Among Otter AI alternatives, Fathom has a free plan with unlimited recording and transcription, Fireflies transcribes in 100+ languages, and Granola and Krisp take notes without a bot in the call. Plaud, Pocket and Comu are recorders that capture in-person meetings and phone calls without a computer. Otter's own free plan, Basic, gives 300 transcription minutes a month, and Otter Pro costs $8.33 a month billed yearly.
If you want the price comparison first, jump to the Otter alternatives price table. If your meetings happen in a room or on the phone, skip to the Otter alternative for in-person meetings, Comu AI.
Why people look for an Otter AI alternative
People look for an Otter AI alternative when the Basic plan runs out of minutes, the language list is too short, or the meetings happen away from a screen. Otter's plans have these limits and costs:
- Basic has monthly and per-conversation caps. The free plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, three imported files for the life of the account and the 25 most recent conversations.
- Otter transcribes in six languages. They are English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
- Paid seats add up. Pro costs $8.33 a month billed yearly, or $16.99 billed monthly. Business costs $19.99 a month billed yearly, or $30 billed monthly.
- Otter joins online meetings. It joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings from a connected calendar, and it records in person through the iOS and Android apps.
Otter alternatives compared by price
The eight Otter alternatives in the table cost from $0 on a free plan to $19.99 a month billed yearly for Pocket Pro, and the three recorders add a device price. Otter's plans and limits are broken down in Otter AI pricing.
| Tool | Type | Free option | Paid entry price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comu | Recorder | Free plan with the device, unlimited transcription | Note Pro $109.69, Action Pro $169.99 |
| Otter (baseline) | App | Basic, 300 minutes a month | Pro $8.33 a month billed yearly |
| Fathom | App | Free, unlimited recording and transcription | Premium $16 a month billed yearly |
| Fireflies | App | Free, 400 minutes of storage per team | Pro $10 per seat a month billed yearly |
| Read AI | App | Free, 5 meetings a month | Pro $15 a month billed yearly |
| Krisp | App | 7-day free trial | Core $8 a month billed yearly |
| Granola | App | Basic, 30 days of history | Business $14 per user a month |
| Plaud | Recorder and plan | Starter, 300 minutes a month | Plaud Note $159, Pro plan $8.33 a month billed yearly |
| Recorder and plan | Free, unlimited standard transcription | Device $129, Pro $19.99 a month billed yearly |
Prices are in US dollars, checked Nov 2 and Nov 4, 2026. Yearly prices are the yearly total divided by 12.
Fathom: the Otter.ai alternative with a free plan
Fathom Free costs $0 and includes unlimited recording, storage and transcription plus an instant AI summary of each call. It works with Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and it offers a bot or a bot-free capture mode that is in beta for Mac.
Premium costs $20 a month, or $16 billed yearly. It adds advanced summaries, AI-generated action items, AI follow-up emails and unlimited Ask Fathom inside a call. Team ($15 a seat billed yearly) and Business ($25 a seat billed yearly) have a two-user minimum, and Business adds CRM field sync, Deal View and coaching metrics. Fathom is SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliant.
Choose Fathom if your meetings are online and you want unlimited free recording and transcription, where Otter Basic stops at 300 transcription minutes a month.
Fireflies: more languages and a searchable library
Fireflies transcribes in 100+ languages from its free plan, where Otter transcribes in six. Fireflies Free costs $0 and includes real-time notes, meeting search, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits once.
Pro costs $18 a month, or $10 billed yearly, and adds unlimited AI summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, video recording, downloads and unlimited integrations. Business costs $29 a month, or $19 billed yearly, with unlimited storage, conversation intelligence and team analytics for admins. Enterprise is $39 billed yearly and adds SSO, SCIM, audit logs and private storage.
AI credits pay for advanced tools such as AI Skills and CRM autofill, and extra packs start at $5 a month for 50 credits. Choose Fireflies if you need languages beyond Otter's six, video recording or unlimited integrations on a paid seat.
Read AI: an Otter alternative with video playback
Read AI Enterprise adds audio and video playback and video highlights at $22.50 a seat a month billed yearly. Read AI Free covers 5 meetings a month, with meetings up to 1 hour.
Pro costs $19.75 a month, or $15 billed yearly. It adds unlimited meeting transcription, 100 file upload minutes a month and premium integrations with Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence and Zapier. Enterprise+ costs $29.75 a seat billed yearly with at least five licenses, and it adds HIPAA, SAML and SCIM. Read AI works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
Choose Read AI if you want audio and video playback and highlights on Enterprise, or a free plan for light use.
