Productivity
Otter.ai: pricing, free plan, and how to use it
Otter.ai is an AI meeting notetaker that joins your Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls to record, transcribe and summarize them. Its free Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation. Pro is $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 with annual billing; Business is $30, or $19.99 annually.
Last checked:
Documentation Score
Measures documented business features and transparency from official pages, not product performance. How the score works
How do you use Otter.ai to record and summarize your meetings automatically?
Here is a practical setup in 5 steps. It follows the features Otter.ai lists.
- Sign up for a free Otter account at otter.ai (Otter recommends a work email so you can use Workspace features), then click the validation link Otter emails you: you need to verify your email before you can use any feature.
- Click Apps (Integrations) in the left navigation and, under Connect calendars & contacts, click Add next to Google or Microsoft. Sign in, review the permissions and click Continue (Google) or Accept (Microsoft). Otter syncs only each account's primary calendar.
- Open the Notetaker settings (Account Settings → Meetings, or the gear icon on the homepage calendar). Next to Default auto-join settings, pick “Meetings with a video link”, or narrow it to “Meetings where I am the host”, “External meetings outside your domain”, “Internal meetings within your domain” or “Meetings I manually select”. Change it at least 30 minutes before a meeting.
- On the same Meetings page, set Auto-share: “All event guests”, “Same domain guests” (business domains only), “Workspace members” or “Don’t Share” to keep notes private, and choose Viewer or Collaborator as the default permission.
- For a meeting that is not on your calendar, copy its Zoom, Google Meet or Teams URL (with the password embedded), paste it into the “Paste meeting URL to add Otter” field on the Otter homepage and press Enter or click Record. The host may need to admit Otter Notetaker from the waiting room; afterwards, open the conversation for the transcript and summary.
Editorial verdict
Otter.ai is documented for individuals and teams in sales, education, media and recruiting that meet on Zoom, Google Meet or Teams. Its official pages are strongest on free plan or trial and weakest on pricing transparency. This verdict summarizes the vendor’s published facts.
- Who it suits
- Individuals and teams in sales, education, media and recruiting that meet on Zoom, Google Meet or Teams (as Otter.ai positions it).
- Consider an alternative
- Fireflies.ai, which covers the same tasks (meetings & notes); compare them on the compare page. It may suit you better if pricing transparency matters most: Fireflies.ai’s record says “Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise prices are all published.”
- Main advantage
- Basic is free forever with 300 transcription minutes that renew each month (30 minutes per conversation).
- Main limitation
- Free plan, in the official wording: Free forever: 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 25 most recent conversations, 20 AI Chat queries a month, Otter MCP server. Documentation gap: Basic, Pro and Business prices are published; Enterprise is priced through a demo.
- Starting plan
- Start on the Basic plan ($0): Free forever: 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 25 most recent conversations, 20 AI Chat queries a month, Otter MCP server. Move up when you reach those limits. The next plan is Pro at $16.99/month per user, or $8.33/month per user on annual billing.
See Otter.ai pricing on the official site Not affiliate
Product details, plans and pricing
The how-to comes first. Below are the product facts, plan limits and prices, taken from official vendor pages. Each fact shows the date it was checked; vendors change plans, so confirm on the official page before you buy.
Quick answer
Yes, Otter.ai has a free plan: Basic includes 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, three lifetime file imports and your 25 most recent conversations. Pro is $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 with annual billing. Business is $30 per user a month, or $19.99 annually, and Business has a free trial that needs a card. Enterprise is priced through a demo. Checked October 22, 2026.
No affiliate links. Links to Otter.ai on this page are plain links to the official site.ai publishes.
What is Otter.ai?
Otter.ai's Otter Notetaker joins your Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings from your connected Google or Microsoft calendar, records and transcribes them live, captures shared slides and sends a meeting summary with action items afterwards. Otter AI Chat answers questions within and across your meetings. Pro adds 1,200 minutes a month, meetings up to 90 minutes, advanced meeting templates and Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier integrations; Business adds unlimited meetings up to 4 hours, three concurrent meetings, usage analytics and activity logs; Enterprise adds SSO and SCIM (100-user minimum), the Otter API and webhooks and a HIPAA add-on. Every plan, including Basic, lists the Otter MCP server, which connects your meeting notes to AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT. Otter has web, desktop, iOS and Android apps and a Chrome extension.
Official site: otter.ai Not affiliate. Category in the Library: Productivity.
How much does Otter.ai cost?
