Bee vs Otter.ai (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Otter.ai grades higher than Bee: 3.0 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 4, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Otter.ai grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Bee
Wearable AI recorder that summarizes conversations and suggests to-dos
Otter.ai
Live meeting transcription with summaries and AI chat
Which one is for you
Pick Bee if
- Fits if you want everyday conversations recorded without a phone in your hand
- Works for people who want summaries of calls and chats, not only meetings
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 14 days of history, with desktop capture and integrations locked
- Pricey if you add the device: $74.99 or more, on top of $11.99 a month for Pro
- Watch out: Bee Eclipse is listed as coming soon at $99.99
- Skip it if you want a web dashboard, since Bee runs through its apps
- Watch out: the site carries an Amazon copyright notice, and the vendor says audio is processed in memory and deleted
Pick Otter.ai if
- Fits if you want to read the live transcript while a meeting or lecture is still going
- Works for students and teachers with a .edu address, which takes 20% off Pro
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes a conversation, 3 file imports ever and only your 25 most recent conversations
- Not for you if your meetings run long, as Pro stops at 1,200 minutes a month and 90 a meeting, and unlimited starts on Business at $19.99
- Pricey if you pay monthly: Pro is $16.99 and Business $30, against $8.33 and $19.99 a month on the yearly plan
- Watch out: AI Chat is capped on every plan, at 20 questions a month free, 50 on Pro and 200 at most
- Skip it if you need SSO, SCIM, the API or webhooks, which are Enterprise only at an unpublished price, with HIPAA as an add-on
How we grade them
| 2.2GPABeeFair | 3.0GPAOtter.aiVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$11.99 a month for Bee Pro, the middle of the category's range, or $99.99 a year. The wearable is a separate buy, $74.99 for Frontier. | CPro is $8.33 a month on the yearly plan, which is right about where meeting notetakers start, and $16.99 if you pay monthly. Pro is still metered at 1,200 minutes a month and 90 minutes a meeting, and unlimited meetings wait for Business at $19.99, the dear end of this lot. Middling money, then. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free tier with conversation summaries and 14 days of history. New devices come with 30 days of Pro. | CBasic hands you 300 transcription minutes a month, but a conversation stops at 30 minutes, you get 3 file imports ever, and only your 25 most recent conversations stay open. Short calls are fine; anything longer runs into a cap. |
| Features | CSummaries, search, suggested to-dos, a timeline and desktop capture for online meetings. The desktop app and integrations need Pro, and the listing shows no web dashboard. | BIt covers the whole job: live transcription with speakers labelled, a summary of every conversation on every plan, AI Chat, file imports and exports, and a notetaker that joins Zoom, Teams and Meet or records bot-free from your desktop. Nothing here its rivals don't do, mind, and AI Chat is capped on every plan. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You buy a device, pair it with the app and connect accounts. | A4.8 from about 83,000 App Store ratings. Connect your calendar and the notetaker turns up to your meetings by itself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BiPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, with Gmail, Calendar, Outlook and Alexa connections, but no web app. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and a browser extension. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack and Notion, and with Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier from Pro. An MCP server is on every plan, though the API and webhooks are Enterprise only. |
| Best for | a wearable that records conversations and suggests to-dos | reading the transcript while the meeting's on |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Bee and Otter.ai. How we grade
Price against what you get
Bee starts at $11.99 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Otter.ai starts at $8.33 a month for each person and scores 3.7.
Otter.ai scores higher and starts $3.66 a month lower. Of the other AI meeting note takers on the chart, 23 score higher than Bee for less, and 2 score higher than Otter.ai for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Bee also covers tasks.
At a glance
| Bee | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $11.99 per month, billed monthly ($99.99 billed yearly) | $8.33 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | Conversation processing and summaries with 14 days of history. | Basic plan: 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 20 AI Chat queries a month and access to the 25 most recent conversations. |
| Free trial | 30 days of Bee Pro free with every new Bee device | 7-day free trial of Otter Business. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Amazon.com, Inc. | Otter.ai Inc |
| Price read from | bee.computer | otter.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Bee
- Wearable devices are bought separately, from Amazon, and the page says select features need Bee Pro.
