Otter alternatives (2026)
Last updated July 29, 2026
Otter is the most widely known AI notetaker: a bot joins your Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet call, transcribes it, and produces a summary. If you are searching for an alternative, it is usually for one of three reasons: the meeting bot (attendees see "Otter.ai" join every call), the per-minute limits (300 free minutes a month, 90-minute meeting caps on Pro), or the fact that it only sees scheduled calls while most of your team’s decisions happen off-calendar.
Here is an honest comparison of the main alternatives, including where each one actually fits.
Why people switch from Otter
The bot problem
Otter joins meetings as a visible participant. For internal calls that is friction; for external calls it is a conversation about consent before the conversation starts. Several alternatives capture audio from your own device instead, with no bot in the call.
The minutes problem
Otter meters transcription: 300 monthly minutes free, 1,200 on Pro, with per-meeting caps of 30 and 90 minutes (checked July 2026). Teams that talk all day hit these limits fast.
The calendar problem
A bot can only join meetings that exist on a calendar. The standup, the whiteboard argument, the decision made at a desk produce nothing, because nothing was scheduled. If most of your work is in-person, an online-meeting bot records the smallest part of your day.
The alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | How it captures | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audria | Teams that work from office; ambient all-day capture | No bot; iPhone and Mac, in person plus online | Free during early access |
| Otter | Scheduled video calls, transcripts and summaries | Bot joins Zoom, Teams, Meet | Free tier; Pro from $8.33 |
| Granola | Notes-first users on Mac who start per meeting | No bot; device audio, per session | Free trial; paid plans |
| Fathom | Free recording of video calls | Bot joins calls | Free; team plans paid |
| Fireflies | CRM-heavy sales teams | Bot joins calls | Free tier; Pro from $10 |
| Plaud | Hardware recorder fans | Wearable device | Device + subscription |
Pricing checked against live pages, July 29, 2026. Annual per-user rates shown.
The case for Audria
Audria is the alternative built for a different assumption: that your most important conversations are not video calls. You start it once when you reach the office, and the whole day’s conversations become drafted actions in your tools (Gmail, Slack, Jira, Linear, Confluence), a page for every person you talk to, and context that makes your Claude or ChatGPT an expert on your work. Online meetings are covered too: the Mac app captures them the same bot-free way.
There are no per-minute meters during early access, no bot in anyone’s call, and nothing is sent automatically: every draft waits for your review.
An honest recommendation
Choose Otter if what you want is transcripts of scheduled video calls at the lowest price, in many languages, with a long feature list. Choose Audria if your team shares an office and you want the follow-through drafted, not just the transcript.
Try it
- Download Audria for iPhone and Mac (free during early access)
- What is Audria? · Audria vs Otter · Granola alternatives
Competitor facts checked July 29, 2026 against otter.ai/pricing.