Krisp: noise cancellation and bot-free notes
Krisp pairs unlimited noise cancellation with a bot-free AI note taker, and it starts with a 7-day free trial that includes all premium features and needs no credit card. After the trial, Core costs $16 a month, or $8 billed yearly, and Advanced costs $30 a month, or $15 billed yearly.
Core includes an AI note taker without a bot, in-person meeting notes on the mobile app, unlimited noise cancellation, AI Chat and 10 GB of storage. Advanced adds Salesforce and ConnectWise integrations, a manager view, company deal grouping, clip trimming and commenting, and 60 GB of storage. Krisp is SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliant.
Choose Krisp if background noise on your calls is a problem you want to solve along with the notes.
Granola: bot-free notes in your own structure
Granola captures your computer's audio, so no bot joins the call, and it combines the notes you type with the transcript. Granola Basic costs $0 and keeps 30 days of meeting history. Business costs $14 per user per month and adds unlimited history, pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails and integrations with Notion, Zapier and HubSpot. Enterprise costs $35 per user per month.
Granola runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, and students get Granola free for 12 months. Choose Granola if your meetings happen on your computer and you want your own notes to lead.
Plaud and Pocket: recorder alternatives for in-person meetings
Plaud and Pocket are recorders that capture in-person meetings and phone calls without a computer, and each comes with a plan.
Plaud. Plaud Note costs $159 and Plaud Note Pro costs $189. Each comes with a free Starter plan of 300 transcription minutes a month. Pro costs $17.99 a month, or $8.33 billed yearly, with 1,200 minutes a month, and Unlimited costs $29.99 a month, or $20.00 billed yearly. Ask Plaud work modes run on credits sold separately in the Plaud app, at $12.99 for 1,000 credits.
Pocket. The Pocket recorder costs $129. Its free plan includes unlimited transcription at standard accuracy and three Ask Pocket chats a day. Automatic speaker names, full live transcription and 80+ templates are on Pocket Pro at $19.99 a month billed yearly.
Otter alternative for in-person meetings: Comu AI
Comu is an Otter alternative for in-person meetings and phone calls: a pocket recorder with an app that captures the room and the call without a meeting link or a computer. Comu Note Pro is $109.69 and Comu Action Pro is $169.99 with the included plan (Nov 4, 2026), against $299.88 over three years for Otter Pro billed yearly.
The free plan that comes with the device includes unlimited transcription, unlimited real-time transcription, speaker identification, AI summaries, action items and Comu AI for questions across your recordings. It has 30+ built-in templates and unlimited custom templates, supports 113 languages, imports external audio files and records phone calls. Comu exports text as TXT, Markdown, Word and PDF and audio as MP3 and WAV, and it is GDPR, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant.
| What you get | Comu (included with the device) | Otter Basic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Note Pro $109.69, Action Pro $169.99 | $0 |
| Transcription | Unlimited | 300 minutes a month |
| Where it records | A recorder you carry, in person and on the phone | Online meetings on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, plus the mobile apps |
| Languages | 113 | 6 |
| Templates | 30+ built in and unlimited custom | Custom AI templates for 5 meetings |
| Export | TXT, Markdown, Word and PDF for text; MP3 and WAV for audio | mp3 and txt |
Otter Basic costs $0 and gives 300 transcription minutes a month, conversations of up to 30 minutes and the 25 most recent conversations. Comu's included plan transcribes without a minute cap and records phone calls, so a long client visit or a day of calls does not use up a monthly allowance.
The transcript, speaker labels, summary and action items arrive in the app. To see every feature in the included plan, read our guide to the features that come with Comu, or look at Comu Note Pro and Comu Action Pro.
Otter.ai alternatives by team size
One person should start on a free plan, a team of five should compare per-seat totals, and a larger team should compare admin features.
One person. Fathom Free has unlimited recording, Otter Basic gives 300 minutes a month, Fireflies Free stores 400 minutes per team, Read AI Free covers 5 meetings a month and Granola Basic keeps 30 days of history. The lowest paid yearly prices are Krisp Core at $8, Otter Pro and Plaud Pro at $8.33, and Fireflies Pro at $10 a month.
