Fireflies vs Otter (Nov 2026): free tiers, seat prices, meeting length limits, summaries, and who checks the action items

What this comparison covers

This page is for an ops lead, team manager, or founder picking one AI note-taker for a small team. It is not legal or privacy advice; a named person owns every summary, action item, and recording that leaves the meeting.

Fireflies facts come from its pricing page and Otter facts from its pricing page, both read on 2 November 2026. We did not run either tool on your meetings, so test on your own calls.

The real differences are limits rather than features: how many minutes the free tier keeps, how long one meeting can run, how many seats you need, and which plan adds admin controls. Both list Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.

Ground rules: tell people when a bot is recording; the meeting owner checks every summary before it is shared; keep client calls confidential and check who can open recordings. This comparison is not a ranking.

Major features (with how someone uses them)

Examples at a glance: each feature has a concrete example from a real job plus a short Try this you can run this week.

1. Test both on five real meetings

What it is: Fireflies Free includes transcription and limited AI summaries (pricing page). Otter Basic includes live transcription, speaker identification, and 300 monthly minutes (pricing page).

Free tiers are enough to compare summaries on your own calls. Accents, cross-talk, and jargon change results more than the brand does.

Concrete example (ops lead at a 14-person design agency) She runs a client kickoff, two standups, a sales call, and a hiring debrief through both. The meeting owners mark wrong owners and dates. One tool got a client name wrong twice; the other missed a due date. She writes both down before anyone picks.

Try this

Run five meetings through both:

Pick five recorded meetings from last month. Run each through the free tier of both tools, then have the person who ran the meeting mark every wrong action item, owner, or date in each summary before anyone buys a seat.

2. Check meeting length and minute limits

What it is: Otter Pro allows up to 90 minutes per meeting and Business up to 4 hours (pricing page). Fireflies lists recording limits by plan in its comparison table and 400 storage minutes on Free (pricing page).

If your workshops or board meetings run past 90 minutes, the entry plan on one tool may cut them off.

Concrete example (chief of staff at a 30-person nonprofit) Their monthly board meeting runs two and a half hours. She checks the per-meeting limit on each plan before choosing, so the second half of the meeting is not lost.

Try this

Check your longest meeting:

Find the longest recurring meeting on your calendar and check its length against the per-meeting limit on each plan you are considering.

3. Count who actually needs a seat

What it is: Fireflies prices Pro at $10 per seat a month billed annually or $18 monthly; Otter Pro is $8.33 a user a month billed annually or $16.99 monthly (vendor pricing pages, 2 Nov 2026).

Many people only read summaries. Paying a seat for every reader adds up quickly.

Concrete example (finance lead at a 20-person consultancy) Only eight people run client meetings. She buys seats for those eight and shares summaries with the rest, and checks each plan's sharing rules first.

Try this

List meeting runners:

List who runs meetings each week and who only reads notes, then price seats for the runners on each tool's annual and monthly rates.

4. Decide where summaries go

What it is: Otter Pro lists Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier integrations, with limits on user counts for the CRM ones (pricing page). Fireflies lists integrations on every plan and API access with rate limits by plan (pricing page).

A summary that lands in the wrong CRM record is worse than no summary. Decide the destination and who checks it.

Concrete example (sales lead at a 9-person SaaS company) He connects one tool to the CRM for two weeks and checks ten synced call notes against the deal record. Two attached to the wrong contact, so he turns on review before sync.

Try this

Check ten synced notes:

Connect one tool to your CRM for two weeks, then open ten synced call notes and check each one landed on the right deal and contact.

5. Set who can see recordings

What it is: Fireflies Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, HIPAA compliance, private storage, and custom data retention (pricing page). Otter Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, domain capture, and a HIPAA add-on; Business adds activity logs and usage analytics (pricing page).

Recordings of client and hiring calls are sensitive. Retention and access settings matter more than summary style.

Concrete example (HR manager at a 45-person clinic group) She needs HIPAA terms for patient-adjacent calls, so only the enterprise tier of either tool fits. She asks both vendors for the terms in writing before a trial.

Try this

Write your recording rules:

Write three lines: which meetings may be recorded, who can open the recordings, and how long they are kept. Check each tool's plan against them.

6. Review usage before renewal

What it is: Both vendors sell monthly and annual billing; Fireflies says annual saves up to 44% and Otter shows annual savings on its pricing page.

Annual billing is cheaper only if people keep using it. Check usage after the first month before committing.

Concrete example (ops manager at a 12-person marketing team) After a month on monthly billing, six of ten seats were used weekly. She moves those six to annual and drops the other four.

Try this

Check one month of use:

After one month on monthly billing, count which seats recorded at least one meeting a week, and move only those to annual billing.

Pricing context (November 2026)

Fireflies (pricing page, read 2 Nov 2026): Free $0 with 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits; Pro $18 a seat monthly or $10 billed annually with 8,000 minutes of storage per seat; Business $29 monthly or $19 billed annually with unlimited storage; Enterprise $39 a seat a month, annual only.

Otter (pricing page, read 2 Nov 2026): Basic free with 300 monthly transcription minutes; Pro $16.99 a user monthly or $8.33 billed annually; Business $30 monthly or $19.99 billed annually (the page also showed a 3-month introductory discount); Enterprise by demo.

For a team of five on annual billing, entry seats are about $50 a month on Fireflies Pro and about $42 on Otter Pro before tax, from the prices above.

Uncertainty: Both pages show promotions and regional offers that change often (Otter showed a lower price for India-issued cards). AI credit and minute limits are vendor-defined and can change. Check the live pricing page on the day you buy.

When it’s useful (honest take)

Fireflies fits when you want generous storage on paid seats and team analytics on Business. Otter fits when you want a low annual Pro price and your meetings stay under 90 minutes, or you need 4-hour meetings on Business.

Either is a poor fit if nobody will check summaries. The cost of a wrong action item sent to a client is higher than a seat.

Related options (educational)

FAQ

Is Fireflies or Otter cheaper?

On annual billing, Otter Pro is $8.33 a user a month and Fireflies Pro is $10 a seat a month. On monthly billing, Otter Pro is $16.99 and Fireflies Pro is $18 (vendor pricing pages, 2 Nov 2026).

Do Fireflies and Otter have free plans?

Yes. Fireflies Free includes transcription with limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team. Otter Basic includes 300 transcription minutes a month.

How long can a meeting be on Otter?

Otter's pricing page lists up to 90 minutes per meeting on Pro and up to 4 hours on Business.

Which works with Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet?

Both list Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet on their pricing pages.

Who should check AI meeting summaries?

The person who ran the meeting checks every action item, owner, and date before the summary is shared outside the team.

Optional next step (if seats overlap)

If you pay for a note-taker plus AI in Zoom, Teams, or your workspace suite, check for overlap before the next renewal. Map the overlap with the $19 AI toolkit audit or the $9 AI toolkit spreadsheet. Email Audit $19 or Toolkit spreadsheet $9.

Checkout is live via Stripe. After you pay, we email delivery (spreadsheet) or intake next steps (audit).

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