AI meeting note takers compared: Otter.ai and 5 alternatives

By Mark Putiyon, Editor-in-Chief. Checked October 20, 2026.

The short answer: for transcribing meetings and turning them into notes, our pick is Otter.ai (94% match on /best/meetings). Transcription and notes are the job, and the free Basic plan works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. If you don't want a bot joining your calls, look at Granola. For free unlimited recordings, look at Fathom.

Get a pick in 30 seconds.

Verdict by use case

Our pick: Otter.ai

Match for this job: 94%. Our rating: 3.9, #5 of 7 in Meetings. Skill level: beginner.

Why the match and the rating differ: match measures how directly Otter matches transcription and notes. The overall rating compares it with every meeting tool across price, limits and features, and some rivals score higher there.

Otter joins or ingests the call and gives you a transcript, with speaker identification, AI chat across meetings and summaries. It isn't a general writing suite.

Visit: Otter.ai

Pricing (verified on the vendor's site)

Source: otter.ai/pricing, checked October 20, 2026. Prices are in USD, per user.

Promotions shown on October 20, 2026: Pro at a further 50% off ($8.49 monthly, $4.17 annual) and Business at 20% off for 3 months ($24 monthly). The page says offers are "valid for first-time subscribers only". Promotions change, so don't quote these as standing prices.

Who should skip Otter

• You don't want a bot joining calls. Granola takes notes without one.
• You record long meetings on the free plan. Basic caps you at 300 minutes a month. Fathom advertises free unlimited recordings.
• You import lots of recorded files. Pro allows 10 imports a month and Basic only 3 in total.
• You need many languages at a low price. Notta is aimed there.

The alternatives

Prices for these weren't re-checked on each vendor's site for this guide. See our live /best/meetings page (October 20, 2026).

Fireflies.ai: 88% match. Reliable meeting notes across Zoom, Meet and Teams. Visit Fireflies.ai

Fathom: 86% match. Free unlimited recordings make it an easy start. Visit Fathom

Granola: 86% match. No bot joins the call; notes stay yours. Visit Granola

Read AI: 80% match. Ties meeting notes to your inbox and chats. Visit Read AI

Notta: 78% match. Affordable transcription in many languages. Visit Notta

FAQ

Is Otter.ai free? Yes. The Basic plan is free with 300 transcription minutes a month, per otter.ai/pricing on October 20, 2026.

How much is Otter Pro? $16.99 per user per month billed monthly, or $8.33 billed annually, before any first-time-subscriber promotion.

Did you test these tools? No. Our scores are research-based, built from vendor pages, docs, leaderboards and published reviews.

What we checked

• Vendor pricing: otter.ai/pricing, fetched October 20, 2026 (ET).
• Our live ranking: bestbotfor.com/best/meetings, fetched October 20, 2026. The page shows "Last reviewed Oct 15, 2026".
• Our catalog and scores: as of October 20, 2026. Otter review date: October 16, 2026.
• Not checked for this guide: alternative vendors' pricing pages.

How we rank (read this first)

• Match is how well a tool matches this one job in our research. Our rating is a separate overall score for the tool against its category. A tool can be the strongest match for a job and still carry a middling overall rating, and we show both.
• Scores are research-based, not hands-on testing. We build them from vendor pricing and product pages, documentation, public leaderboards and published reviews. We did not test these tools ourselves.
• Rankings are our own. Sponsors never affect them, and payment never buys a higher rank. Sponsored placements are labeled and kept out of rankings.
• Links: "Visit" links go through bestbotfor.com/go, which logs the click and sends you to the vendor's site. Some of those links may be affiliate links, and we may earn a commission. That never changes our picks or rankings.