Otter vs Fireflies in 2026: Free Plans, Prices and Which AI Note Taker to Pick

Otter vs Fireflies: both are AI note takers that join your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams calls, transcribe them and write summaries. Fireflies has the more generous free plan (transcription without a monthly cap, but only 400 minutes of storage per seat), while Otter's free plan gives 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute limit per conversation. On price, Otter Pro is $99.99 a year (or $16.99 a month), and Fireflies Pro is $10 a month per seat on yearly billing (or $18 monthly). Students and teachers get 20% off Otter Pro.

Quick answer: for a solo user paying yearly, Otter Pro ($99.99 a year) is slightly cheaper and the 20% education discount makes it cheaper still. For sales and customer teams that want unlimited transcription and CRM-friendly notes, Fireflies is the better fit. If you just want free notes from many calls, compare both with Fathom's free plan too.

Otter vs Fireflies: prices

As of October 2026, from Otter's and Fireflies' own pricing and help pages. Current offers: Otter.ai student discount and Fireflies Pro yearly.

How both work

Both tools use a bot that joins your call as an extra participant. It records the audio, turns it into a transcript and then writes a summary with action items. That's reliable and works even when you're not in the meeting yourself, but everyone in the call sees the bot. If you'd rather have no bot, see the no-bot tools in our free AI note taker guide.

Free plans compared

Otter.ai Free gives 300 transcription minutes a month with a 30-minute limit per conversation. That's fine for short calls, quick interviews and lectures, but a one-hour meeting gets cut off.

Fireflies.ai Free transcribes meetings without a monthly cap when the assistant auto-joins, and includes AI summaries. The catch is storage: 400 minutes per seat, so older recordings fill it up, and downloading transcripts needs a paid plan.

Verdict: if your meetings are long, Fireflies Free gets further. If your calls are short and occasional, Otter Free is simpler.

Paid plans compared

Otter Pro costs $16.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Verified students and teachers with a .edu email get 20% off, which brings the yearly plan to $79.99.

Fireflies Pro costs $18 a month on monthly billing or $10 a month per seat on yearly billing, which is $120 a year for one person. That's a 44% saving over paying monthly.

For one person paying yearly: Otter $99.99 vs Fireflies $120. For students: Otter $79.99.

What a year costs

Paying monthly for a full year costs about twice as much with either tool. Pick yearly once you know you'll keep using it.

Which is better for teams?

Fireflies is built with teams in mind: it's priced per seat, transcribes every meeting the assistant joins and is popular with sales and customer teams who sync meeting notes into their CRM. Otter works for teams too, but its free plan's 30-minute cap makes it harder to roll out to a whole team without paying.

Which is better for students and lectures?

Otter, mainly because of the 20% education discount. A recorded lecture fits the free plan's 300 minutes a month if your classes are short; for longer lectures, Pro at $79.99 a year with a .edu email is the cheapest paid option of the two.

Alternatives worth a look

• Fathom: the most generous free plan we've seen, with unlimited recordings and transcripts and advanced AI summaries for 5 calls a month (deal).
• tl;dv: unlimited recordings for the whole team on the free plan; Pro is $18 per seat a month on yearly billing.
• Read AI: 5 meetings a month free; Pro is $15 a month on yearly billing.
• No-bot options: Granola, Tactiq and Krisp capture meetings from your own device.

Before you install either

• Ask for consent. In many US states everyone on a call must agree to be recorded. Tell people the assistant is there.
• Check where recordings are stored and who can see them, especially for client calls.
• Use one note taker, not two. Two bots in one meeting annoy everyone.

Otter vs Fireflies: which should you choose?

• Solo user, short calls: Otter Free.
• Solo user, paying yearly: Otter Pro ($99.99), or $79.99 with a .edu email.
• Long meetings on a free plan: Fireflies Free (watch the 400-minute storage).
• Sales or customer team: Fireflies Pro ($10 per seat a month, yearly).
• Want the most free usage: compare with Fathom first.

Common mistakes

• Paying monthly for a year. It costs about twice the yearly price.
• Hitting Otter's 30-minute cap mid-meeting. If your calls run long, the free plan will cut them off.
• Filling Fireflies' storage. Delete or export old recordings you don't need (exports need a paid plan).
• Forgetting consent. Recording without telling people can be illegal and costs trust.

Real-world examples: Otter or Fireflies?

• A freelancer with three or four short client calls a week: Otter Free covers short calls; upgrade to Otter Pro yearly if your calls run past 30 minutes.
• A university student recording lectures: Otter Pro with the 20% education discount, $79.99 a year.
• A sales team of five: Fireflies Pro on yearly billing, so every seat's calls are transcribed and summarized.
• A manager with back-to-back one-hour meetings: Fireflies Free to start, keeping an eye on the 400-minute storage limit.
• Someone who doesn't want a bot in client calls: neither; look at Granola, Tactiq or Krisp in our free note taker guide.

How we compared Otter and Fireflies

We used only the prices and free-plan limits published on Otter's and Fireflies' own pricing and help pages, in US dollars, as of October 2026. For yearly costs we used one person or one seat. We didn't count unofficial coupon codes, and we focused on the limits you'll actually hit first, such as Otter's 30-minute cap and Fireflies' storage, because those decide which free plan works for you.

Bottom line

Otter is the cheaper yearly choice for individuals, and the cheapest for students and teachers with 20% off. Fireflies has the more generous free transcription and suits teams that live in their CRM. Both are good; the right one depends on how long your meetings are and who you share notes with. All current offers are on our productivity deals page.

Sources: Otter.ai free plan; Otter student and teacher discount; Fireflies pricing; Fireflies free plan; Fathom pricing; checked in October 2026.