Otter.ai vs Sembly 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

Entry price: Otter.ai from $8.33/seat/mo, Sembly AI from $17/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan: Only Otter.ai (Sembly AI has paid plans only)
Public API: Otter.ai has one; not confirmed by us for Sembly AI
Best fit: Otter.ai: Teams that live in Zoom, Meet or Teams and want notes without a note-taker · Sembly AI: PMOs and consultancies tracking commitments across dozens of calls
Platforms: Otter.ai: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension · Sembly AI: Web

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

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

Sembly AIMeeting recorder producing summaries, tasks and searchable transcripts

Side by side

Fact	Otter.ai	Sembly AI
Category	Meeting Assistants	Meeting Assistants
Pricing model	Freemium	Paid
Starts at	$8.33/seat/mo	$17/mo
Public API	Yes	Not confirmed
Trust score	94 / 100	91 / 100
Platforms	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API	Web
Company	Otter.ai	Sembly AI, Inc.
Launched	2016	2019
Last verified	Oct 15, 2026	Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

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

Sembly AI

Worth the premium when you need meetings turned into structured commitments — tasks, risks, decisions — rather than a searchable transcript. If a transcript plus a summary paragraph is all you want, this is priced well above what you need.

Pros

Extracts risks, decisions and tasks as separate items rather than one summary blob
Multi-meeting chat, AI-generated documents and insights from the Pro tier upward
Captures Zoom, Teams, Meet and Webex rather than a single platform
MCP access on Pro and MAX lets external agent clients reach the meeting data

Cons

No standing free tier — every plan's free option is a time-limited trial
Single-user Basic at $17/month sits above several competitors' entry price
The differentiating features all start at Pro, so Basic is a weak comparison point
No public developer API; the /api path resolves to a sales demo form

Which one fits

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

Choose Sembly AI if you need

PMOs and consultancies tracking commitments across dozens of calls
Teams that need to interrogate several meetings at once, not one at a time
Regulated environments needing HIPAA handling, custom SSO and audit logs