Hedy vs Otter.ai

Hedy

• People who want prompts during a conversation, not only notes after it
• In-person talks, lectures and appointments as well as online calls
• Buyers who prefer a one-time payment to a subscription

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

Hedy

• The Free plan is capped at 5 hours a month, and real-time AI insights stop after the first 30 minutes of each session.
• Importing past recordings, chat across sessions and the Zapier, Make and API integrations need Pro or Lifetime.
• Hedy for Teams, with shared workspaces and seat management, is in preview behind a waitlist, so current plans are for individuals.
• Other apps connect through automation platforms, webhooks or the API; the integrations page lists no direct CRM or task-app connectors.

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.

Hedy

Live suggestions

While a conversation is in progress, Hedy shows suggested questions, points that have not been addressed and talking points on screen. The Free plan limits this to the first 30 minutes of a session.

Bot-free, on-device listening

Hedy listens from your device instead of joining the call, and speech recognition runs locally. On capable hardware, Local AI Processing also generates summaries and suggestions on the device, offline.

Summaries, notes and to-dos

Each session ends with a summary, detailed notes, extracted to-dos and a searchable transcript in more than 30 languages. One tap saves a highlight with an AI-written analysis.

Topics and cross-session chat

Pro users can group sessions by client or project and ask questions that are answered from earlier conversations in that group.

Session types

Choosing a session type such as business meeting, medical, job interview, negotiation or lecture changes the style of coaching Hedy gives.

Automations, API and MCP

A Pro feature: send summaries, highlights and to-dos to other apps through Zapier, Make or n8n, or use the REST API, signed webhooks and an MCP server.

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.

Hedy

• Free$0

  Up to 5 hours a month, 30+ languages, summaries and meeting notes, and real-time AI insights for the first 30 minutes of a session.

• Pro$8.33

  per month, billed yearly ($99.99); $12.99 billed monthly

  Unlimited meeting length and sessions, import of past recordings, organizing and chatting across sessions, and Zapier, Make and API integrations.

• Lifetime$299

  one-time payment

  Everything in Pro for a single payment with no recurring fees, including all future updates.

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.

Hedy

• Annual discount

  36% off Pro with yearly billing

  Hedy's pricing page marks yearly billing as 36% off: Pro costs $99.99 a year, about $8.33 a month, instead of $12.99 billed monthly.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime access for a one-time $299

  The Lifetime plan includes everything in Pro and all future updates for a single $299 payment with no recurring fees.

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.