Castmagic vs Otter.ai
We give Castmagic a 2.0 GPA and Otter.ai a 3.0, out of 4.0. Otter.ai grades higher on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Castmagic
Turns podcasts and recordings into transcripts, posts and clips
Otter.ai
Live meeting transcription with summaries and AI chat
How we grade them
| 2.0GPACastmagicFair | 3.0GPAOtter.aiVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its alternatives. Hobby is $19 a month billed yearly, $29 monthly, for up to 3 seats, in line with Descript and Riverside, and Starter at $48 covers five people. But Hobby's 30 hours is a library total, not a monthly allowance, and more hours cost extra. | 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 | FNo free plan and no free trial on the pricing page, and the terms say payments aren't refunded. You pay before you see a single draft. | 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 | CIt does the repurposing job fully: imports from files, YouTube, Spotify or Zoom, labelled transcripts in 60+ languages, drafts in your brand voice, an RSS autopilot, clips and carousels, and chat across your library. It only writes from recordings, though, a smaller job than a writing app's. | 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 | BNo store rating on record, but there's little to set up: drop in a file or paste a link and the transcript and drafts come back. Defining your content pipeline once is the only real work, and it's optional. | A4.8 from about 83,000 App Store ratings, which is as strong a showing as this category has. Connect your calendar and the notetaker turns up to your meetings by itself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with an iPhone app for recording, and links to Zoom, Google Drive, Loom, Zapier, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Claude, plus a REST API from Starter. No desktop or Android app is mentioned. | 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 | turning podcast episodes into posts | 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: Castmagic and Otter.ai. How we grade
Where they differ
- Castmagic starts at $19 per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly). Otter.ai starts at $8.33 per user / month, billed annually.
- Otter.ai has a free plan. Castmagic does not.
- Only Otter.ai lists macOS, Windows and Android apps.
- Only Otter.ai lists a browser extension.
- Castmagic also covers video editing.
- Otter.ai also covers meeting notes and chat assistant.
At a glance
| Castmagic | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19 per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly) | $8.33 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | 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 | None listed | 7-day free trial of Otter Business. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Magic Studio LLC | Otter.ai Inc |
| Price read from | castmagic.io | otter.ai |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Castmagic
- Podcast hosts who want show notes and social posts from every episode
- Marketing teams repurposing webinars and interviews
- Creators with a large back catalog of recordings to mine
Otter.ai
- Reading a live transcript while a meeting or lecture is still going
- Students and teachers, who get a discount on Pro with a .edu address
- People who want the same notes on web, desktop and phone
Worth knowing
Castmagic
- The pricing page shows no free plan or free trial, and the terms say payments are non-refundable.
- Transcription hours are a running library total of 30, 100 or 400 hours, not a monthly allowance; more can be bought.
- API access needs Starter or higher, and Hobby is limited to 3 seats and 3 spaces.
- Apart from an iOS app for recording, it works in the browser; no desktop or Android app is mentioned.
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
Castmagic
- Import and transcription
- Bring in files, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TikTok or Reel links, Zoom, Loom or Google Drive. Transcripts are speaker-labelled and timestamped in 60+ languages.
- Content pipeline
- Define a set of outputs once, such as show notes, a newsletter and social posts, and every new recording gets them drafted in your brand voice.
- Podcast autopilot
- Point Castmagic at an RSS feed to import the back catalog and draft content for each new episode as it is published.
- Studio clips and carousels
- Cut captioned vertical clips in 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9 on a multi-clip timeline, make audiograms, and draft image carousels from what was said.
- Content strategist and library chat
- Ask questions across any set of recordings and get answers that cite the moment, or a weekly publishing plan drawn from your library.
- Audience chatbot, API and Claude
- Put a chatbot trained on your episodes on your site to capture leads, use the REST API from Starter up, or connect Claude to your library.
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
Castmagic
Hobby$19
per month for up to 3 seats, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
30 transcribed hours in the library, 3 spaces and 50 GB of storage, with unlimited AI content and clips. No API access. $239 a year.
Starter$48
per month for up to 5 seats, billed annually ($69 billed monthly)
100 transcribed hours, 10 spaces, 250 GB of storage, API access and an onboarding call. $579 a year.
Team$139
per month for 5 seats, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)
400 transcribed hours, 25 spaces, 1 TB and priority support. Extra seats cost $159 a year or $19 a month each. $1,669 a year.
Business & Scale$699
per month and up, billed annually ($999 billed monthly)
Custom transcription volume, seats and storage, an SLA and dedicated support for studios and publishers, sold through a demo with sales.
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
Castmagic
- Annual discount
Save 30% with annual billing
Billed annually, Hobby is $19 a month instead of $29, Starter $48 instead of $69 and Team $139 instead of $199. The pricing page calls this a 30% saving.
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.
