Otter.ai vs TurboScribe

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, TurboScribe from $10/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Otter.ai has one; not confirmed by us for TurboScribe
Higher Trust score: Otter.ai — 94 vs 58 for TurboScribe
Best fit: Otter.ai: Teams that live in Zoom, Meet or Teams and want notes without a note-taker · TurboScribe: Journalists, researchers and students transcribing long interviews and lectures

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

TurboScribeBrowser-based transcription that turns audio and video files into text with speaker labels, with a flat-price unlimited plan.

Side by side

Fact	Otter.ai	TurboScribe
Category	Meeting Assistants	Speech-to-Text & Transcription
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$8.33/seat/mo	$10/mo
Public API	Yes	Not confirmed
Trust score	94 / 100	58 / 100
Platforms	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API	Web
Company	Otter.ai	—
Launched	2016	—
Last verified	Oct 15, 2026	Oct 29, 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

TurboScribe

TurboScribe is a strong value for anyone who transcribes many long recordings, since one flat fee covers unlimited hours and the free tier is enough to test quality. Teams that need live meeting capture, an API, shared workspaces or a vendor with a named company and compliance paperwork should look at Otter, Rev or Sonix.

Pros

Flat-price unlimited plan with no overall usage cap
Long files (up to 10 hours or 5 GB) and batch uploads of 50
Usable free tier of three 30-minute files a day
Speaker labels and subtitle exports

Cons

The plan covers one person; no team pricing published
Web upload only, with no live capture or API
The site does not name the company behind it

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 TurboScribe if you need

Journalists, researchers and students transcribing long interviews and lectures
Podcasters and video makers who need subtitle files
Heavy users who want a flat price instead of per-minute billing