Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai
A dollar apart and aimed at the same meetings, so the transcript itself is not where this is decided. Fireflies wraps the recording in 200+ AI Skills, conversation intelligence and deep CRM and project-management integration. Otter positions itself as a knowledge engine, with AI Chat across your entire meeting history and automatic action-item extraction that reviewers rate above expectations.
Fireflies.ai or Otter.ai?
Pick Fireflies.ai if Pick Fireflies if meetings feed a process. It works across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Webex, AskFred searches your whole meeting history in natural language, and it takes direct audio uploads for recordings made elsewhere. The CRM and project-management integrations are where it earns the extra dollar.
Pick Otter.ai if Pick Otter if you want reliable real-time transcription and good notes without building a workflow around it. Real-time accuracy is consistently praised on G2 and Capterra, speaker identification handles clear calls well, and automatic action-item extraction genuinely exceeds expectations. $16.99/user/mo.
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
Fireflies.ai
Otter.ai
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
Fireflies.ai
- Works across all major video conferencing platforms including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex.
- AskFred AI assistant enables users to search across their entire meeting history and ask natural language questions against it.
- Supports direct upload of audio or video files for teams who record calls outside of live meetings.
- Offers conversation intelligence features like talk-time analysis and sentiment analysis at a fraction of the cost of competitors like Gong.
- Over one million companies use it, indicating a proven and stable product with a long track record since 2016.
- April 2025 update introduced 200+ AI Skills and a Live Assist feature with real-time coaching during calls.
- New Talk to Fireflies feature integrates Perplexity AI for live web search during meetings, pointing to a genuinely innovative product direction.
- There is a notable gap between what the homepage promises and what users actually report in real-world reviews.
- The newer Live Assist and Talk to Fireflies features lack sufficient user review data to confirm whether they work reliably.
- The product is not suitable for any voice generation, text-to-speech, voice cloning, or audio enhancement use cases.
- The broad claim of over one million companies using it is difficult to evaluate meaningfully, as the definition of a 'company' user is vague.
- The expanding feature set makes it harder to assess whether core functionality like transcription and summaries remains consistently strong.
- Sentiment analysis and conversation intelligence features position it against enterprise tools like Gong, which may create expectation mismatches for some buyers.
Otter.ai
- Real-time transcription is reliable and consistently praised across G2 and Capterra reviews for core accuracy.
- Speaker identification works well on straightforward calls with clear audio and distinct voices.
- Automatic action item extraction exceeds expectations and reduces manual follow-up work after meetings.
- Native integrations push action items directly to Asana or Jira without requiring manual input.
- AI Chat feature allows users to search and query their entire meeting history across past calls.
- AI Meeting Workflows let users set custom triggers to auto-generate follow-ups for specific call types.
- Chrome extension enables recording without dropping a visible bot into the call.
- CRM sync functionality makes it particularly useful for sales teams managing pipeline activity.
- Transcription accuracy degrades noticeably in noisy environments or with speakers who have heavy accents.
- Pricing page raises more questions than it answers, making it hard to evaluate plans before committing.
- The Otter Notetaker bot joining calls can be intrusive or unwelcome for some meeting participants.
- The platform has shifted its identity from transcription tool to 'Conversational Knowledge Engine,' which may overcomplicate the pitch for simple use cases.
- Some features that matter most to power users require digging beyond what the homepage transparently communicates.
- User complaints surfaced on Trustpilot suggest recurring friction points that vendor documentation does not acknowledge.
Where transcription quality actually breaks
Not in a quiet one-to-one. Otter's accuracy degrades noticeably in noisy environments and with heavy accents, which is where meeting transcription is hardest and where the value is greatest. If your calls are international or taken from open offices, test that specifically rather than trusting a demo recorded in a studio.
Two things to watch on each
Otter's bot joining calls can be intrusive. For internal meetings that is a minor irritation. For client or candidate calls it is a moment you have to manage, and some people react badly to it.
Fireflies promises more on its homepage than users report finding. Our review names a notable gap between the marketing and real-world reviews, and its newer Live Assist and Talk to Fireflies features lack enough user data to confirm they work reliably. Buy it for the transcription and integrations, treat the newest features as unproven.
