Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Cheaper paid plan: Otter.ai — $8.33/seat/mo vs $10/seat/mo for Fireflies.ai
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Both have one
Best fit: Fireflies.ai: Sales and success teams who want call notes landing in the CRM by themselves · Otter.ai: Teams that live in Zoom, Meet or Teams and want notes without a note-taker
Platforms: Fireflies.ai: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Slack app · Otter.ai: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Fireflies.aiMeeting recorder that files notes into your CRM

Otter.aiMeeting transcription with per-plan minute and length caps

Side by side

Fact	Fireflies.ai	Otter.ai
Category	Meeting Assistants	Meeting Assistants
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$10/seat/mo	$8.33/seat/mo
Public API	Yes	Yes
Trust score	94 / 100	94 / 100
Platforms	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API, Slack app	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API
Company	Fireflies.ai Corp.	Otter.ai
Launched	2016	2016
Last verified	Oct 15, 2026	Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Fireflies.ai

Unlimited transcription on the free tier is the hook and it is genuinely unlimited — the meter sits on storage and AI credits, which is where any team of real size ends up on a paid seat.

Pros

Transcription minutes are unlimited on every tier, including Free
API access is not paywalled — it starts on the free plan
Pro at $10/seat undercuts most rival meeting assistants
Storage becomes unlimited from the $19 Business tier

Cons

Monthly billing is about 1.8x the annual rate on Pro and 1.5x on Business
AI credits, not transcription, are the real ration — 20 a month on both Free and Pro
Free storage is 400 minutes for the entire team, not per person
Enterprise is annual-only at $39/seat

Otter.ai

Still the default for English-language meeting notes, and the free tier is unusually usable. What determines the right plan is not features but the per-conversation ceiling: 30 minutes on Basic and 90 on Pro means a standard hour-long review truncates on the free tier and a workshop truncates on Pro. Pick the tier by your longest recurring meeting.

Pros

300 free minutes a month makes evaluation real rather than token
Annual Pro at $8.33 is roughly half the month-to-month rate
An MCP server is exposed from the free tier, so assistants can query transcripts without the paid API
Business removes the minute cap entirely rather than raising it

Cons

The API and webhooks require Enterprise, which is quote-only
Per-conversation ceilings (30 min free, 90 min Pro) cut recordings mid-meeting
Basic allows three file imports in total, not per month
Month-to-month pricing is roughly double annual at both self-serve tiers

Which one fits

Choose Fireflies.ai if you need

Sales and success teams who want call notes landing in the CRM by themselves
Distributed teams searching across months of past meetings
Developers pulling meeting data out through an API on any plan

Choose Otter.ai if you need

Teams that live in Zoom, Meet or Teams and want notes without a note-taker
Accessibility use, where live captions matter as much as the transcript
Recruiters and researchers who need searchable interview records across a workspace