Otter.ai

Otter.ai is the pioneer of AI meeting transcription and one of the most widely used meeting assistants. It provides live, real-time captions during meetings and generates structured summaries the moment a call ends.

Free tier gives 300 minutes/month. Pro ($10/mo) gives 1,200 minutes, AI summaries, and custom vocabulary. Business ($20/user/mo) adds team features and admin controls.

OtterPilot joins meetings on your behalf, takes notes, and answers questions from attendees using your past meeting context. AI Chat lets you ask questions about any past meeting in natural language. Integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and major video conferencing platforms.

A key differentiator: real-time transcription quality — live text during meetings, invaluable for accessibility and for catching specifics during fast-moving calls.

Pros: Best real-time live transcription, mature and reliable, good CRM integrations, solid free tier, wide platform support.
Cons: Less intelligent summaries than Fathom, meeting history search less powerful than Fireflies, video recording requires higher plan.

Best for: Professionals with hearing difficulties, sales reps needing CRM sync, and teams who want reliable, real-time meeting transcription.