Otter review
7.5/10★★★★★Live transcription app with speaker labels, summaries and AI chat
- Best for
- People who mostly record live conversations and lectures rather than upload files
- Price
- Freemium · from $8.33/month
Free: 300 minutes a month, only 3 file imports in total - Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension
- Made by
- Otter.ai, Inc., Mountain View, USA · since 2016
- App store ratings
- iOS 4.8★ (83K) · Android 4.8★ (45K)
What it is
Otter records and transcribes conversations live on your phone or computer with speaker identification, and can also import audio and video files. It writes summaries with action items and answers questions about your recordings, though it is built mainly around meetings.
What the AI does
- Live transcription with speaker identification
- Summaries with action items
- AI Chat across recordings
- Custom vocabulary
Pros and cons
- Excellent, very popular mobile apps
- Live transcript as you record
- Free plan includes live transcription and AI chat
- File imports are tightly capped below the Business plan
- Struggles with noisy recordings and accents
- Fewer languages than most rivals
How it scores
Great for live recording on any device, but strict file-import caps make it a weaker pick for transcribing existing files.
Feature checklist · 4 of 9
- Transcribes uploaded audio and video files (yes)
- Records audio in the app or on its own device (yes)
- Labels different speakers (yes)
- Transcribes 50+ languages (no)
- Can transcribe on your device, without uploading audio (no)
- Exports subtitles (SRT or VTT) (no)
- AI summaries or Ask AI about recordings (yes)
- Translates transcripts into other languages (no)
- Optional human-checked transcripts (no)
Alternatives
See all Otter alternatives, ranked →
- MacWhisper 8.1/10Mac users who transcribe a lot of files and want privacy and a one-time price
- Happy Scribe 7.8/10Video teams and researchers who need accurate transcripts and subtitles in many languages
- Rev 7.8/10Journalists, lawyers and researchers who sometimes need a guaranteed-accurate transcript
- Plaud 7.7/10People who record in-person meetings, lectures and phone calls and want a dedicated recorder