Fireflies vs Otter 2026: Pricing, Limits and Which to Pick

The short answer: Otter is the cheaper choice for individuals and small English-speaking teams: Pro costs $8.33 per user per month billed annually and includes 1,200 transcription minutes. Fireflies is the stronger choice for teams that need many languages, longer recording retention, conversation intelligence and a wide integration list, with Business at $19 per seat per month billed annually. If you mostly need clean notes from English meetings, start with Otter. If you run sales or multilingual calls, start with Fireflies.

All plan details are vendor-published, checked September 2026 on fireflies.ai and otter.ai. Both vendors change limits often, so confirm the current numbers on their pricing pages before you buy.

Fireflies vs Otter at a glance

For review scores and a feature grid, see the Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai comparison on Spotsaas.

Is Fireflies better than Otter?

Fireflies is better for teams: it transcribes in 100+ languages, stores unlimited recordings on Business, adds conversation intelligence and team analytics, and plugs into CRMs and dialers. Otter is better value for individuals who meet mostly in English, since its Pro plan costs less and its live transcription in the app is quick to use. Choose on language needs and team size first.

The products also feel different in use. Otter’s app records and transcribes in-person conversations on web and mobile as well as video calls, with iOS and Android widgets and Siri shortcuts. Fireflies centres on a notetaker that joins your calendar meetings, surrounded by a set of AI apps: a personal assistant, email assistant, voice agents and an AI Skills store.

How much do Fireflies and Otter cost?

Fireflies costs $10 (Pro), $19 (Business) or $39 (Enterprise) per seat per month on annual billing, with monthly billing at $18 and $29 for Pro and Business. Otter costs $8.33 (Pro) or $19.99 (Business) per user per month on annual billing, and Enterprise is quoted after a demo. Both offer free plans.

Fireflies plans (vendor-published, checked September 2026)

More on the Fireflies.ai pricing page on Spotsaas.

Otter plans (vendor-published, checked September 2026)

Otter shows annual prices with savings of 51% on Pro and 33% on Business against monthly billing, and offers a 20% student and teacher discount on Pro for .edu email addresses. See the Otter.ai pricing page on Spotsaas for more.

Is Fireflies AI completely free?

No. Fireflies has a free-forever plan, but it limits AI summaries, caps storage at 400 minutes per team and includes 20 AI credits. Video recording, downloads and unlimited summaries need Pro or higher. Otter’s free Basic plan is similar in spirit: 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, and only your 25 most recent conversations stay visible.

For a solo user testing either tool, the free plans are enough to judge transcript accuracy on your own meetings. For a team, the storage and history limits bite within a few weeks, so budget for a paid plan if you want an archive you can search.

Which is more accurate at transcription?

Neither vendor publishes an independent accuracy benchmark, and accuracy depends heavily on audio quality, accents and jargon. The practical difference is language coverage: Fireflies transcribes 100+ languages and Business adds a multi-language mode, while Otter supports six languages. Both let you add custom vocabulary or edit transcripts to fix names and terms.

Otter’s custom vocabulary is explicit on its pricing page: 5 terms on Basic, 100 names plus 100 other terms on Pro, and up to 800 of each for a Business team. Fireflies lets you edit transcripts on every plan. The fairest test is to run both on the same three meetings, one clean, one with crosstalk and one with heavy jargon, and compare the output line by line.

Which is better for sales teams?

Fireflies suits most sales teams better at mid-market prices. Its Business plan adds conversation intelligence (sentiment, question detection, talk-time analytics, topic trackers) and it integrates with CRMs and dialers. Otter’s sales features, including the Otter Sales Notetaker and custom CRM and dialer integrations, sit in its Enterprise plan, which requires a demo.

Sales teams that need deal-level analysis, forecasting and coaching at scale often compare both against dedicated revenue intelligence tools. The Fireflies.ai vs Gong comparison and our guide to choosing conversation intelligence software cover that step up.

