Otter.ai vs Fireflies vs Zoom AI vs Read.ai: Which AI Notetaker Actually Helps You Work Smarter?

📌 TL;DR
Here's your no-fluff breakdown of the top 4 AI notetakers:

• Best for tasks & integrations: 🔥 Fireflies.ai
• Best for Zoom-only teams: 📹 Zoom AI Companion
• Best for transcription-heavy work: 🦦 Otter.ai
• Best for meeting analytics: 📊 Read.ai

All were tested by me in real work settings — let’s dive in.

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👋 Why AI Notetakers Actually Matter in 2025

If you're a developer, PM, team lead, or startup founder, you probably spend more time in meetings than you'd like. Good AI notetakers:

• Free you from typing during calls 🧘
• Catch what you missed 👀
• Auto-generate tasks and follow-ups 📌
• Help your team stay aligned, async-style 🔁

But not all tools deliver. Some are fast. Others are smart. Few are both.

That’s why I tested 4 major players:

• Otter.ai
• Fireflies.ai
• Zoom AI Companion
• Read.ai

Here’s the breakdown 👇

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🔍 Feature Comparison Table

Feature	🦦 Otter.ai	🔥 Fireflies.ai	📹 Zoom AI Companion	📊 Read.ai
Real-Time Transcription	✅ Great	⚠️ Basic	✅ Excellent	⚠️ Limited
Meeting Summaries	🟡 Basic	✅ Smart & Instant	✅ Real-time	✅ Insightful
Speaker Detection	✅ Strong	✅ Good	✅ Native	🟡 Inconsistent
Auto Tasks / Action Items	❌ Manual	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Integrations	☑️ Zoom, Meet	🔥 50+ (Notion, Slack, HubSpot)	🔒 Zoom only	☑️ Google, Outlook
Analytics (Talk time, engagement)	❌ No	🟡 Limited	🟡 Some	✅ Deep insights
API/Webhooks	❌ Not open	✅ Yes (dev-friendly)	❌ Closed	🟡 Limited
Best Use Case	Transcription & solo work	Async team workflows	All-in Zoom experience	Execs & data lovers

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🔥 Fireflies.ai – The Smartest All-Rounder

Fireflies doesn’t just take notes — it thinks. It gives you:

• Instant summaries
• To-do lists
• Follow-up email drafts
• Integration with Slack, Notion, ClickUp, Trello, Salesforce, and more
• API & webhook access (you can trigger workflows)

Power feature: You can have it auto-join meetings and summarize them — even if you don’t show up.

🔧 Developer-Friendly:

• REST API to fetch transcripts
• Webhooks for meeting event triggers
• Chrome & calendar extensions

🧠 Best For: Cross-functional teams, async workflows, dev squads

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🦦 Otter.ai – Best for Live Transcription

Otter.ai is an OG. It shines in real-time transcription with:

• High accuracy
• Easy speaker tagging
• Live sharing + editing
• Highlight, comment, and export features

But it's not the smartest note summarizer. You'll need to manually extract action items.

🧠 Best For: Journalists, researchers, students, 1-on-1s

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📹 Zoom AI Companion – Seamless, If You’re All-In on Zoom

Zoom AI Companion feels like Zoom hired ChatGPT. It:

• Writes recaps in real-time
• Answers live questions like “what did John say about Q3?”
• Syncs with Zoom Mail, Calendar, Whiteboard, and Team Chat

But it’s only for Zoom calls — so if your team uses Google Meet or Teams, you're out of luck.

🧠 Best For: Zoom-heavy orgs who want native AI notes

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📊 Read.ai – The Analytics Nerd’s Dream

Read.ai is less about writing notes and more about reading the room.

You get:

• Engagement scores
• Sentiment tracking
• Talk time per speaker
• Real-time and post-call summaries
• AI-powered “meeting effectiveness” score

🧠 Best For: Exec reviews, leadership syncs, coaching & team performance analysis

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📈 SEO Tip for Dev.to Readers: Why This Comparison Matters

If you’re building tools, running technical teams, or managing customer calls, these tools can:

• Boost async communication
• Improve sprint planning accuracy
• Reduce misunderstandings and repeat meetings
• Power up integrations with Notion, Jira, Slack, and more

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💬 Poll: Which AI Notetaker Are You Using Right Now?

- [ ] Otter.ai
- [ ] Fireflies.ai
- [ ] Zoom AI Companion
- [ ] Read.ai
- [ ] Something else (drop it in the comments!)

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🧠 My Pick?

🔥 Fireflies.ai wins for me personally — flexible, smart, and works across everything I use (Zoom, Meet, Notion, Slack).
But if you're locked into Zoom or need post-call analytics, there's no one-size-fits-all.

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🚀 Coming Next: "Top 5 AI Tools of the Month for Dev Teams"

I’m dropping a monthly roundup of AI tools that are actually saving dev teams hours — from docs summarizers to PR reviewers.

Follow me on Dev.to so you don’t miss it.

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👇 Join the Conversation

Have a favorite AI notetaker I missed? What about you? Which one actually delivers? And which one’s just hyped up?
Know a tool that actually helps your dev team move faster?

Let’s crowdsource the best tools — drop them in the comments 👇