11 Otter.ai Alternatives Worth Trying

Imagine you’re in the zone, brainstorming brilliant ideas with your team.

But hold on, gotta jot down that key point.

Suddenly, you’re juggling note-taking and active listening, feeling like you might miss something golden.

Here’s the good news: meeting transcription software can be your superhero.

It frees you to focus on the conversation while capturing every detail.

Sure, Otter.ai might be a familiar name, but it’s not the only game in town.

In fact, Otter only works with English audio and can be a bit pricier than some of its awesome competitors.

That’s why we’ve put together a list of 11 fantastic Otter.ai alternatives.

Whether you’re on a budget or want a transcription tool that goes the extra mile (think multiple languages or built-in meeting management), you’ll find the perfect fit here.

Why You Might Look Beyond Otter.ai

Otter.ai is a great tool, but it might not be the perfect fit for everyone. Here are some reasons you might consider exploring other options:

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Transcription Work in a Nutshell

• Language Lover? Otter.ai currently only transcribes English audio. If you need to handle multilingual conversations, you’ll need a more versatile tool like Notta (which boasts support for a whopping 58 languages).
• Time Crunch? The free version of Otter.ai limits transcriptions to 30 minutes. If your important conversations tend to run longer, you might want to explore a platform with more generous free plans or tiered pricing.
• Support Savvy? Otter.ai primarily offers email support. While this might work for some, you might prefer tools with multiple support options like phone or live chat for those urgent questions.
• Integration Station? Otter.ai integrates well with many platforms, but it might not connect seamlessly with the specific tools you use every day. Don’t settle for workarounds – find a tool that integrates smoothly with your existing workflow.

11 Best Otter.ai Alternatives

1. Sonix

Sonix is a go-to solution for anyone looking to upload audio files directly from cloud storage.

It’s well-regarded for its automated subtitling, translation, and transcription capabilities.

With Sonix, transcribing audio, lectures, or speeches is quick and straightforward, thanks to its sophisticated speech-to-text technology.

You can easily transcribe virtual meetings by uploading your recordings to Sonix.

It supports transcription in over 49 languages and includes features like transcript sharing, comments, and collaborative editing.

Key Features

• Searchable and editable transcripts
• Speaker recognition and word-by-word timestamps
• Real-time video transcription and subtitling
• Confidence level checker to gauge transcript accuracy
• Multilingual transcription in 49+ languages
• In-browser editor for transcript editing
• AI-generated summaries, chapter titles, thematic analysis, and topic detection
• Easy team collaboration
• Multi-folder nesting for better organization

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Good accuracy, even with some background noise
• Flexible pricing plans
• User-friendly and easy to learn

Cons

• Does not support real-time transcription

Pricing

• Standard: $10 per hour
• Premium: $5 per hour plus $22 per month per user
• Enterprise: Custom pricing available

Supported OS

• Web-based

Sonix vs. Otter.ai

While Otter.ai offers a free plan to test before committing, Sonix excels in accuracy, especially with multilingual transcription. Sonix also integrates with tools like Adobe Premiere, Salesforce, Evernote, and Zapier, which Otter.ai does not.

2. Amberscript

Amberscript is a reliable choice for generating research interview transcriptions in multiple languages.

It’s widely used by academic institutions for transcribing lectures and research materials on the go.

Amberscript uses advanced voice recognition technology to convert audio into text and subtitles automatically.

Users can review and edit the generated text using the platform’s online tools or opt for professional editing by Amberscript’s transcribers for a polished final product.

Key Features

• Offers both automatic and manual transcription with quick turnaround
• Add captions and subtitles to videos
• Speech-to-text API that integrates with existing software
• GDPR-compliant, ISO 27001 & 9001 certified, and TPN badge holder
• Supports transcription in over 70 languages

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Responsive customer service
• Fast production speed
• High-quality automated transcripts, especially in English

Cons

• Some users on G2 report that accuracy in languages other than English can sometimes be lower

Pricing

• One-off credit: $10 per hour of audio or video uploaded
• Subscription: $25 per month for 3 hours of audio or video uploaded
• Human-made transcription: From $1.50 per minute

Supported OS

• Android
• iOS
• Web-based

Amberscript vs. Otter.ai

Otter.ai is a solid choice for live meeting transcriptions and adding subtitles to pre-recorded videos.

However, Amberscript stands out for its precision, particularly in supporting over 70 languages, while Otter.ai is limited to English.