Prices from Otter.ai’s official pricing page Not affiliate, checked Oct 22, 2026, in US dollars before tax. If the official page shows something different, the official page is right.
Plans with no monthly price on the official page are not shown. Prices are the first monthly price in each table row below. “billed yearly” means the per-month figure of an annual plan paid up front; “billed monthly” is the month-to-month price.
| Plan | Price | What the official page says |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | Free forever: 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 25 most recent conversations, 20 AI Chat queries a month, Otter MCP server |
| Pro | $16.99/month per user, or $8.33/month per user on annual billing | For individuals and small teams: 1,200 minutes a month per user, up to 90 minutes per meeting, 10 file imports a month, unlimited conversation history, advanced meeting templates, Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier integrations |
| Business | $30/month per user, or $19.99/month per user on annual billing | For medium-sized teams: unlimited meetings up to 4 hours each, 6,000 import minutes a month, 3 concurrent meetings, usage analytics and activity logs, prioritized support; the monthly toggle also shows $24 for 3 months as an offer for first-time subscribers |
| Enterprise | Schedule a demo | SSO and SCIM (minimum 100-user license), Otter API and webhooks, custom integrations, HIPAA compliance add-on, custom data retention |
What is Otter.ai’s Documentation Score?
Otter.ai scores 9 out of 10 on the Documentation Score (documented business features and transparency, not product performance). Each point comes from a public fact on an official page, not from testing the tool. How the score works.
| Criterion | Points | Public fact |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | 1 / 2 | Basic, Pro and Business prices are published; Enterprise is priced through a demo. |
| Free plan or trial | 2 / 2 | Basic is free forever with 300 transcription minutes that renew each month (30 minutes per conversation). |
| Business features | 2 / 2 | Business plan for teams; SSO and SCIM listed on Enterprise (minimum 100-user license). |
| Integrations and API | 2 / 2 | Public API and webhooks documented in the help center (Enterprise workspaces), an Otter MCP server, and official integrations such as Zapier, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack and Zoom. |
| Documentation and support | 1 / 1 | Public help center at help.otter.ai. |
| Privacy and data terms | 1 / 1 | Privacy policy published (effective June 16, 2026); it states that Otter trains its proprietary AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions. |
| Total | 9 / 10 | Documentation Score (documented business features and transparency, not product performance) |
FAQ
Is Otter.ai free?
Yes. Otter's Basic plan is free forever with 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, three lifetime audio or video file imports and access to your 25 most recent conversations (older ones are archived, not deleted), per Otter's pricing page and help center, checked October 22, 2026.
How much does Otter.ai cost?
Per user a month: Pro is $16.99, or $8.33 with annual billing; Business is $30, or $19.99 with annual billing. Enterprise is priced through a demo. The monthly Business price also shows $24 for three months as an offer for first-time subscribers. Checked on Otter's pricing page, October 22, 2026.
Does Otter.ai have a free trial?
Yes, for Business. Otter's help center says the Otter Business free trial needs payment details; the card is charged at the Business monthly rate for your Workspace seats when the trial ends unless an admin cancels it first under Account Settings → Plan.
Does Otter.ai train AI on my meetings?
Otter's privacy policy (effective June 16, 2026) says it uses data to improve its services, including training its proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions, which may contain personal information. Read the policy and your workspace settings before recording sensitive calls.
Does Otter.ai have an API or MCP server?
Yes. Otter's Public API, with webhooks, is available for Enterprise workspaces; you create keys under Integrations → Developer. The Otter MCP server, listed on every plan including Basic, connects your meetings to AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT through OAuth.
Sources, all official Otter.ai pages, checked Oct 22, 2026: Otter.ai pricing Not affiliate; Otter Quick Start Guide (help center) Not affiliate; Connect your Calendar and Contacts to Otter (help center) Not affiliate; Automatically add Otter Notetaker to your meetings (help center) Not affiliate; Manage your Otter Notetaker settings (help center) Not affiliate; Manually add Otter Notetaker to a meeting (help center) Not affiliate; Limits on the Basic free plan (help center) Not affiliate; About your Otter Business free trial (help center) Not affiliate; Otter.ai Public API (help center) Not affiliate; Otter MCP Server (help center) Not affiliate; Otter.ai integrations Not affiliate; Otter.ai privacy policy Not affiliate.
Mishal Brands is an independent publisher with no affiliate or business relationship with Otter.ai. Product names belong to their owners. How we review.