Prices verified 10 October 2026 on each vendor’s own pricing page, with the billing toggle read both ways and no promotion applied. Totals are our arithmetic on those list prices, in US dollars, before tax.
Our pick means we earn a commission if you subscribe through our link. HyNote is our pick on this page. That does not change any score: HyNote scores 5.5 on our published rubric, below Otter at 6.2, and every score below is printed unchanged.
The short answer
If you pay for Otter Pro to get 1,200 transcription minutes a month, HyNote Our pick Pro gives you the same 1,200 minutes for $79.99 a year, against $99.96 for Otter Pro on annual billing. That is $19.97 a year less. On monthly billing the gap is wider: $11.99 against $16.99, or $60 a year. If you need unlimited minutes, HyNote Unlimited is $189.99 a year and Otter Business is $239.88, a $49.89 difference.
The swap is not the right call for everyone. If every meeting you record happens on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, Fathom‘s Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions at $0, and Fireflies Pro and Sembly Basic both sell unlimited transcription for $10 a month on annual billing. HyNote earns its place when you also record in person, on your phone or from uploaded files.
Try HyNote free (7-day trial on paid plans)
| Tool | Plan that matches Otter Pro | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Minutes a month | Our score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter (baseline) | Pro | $16.99 | $99.96 a year | 1,200, 90 minutes per meeting | 6.2 |
| HyNote Our pick | Pro | $11.99 | $79.99 a year | 1,200 | 5.5 |
| Fireflies | Pro | $18 | $120 a year | unlimited transcription, 8,000 minutes of storage | 4.2 |
| Sembly | Basic, 1 user | $17 | $120 a year | unlimited capture and transcription | 7.0 |
| Fathom | Free | $0 | $0 | unlimited recordings and transcriptions | not scored |
| Granola | Business | $14, billing period not stated | not stated | unlimited meeting notes | 6.7 |
| Jamie | Plus | $29 | $288 a year | 20 AI notes, 2 hours each | 6.8 |
| Plaud | Pro | not shown | $99.96 a year, device required | 1,200 | 6.7 |
What you save by switching, in dollars
| You are on | Switch to | Same allowance | Saving a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter Pro, annual ($99.96) | HyNote Pro, annual ($79.99) | 1,200 minutes a month | $19.97 |
| Otter Pro, monthly ($16.99 x 12 = $203.88) | HyNote Pro, monthly ($11.99 x 12 = $143.88) | 1,200 minutes a month | $60.00 |
| Otter Business, annual ($239.88) | HyNote Unlimited, annual ($189.99) | unlimited transcription | $49.89 |
| Otter Pro, annual ($99.96), online meetings only | Fathom Free ($0) | unlimited recordings | $99.96 |
For a team the order changes. Five seats with unlimited transcription on annual billing cost $1,199.40 a year on Otter Business, $900 on HyNote Teams, $900 on Fathom Team, $1,200 on Sembly Pro and $600 on Fireflies Pro. A 5-person team that meets online should start with Fireflies Pro, not HyNote.
HyNote Our pick: the like-for-like swap for Otter Pro
What it is: an AI note taker with apps for iPhone, Android, Mac, web and Chrome. Its capture menu lists audio recording, phone calls, uploaded text and PDFs, YouTube and other video, web pages and Apple Watch, so it covers the in-person and on-the-go recording that Otter Pro users pay for.
Verified pricing (10 October 2026): Free at $0 with no card, recording and transcription up to 120 minutes per session and file uploads; the Free plan states no monthly minute allowance. Pro is $11.99 a month or $79.99 a year for 1,200 transcription minutes a month. Plus is $18.99 or $129.99 and adds 1,200 minutes of real-time transcription, speaker identification and export to Google Docs and Notion. Unlimited is $24.99 or $189.99. Teams is $20 a seat monthly or $180 a seat a year, from 2 seats. Pro, Plus and Unlimited each start with a 7-day free trial.
Watch for: live transcription on the web covers 6 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese); the mobile app covers more. If you need real-time captions during a meeting, the plan to compare with Otter Pro is Plus at $129.99 a year, which still costs more than Otter Pro’s $99.96. The saving applies to the Pro tier, where transcription runs after recording.
Verdict: the cheaper way to keep Otter Pro’s 1,200 minutes if you record in rooms, on calls and from files. Our score is 5.5, below Otter’s 6.2, so treat this as a price pick. Full review: HyNote review and pricing, plus our HyNote review article. Start on HyNote’s free plan.
Fireflies: unlimited transcription per seat for $10 a month
Fireflies joins Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and other platforms and also takes uploaded audio and video. Pro is $18 a seat billed monthly or $10 billed annually, with unlimited transcription and 8,000 minutes of storage per seat. Business is $29 or $19 and lifts storage to unlimited. Enterprise is $39 a seat, annual only, and is the tier with HIPAA compliance, SSO and SCIM. The Free plan keeps 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits. Choose it for a team that meets online; at 5 seats it is the cheaper team option in this list. Score 4.2.
Fathom: $0 if your meetings are all on video calls
Fathom‘s Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries and a choice of bot-free capture (in beta) or a meeting bot. Premium, with advanced summaries and action items, is $20 a month billed monthly or $16 annually; Team is $19 or $15 a user with a 2-user minimum, and Business is $34 or $25. Fathom has no page on this site yet, so we give it no score. It is the zero-cost answer for someone who only needs call notes.
