Fireflies.ai vs. Otter.ai: Which Meets Your Needs Better?
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Fireflies.ai vs. Otter.ai: Which Meets Your Needs Better?

Vaishak
Vaishak

You want to compare Fireflies.ai vs. Otter.ai for one or a few of these reasons:

  • You want to know which one can accurately and reliably record and transcribe your calls or meetings.
  • What are the platforms they integrate with? Do they seamlessly integrate with your preferred platforms like Zoom, Hubspot, and Slack?
  • Compare the unique features and functionalities of the two.
  • Know about their ease of use, security, and learning curve.
  • Compare their pricing plans.

Welcome to this ultimate Fireflies.ai vs. Otter.ai showdown as we compare these two AI notetakers head-on and see what sets them apart.

By the end of this article, you'll have all the insights you need to make an informed purchase decision. So, let's get started.

What is Otter.ai, and who uses it?

Otter.ai is a voice-to-text transcription software that picks up the voice and generates text in real-time. Its USP is its ability to generate transcriptions with high accuracy.

Students or journalists use Otter.ai to record lectures or interviews from their phones and turn them into text without spending hours writing notes.

It’s arguably the best audio transcription service on the market. As a journalist, I interview a lot of people. Transcribing interviews is my least favorite part of the job. It’s a tedious, time-consuming business. Otter.ai can transform a one-hour audio recording into a (fairly accurate) text representation in a matter of minutes - Matthew Hughes

It also has meeting assistant capabilities that allow businesses to record, transcribe, and organize notes from their team meetings.

Otter.ai Transcription Quality - Customer Review

Otter.ai platform - key highlights

  • Capture audio from Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings.
  • Generate meeting transcripts and captions in real-time.
  • Automatically insert PPT slides into your meeting notes.
  • Record on the go from the Otter.ai Mobile app.
  • Assign action items and collaborate with your team members in real-time.
  • Transcribe your audio file uploads.

What is Fireflies.ai, and who uses it?

Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant that transcribes, summarizes, and analyzes your meetings. Its USP is to uncover actionable insights and summaries from meetings.

So, most businesses use Fireflies to record and transcribe their meetings. Fireflies automatically sends meeting notes, recaps, and summaries to all participants.

AI Super Summaries - Video

Fireflies is the ultimate time and money saver. It helps businesses save time and money by automating the manual entry of meetings with app integrations.

Fireflies.ai - Customer Review

Fireflies.ai platform - key highlights

Ready to get started with us? Try Fireflies for free!

Fireflies.ai vs. Otter.ai - product comparison

Now that we know the capabilities of Fireflies and Otter, let’s take a closer look at other deciding factors such as cost, product functionalities, security, and support.

To ensure a fair comparison, we’ll focus specifically on the Business plans offered by both Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai, as these plans have the best features.

1. Cost and scalability

When it comes to cost, both Fireflies and Otter offer affordable pricing plans, but Fireflies edges out Otter in terms of scalability for growing businesses.

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Price

$19/mo/user - annual billing
$29/mo/user - monthly billing

$20/mo/user - annual billing 

$30/mo/user - monthly billing

While Otter provides basic meeting transcription, Fireflies offers additional features like meeting summaries, AI-powered meeting assistants, collaboration tools, and analytics to help you get the most out of your meeting and grow at scale.

Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai Review- Is Fireflies Better or Otter?

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Cost & Scalability

👍

👎

2. Scheduling and calendar management

Scheduling and managing meetings can be a hassle, but Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai make it easier.

Features

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Signup Account

Only Google or Outlook email accounts

Google, Microsoft Outlook, Apple, or any email domain

Calendar Supported

Google, Microsoft Outlook

Google, Microsoft, and Apple calendar

Schedule Meetings

Send Email Notifications about the recordings

Fireflies is a great option for those who mainly use Google and Outlook calendars. Otter lets you connect with Google, Outlook, and Apple Calendar.

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Scheduling and Calendar Management

👍

👍

3. Recording and playback

Here are the different recording and playback options on Fireflies and Otter.

Features

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Different Platforms Supported

Zoom, Gmeet, Teams, 10+ web conf platforms, dialers

Zoom, Gmeet, Microsoft Teams

Video and Audio Recording

❌(only audio)

Record and Transcribe meetings from the mobile app

Record using Chrome Extension without the bot

Record meetings via a Live meeting link

Record and transcribe concurrent meetings

✅(up to 3 meetings)

✅(up to 3 meetings)

Playback Speed

1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x

0.5x, 0.75x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, 3x, skip silence

Search within Meetings

Bulk Delete Meetings

Global Search

In summary, both platforms score equal when it comes to recording and playback options.

Fireflies is a great choice for those who use different web conferencing platforms and need to capture audio and video. Otter is better suited for those looking to transcribe meetings from their mobile app and prefer more playback speed options.

Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai - Is Fireflies better than Otter for recording?

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Recording and Playback

👍

👍

4. Transcriptions

Otter and Fireflies are well-known for their meeting transcription capabilities. However, there are some differences in what each tool offers.