3. Fireflies

Fireflies.ai is an ideal tool for team collaboration, serving as a meeting assistant that records and transcribes meetings on popular web conferencing platforms.

Fireflies.ai provides live transcription during meetings and processes the data within minutes.

After the meeting, you receive a summary, the audio recording, and the transcript, which you and your team can review, comment on, and react to.

Key Features

• Live transcription of meetings and audio recordings
• Transcribe and summarize meetings across platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams
• Capture video alongside audio recordings
• Add comments and reactions to specific parts of transcripts
• Smart search and topic tracking
• Integrates with other apps via Zapier and Fireflies API
• AI-powered search for finding and listening to key topics
• Conversational intelligence to analyze meeting sentiments

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Extensive integration options with meeting platforms, calendars, CRMs, and dialers
• Easy to set up and integrate
• Automatically generates accurate meeting summaries

Cons

• The AI summary feature is limited on the free plan

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Pro: $18 per month per user
• Business: $29 per month per user
• Enterprise: $39 per month per user

Supported OS

• Android
• Web-based

Fireflies vs. Otter.ai

While Otter.ai primarily focuses on transcription, Fireflies.ai acts as a comprehensive AI meeting assistant.

Otter.ai is more cost-effective for those who need basic meeting and audio transcriptions.

However, Fireflies offers 90% transcription accuracy, outperforming Otter.ai in precision.

Fireflies also integrates seamlessly with CRM and collaboration apps like Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, making it a strong choice for teams needing more advanced features.

4. Notta

Notta is a top choice for accurate transcription of audio/video files and live meetings.

This AI-powered tool quickly converts audio into text, whether from uploaded files, web pages, or live online meetings.

Once transcribed, you can easily edit, organize, and export the text in various formats.

Notta also allows you to record meetings and automatically generate transcripts of your conversations.

It uses AI to summarize meetings, create action items, and produce meeting minutes, ensuring everyone is aligned on the next steps after a call.

Notta is accessible on Windows, Mac, mobile devices, and even has a Chrome extension. With Notta, you can:

• Record and transcribe live conversations, such as lectures, meetings, and interviews, automatically.
• Upload audio/video files in multiple formats, including WAV, MP3, M4A, CAF, AIFF, AVI, MP4, RMVB, FLV, MOV, and WMV.
• Transcribe online meetings by syncing with your Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook, and automatically send a meeting bot to your scheduled Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams meetings.

Key Features

• Real-time transcription with editing and highlighting tools
• Notta Bot automatically attends and transcribes your meetings
• AI-generated summaries for instant meeting minutes
• Automatically creates chapters and action items for better follow-ups
• Supports transcription in up to 58 languages
• Translates transcriptions into over 40 languages
• Export transcripts in formats like TXT, DOCX, SRT, PDF, and EXCEL for easy sharing
• Share collaborative transcripts via a link
• Integrates with popular meeting platforms, Notion, Salesforce, and more

Pros and Cons

Pros

• 98.86% accuracy rate
• Accessible across multiple devices with cross-platform functionality
• Meeting assistant automatically syncs with your calendar and captures every detail of your calls

Cons

• Some users have reported billing issues during sign-up

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Pro: $14.99 per month (for one user)
• Business: $27.99 per month per user
• Enterprise: Custom pricing available

Supported OS

• Android
• Google Chrome
• iOS
• macOS
• Windows

Notta vs. Otter.ai

Otter.ai is known for its ease of setup and user-friendly interface, making it accessible for users of varying tech experience.

However, its transcript accuracy can be inconsistent, often requiring significant editing to achieve a clean result.

Notta excels in multilingual transcription and ease of editing, boasting a high accuracy rate that minimizes the need for post-editing.

As a top-rated transcription and voice-to-text tool, Notta offers a reliable and versatile alternative to Otter.ai.

5. HappyScribe

HappyScribe is a versatile transcription and subtitle service that converts speech to text and adds subtitles to videos in over 60 languages, dialects, and accents.

With HappyScribe, you can opt for either machine-generated or human transcription.

The machine-generated option offers up to 85% accuracy, while the human transcription service, done by professional transcribers, delivers around 99% accuracy.

