionally, the company offers 24/7 customer support by phone or email, a perk that Otter.ai doesn’t offer to its customers. 

See a full comparison of Otter.ai vs Descript.

3. Happy Scribe: Best for per-minute rate transcriptions

Happy Scribe is an audio transcription and subtitle service that allows you to convert speech to text and add subtitles to videos in over 60 languages, dialects, and accents.

With Happy Scribe, you can choose between machine-generated or human transcription. The machine-generated option is estimated to have up to 85% accuracy, while the manual option, which is completed by human transcribers, is estimated to have 99% accuracy.

Key features

• Advanced voice recognition

• Automatic subtitles and transcription in over 60 languages (manual subscription supports 52 languages)

• Audio file joiner function that helps you merge various types of audio files

• Automatic transcription service offers a 5-minute turnaround time, while the human-made transcription service offers a 24-hour turnaround time

• Interactive transcript editor

• Share transcripts in view-only or edit mode

• Supports multiple export formats

Pricing 

• Free plan available

• Basic plan: $17/month/user 

• Pro plan: $29/month/user 

• Business plan: $49/month/user 

• Human-made transcriptions and subtitles: From $1.75/min

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Web-based

Happy Scribe vs Otter.ai

When compared to Otter.ai, Happy Scribe lacks a few capabilities. For instance, unlike Otter.ai, it doesn’t support multiple OS, like Android and iOS. It also doesn’t offer real-time transcription services—it transcribes pre-recorded files for you.

However, when it comes to accuracy, Happy Scribe’s transcriptions tend to be more accurate than Otter.ai’s and require less editing.  

So, people who depend on high transcript accuracy, like journalists, might find Happy Scribe more suitable—especially its human-made translation option. Similarly, those who require fast delivery might find Otter.ai more useful because of its quicker turnaround time. 

See a full comparison of Otter.ai vs Happy Scribe, or check out our in-depth review of Happy Scribe. 

4. Rev: Best for large enterprises with a flexible budget

Rev is a powerful speech-to-text solution for businesses of all sizes. Trained with over 50,000 hours of human-transcribed content across a wide range of topics and industries, Rev produces highly accurate transcripts from your videos and audio. 

If you plan on transcribing lots of prerecorded and real-time conversations, Rev is a great option. It also offers human transcription services with a 24-hour turnaround.

Key features

• Auto-detects video or audio speech in 38 languages

• Offers transcripts, captions, and subtitle services

• Allows audio tagging and video extraction

• Mobile app allows you to capture ideas on the go

• Review key quotes and moments after you stop recording

• Allows easy organization of files, as well as keyword search in transcripts

• AI-generated copy for headlines, social posts, and promos

Pricing

• Human Transcription: $1.50/minute

• AI Transcription: $0.25/minute

• Human Captions (English): $1.50/minute

• AI Captions: $0.25/minute

• Global Subtitles: $5-12 per minute

Supported OS

• Android

• iOS

• Web-based

Rev vs Otter.ai

Rev shares many features with Otter.ai such as text editor, real-time transcription, and annotations. 

While Rev gives a more accurate output than Otter.ai, it’s a little on the pricier side. So if you don’t mind editing the transcript yourself, Otter.ai could be a more budget-friendly option for you. 

Also, since Rev is not a meeting management platform, it lacks core features like speaker detection and identification. 

See a full comparison of Otter.ai vs Rev, or check out our in-depth review of Rev.

5. Sonix: Best for directly uploading audio files from cloud storage

Sonix is best known for its automated subtitling, translation, and transcription features. With Sonix, users can easily transcribe audio, lectures, and speeches in minutes, thanks to its advanced speech-to-text algorithm.

You can upload meeting recording files to transcribe your virtual meetings with Sonix. It also offers multilingual transcription (in over 49 languages), transcript sharing, comments, and collaborative editing.

