Pricing breakdown
Otter AI pricing, and where the free plan stops
Otter is the best known name in this market and it has the most complicated free tier. The paid number is $8.33 a month if you pay for the year, or $16.99 if you pay monthly. The number that actually matters to most people is 300, because that is how many minutes a month the free plan gives you.
Otter's plans, as published
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes maximum per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 1 concurrent meeting. |
| Pro | $8.33 annual, $16.99 monthly | Per user. More monthly minutes, longer conversations, more imports. |
| Business | $19.99 annual, $30 monthly | Per user. Admin controls, usage analytics, team features. |
| Enterprise | Custom, demo required | No public price. Sales call first. |
Read off otter.ai/pricing on 19 September 2026. Prices change, so check the source before you buy.
Is Otter free? Yes, for about five hours a month
Otter Basic costs nothing and it transcribes real meetings. The limits are specific and they are the whole story: 300 transcription minutes a month, and no single conversation longer than 30 minutes.
Do the arithmetic against a normal week. Five hours a month is roughly one hour-long call a week, except that an hour-long call does not fit, because the per-conversation cap cuts you off at 30 minutes. So the free plan suits short stand-ups and one-to-ones, and it does not suit the long client call you most wanted a record of.
There is a second limit people meet by surprise. You get three file imports for the lifetime of the account, not three a month. If you were planning to feed Otter a back catalogue of recordings, the free plan will not do it.
What the whole market charges
| Product | Free tier | Entry paid price |
|---|---|---|
| Ghosty Notes | Unlimited local meetings, full history | Pro $5 / month, $54 / year |
| Granola | Limited meeting history | Business $14 / user / month |
| Otter | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes a call | Pro $8.33 annual, $16.99 monthly |
| Fathom | Unlimited recordings and transcripts | Team $15 annual, $19 monthly |
| Fireflies | Limited transcription credits | Pro $10 annual, $18 monthly |
All competitor prices read off each vendor's own pricing page on 19 September 2026, except Fireflies, whose price table is rendered in JavaScript and was taken from Fireflies' own knowledge base. Ghosty Notes pricing comes from this site's own pricing contract.
When paying Otter is the right call
- You are on Windows, Android or the web. Ghosty Notes is macOS on Apple Silicon only.
- You want live captions while the meeting is happening.
- A bot joining the call as a visible participant is fine with you and your clients.
- Your team shares transcripts and needs admin control over who sees what.
- You want a name your IT department has already heard of.
When $5 buys you more than $8.33
- Nothing should join the call. Ghosty Notes records your Mac's own audio, so the participant list shows only people.
- You record more than five hours of meetings a month.
- Your calls run longer than 30 minutes, which is most real client calls.
- Your audio should not leave your machine. Transcription runs on the device.
- You want your notes as plain markdown files in a folder you chose.
- You query your notes from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Codex over MCP.
Questions people actually ask
- How much does Otter AI cost?
- Otter Pro is $8.33 per user per month billed annually, or $16.99 billed monthly. Otter Business is $19.99 per user per month billed annually, or $30 billed monthly. Enterprise has no public price. Read off otter.ai/pricing on 19 September 2026.
- Is Otter AI free?
- Yes, the Basic plan is free. It gives you 300 transcription minutes a month and caps any single conversation at 30 minutes. You also get only 3 audio or video file imports for the lifetime of the account, and you can be in 1 meeting at a time.
- What does Otter AI Pro actually add?
- Pro raises the monthly minute allowance and the per-conversation length cap, and gives you more file imports. It is the tier most individual users end up on once they pass 300 minutes a month.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Otter?
- Ghosty Notes Pro is $5 a month, and the free tier has no minute cap and no per-call length cap because transcription runs on your own Mac rather than on a metered server. The trade-off is real: Apple Silicon Macs only, no mobile app, and no live captions during the call.
- Does Otter put a bot in my meeting?
- Yes, by default. The Otter notetaker joins your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call and shows up in the participant list. Ghosty Notes records the audio your Mac is already playing instead, so nothing joins the meeting.
- Does Otter count minutes or meetings?
- Minutes. The free plan gives you 300 transcription minutes a month, so a long meeting costs you more of your allowance than a short one. Ghosty Notes counts neither, because nothing is metered on a server.
Want the feature-by-feature version? Read Ghosty Notes vs Otter, or compare every competitor. Our own prices are on thepricing page. Looking for something free? Seethe free AI note takers, compared honestly.
No minute limit. No 30-minute cut-off.
Free on your Mac, no account needed. Pro is $5 a month if you want it.
Download free for Mac