HyNote vs Otter.ai
We give HyNote and Otter.ai the same GPA: 3.6 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
HyNote
AI note taker for meetings, audio, PDFs and videos
Otter.ai
Live meeting transcription with summaries and AI chat
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAHyNoteExcellent | 3.6GPAOtter.aiExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPro is $6.66 a month billed yearly ($79.99), cheaper than most notetakers, with 1,200 transcription minutes a month. But real-time transcription, high-accuracy speaker identification and sending notes to Google Docs or Notion start on Plus at $10.83. Paid monthly, Pro is $11.99. | BPro is $8.33 a month if you pay for the year, a little under what meeting notetakers usually start at. Pay monthly and it's $16.99, about double. And Pro is still metered, at 1,200 minutes a month and 90 minutes a meeting. Unlimited meetings wait for Business at $19.99. |
| Free plan and trial | BThere's a free plan: recording and transcription, templates, file uploads and sync, up to 120 minutes a session. The pricing page doesn't say how many minutes a month that covers, so no A. On a recent Mac, the app also transcribes on the device at no charge. | BBasic gives you 300 transcription minutes a month for nothing. But a conversation stops at 30 minutes, you get 3 file imports ever, and only your 25 most recent conversations stay open. Fine for short calls, tight for anything longer. |
| Features | AIt transcribes Zoom, Meet, Teams and Webex calls without a bot, and takes notes from audio files, PDFs, images, YouTube links, web pages and phone calls too. Add more than 30 templates, chat across all your notes, and quizzes and flashcards for studying. | ALive transcription with the speakers labelled, a summary of every conversation on every plan, and AI Chat for asking what was said. The notetaker joins Zoom, Teams and Meet from your calendar, or the desktop app records with no bot in the call. |
| Ease of use | A4.8 from about 7,600 App Store ratings. There's no bot to invite to your calls, and your notes sync across the web, phone and tablet apps. | 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 | AWeb, Mac, iPhone, Android and a browser extension. Notes go to Google Docs and Notion, action items to Todoist, Asana or Slack, and Zapier is listed too. No Windows app is listed, so there it's the web version. | 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 | notes from meetings, PDFs and videos alike | 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: HyNote and Otter.ai. How we grade
Where they differ
- HyNote starts at $6.66 per month, billed annually ($79.99 per year). Otter.ai starts at $8.33 per user / month, billed annually.
- Only Otter.ai lists a Windows app.
- HyNote also covers web clipper and templates.
At a glance
| HyNote | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $6.66 per month, billed annually ($79.99 per year) | $8.33 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | Audio recording and transcription with up to 120 minutes per session, professional templates, file uploads, calendar integration and sync across web, mobile and tablet apps. | 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 | 7-day free trial on the Pro, Plus and Unlimited plans | 7-day free trial of Otter Business. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Turing Intelligence LLC | Otter.ai Inc |
| Price read from | hynote.ai | otter.ai |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Who each one suits
HyNote
- People who summarize lectures, PDFs and videos as well as meetings
- Mac users who want free on-device transcription with no meeting bot
- Sending action items from meetings to Todoist, Asana or Slack
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
HyNote
- Pro and Plus are capped at 1,200 transcription minutes a month, and a recording session tops out at 120 minutes, including on Unlimited.
- Transferring notes to Google Docs and Notion needs Plus or above, and CRM integration needs Unlimited or Teams.
- Live transcription on the web supports six languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. The mobile app covers more.
- The US App Store lists higher in-app prices for some plans than the website, such as $89.99 a year for Pro.
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
HyNote
- Bot-free meeting transcription
- HyNote transcribes Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Webex calls live or from a recording without adding a bot to the call, with speaker identification, timestamps and more than 50 languages.
- Eight kinds of input
- Notes can start from live audio, uploaded audio files, video, PDFs, images read by OCR, YouTube links, captured web pages and phone calls.
- Summaries and templates
- Transcripts and documents become summaries, key points, action items and meeting minutes, with more than 30 templates such as SWOT analysis, interview notes and follow-up emails.
- Free Mac app with local transcription
- The Mac app records any app's audio plus the microphone and transcribes on the device at no charge. Local AI needs macOS 26.4 or later on an M1 or newer Mac; online AI is a paid extra.
- Chat and study tools
- You can chat with a single note or all notes, and turn material into quizzes, flashcards and study plans. Podcasts, slides and infographics are generated with credits.
- Export and integrations
- Notes export to Google Docs, Notion, PDF or TXT, and action items can be sent to Todoist, Asana or Slack. Zapier and a ChatGPT connection are also listed.
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
HyNote
Free$0
Audio recording and transcription up to 120 minutes per session, professional templates, file uploads, calendar integration and cross-device sync.
Pro$6.66
per month, billed annually ($79.99); $11.99 billed monthly
1,200 transcription minutes a month, 300 one-time podcast, slides and infographic credits, high-accuracy notes translation and transcript export.
Plus$10.83
per month, billed annually ($129.99); $18.99 billed monthly
1,200 minutes of real-time transcription a month, high-accuracy speaker identification, live translation, and note transfer to Google Docs and Notion.
Unlimited$15.83
per month, billed annually ($189.99); $24.99 billed monthly
Unlimited real-time transcription, unlimited private storage, 600 one-time generation credits and CRM integration.
Teams$15
per seat / month, billed annually ($180), from 2 seats
Everything in Unlimited, plus team templates, admin controls and priority support.
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
HyNote
- Annual discount
Up to 45% off with annual billing
The pricing page marks annual billing as 45% off. Pro is $79.99 a year against $11.99 a month, Plus $129.99 against $18.99, and Unlimited $189.99 against $24.99.
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.