 Key features

• Searchable and editable transcripts 

• Speaker recognition and word-by-word timestamping

• Real-time video transcription and subtitling

• Confidence level checker to monitor transcript accuracy

• Offers transcription services in 49+ languages

• In-browser editor for editing transcripts

• AI-generated summaries, chapter titles, thematic analysis, and topic detection 

• Easy collaboration with teams

• Multi-folder nesting to stay organized

Pricing

• Standard: $10/hour 

• Premium: $5/hour plus $22/month/user 

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Web-based

Sonix vs Otter.ai

Otter.ai comes with a free plan that allows you to test the product before investing in it. However, in terms of accuracy, Sonix comes out on top. 

Moreover, Sonix supports multiple languages, which makes it easy to transcribe interviews with people who speak different languages. It also integrates with Adobe Premiere, Salesforce, Evernote, and Zapier, which Otter.ai cannot do.

Check out our in-depth review of Sonix. 

6. Amberscript: Best for generating research interview transcription of different languages

Amberscript is an on-demand transcription service for audio and video files. It’s one of the go-to tools for academic institutions that need to transcribe lectures and research on the go.  

The platform uses voice recognition technology to automatically transform audio into text and subtitles. With the help of its online editing features, users can easily review the generated text or employ Amberscript professional transcribers to edit to perfection.

Key features

• Offers both automatic and manual transcription with quick turnaround

• Add captions and subtitles to videos

• Speech-to-text API that integrates with your existing software

• GDPR-compliant, ISO 27001 & 9001 certified and TPN badge holder

• Supports 70+ transcription languages

Pricing

Amberscript has a flexible pricing option for its transcription service.

• One-off credit: $10/hour of audio or video uploaded

• Subscription: $25/month for 3 hours of audio or video uploaded

• Human-made transcription: From $1.50/minute

Supported OS

• Android

• iOS

• Web-based

Amberscript vs Otter.ai

Otter.ai is a good option when you need to transcribe live meetings or add subtitles to pre-recorded videos. However, the accuracy of generated transcripts doesn’t live up to Amberscript’s precision. 

Plus, Amberscript supports over 70 languages, while Otter.ai only supports English.

7. tl;dv: Best for transcribing virtual meetings on Google Meet

tl;dv functions primarily as a meeting documentation tool for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

Its goal is simple: reducing the number of meetings you attend and the number of team members required to participate in meetings. The platform achieves this by recording and live transcribing meetings while allowing participants to highlight critical moments to share with the rest of their team later on.

Key features

• Live transcriptions in over 30 languages

• Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet live meeting recording

• Time-stamped highlights to make reviewing meetings easier

• Share meeting documents and outcomes in Notion, Google Docs, and more

• Delivers over 90% accuracy

• AI-generated meeting reports to track progress and spot trends 

• Auto-fill your CRM with meeting details

• Get past meeting insights in one place

• Track meeting engagement to see who’s watched your recordings

Pricing

• Free plan available

• Pro: $29/month/user

• Business: $98/month/user

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• macOS

• Google Chrome

• Windows

tl;dv vs Otter.ai

tl;dv's multilingual option makes it a good fit for diverse remote and hybrid teams. And while Otter.ai is suited to both individuals and teams of different sizes, most of tl;dv’s plans and prices appear to be better suited to small teams that can afford a relatively high subscription cost.

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8. Fireflies: Best for team collaboration

Fireflies.ai is a meeting assistant that allows you to record and transcribe meetings on popular web conferencing platforms. 

Fireflies.ai live-transcribes meetings and processes them in just a few minutes. Once the processing is complete, you get a summary of the meeting, the audio recording, and the transcript, which you and other team members can then comment on and react to.

Key features 

• Live meeting and audio recording transcriptions

• Transcribe and summarize meetings across multiple apps such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams

• Capture videos along with audio recordings

• Add comments and reactions to specific parts of your transcripts

• Smart search and topic trackers

• Connects with other apps via Zapier and Fireflies API

• AI-powered search to find and listen to key topics

• Conversational intelligence to analyze meetings to identify sentiments

Pricing

• Free plan available

• Pro: $18/month/user

• Business: $29/month/user

• Enterprise: $39/month/user

Supported OS

• Android

• Web-based

Fireflies vs Otter.ai

Otter.ai is mainly a transcription tool, while Fireflies.ai acts as an AI meeting assistant. However, Otter.ai is more budget-friendly than Fireflies and is good enough for teams or individuals just looking to get basic meeting and audio transcriptions. 

