Flownote 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 $14/seat/mo for Flownote
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Otter.ai has one; not confirmed by us for Flownote
Higher Trust score: Otter.ai — 94 vs 80 for Flownote
Best fit: Flownote: Founders, salespeople and consultants who want meeting notes without a bot joining calls · Otter.ai: Teams that live in Zoom, Meet or Teams and want notes without a note-taker

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

FlownoteRecords and transcribes meetings in the background without a bot joining the call, then turns them into notes and follow-ups.

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

Side by side

Fact	Flownote	Otter.ai
Category	Meeting Recording & Notes	Meeting Assistants
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$14/seat/mo	$8.33/seat/mo
Public API	Not confirmed	Yes
Trust score	80 / 100	94 / 100
Platforms	macOS, Windows, iOS	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API
Company	Flownote	Otter.ai
Launched	—	2016
Last verified	Oct 14, 2026	Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Flownote

Flownote's bot-free capture and per-person meeting history suit people in back-to-back calls who do not want a visible notetaker joining every meeting. The free plan now records without limit but hides anything older than 30 days, so it works as a long trial; anyone who needs to search months of conversations will end up on the $14 Pro seat.

Pros

Records system audio, so no bot appears in the meeting and any calling app works
Free plan with unlimited meeting capture, not only a short trial
Cross-meeting AI chat and per-contact history go beyond simple transcription

Cons

Free plan only shows the last 30 days of meetings
No Android or Linux app, and no browser-only option is advertised
Mobile subscriptions are billed separately from desktop plans
The terms link points to Apple's standard app licence; no company entity or country is named

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 Flownote if you need

Founders, salespeople and consultants who want meeting notes without a bot joining calls
Anyone wanting AI chat over their meeting history, not just per-meeting summaries
Mac, Windows or iPhone users who meet across several calling apps

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