Two to five people. Five Otter Pro seats on yearly billing cost $499.80 a year, and five Fireflies Pro seats cost $600 a year. Fathom Team and Business have a two-user minimum. Five Comu Note Pro devices with the included plan cost $548.45, and each person carries their own.
Ten or more people. Admin features matter: SSO, SCIM, a security review and centralized billing. Otter Enterprise (SSO from 100 user licenses), Fireflies Enterprise ($39 a seat billed yearly), Fathom Enterprise, Krisp Enterprise and Granola Enterprise ($35 a user a month) cover SSO. Comu is GDPR, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant.
Otter AI alternatives free: what each free plan includes
Free plans in the table run from Read AI Free's 5 meetings a month to unlimited recording, storage and transcription on Fathom Free and unlimited transcription on Comu's included plan.
| Free plan | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Comu, included with the device | Unlimited transcription and real-time transcription, speaker identification, summaries, action items, 30+ templates plus unlimited custom templates, 113 languages |
| Otter Basic | 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, three imported files for the life of the account, 25 most recent conversations, six languages |
| Fathom Free | Unlimited recording, storage and transcription, instant AI summary |
| Fireflies Free | 400 minutes of storage per team, 20 AI credits once, limited AI summaries, 100+ languages |
| Read AI Free | 5 meetings a month, meetings up to 1 hour |
| Granola Basic | 30 days of meeting history, AI meeting notes, speaker tagging, Slack integration |
| Krisp trial | 7 days with all premium features, no credit card |
| Plaud Starter | 300 transcription minutes a month with the device |
| Pocket Free | Unlimited standard-accuracy transcription, three Ask Pocket chats a day |
Comu's included plan transcribes without a minute cap, where Otter Basic stops at 300 minutes a month, Fireflies Free at 400 minutes of storage per team and Read AI Free at 5 meetings a month. It also covers 113 languages against Otter's six, transcribes in real time where Plaud does not, and records phone calls. Fathom Free records online meetings with unlimited transcription, and Comu's included plan records the room and phone calls and adds action items, which Fathom keeps on Premium. Pocket Free transcribes at standard accuracy, and Comu's included plan adds speaker identification, unlimited real-time transcription, custom templates and Word, PDF and Markdown export, which Pocket keeps on Pro.
Otter AI competitors: what each costs over three years
Over three years, one seat costs $299.88 on Otter Pro billed yearly and $719.64 on Otter Business, and the other paid plans in the table fall between $288 and $848.64. Plaud Note with Pro includes 1,200 transcription minutes a month, like Otter Pro.
The Comu rows use only what the free plan that comes with the device includes: unlimited transcription, unlimited real-time transcription, speaker identification, summaries, action items and templates. Otter Basic stops at 300 minutes a month, Fireflies Free limits AI summaries and stores 400 minutes per team, Read AI Free covers 5 meetings a month and Fathom Free has no AI action items. The table therefore prices the paid plan of each tool.
| Cost for one person | Year 1 | Year 2 (total) | Year 3 (total) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comu Note Pro, free plan | $109.69 | $109.69 | $109.69 |
| Comu Action Pro, free plan | $169.99 | $169.99 | $169.99 |
| Krisp Core, $8 a month billed yearly | $96.00 | $192.00 | $288.00 |
| Otter Pro, $8.33 a month billed yearly | $99.96 | $199.92 | $299.88 |
| Fireflies Pro, $10 a month billed yearly | $120.00 | $240.00 | $360.00 |
| Granola Business, $14 a month | $168.00 | $336.00 | $504.00 |
| Read AI Pro, $15 a month billed yearly | $180.00 | $360.00 | $540.00 |
| Fathom Premium, $16 a month billed yearly | $192.00 | $384.00 | $576.00 |
| Plaud Note with Pro billed yearly | $258.99 | $358.98 | $458.97 |
| Pocket with Pro, $19.99 a month billed yearly | $368.88 | $608.76 | $848.64 |
| Otter Business, $19.99 a month billed yearly | $239.88 | $479.76 | $719.64 |
Over three years, Otter Pro billed yearly costs $190.19 more than Comu Note Pro and $129.89 more than Comu Action Pro. Otter Business costs $609.95 more than Comu Note Pro and $549.65 more than Comu Action Pro. Fathom Premium costs $466.31 more than Comu Note Pro, Read AI Pro costs $430.31 more, and Plaud Note with Pro costs $349.28 more.