Key Features

• Advanced voice recognition
• Automatic subtitles and transcription in over 60 languages (manual transcription supports 52 languages)
• Audio file joiner to merge various audio files
• Fast turnaround: 5 minutes for automatic transcription, 24 hours for human transcription
• Interactive transcript editor
• Share transcripts in view-only or edit mode
• Supports multiple export formats

Pros and Cons

Pros

• User-friendly and easy to learn
• Versatile for transcribing meetings, videos, interviews, and more
• Facilitates collaboration when editing and reviewing transcripts

Cons

• The basic plan includes only 120 minutes per month

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Basic plan: $17 per month per user
• Pro plan: $29 per month per user
• Business plan: $49 per month per user
• Human-made transcriptions and subtitles: From $1.75 per minute
• Enterprise: Custom pricing available

Supported OS

• Web-based

HappyScribe vs. Otter.ai

Compared to Otter.ai, HappyScribe is missing a few features, such as support for multiple OS like Android and iOS, and real-time transcription services—it focuses on transcribing pre-recorded files.

However, HappyScribe generally provides more accurate transcriptions than Otter.ai, with less need for post-editing.

This makes it a better choice for those who prioritize high accuracy, such as journalists, especially when opting for human-made transcriptions.

On the other hand, Otter.ai might be more suitable for those needing faster turnaround times.

6. Descript

Descript is a powerful audio and video editor that also offers screen recording and transcription features.

It allows you to record or upload videos and audio for immediate transcription, and you can edit these files simply by modifying the generated transcript.

For online meetings, Descript can record and transcribe sessions on various web conferencing platforms, making it a versatile tool for content creation and collaboration.

Key Features

• Live video recording with 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)

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Automatically removes filler words and gaps from transcripts
• Highly intuitive, with regular updates that enhance functionality
• Excellent for transcribing large volumes of interviews and podcasts

Cons

• The free plan offers only 1 hour of transcription per month

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Creator: $15 per month per user
• Pro: $30 per month per user
• Business: $50 per month per user
• Enterprise: Custom pricing available

Supported OS

• macOS
• Windows

Descript vs. Otter.ai

While Otter.ai provides transcription for both live meetings and recorded media, Descript stands out for those focused on podcast and video transcription.

Descript offers a native desktop app for both Windows and Mac, a feature Otter.ai lacks, as it operates primarily through a web app.

Additionally, Descript provides 24/7 customer support via phone or email, which Otter.ai does not, making Descript a more robust choice for dedicated content creators.

7. Rev

Rev is a robust speech-to-text solution designed for businesses of all sizes.

With a vast training set of over 50,000 hours of human-transcribed content across various topics and industries, Rev delivers highly accurate transcripts for both video and audio files.

If you’re looking to transcribe large volumes of prerecorded and real-time conversations, Rev is a solid choice.

Additionally, it offers human transcription services with a quick 24-hour turnaround.

Key Features

• Automatically detects speech in 38 languages for videos and audio
• Provides transcription, captioning, and subtitling services
• Supports audio tagging and video extraction
• Mobile app for capturing ideas on the go
• Review key quotes and moments after recording
• Easy file organization with keyword search in transcripts
• AI-generated copy for headlines, social posts, and promos

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Intuitive user interface
• Offers 99% accuracy with human transcriptions
• Excellent customer service

Cons

• No free version available, only a free trial with limited features

Pricing

• Human Transcription: $1.50 per minute
• AI Transcription: $0.25 per minute
• Human Captions (English): $1.50 per minute
• AI Captions: $0.25 per minute
• Global Subtitles: $5-12 per minute

Supported OS

• Android
• iOS
• Web-based

Rev vs. Otter.ai

Rev and Otter.ai share many features like text editing, real-time transcription, and annotations.

However, Rev generally provides more accurate results than Otter.ai, though it comes at a higher cost.

If you’re comfortable with doing some post-editing, Otter.ai might be a more budget-friendly alternative.

One thing to note is that Rev is not designed as a meeting management platform, so it lacks features like speaker detection and identification, which Otter.ai offers.

8. tl;dv

tl;dv is designed as a meeting documentation tool tailored for platforms like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

The platform’s primary goal is to reduce the number of meetings you need to attend and minimize the number of participants required. It achieves this by recording and live-transcribing meetings, allowing participants to highlight key moments to share with their team later.

Key Features

• Live transcriptions in over 30 languages
• Recording of live meetings on Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet
• Time-stamped highlights for easier meeting reviews
• Integration with Notion, Google Docs, and more for sharing meeting documents and outcomes
• Delivers over 90% transcription accuracy
• AI-generated meeting reports to track progress and identify trends
• Auto-fills CRM with meeting details
• Consolidates past meeting insights in one place
• Tracks meeting engagement to see who’s viewed your recordings

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Analyze meetings with AI-generated reports without watching the entire recording
• Provides decent AI meeting summaries
• High accuracy, even with the free plan

Cons

• The free version only allows three uploads per month

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Pro: $29 per month per user
• Business: $98 per month per user
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• macOS
• Google Chrome
• Windows

tl;dv vs. Otter.ai

tl;dv’s multilingual capabilities make it a strong choice for diverse remote and hybrid teams.

