Otter.ai
Otter.ai joins your meetings, writes the notes, and sends action items so you don't have to.
Independent overview by new Mantra · updated July 3, 2026
- Category
- Operations
- Pricing
- Free to $30/user/mo
- Implementation
- Under 1 week
- Adoption risk
- Low
- Integrates with
- Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce
What Otter.ai does
Otter.ai is an AI meeting assistant that attends your video calls or records conversations directly from your desktop, then produces a full transcript, a plain-language summary, and a list of action items once the meeting ends. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and can be scheduled through Google Calendar to join calls automatically without manual intervention.
Beyond transcription, Otter organises meetings into shared workspaces called Channels, grouped by team, project, or topic. Team members can search across past meetings, edit notes collaboratively, and pull answers from meeting history using a built-in chat interface. Transcripts and summaries can also flow into connected tools such as Salesforce, Slack, HubSpot, Notion, Jira, and Asana.
Otter offers a free tier that covers basic transcription and summaries, with paid plans starting at roughly $20 per user per month for teams needing higher transcription volume, file imports, and more advanced workspace controls. Implementation is typically measured in days rather than weeks, and the vendor rates the overall risk as low.
Key capabilities
Automatic meeting transcription
Otter joins calls or records locally on Mac or Windows and produces a full, searchable transcript with speaker identification in real time.
Summaries and action items
After each meeting, Otter generates a structured summary covering decisions, key points, and action items, with those items automatically assigned to the relevant participants.
CRM and app integrations
Meeting notes and transcripts can be pushed directly to Salesforce or HubSpot, keeping customer records current without manual data entry.
Shared meeting channels
Teams can organise recordings and notes by project or topic in shared Channels, making past meeting content accessible to anyone who needs it.
Cross-meeting search and chat
Otter's AI Chat lets users ask questions across all recorded meetings, pulling relevant context to help draft follow-ups, reports, or summaries on demand.
Flexible recording options
Teams can send a bot to calls, record bot-free from a desktop app, use a Chrome extension, or capture audio on iOS or Android.
Best for
- Teams that run frequent internal or external meetings and spend significant time writing up notes or chasing action items afterwards
- Sales teams that need call notes logged to a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot without manual entry after every customer conversation
- Managers or executives who want a searchable record of decisions made across multiple meetings over time
- Distributed or hybrid teams where some participants miss live calls and need reliable summaries to stay informed
- Small to mid-sized businesses looking for a low-cost, quick-to-deploy productivity tool with a free starting point
Worth knowing
- The free plan has limits on transcription minutes and features; teams with high meeting volume will likely need the Business plan at around $20 per user per month, so costs can add up as headcount grows.
- Otter works best when meetings happen over Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams — teams using other conferencing platforms should verify compatibility before committing.
- Transcript accuracy depends on audio quality and speaker clarity; environments with heavy crosstalk, strong accents, or poor microphones may produce less reliable output.
- If your primary need is something other than meeting documentation — such as project management, customer support, or document generation — a more specialised tool is likely a better fit.
- Organisations with strict data-residency or compliance requirements should review Otter's enterprise security controls and terms before rolling out widely, particularly for sensitive client or legal conversations.
Related tools
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