Fireflies vs Otter.ai in 2026: which free meeting notetaker goes further?
Free-plan limits, paid prices and student discounts for Fireflies and Otter, from their official pricing pages, and who each one suits.
How this was researched: features and prices come from each vendor's official pages (linked below) as of the date shown. We have not run hands-on benchmarks for this article. Where we haven't tested something, we say so. Content is AI-assisted and researched from official sources; no hands-on testing. The Fireflies link on this page is an affiliate link: we earn a commission if you buy through it. Any other links go to official sites and are not affiliate links (affiliate links coming soon).
Fireflies and Otter both join your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams calls and turn them into searchable transcripts. Their free plans are limited in very different ways, so the right pick depends on how long your meetings or lectures run and whether you need to download what you record.
Free plans side by side
| Fireflies Free | Otter Basic (free) | |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription | Unlimited with Auto-join turned on; 3 meetings with it off (accounts created on or after Sept 1, 2026) | 300 transcription minutes per month, no rollover |
| Length per meeting | 2-hour recording limit | 30 minutes per conversation |
| Storage / history | 400 minutes of storage | 25 most recent conversations |
| AI features | 20 AI credits per month; summaries limited | Automated summaries; 20 AI Chat queries per month (3 per conversation) |
| Uploading files | MP3, MP4, WAV or M4A up to 150 minutes; each upload uses a transcription credit (3 to 10 credits at sign-up, depending on how you sign up) | 3 imported files per lifetime |
| Downloads | Transcript downloads need a paid plan | Export as mp3 or txt |
Paid plans
| Plan | Fireflies (per seat) | Otter (per user) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid | Pro: $10/mo billed annually, $18 monthly. 8,000 min storage, video recording, downloads | Pro: $8.33/mo billed annually, $16.99 monthly. 1,200 min/month, 90 min per meeting, 10 imports/month |
| Team tier | Business: $19/mo billed annually, $29 monthly. Unlimited storage, conversation intelligence, 3-hour recording limit | Business: $19.99/mo billed annually, $30 monthly. Unlimited meetings, up to 4 hours per meeting |
| Enterprise | $39/mo, annual only | Custom (demo required) |
Otter's pricing page also shows lower Pro prices marked with an asterisk; the footnote says that offer is valid only with an India-issued credit card, so we haven't used it above. It also showed a first-time-subscriber promo of $24/mo for 3 months on monthly Business.
Student discounts
Otter's FAQ lists 20% off Pro for students and teachers with an email address ending in .edu: $6.67/mo billed $79.99 a year, or $13.59/mo monthly. We didn't find a student discount on Fireflies' pricing page.
Who should pick which
- You have lots of calls and mainly need the raw text: Fireflies Free with Auto-join on has no transcript cap, and its 2-hour limit covers most meetings. You can't download transcripts without paying, though, and the 400-minute storage fills up.
- You record lectures or long interviews: Otter Basic's 30-minute cap rules it out, so you'd need a paid plan from either. Otter Pro with the .edu discount is the cheapest listed option for students; Pro still caps meetings at 90 minutes.
- You want to export a few short recordings for free: Otter Basic exports txt and mp3, which Fireflies Free doesn't.
- Your team wants analytics: both Business tiers land around $19 to $20 per seat billed annually; compare the integrations you actually use.
Try Fireflies free →Otter official site →
Sources: fireflies.ai/pricing; Fireflies Free plan; Fireflies unlimited transcriptions; otter.ai/pricing (plans, comparison table and FAQ). Checked Oct 15, 2026.