Sembly: unlimited transcription with a year of history for $10
Sembly Basic is $17 billed monthly or $10 a month billed annually for 1 user, with unlimited capture and transcription in 45+ languages, notes, tasks and 1 year of history. Pro is $29 or $20 a user for up to 40 users with 2 years of history, webhooks and MCP access. MAX is $39 or $30 a user, needs at least 3 users, and adds HIPAA compliance, custom SSO and unlimited history. Score 7.0.
Granola: bot-free notes for laptop meetings
Granola captures device audio with no bot in the call. Basic is $0 with limited meeting history; Business is $14 a user a month for unlimited notes and history, integrations with Attio, Notion, HubSpot and Zapier, MCP and API access; Enterprise is $35 with SSO. Its page does not separate monthly from annual billing. Score 6.7.
Jamie: no bot, EU hosting, priced per note
Jamie runs on your device without a bot, works online and in person, and keeps data in the EU. It meters notes rather than minutes: Free gives 10 AI notes a month capped at 30 minutes each, Plus is $29 billed monthly or $24 annually for 20 notes of up to 2 hours, and Pro is $55 or $46 for unlimited notes of up to 5 hours. Team is $45 billed monthly or $37 annually. It costs more than Otter for heavy use; the case for it is privacy. Score 6.8.
Plaud: for recording a room with dedicated hardware
Plaud pairs a recorder with an app plan. Starter is free for 300 minutes a month, Pro is $8.33 a month billed annually for 1,200 minutes, and Unlimited is $19.99 a month billed annually. Its desktop app requires a Plaud device, which is priced separately and not included here. Score 6.7.
Which one for which person
- Journalist, student or consultant recording interviews and lectures, paying for Otter Pro: HyNote Pro, $79.99 a year for the same 1,200 minutes. Try HyNote.
- Only video calls, no budget: Fathom Free at $0.
- A team of 5 that meets on Zoom or Teams: Fireflies Pro, $600 a year for 5 seats.
- No bot allowed in client calls, data must stay in the EU: Jamie.
- Laptop meetings, notes pushed to a CRM: Granola Business at $14 a user.
- Unlimited transcription for one person at the smallest annual bill: Sembly Basic or Fireflies Pro, $120 a year each.
For a ranked view of the whole meeting-notes category, see our AI note taker comparison.
How we checked
We read every plan on the vendor’s own pricing page on 10 October 2026, saving the raw page and a rendered copy with the billing toggle switched both ways. HyNote opens on annual prices; we switched its toggle to read the monthly ones. Otter’s page shows lower Pro prices whose footnote limits them to India-issued credit cards, and a 3-month Business discount for first-time subscribers; both are left out. Fireflies marks its free plan’s unlimited transcription with an asterisk whose footnote did not display, so we do not rely on that line. Plaud’s monthly prices did not render, so only its annual prices appear. Scores are our published rubric’s numbers, unchanged. We did not run accuracy tests for this article.
Related reading on this site
- AI note takers compared: the full meeting-notes category with scores and verified prices.
- HyNote review: features, plans and caveats.
Questions people ask about Otter.ai alternatives
Is there a free alternative to Otter.ai?
Yes. Fathom’s Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions for video calls. HyNote’s Free plan records and transcribes up to 120 minutes per session with no card. Otter’s own Basic plan is free for 300 minutes a month. Checked 10 October 2026.
What is a cheaper alternative to Otter.ai?
At Otter Pro’s 1,200 minutes a month, HyNote Pro is $79.99 a year against $99.96, or $11.99 a month against $16.99. For unlimited transcription, Fireflies Pro and Sembly Basic are $10 a month on annual billing.
Otter.ai vs Fireflies: which costs less?
Fireflies Pro is $10 a seat a month on annual billing with unlimited transcription; Otter Pro is $8.33 with 1,200 minutes. Above 1,200 minutes, Otter needs Business at $19.99, so Fireflies costs less per seat for heavy online use.
Otter.ai vs Granola: what is the difference?
Granola captures device audio with no bot and charges $14 a user a month for unlimited notes. Otter Pro meters minutes, 1,200 a month, at $16.99 monthly or $8.33 annually.
Otter.ai vs Plaud: do I need a device?
Plaud’s desktop app requires a Plaud device; its Pro plan is $8.33 a month billed annually for 1,200 minutes, the same monthly-equivalent price as Otter Pro, plus the hardware. Otter and HyNote work from the phone you already own.
Does HyNote work on phone calls?
HyNote’s capture menu lists Phone Call alongside audio recording, file upload and Apple Watch. Paid plans start at $11.99 a month with a 7-day trial.
Does Otter’s free plan limit meeting length?
Yes. Otter Basic caps each conversation at 30 minutes, with 300 minutes a month and 3 file imports in total. Pro raises the cap to 90 minutes per meeting, Business to 4 hours.
Sources
- HyNote pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Otter.ai pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Fireflies pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Fathom pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Sembly pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Granola pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Jamie pricing and Jamie home page, read 10 October 2026.
- Plaud AI plan pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Reddit threads asking for Otter alternatives: r/Journalism, r/NoteTaking, r/ProductManagement.
Comments
Sign in to join the discussion.
Login to comment