- Unlimited history, Bee for Desktop and integrations need Bee Pro at $11.99 a month or $99.99 a year.
- Bee Eclipse is listed as coming soon at $99.99, and Bee runs through its apps, with no web dashboard listed.
- The vendor says audio is processed in memory and then deleted; the site carries an Amazon copyright notice.
Otter.ai
- Basic is capped at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, and only the 25 most recent conversations stay accessible.
- Pro is still metered: 1,200 minutes a month and 90 minutes per meeting. Unlimited meetings start on Business.
- AI Chat queries are capped on every plan, at most 200 per user per month.
- SSO, SCIM, the API and webhooks are Enterprise only, and HIPAA compliance is an add-on.
Key features
Bee
- Wearable capture
- Bee Frontier ($74.99) clips to clothing or wears on the wrist; Bee Eclipse ($99.99) attaches to a phone and records calls.
- Summaries and search
- Conversations become summaries and takeaways you can search; the free tier keeps 14 days, Pro keeps all of it.
- Suggested to-dos
- Follow-ups and action items are pulled from daily conversations and can become emails or calendar events.
- Bee for Desktop
- Mac and Windows app that saves Zoom, Meet and other online meetings, including on headphones. Needs Bee Pro.
- Personal timeline and patterns
- A daily timeline of conversations and places, and insights that the vendor says grow the more it is used.
- Amazon and Google connections
- Pro connects Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, Photos, Health, Alexa and Amazon Shopping.
Otter.ai
- Meeting agent or bot-free recording
- The notetaker can auto-join Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings from your calendar. The desktop app for Mac and Windows records without a bot joining the call.
- Live transcription with speaker ID
- Transcribes as people speak, labels speakers and syncs the text to audio playback. Custom vocabulary covers 5 terms on Basic and up to 800 names and 800 terms on Business.
- Automated summaries
- Each conversation gets an automated summary on every plan, so the main points are available without reading the full transcript.
- AI Chat
- Ask questions about your conversations in a chat. Monthly queries are capped per user: 20 on Basic, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business and Enterprise.
- File imports and exports
- Import audio or video files for transcription and export notes. Basic allows 3 imports in total and mp3 or txt export; paid plans add pdf, docx and srt.
- Integrations and MCP server
- Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier integrations start on Pro. An MCP server is listed on every plan, while the Otter API and webhooks are Enterprise only.
Plans
Bee
Free$0
Conversation summaries with 14 days of history; Pro features such as integrations are locked.
Bee Pro$11.99
per month, billed monthly ($99.99 billed yearly)
Unlimited history, daily summaries, templates, suggested to-dos, app integrations and Bee for Desktop.
Otter.ai
Basic$0
300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports and the 25 most recent conversations.
Pro$8.33
per user / month, billed annually ($16.99 billed monthly)
1,200 minutes a month, 90 minutes per meeting, 10 file imports a month, unlimited history and extra export formats.
Business$19.99
per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
Unlimited meetings and file imports, up to 4 hours per meeting, 3 concurrent meetings, activity logs and usage analytics.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds SSO, SCIM, domain capture, the Otter API and webhooks, video replay and a HIPAA compliance add-on.
Ways to pay less
Bee
- Annual discount
Save over 30% with yearly Bee Pro
Bee's Pro page says the yearly plan at $99.99 saves over 30% against paying $11.99 a month.
Otter.ai
- Annual discount
Save 51% on Pro and 33% on Business annually
Otter's pricing page shows Pro at $8.33 per user per month on annual billing against $16.99 monthly (labeled save 51%), and Business at $19.99 against $30 (save 33%).
- Education
20% off Pro for students and teachers
Individual students and teachers with an email address ending in .edu get 20% off Otter Pro: $6.67 per month billed annually ($79.99) or $13.59 month to month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Bee or Otter.ai?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Bee starts at $11.99 per month, billed monthly ($99.99 billed yearly), and Otter.ai starts at $8.33 per user / month, billed annually. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Bee or Otter.ai?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Bee and Otter.ai have a free plan.
Which platforms do Bee and Otter.ai run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Otter.ai lists a web app and a browser extension. Both list macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.