Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai

Otter.ai wins on price: $8.33/seat/mo annually versus $10/seat/mo for Fireflies.ai, a real gap for agencies billing many seats across client accounts. Neither tool leads on capture, since both cover in person and mobile recording and both offer a bot free way to join meetings. Storage favors simplicity too: Otter.ai is unlimited on paid plans, while Fireflies.ai caps Pro seats at 8,000 minutes and only goes unlimited on Business and above. Fireflies.ai does export to more file formats, but that matters less than seat cost when billing scales across many client accounts.

Fireflies.ai connects to more of the tools engineering teams already rely on, including Slack, Notion, Zapier, Linear, and Airtable, while Otter.ai covers Slack, Notion, and Zapier. Linear support matters directly for standups that need to land as tickets, not just notes. Both tools turn meetings into automatic action items, both offer a public API for custom pipelines, and both generate an AI summary, so the wider integration list is what separates them for async engineering syncs. Otter.ai is slightly cheaper per seat annually, but that does not offset the missing Linear connection for this workflow.

Fireflies.ai includes a HIPAA BAAHIPAA BAA - A signed Business Associate Agreement that lets you handle protected health information under US healthcare privacy law. at no extra step, while Otter.ai only offers one as a paid add on, a meaningful gap for healthcare and legal teams. Fireflies.ai also excludes customer data from AI training by default; Otter.ai does not make that guarantee. Both tools offer a bot free capture option and both support GDPR and EU data residency, so those needs are met either way, and both provide custom retention controls on their Enterprise plans. On the two truly non negotiable requirements for compliance sensitive buyers, HIPAA coverage and training exclusion, Fireflies.ai is the safer default.

Both tools offer clips and highlight reels, video recording, and an ask your meeting AI chat, so researchers get the core interview workflow either way. The difference shows up in what you can pull out afterward: Fireflies.ai exports transcripts as PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON, and MD, while Otter.ai covers TXT, DOCX, PDF, and SRT, giving Fireflies.ai a structured data edge for feeding sessions into research tools. Fireflies.ai also supports 100 languages against Otter.ai's 6, useful for research teams running international interviews. With the core clip and chat features tied, the wider export options and language coverage make Fireflies.ai the stronger pick for querying across many sessions.

For recruiters capturing candidate interviews, clean, speaker-labeled notes and smooth exports into the ATS matter most. Both tools offer an AI meeting summary and speaker identification, so those features are not the deciding factor here. Fireflies.ai pulls ahead on transcript exports, supporting PDF, DOCX, SRT, CSV, JSON, and MD, compared with Otter.ai's TXT, DOCX, PDF, and SRT, giving recruiters more direct paths into an ATS. Fireflies.ai also connects to more tools, adding Linear and Airtable alongside Slack, Notion, and Zapier. Otter.ai is cheaper on annual billing, at $8.33/seat/mo versus $10/seat/mo for Fireflies.ai, but that price gap does not outweigh Fireflies.ai's export and integration advantage for this use case.

Fireflies.ai connects to four CRMs, Salesforce, HubSpot, Affinity, and Redtail, while Otter.ai connects to two, Salesforce and HubSpot, which matters most for reps who need every call synced automatically. Both tools generate automatic action items, both offer clips and highlight reels, and both provide live transcription, so those needs are met either way. Otter.ai is cheaper per seat annually at $8.33/seat/mo versus $10/seat/mo for Fireflies.ai, but for a sales team that lives inside its CRM, the wider integration list outweighs the seat price gap.

Fireflies.ai's free tier caps only storage and AI credits, at 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits, while transcription itself is unlimited. Otter.ai's free tier caps transcription directly at 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per meeting, and 25 recent conversations. For an individual who wants to record often without hitting a wall, unlimited transcription minutes is the bigger win. Otter.ai's paid plan is a little cheaper monthly at $16.99/seat/mo against $18/seat/mo for Fireflies.ai, but that gap is small next to the free tier's unlimited transcription. Both tools include an AI meeting summary and both use a hybrid capture method.