TL;DR
Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai splits on how you use meetings. Otter Pro
($8.33/mo annual) is the cheaper individual pick, with in-call AI Chat that answers
questions while the call is still running. Fireflies Pro ($10/seat/mo annual)
counters with unlimited transcription, 100+ integrations, native CRM sync and a
free tier that never meters your minutes. Solo live-note users take Otter; teams
whose notes have to land in a CRM take Fireflies.
Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai is the closest head-to-head in AI meeting notes, and the
October 2026 price lists make it closer: Otter Pro is $8.33/mo billed annually,
Fireflies Pro is $10/seat/mo billed annually, and both free plans still look usable
on paper. We re-checked both vendors' pricing, security and integration pages to
compare how each tool fits different meeting workflows — not which one has the
longer feature list.
The contenders
- Otter.ai — joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams with the OtterPilot bot, shows a live transcript in-call, and layers Otter AI Chat, summaries and action items on top. Its centre of gravity is still the meeting itself, not the archive.
- Fireflies.ai — sends its bot (or grabs audio through the Chrome extension), transcribes with no monthly minute meter, then pushes structured summaries into CRMs and task tools, with AskFred for questions across your whole meeting library.
Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai: pricing and free tiers
Pricing as of October 2026, read from otter.ai/pricing and fireflies.ai/pricing:
| Plan | Otter.ai | Fireflies.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 300 min/mo, 30-min cap per meeting, 3 lifetime file imports, 20 AI Chat queries, workspace up to 5 | Unlimited transcription, limited storage (400 min per team listed), 20 one-time AI credits |
| Entry paid | Pro: $16.99/mo monthly, $8.33/mo annual | Pro: $18/mo monthly, $10/seat/mo annual |
| Mid tier | Business: $30/mo ($24 promo, first 3 months), $19.99/mo annual | Business: $29/mo monthly, $19/seat/mo annual |
| Top tier | Enterprise: custom quote, SSO and admin controls | Enterprise: $39/seat/mo, annual only — SSO, SCIM, HIPAA, private storage |
| What is metered | Pro: 1,200 transcription min/mo, 90-min meetings, 10 imports, 5 billed users | AI credits: 20/mo Pro, 30/mo Business, 50/mo Enterprise; extra packs from about $5/user/mo |
Otter meters minutes below Enterprise; Fireflies meters AI credits on every plan —
most of the pricing story, alongside Otter Pro's five-user cap.
Evidence and scope
Prices, free-tier limits and feature availability on this page come from Otter's and
Fireflies' official pricing, security and integration pages, re-checked in October
- We did not run a scored or timed comparison on live calls: the earlier test jobs, accuracy and recap-speed figures and ratings had no source behind them and have been removed. Compare the published plan terms and vendor-documented features above instead.
Integrations: where the transcript goes
- Meeting platforms: Otter covers Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams; Fireflies adds Webex and GoToMeeting on top of the same three.
- CRM depth: Otter pushes notes into Salesforce and HubSpot (1 sync user on Pro, 5 on Business, unlimited on Enterprise). Fireflies syncs natively to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho and a long tail of advisor CRMs, with integration rules on Business.
- Everything else: Fireflies lists 100+ native apps — Slack, Notion, Asana, ClickUp, Jira, Airtable — plus Zapier and Make, and a GraphQL API on paid tiers. Otter's list is shorter: Slack, Dropbox, calendar, Zapier, with API and webhooks reserved for Enterprise.
- Capture outside meetings: Fireflies records browser tabs through its Chrome extension and bulk-uploads files on every plan; Otter's free tier allows three lifetime imports, Pro ten per month.
If your notes are the end product, Otter is enough; if the transcript has to reach
a CRM or task board without a Zapier bridge, Fireflies wins this section outright.
Security and compliance
| Requirement | Otter.ai | Fireflies.ai |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type II | Yes | Yes — report available on Enterprise under NDA |
| GDPR | Yes — DPA and SCCs | Yes — plus EU-US Data Privacy Framework listing |
| HIPAA / BAA | Enterprise add-on | Enterprise, via signed BAA + private storage |
| Encryption | AES-256 at rest (AWS), TLS in transit | AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit |
| Training on your data | De-identified data used; manual review is opt-in | Stated 0-day retention: customer data never used for AI training |
| Data residency | US hosting only | US default; EU regions and bring-your-own storage on Enterprise |
| 2FA | Available on every plan, including free | Available (SSO/SCIM from Enterprise) |
Both vendors clear the standard bar. The differences sit at the edges: Fireflies
publishes a no-training commitment and a HIPAA path starting with a signed BAA,
while Otter's HIPAA coverage and SSO sit behind a sales conversation and it offers
no EU residency — and neither publishes an ISO 27001 certificate on its security page.
Where Otter wins
- Live transcript: shows a real-time transcript while the call is running.
- In-meeting AI Chat: ask follow-ups mid-call; Fireflies only answers afterwards.
- Individual price: $8.33/mo annual versus $10 — and .edu accounts get Pro at $6.67/mo annual ($79.99/yr).
Where Fireflies wins
- Free tier: unlimited transcription, no 30-minute meeting cap — the most generous in this category.
- Integration breadth: 100+ native apps and the deeper CRM story, including Zoho.
- Compliance defaults: no-training policy, EU-US DPF listing, HIPAA via BAA on Enterprise.
- Team economics: Business at $19/seat/mo annual under Otter's $19.99, with volume discounts above 50 seats.
Who should pick what
Pick Otter if…
- You take notes during the call and want answers before anyone hangs up.
- You are an individual or a small team — Pro stops at five billed users anyway.
- A clean live transcript matters more than post-call analytics.
Pick Fireflies if…
- Notes are a team system: shared library, topic search, analytics, CRM handoff.
- Meeting volume is unpredictable and minute math gives you a headache.
- You record things that are not meetings — webinar tabs, interview uploads.
- Procurement asks about HIPAA, data residency or a no-training clause.
Live on the free tiers if…
Under about ten short meetings a month, Otter Basic is fine; if you also record
anything beyond scheduled calls, Fireflies Free will outlast it.
The bottom line
For one person taking meetings, Otter is the sharper instrument: cheaper, and it
talks back while the meeting is happening. For a team whose notes have to become
shared, searchable, CRM-connected memory, Fireflies is the better seat — unlimited
minutes, wider integrations, and a free tier you can actually live on while you
evaluate. All prices were re-checked against both vendors' official pricing and
security pages in October 2026.
Verdict: Fireflies.ai for teams; Otter.ai for individuals
Solo users and live-note fans should buy Otter Pro at $8.33/mo annual for the
live transcript and in-call AI Chat. Teams, CRM-driven workflows and
compliance-sensitive buyers should take Fireflies — Pro at $10/seat/mo annual for
individuals, Business at $19/seat/mo for shared libraries, rules and analytics —
and start on its free tier, which is the most usable $0 in the category.
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