Both have free tiers
Which makes this an easy one to settle empirically. Run both on the same genuinely difficult call — accents, crosstalk, poor audio — and compare the transcripts. That single test tells you more than any feature table.
Side by side
| Company | ||
| Founded | 2016 | 2016 |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | Mountain View, California, USA |
| AI model | Proprietary (with integrations including Perplexity AI for Live Assist) | Proprietary |
| User base | 1 million+ companies | 1M+ |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome Extension, Desktop App | iOS, Android, Web |
| Languages | 100+ | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | No — free tier available indefinitely | No |
| Starting price | $18/mo | $16.99/user/mo |
| Enterprise | Contact Us | Contact sales |
| All plans | Pro — $18/mo Business — $29/mo Enterprise — Starts at $456/yr | Basic — Free Pro — $16.9/mo Business — $24/mo per user Enterprise — Custom |
| Positioning | ||
| Best for | Meeting transcription and AI summaries for individuals to large enterprises | Meeting transcription and AI note-taking for individuals, small teams, and medium-sized businesses |
| Differentiator | Fireflies combines high-accuracy meeting transcription with 200+ AI Skills, real-time Live Assist coaching, conversation intelligence analytics, and deep CRM/project management integrations across 1M+ companies. | Otter functions as a Conversational Knowledge Engine that not only transcribes meetings in real time but also enables AI Chat across all meeting history, automates CRM updates, and offers a bot-free desktop recording option. |
| Competitors | Otter.ai, Fathom, Chorus.ai, Gong, Grain, tl;dv | Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Rev.com, Notion AI, Microsoft Copilot |
| Features | ||
| AI Meeting Workflows | — | ✓ |
| AI Summaries | ✓ | — |
| Audio Recording Playback | — | ✓ |
| Hipaa Compliance | ✓ | — |
| Live Transcription | — | ✓ |
| Multi Language Support | — | ✓ |
| SSO + Scim | ✓ | — |
| Salesforce and Hubspot Integrations | — | ✓ |
| Speaker Identification | — | ✓ |
| Unlimited Transcription | ✓ | — |
| Video Recording | ✓ | — |
| Voice Agents | ✓ | — |
| AI Assistant | — | ✓ |
| API Access | ✓ | — |
| Audio Enhancement | ✕ | — |
| Batch Processing | ✓ | — |
| Browser Extension | — | ✓ |
| Calendar Integration | — | ✓ |
| Commercial Rights | ✓ | — |
| Document Creation | — | ✓ |
| Email Management | — | ✕ |
| Languages Supported | ✓ | — |
| Meeting Summary | — | ✓ |
| Mobile App | ✓ | ✓ |
| Music Generation | ✕ | — |
| Noise Removal | ✕ | — |
| Note Taking | — | ✓ |
| Podcast Editing | ✓ | — |
| Presentation Builder | — | ✕ |
| Project Management | — | ✓ |
| Research Assistant | — | ✓ |
| Spreadsheet AI | — | ✕ |
| Task Automation | — | ✓ |
| Team Collaboration | — | ✓ |
| Text to Speech | ✕ | — |
| Transcription | ✓ | — |
| Voice Cloning | ✕ | — |
| Voice Styles | ✕ | — |
| Integrations | ||
| Adobe Audition | ✕ | — |
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser Extension | — | ✓ |
| Garageband | ✕ | — |
| Google Calendar | — | ✓ |
| Google Drive | — | ✓ |
| Key Integrations | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Notion, Aircall, RingCentral, Greenhouse, Lever, Asana, Zapier, Chrome Extension | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dropbox, Notion, Asana, Jira, Zapier, MCP Server for ChatGPT/Claude |
| Microsoft 365 | — | ✓ |
| Slack Integration | — | ✓ |
| Zapier | ✓ | ✓ |
Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai: common questions
Which is more accurate?
Both are strong on clear audio. Otter's accuracy is noted to degrade in noisy environments and with heavy accents, so if that describes your calls, test both on a real recording rather than comparing claims.
Can I upload a recording instead of joining a call?
Fireflies supports direct audio upload, which is useful for recordings made outside the platform. Otter's model is centred on its notetaker joining the meeting.
Do the bots have to join visibly?
Otter's notetaker joining calls is noted as intrusive by some users, which is worth considering for client-facing or sensitive meetings.