Note that Fireflies has 90% transcription accuracy, which is better than Otter.ai’s average accuracy rates.  Another great part of Fireflies is its various integrations with CRM & collaboration apps like Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.

Check out our in-depth review of Fireflies.ai to learn more.

9. Grain: Best for customer-focused roles

Grain is a meeting recording and transcription tool that helps teams plan, run, and follow up on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom meetings.

With Grain’s calendar integration, you can schedule your meetings and invite other participants. You can also set your meeting to auto-record with Grain by connecting your calendar to the app and selecting the meetings you’d like to record.

Like other meeting tools, Grain also integrates with apps like Notion, Slack, and Salesforce, making it easy to share video clips and meeting highlights with your team.

Key features

• Supports 25 languages for transcription

• Video library that stores all your meeting recordings

• Work collaboratively on transcripts, then edit and download in the format of your choice

• Meeting highlights and summaries.

• Auto-sync meeting notes to your CRM

• Custom AI note prompts for more accurate outputs

• Create video highlights and share anywhere via link

Pricing

• Free plan available

• Starter: $19 monthly per seat

• Business: $39 monthly per seat

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Web-based

Grain vs Otter.ai

While Otter.ai can’t record video meetings, it’s still a great option for basic audio transcription. But if you want more advanced meeting recording features, like auto-sync with your CRM or sales deal analytics and insights, Grain is a better choice. 

Grain offers transcription and translation services in more than 20 languages, which also makes it a good option for global teams or non-English speakers.

10. Dialpad: Best for improving business communication

Dialpad isn’t a direct competitor of Otter.ai, as it’s not designed for basic audio transcription. Rather, it’s a unified business communication platform that includes calls, messaging, meetings, and customer support services. 

A noteworthy feature that makes Dialpad a worthy alternative to Otter.ai is its voice-intelligent technology that allows users to live-transcribe phone calls and virtual meetings. 

With a single click, users can record calls and generate transcripts. After the call, these transcripts are available to reference and share with team members and customers.  

Key features

• Natural language processing with real-time voice recognition

• Broad integration library with built-in app marketplace

• Works on all devices, including Android, iOS, Mac, web browsers, and Windows

• Works as a standalone video conferencing tool

• Automated meeting summaries with searchable transcripts

• Real-time assist cards to train your agents

• Live sentiment analysis of transcripts

Pricing

• 14-day free trial

• Standard: $27/month/user 

• Pro: $35/month/user

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Android

• Google Chrome

• iOS

• macOS

• Web-based

• Windows

Dialpad vs Otter.ai

Since Otter.ai is designed specifically for meeting transcriptions, it’s a great option when you don’t need extra features for streamlining business communication. 

However, Dialpad is best suited for organizations that heavily rely on phone calls, video meetings, or other communication channels for their operations. Transcription is just an add-on to its numerous business communication features.

11. Avoma: Best for managing the entire meeting lifecycle

Avoma is a meeting assistant for collaboration, customer success, and engagement management. Businesses use Avoma to analyze sales and support processes and customer interactions. 

The tool is able to auto-extract action items, identify objections in speeches, and highlight positive moments and gestures in meetings, giving you better insights into your conversations. 

Key features

• Automatically identifies topics and speakers

• Advanced transcript search to locate topics and review conversations quickly

• In-depth call and meeting analytics

• Integrates with sales engagement platforms, CRMs, and video conferencing tools 

• Live bookmarking to capture key moments

• Collaborative note-taking

• Real-time transcription of meetings

Pricing

• Free plan available 

• Starter: $24/month/user 

• Plus: $59/month/user 

• Business: $79/month/user 

• Enterprise: $129/month/user 

Supported OS

• Android

• iOS

• Web-based

Avoma vs Otter.ai

If you’re looking for basic transcription services with affordable pricing plans, Otter.ai is your best bet. However, Avoma’s seamless onboarding and support program gives it an edge over Otter.ai for users looking for a more comprehensive solution. 

12. Tactiq: Best for automatic transcription

Tactiq is a Chrome extension for live-transcribing Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom meetings. Designed as a productivity tool, it helps users get the most out of meetings with a sleek, simple extension. 

