Otter.ai vs Summary AI

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

Summary AI

• Recording in-person meetings, lectures and interviews on a phone
• Individuals who want unlimited transcription at one flat price
• Students and journalists who also need to transcribe uploaded files

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.

Summary AI

• There is no ongoing free plan: after 1 free recording, new summaries need a subscription. Existing summaries stay viewable.
• Subscriptions are sold only through the App Store or Google Play, and the pricing page lists no monthly plan.
• Paying $8.99 every week adds up to several times the $79.99 yearly plan over a full year.
• The US App Store listing shows other in-app price points too, including $17.99 and $29.99 monthly, so the in-app offer may differ.

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.

Summary AI

One-tap recording

Starts recording with a single tap and keeps going in the background or with the screen locked. The App Store listing covers iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Transcripts with speaker labels

Produces a punctuated transcript that labels each speaker and can be searched by keyword, jumping to that moment in the recording. Help docs cite more than 120 languages.

AI summaries

Condenses a recording into key points, decisions and action items laid out as meeting minutes. Summaries can be customized, translated and exported to PDF.

Meeting Assistant

Syncs with Google or Outlook Calendar and joins scheduled Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings to record them, then emails the notes.

Ask AI Chat

Answers questions about a recording, such as who was given a task or which decisions were made. Paid plans include unlimited chat messages.

File uploads

Upload existing audio, video or PDF files to transcribe and summarize. Paid plans put no limit on the number or length of uploads.

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.

Summary AI

• Weekly Plan$8.99

  per week, billed weekly through the app

  Unlimited audio transcriptions, recordings of any length, 120+ languages, and uploads of audio, PDFs and other files.

• Yearly Plan$79.99

  per year, billed once a year through the app

  The same features as the weekly plan, billed once a year. The vendor marks it as its most popular plan.

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.

Summary AI

• Annual discount

  Yearly plan costs far less than paying weekly

  The pricing page lists $79.99 for a year against $8.99 a week, and describes the yearly plan as the best value compared with the weekly one.