While Otter.ai caters to individuals and teams of all sizes, tl;dv’s plans and pricing are better suited for small teams that can manage the relatively higher subscription cost.

9. Grain

Grain is a versatile meeting recording and transcription tool designed to help teams efficiently plan, conduct, and follow up on meetings across Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

With Grain’s calendar integration, you can easily schedule meetings and invite participants.

By connecting your calendar to Grain, you can also set meetings to auto-record.

Grain seamlessly integrates with apps like Notion, Slack, and Salesforce, allowing you to share video clips and meeting highlights with your team effortlessly.

Key Features

• Supports transcription in 25 languages
• Centralized video library for all meeting recordings
• Collaborative transcript editing with options to download in various formats
• Meeting highlights and summaries
• Auto-syncs meeting notes to your CRM
• Custom AI prompts for more accurate note-taking
• Create and share video highlights via link

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Excellent onboarding and customer support
• Quickly generate meeting summaries and notes
• Customizable notetaker

Cons

• Live transcriptions available only in English

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Starter: $19/month per seat
• Business: $39/month per seat
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Web-based

Grain vs Otter.ai

While Otter.ai excels in basic audio transcription, it lacks the ability to record video meetings.

If you need advanced features like auto-syncing with your CRM or sales analytics, Grain is a more robust choice.

Grain also offers transcription and translation in over 20 languages, making it ideal for global teams or non-English speakers.

10. Tactiq

Tactiq is a Chrome extension designed for live-transcribing meetings on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

This productivity tool is simple yet effective, helping users maximize meeting outcomes by taking notes, transcribing conversations, highlighting action items, and sharing meeting notes seamlessly.

Tactiq’s AI capabilities also allow for custom actions like drafting email responses and structuring meeting minutes.

Key Features

• Chrome extension that generates transcriptions with speaker identification
• Record meetings with speaker-specific transcripts and timestamps
• Auto-save meeting notes to Google Docs, Notion, Quip, and Slack
• Automatically enable captions during calls
• AI-powered features that craft follow-up emails, generate summaries, and organize notes post-meeting

Pros and Cons

Pros

• No need for an AI bot to transcribe meetings
• Supports over 60 languages
• Quick implementation and user-friendly interface

Cons

• Only works with Microsoft Teams in a Chrome browser

Pricing

• Free plan (includes 10 transcripts per month)
• Pro: $12 per month per user
• Team: $20 per month per user

Supported OS

• Chrome extension

Tactiq vs. Otter.ai

Tactiq serves as a solid alternative to Otter.ai, offering similar features with the added benefit of supporting more languages.

However, Otter.ai has some issues with transcribing non-native English speakers accurately, and unlike Tactiq, it doesn’t generate AI-powered summaries of meetings.

11. Sembly

Sembly is a virtual assistant designed to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings, ensuring that everyone has the information they need to work efficiently.

It integrates with major meeting platforms like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Zoom.

By syncing with your calendar, email, or meeting link, Sembly automatically joins your calls and takes notes.

Key Features

• Automatically analyzes transcripts to extract key decisions and discussion points
• Compatible with most video conferencing software
• Sends meeting notes directly to your preferred apps
• Access previous meetings through keyword searches
• Includes time-stamped notes and bookmarks
• Provides AI-generated meeting summaries
• Automates post-meeting follow-ups

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Searchable records of past calls
• Excellent customer support
• Can transcribe meetings you don’t attend

Cons

• Only supports English

Pricing

• Free plan available
• Professional: $15 per month per user
• Team: $29 per month per user
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Supported OS

• Chrome extension
• Web-based

Sembly vs. Otter.ai

While Sembly offers advanced productivity tools such as automated follow-ups and the Semblian chatbot, Otter.ai is noted for its ease of setup and user-friendly interface.

Sembly also features advanced voice recognition technology, using machine learning to capture vocal nuances like sarcasm and urgency—capabilities that Otter.ai does not currently provide.

Wrap-Up

When choosing a transcription tool, it’s important to consider aspects such as cost, user-friendliness, feature set, customer support, and transcription accuracy.

Many platforms offer free trials, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of these to explore how the tool performs and whether it meets your requirements.