The software takes notes, transcribes meetings, highlights action items, and shares meeting notes. Tactiq also comes with AI capabilities that can take custom actions for you, from crafting email responses for call participants to structuring your meeting minutes.

Key features 

• Chrome extension that generates speaker-specific transcriptions

• Record meetings and get transcripts with speaker identification and timestamps

• Auto-save meeting notes to Google Docs, Notion, Quip, and Slack

• Automatically enable captions on the call

• AI automatically crafts a follow-up email, generates a summary, and structures notes after the meeting 

Pricing

• Free plan available (with 10 transcripts/month)

• Pro: $12/month/user 

• Team: $20/month/user 

Supported OS

• Chrome extension

Tactiq vs Otter.ai

Tactiq is a nice alternative to Otter.ai as it encompasses almost the same features and supports more languages. But with Otter.ai, there are a few glitches in transcribing non-native speakers' English. And unlike Tactiq, Otter.ai doesn’t generate AI summaries of meetings.

13. Sembly: Best for recognizing custom phrases and jargon

Sembly is a virtual assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes your meetings. The app ensures everyone has what they need to complete their work quickly and efficiently. 

It works with all the major meeting platforms, including Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Zoom. You can also invite Sembly to a call by syncing your calendar, email, or meeting link—and the tool automatically shows up and takes notes. 

Key features

• Automatically analyzes transcripts and extracts important decisions and discussion points 

• Works with most video conferencing software

• Automatically sends meeting notes to your preferred apps

• Access past meetings via keyword search

• Time-stamped notes and bookmarks 

• AI meeting summaries

• Automated post-meeting follow-ups 

Pricing

• Free plan available

• Professional: - $15/month/user 

• Team: $29/month/user

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Chrome extension

• Web-based

Sembly vs Otter.ai

As compared to Sembly, Otter.ai is easier to set up and use. However, Sembly includes additional productivity tools that Otter.ai doesn’t, like automated meeting follow-ups and the Semblian chatbot. 

It also comes with advanced voice recognition technologies. This tool uses machine learning to capture vocal nuances, such as sarcasm and urgency, which Otter.ai lacks.

Choose the best Otter.ai alternative

When selecting a transcription tool, consider factors like affordability, ease of use, feature richness, customer support, and accuracy.

Some of these platforms offer a free trial, which is worth taking advantage of when possible. This will give you a feel for how the tool works and whether it covers all your needs. 

I recommend starting with Notta for a reliable transcription tool that has incredibly high accuracy, supports dozens of languages, and comes with advanced AI features that save you time. 

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Frequently asked questions about Otter.ai alternatives

1. Is Otter.ai HIPAA compliant?

Otter.ai is not HIPAA compliant and may share data based on its privacy policy. They have a third-party service that helps them analyze and store data, and this service may save personal information. You'll need to look elsewhere if you're looking for a HIPAA-compliant transcription service.

2. How do you select the right transcription app?

Which transcription app is right for you depends on a number of factors, including:

• Your team’s size, technical expertise, goals, and budget 

• The platform’s interface, features, pricing, language options, customer support, and integrations 

Putting all these into consideration will help you choose what works best for your team. And if you need a tool that can also manage the full meeting lifecycle, from planning to follow-up, then I recommend Notta.

3. What is the best transcription app?

While there are a number of popular transcription apps out there, Notta is the best in terms of accuracy, and it has a number of additional features that make it stand out. 

It offers almost 50 language options, so it’s a great fit for international teams. It's also quite affordable, making it accessible to smaller teams.

In addition to live recording and transcribing, Notta transcribes audio from just about any file type, including WAV, MP3, M4A, CAF, and AIFF.

4. Can I use Otter.ai for free?

The free version of Otter.ai allows you to upload three audio files and record 300 minutes of audio. If you need more than that, you can upgrade to the paid version.

5. Does Otter.ai work well?

Otter.ai is a relatively accurate and affordable transcription service, and it may work well for individuals who need basic transcription features. The app is free for up to 300 minutes of transcription per month, but you'll need to pay for a subscription if you want more than that.