For a team of five over three years, five Otter Pro seats billed yearly cost $1,499.40 and five Otter Business seats cost $3,598.20, while five Comu Note Pro devices on the included plan cost $548.45.
Otter competitors checklist: what to compare before you switch
Compare where you meet, transcription minutes, languages, speaker labels, summaries and action items, exports, privacy and total cost before you switch.
- Where you meet. Online meetings suit app-based tools. Rooms, client visits and calls suit a recorder.
- Transcription minutes. Otter Basic gives 300 a month, Plaud Starter gives 300, and Fathom Free and Comu's included plan have no minute cap.
- Languages. Otter has six, Fireflies has 100+, and Comu has 113.
- Speaker labels. Interviews and group meetings are hard to read without them.
- Summaries and action items. Check which plan includes them. Fathom puts action items on Premium, and Plaud and Fireflies run advanced tools on credits.
- Exports. Look for Word, PDF and text so notes move into your own documents.
- Privacy. Fathom, Fireflies and Krisp are SOC 2 Type II compliant, and Comu is GDPR, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant. Otter offers HIPAA as an add-on.
- Total cost. Compare the three-year total, not the monthly price.
To switch, export the Otter conversations you need as text or audio, run the new tool on its free plan next to Otter for a week, and tell the people you record that you are recording. Check the recording rules where you and they are located.
Which alternative to Otter.ai should you choose?
Choose Fathom for unlimited free recording, Fireflies for 100+ languages and video, Granola or Krisp for bot-free notes, and Comu, Plaud or Pocket for in-person meetings and calls.
| If you | Choose |
|---|---|
| Record in person or on the phone and want unlimited transcription with the device | Comu |
| Want unlimited free recording for online meetings | Fathom |
| Transcribe in a language outside Otter's six | Fireflies |
| Want audio and video playback with highlights | Read AI |
| Want clean call audio plus notes at a low yearly price | Krisp |
| Want bot-free notes in your own structure | Granola |
Common questions about Otter AI alternatives
What is the best alternative to Otter AI?
Fathom fits online meetings with a free plan, Fireflies fits teams that need 100+ languages, and a recorder such as Comu fits in-person and phone conversations with unlimited transcription in the included plan.
Is there a free alternative to Otter AI?
Yes. Fathom Free costs $0 with unlimited recording, storage and transcription. Fireflies Free, Read AI Free and Granola Basic also cost $0, with 400 minutes of storage per team, 5 meetings a month and 30 days of history. Comu's included plan has unlimited transcription and records phone calls with a device.
What are the best Otter.ai competitors for small teams?
For small teams, Krisp Core costs $8 a seat a month billed yearly, Fireflies Pro costs $10 and Read AI Pro costs $15. Fathom Team starts at $15 a seat billed yearly with a two-user minimum.
Is there an Otter alternative that does not join the call as a bot?
Yes. Granola captures your computer's audio and Krisp Core includes a bot-free AI note taker. Fathom offers a bot-free capture mode in beta for Mac, and recorders such as Comu record the room and need no bot at all.
Is there an Otter alternative for in-person meetings and phone calls?
Yes. Plaud, Pocket and Comu are recorders that capture in-person conversations and phone calls without a computer. Comu Note Pro is $109.69 and its included plan has unlimited transcription, speaker identification and AI summaries.
How much does Otter cost?
Otter Basic costs $0. Pro costs $16.99 a month, or $8.33 billed yearly. Business costs $30 a month, or $19.99 billed yearly, and Enterprise is priced through sales.
Related reading
- Otter AI Review (2026): Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons by Plan
- Otter AI Pricing (2026): Free Plan, Paid Plans and What Each Includes
- Otter AI vs Plaud (2026): Software or Recorder, Price and Features Compared
- Best AI Note Taker in 2026: Five Types Compared by Use Case
- Fireflies Alternatives (2026): 8 Tools Compared by Price and Use Case
- Granola vs Otter (2026): Pricing, Free Plans and Features Compared
Sources
Pages were checked between Nov 2 and Nov 6, 2026.
- Otter, Pricing
- Fathom, Pricing; Fireflies, Pricing; Read AI, Pricing; Krisp, Pricing; Granola, Pricing
- Plaud, plans and pricing; Pocket, heypocket.com
- Plaud, plan comparison and real-time transcription
- Comu, Comu Action Pro, Comu Note Pro, and app downloads