Features

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Accuracy

93%

90%

Speaker Name Identification

❌(Only detects speakers added within your group) 

Filler Word Removal

Unlimited Transcriptions

❌(6000 min/mo/user)

Max Transcription per conversation

2 hours

4 hours

Multiple Language Transcription Support

Time Stamped Notes

Edit Transcript

Real-Time notes & captions

Capture PPT Slides within Transcripts

Meeting Outlines

Meeting Synopsis

Action Items

Shorthand Notes

Otter’s is the tool to use if you need the transcription in real-time. However, Fireflies is the clear winner if you're looking for an AI meeting assistant that provides more than just transcripts, such as detailed meeting summaries and outlines.

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Transcriptions

👍

👎

5. Collaboration

When it comes to collaboration, both Fireflies and Otter offer some useful features. Here is a brief overview:

Feature 

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Commenting and Reactions

✅(Collaborate offline)

✅(Collaborate in real-time) 

Creating Meeting clips as Soundbites

Create a Playlist of Soundbites for easy coaching 

Team Workspaces

Channels/Folders

Public Channels

Private Channels

Download Transcripts/Recording

Sharing transcripts and recordings via link

Export audio, text, video





Should your team's workflow hinge on real-time collaboration and immediate assignment of action items, you might lean towards Otter.

Yet, when it comes to advanced collaboration offerings, Fireflies outshines. It brings a richer set of tools to the table. With features like offline commenting, Soundbites, and coaching, Fireflies steps up the game, providing a more comprehensive solution.

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Collaboration 

👍

👎

6. Conversation Intelligence

Fireflies is the way to go if you want to analyze your meetings and conversations.

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Smart Search

Key topics and task discussion

ChatGPT assistant for meetings

Speaker Time analytics

Conversation Analytics

Sentiment Analysis

Question Detection

Voice Commands

Create Topic Trackers

Custom Vocabulary

Team Insights for Admins

While Otter only offers platform usage analytics, Fireflies provides much more detailed meeting analytics, insights on speaker talk time, voice commands, team insights for admins, and even individual teammate insights.

So if you want to gain a deeper understanding of your team's communication patterns and identify areas for improvement, Fireflies is the clear winner.

Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai Review- Call Analytics

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Conversation Intelligence 

👍

👎

7. Integrations

Here are the different integrations supported by both Fireflies and Otter.ai

Feature 

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

CRM Integrations

Slack, Zapier, Notion Integrations

Dialer Integrations

Project management apps

Sync Audio/Video files on Drive or Dropbox & more

Sync Audio/Video files on Zoom cloud

API 

Based on the comparison of integrations between Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai, it's clear that Fireflies has a significant advantage over Otter. With integrations with CRM platforms, project management apps, and popular tools like Aircall, Slack and Zapier, Fireflies can seamlessly integrate into your existing workflow.

Otter.ai, on the other hand, has limited integrations that focus mostly on syncing audio and video files to cloud services like Drive and Dropbox.

Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai Review- Integrations

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Integrations

👍

👎

8. Security and compliance

Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai offer TLS encryption and AES-256 encryption for real-time content, which are standard security features for data transmission and storage.

Features

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai 

TLS encryption

AES-256 encryption for real-time content

Centralized billing

User management

GDPR compliance

SOC-II compliance

Usage analytics report (how active users are on the platform)

2-factor authentication

Authenticator App, SMS (US/Canada only)

Activity logs

HIPAA compliance

Domain capture

Set the bot to join/not join specific meetings based on the meeting title

Recording disclaimer email

Control recording & sharing permissions

Rename Otter Assistant

Only in the enterprise plan

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Only in the enterprise plan

Only in the enterprise plan

Overall, both platforms offer similar levels of security and compliance, though Fireflies.ai may be more suitable for healthcare and enterprise customers who require HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC 2 Type II compliance.

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Security and Compliance

👍

👍

9. Product support

To compare the support options offered by Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai, let's break down the support options offered by both platforms.

Features

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Email Support

Chat Support

Priority Support

24/7 Support

Fireflies.ai stands a cut above Otter.ai, offering a wider array of support options.

With 24/7 assistance, priority attention, and the convenience of email and chat support, Fireflies ensures you get the help you need, right when you need it.

Now that's a service that doesn't sleep!

Feature

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Product Support

👍

👎

Final verdict: Fireflies.ai vs. Otter.ai

Here is the overall product functionality comparison between Fireflies and Otter.

Product Functionality

Fireflies.ai

Otter.ai

Cost & Scalability

👍

👎

Scheduling and Calendar Management

👍

👍

Recording and Playback

👍

👍

Transcriptions & Summaries

👍

👎

Collaboration Tools

👍

👎

Conversation Intelligence

👍

👎

Integrations

👍

👎

Security & Compliance

👍

👍

Product Support

👍

👎

As you can see, both Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai are fantastic tools with unique features and strengths. It ultimately depends on what you're looking for in a platform.

If your priority is the real-time transcription and mobile accessibility, Otter.ai could be your match.

However, if you crave a comprehensive meeting companion, one that offers insightful meeting summaries, effective collaboration tools, and an AI-powered assistant, Fireflies.ai might just be the perfect fit for you.

Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai Review- Accuracy and Ease of Use

To help make your decision easier, we've got an offer you can't refuse!

Try Fireflies' free plan, explore its wide range of features, and get a feel of its functionality. Simply click on the signup button below to get started.

And if you're eager to unlock the full potential of Fireflies, why not give our business plan a whirl with a free 7-day trial?


Try Fireflies for free