Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai
Meeting transcription is a solved problem — but not all AI note-takers are equal. Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai both join your Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls to transcribe, summarize, and surface action items. The differences are in depth of integrations, search quality, and how they handle your data.
Otter.ai
Real-time AI transcription and meeting assistant. Automatically transcribes, summarizes, and organizes meetings.
Free / $10–$20/mo
- Best real-time transcription accuracy
- Excellent Zoom/Meet integration
- Generous free tier (300 mins/mo)
- Strong mobile app
- Meeting summaries save hours of review
- Accuracy drops with heavy accents
- Summaries can miss nuance
- Business plan needed for full features
- Can be slow to process long recordings
Fireflies.ai
AI meeting notetaker that records, transcribes, and analyzes calls. Tracks action items and conversation intelligence.
Free / $10–$19/mo
- Excellent CRM integrations for sales
- Strong conversation analytics
- Generous free storage (800 mins)
- Works across all major video platforms
- Great for team meeting intelligence
- AI summaries less polished than Otter
- Full features require Business plan
- Privacy concerns joining calls automatically
- Occasional transcription errors in noisy audio
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Otter.ai | Fireflies.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-joins Calls | ||
| Real-time Transcription | Post-meeting | |
| AI Summary | ||
| Action Item Detection | ||
| CRM Integration | Basic | Deep (Salesforce, HubSpot) |
| Slack Integration | ||
| Search Across Meetings | ||
| Free Tier | 300 min/mo | 800 min/mo |
Pricing Comparison
Otter.ai Pricing
- Free: 300 min/month, 30 min per meeting
- Pro ($16.99/mo): 1,200 min/month, advanced summaries
- Business ($40/mo/user): Unlimited, admin controls, Salesforce
- Enterprise: Custom SSO + compliance
Fireflies.ai Pricing
- Free: 800 min storage, limited AI summaries
- Pro ($10/mo): Unlimited transcription + storage
- Business ($19/mo): CRM integrations, custom vocabulary
- Enterprise: Private storage + compliance
Best For
Choose Otter.ai if you...
- • Want real-time transcription during meetings
- • Take personal or academic notes from calls
- • Need clean, readable transcripts fast
- • Use Google Workspace or Microsoft Teams
Choose Fireflies.ai if you...
- • Run a sales team with CRM workflows
- • Need meeting data synced to Salesforce or HubSpot
- • Want a bigger free storage tier
- • Prefer post-meeting summaries over live captions
The Verdict
Otter.ai wins for individuals and small teams. Fireflies.ai wins for CRM-heavy sales teams. Otter's transcripts are cleaner for conversational note-taking, and its free tier is more generous. Fireflies has stronger integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Slack — making it the tool of choice for sales teams who need meeting data flowing into their pipeline.
Both tools are excellent. Otter at $16.99/mo beats Fireflies for personal use. Fireflies' $19/mo Business tier is worth it if you need CRM sync.