Mem vs Otter.ai (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Otter.ai grades higher than Mem: 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.
Mem
Notes workspace with an AI agent that tracks tasks and meetings
Otter.ai
Live meeting transcription with summaries and AI chat
Which one is for you
Pick Mem if
- Fits if you want notes and meeting capture in one place, without a bot
- Works for people who want an agent to pull tasks out of their notes
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 25 notes and 3 hours of Voice Mode a month
- Pricey if you want connections or routines, which start at Pro, $29 a month
- Not for you if you use Android, as no app is listed
- Watch out: data is encrypted at rest and in transit, but not end-to-end encrypted
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- Skip it if you need SSO, SCIM, the API or webhooks, which are Enterprise only at an unpublished price, with HIPAA as an add-on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
| 2.2GPAMemFair | 3.0GPAOtter.aiVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$9 a month for Plus, which is just above the $8.33 that marks the cheaper quarter. Pro is $29 and the larger plans go up to $199. | 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 | C25 messages, 25 new notes, 15 open tasks and 3 hours of Voice Mode a month. Most people will hit one of those. | 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 | CNotes, task tracking, a web clipper, Voice Mode and search by meaning. Connections and routines start at Pro, $29, and meetings are one use among several. | 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. An agent that learns from your notes takes some time to set up. | 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, Mac and Windows with Gmail, Slack, Todoist and Claude connections, but no Android 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 notes workspace with an agent that tracks your tasks | 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: Mem and Otter.ai. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mem starts at $9 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 $0.67 a month lower. Of the other AI meeting note takers on the chart, 17 score higher than Mem 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
- Mem also covers notes, web clipper and calendar.
At a glance
| Mem | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9 / month | $8.33 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | 25 messages to Mem and 25 new notes a month, 15 open tasks and projects tracked, and 3 hours of Voice Mode. | 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 | Mem | Otter.ai Inc |
| Price read from | get.mem.ai | otter.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Mem
- Limits are monthly counts, and the free plan stops at 25 notes, 25 messages and 3 hours of Voice Mode.
- Connections and custom routines start at Mem Pro ($29 a month); Plus has neither.
- Data is encrypted at rest and in transit but, the FAQ says, not end-to-end encrypted.
- The download page lists iOS, Mac and Windows apps and no Android app.
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
Mem
- Voice Mode for meetings
- Turned on inside any note, it captures a meeting or a spoken thought and creates a structured transcript organized into notes. The site says no meeting bot joins.
- Task and project tracking
- Mem reviews notes you create or edit during the month to detect tasks and projects. The plan sets how many notes it reviews and how many items it tracks at once.
- Push-to-Remember
- A held keyboard shortcut lets you say something once and have the agent decide where it fits. Listed for Mac and Windows.
- Connections and routines
- Paid plans link external sources such as Gmail, Slack or Todoist as context, and run scheduled custom routines like briefings and reminders.
- Web clipper and search
- Clip pages from the web into notes, and search notes, meetings and connected sources by meaning. Deep Search and templates are on every plan.
- Markdown export
- The FAQ says notes and collections can be exported as Markdown files in one click.
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
Mem
Free$0
25 messages, 25 new notes, 15 open tasks and projects, and 3 hours of Voice Mode a month.
Mem Plus$9
per month
50 messages, 50 new notes, 25 open tasks and projects, and 10 hours of Voice Mode a month.
Mem Pro$29
per month
100 messages and notes, 25 hours of Voice Mode, one custom routine and one connection such as Gmail or Slack.
Mem Pro 2×$49
per month
200 messages and notes, 50 hours of Voice Mode, two custom routines and two connections.
Mem Pro 5×$99
per month
500 messages and notes, 125 hours of Voice Mode, five custom routines and five connections.
Mem Pro 10×$149
per month
1,000 messages and notes, 250 hours of Voice Mode, 10 routines and 10 connections. A 20× plan at $199 also exists.
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
Mem
No public discounts listed.
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, Mem or Otter.ai?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Mem starts at $9 / month, 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, Mem or Otter.ai?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Mem and Otter.ai have a free plan.
Which platforms do Mem and Otter.ai run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Otter.ai lists a web app, an Android app and a browser extension. Both list macOS, Windows and iOS 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.