What can you do with the notes after the meeting?

Both tools let you ask an AI questions about past meetings. Fireflies calls its assistant AskFred (limited on the free plan) and meters some AI features through AI credits. Otter’s AI Chat has a monthly query cap: 20 per user on Basic, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business and Enterprise. Both connect to outside AI assistants: Otter lists an MCP server on every plan, and Fireflies offers API access.

Beyond chat, the follow-up tools differ:

• Fireflies adds an action item and task manager, soundbite clips, time-stamped comments, channels for sharing and, on Pro and above, a personal assistant and email assistant.
• Otter adds a takeaways panel for assigning action items, automated slide capture from virtual meetings, folders and channel sharing, and exports in mp3, txt, pdf, docx and srt formats on paid plans.

If your team works from shared channels and CRM records, Fireflies’ integrations do more of the filing for you. If notes mostly go into documents, Otter’s export formats cover that well.

How do Fireflies and Otter handle security and privacy?

Fireflies states SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance on all plans, with HIPAA compliance, private storage and custom data retention on Enterprise, and says customer data is not used for AI training. Otter lists TLS and AES-256 encryption, two-factor authentication and custom data retention, with HIPAA available as an Enterprise add-on and SSO requiring at least 100 users.

For regulated teams, Otter’s Enterprise controls are worth a look: audio removal from conversations, recording disclaimer emails, Microsoft Teams recording permission capture and export permissions. Fireflies Enterprise adds a rules engine, audit logs through its API and a transcript-and-summary-only mode for teams that do not want to keep recordings. Whichever you pick, set a retention policy before rollout and tell meeting guests they are being recorded.

Who should choose Otter?

Otter fits individuals, students, journalists, consultants and small teams that meet mostly in English and want low-cost, reliable notes. Its Pro plan is among the lowest-priced paid plans of the meeting assistants we checked, and the Otter app handles in-person conversations and lectures as well as video calls.

• Solo professionals who need 1,200 minutes a month or less.
• Students and teachers, who get 20% off Pro with a .edu address.
• Teams under 25 people on Business who want unlimited minutes.
• Anyone who records in-person meetings on a phone.

Compare other options on the Otter.ai alternatives list.

Who should choose Fireflies?

Fireflies fits sales, recruiting, customer success and multilingual teams that want a searchable archive of every call, conversation analytics and automation across CRM, project and storage tools. It also suits companies that want an Enterprise plan with a published price instead of a quote.

• Teams meeting in languages beyond Otter’s six.
• Sales and recruiting teams that want talk-time and sentiment analytics on Business.
• Admins who want a rules engine, private storage and audit logs on Enterprise.
• Users who prefer a Chrome extension that records without a visible bot.

Read our walkthrough on using the Fireflies AI notetaker to automate meeting notes, or browse Fireflies.ai alternatives.

What are the limitations of each?

Fireflies’ limits are AI credits that cap some AI features even on paid plans, recording caps of two to four hours per meeting, and an Enterprise tier that is annual only. Otter’s limits are six languages, tight per-meeting caps on Basic and Pro, and sales features reserved for Enterprise.

• Fireflies: 20 to 50 AI credits depending on plan; 2-hour recording limit on Free and Pro; video capture at 720p below Enterprise.
• Otter: 90-minute meeting cap on Pro; Business capped at 25 billed users; SSO needs at least 100 users.

What are the best alternatives to Fireflies and Otter?

Fathom, Read AI, Fellow, Granola and Avoma are the most common alternatives. Fathom offers a generous free plan, Granola takes notes without a meeting bot, Fellow pairs notes with agendas, and Avoma adds conversation and revenue intelligence. Our roundup of the best AI meeting assistants for teams compares them on price and fit.

Browse the conversation intelligence and transcription software categories on Spotsaas for the full field.

Related reading: 7 Best AI Meeting Assistants for Teams (2026)

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