Otter AI

Otter AI is a cloud-based AI meeting assistant designed to record, transcribe and summarize voice conversations. It integrates with popular web conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, enabling it to join meetings automatically. 

During a meeting, Otter AI records the audio, converts speech to text in real-time, and shares the live transcript with meeting participants. Users can highlight parts of the transcript for later reference. 

After the meeting, Otter AI generates a summary of key points and action items. It also offers an AI chatbot that can answer questions about the meeting content. 

Otter AI aims to help users stay engaged in conversations while ensuring they don't miss important details. The software stores meeting notes in a centralized, searchable repository for easy access and sharing.

Otter AI offers several features designed to enhance meeting productivity and collaboration. Let's take a closer look at some of its key capabilities.

Automated Transcription

Otter AI's primary feature is the ability to automatically record and transcribe meetings. It integrates with your calendar and joins scheduled meetings on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet as a virtual participant. During the meeting, Otter AI records the audio and converts speech to text in real-time. Participants can view the live transcript and highlight important points as they come up. The software also timestamps the transcript so users can easily jump to specific parts of the recording later. Speaker identification helps keep track of who said what. After the meeting, the full transcript is available for review and sharing.

AI Meeting Notes and Summaries

In addition to transcripts, Otter AI automatically generates meeting summaries. It uses natural language processing (NLP) to identify and extract key points, decisions, and action items from the conversation. This provides a concise overview of the main takeaways without having to read through the entire transcript. The summary is generated a few minutes after the meeting ends and appears at the top of the notes. Users can also edit the summary to add more context or remove irrelevant points. The auto-summary feature aims to help users quickly grasp the essential information and next steps.

Otter AI Chatbot

Otter AI includes an AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions about your meetings. During a meeting, participants can ask the chatbot things like "What's the next step?" or "What did we say about the budget?" The chatbot uses NLP to scan the transcript and find the most relevant information. After the meeting, the Otter chatbot remains available to answer follow-up questions. Users can ask it to list all the action items, explain a specific decision, or find where a topic was discussed. The chatbot extends the value of AI meeting notes by making the content more accessible and actionable.

AI Channels

Otter AI recently introduced AI Channels as a way to bring people and conversations together. AI Channels combine relevant meetings, audio files, action items, and chat in one place. Users can create channels for departments, projects, or meeting series. Channels can include both live meetings and uploaded recordings. Within a channel, users can make inline comments on the transcript to ask questions or share insights. They can also chat directly with the Otter AI to get a quick summary of the channel content. AI Channels aim to provide a collaborative space for teams to communicate, aligned around a shared purpose.

Slide Capture

For virtual meetings where slides are presented, Otter AI can automatically capture the visuals along with the audio. It detects when a screen is being shared and takes screenshots of the slides. The slide images are then added to the AI meeting notes meeting notes at the relevant points in the transcript. This allows users to review the presented content in context with what was said. Slides can be enlarged for a closer look or downloaded for reference. The slide capture feature provides a more comprehensive record of the meeting, making it easier to recall information and share with others.

Here are some key user groups that can benefit from Otter AI’s capabilities:

Sales Teams

Otter AI offers value for sales teams that spend significant time in meetings with prospects and customers. The software can auto-join sales calls, transcribe the conversation, and extract key details like pricing, timelines, and next steps. This allows sales reps to focus on engaging with the client during the call. Afterward, they can quickly review the summary, add meeting notes, and sync the information to their CRM. Managers can also get visibility into calls for coaching and forecasting purposes.

Faculty and Students

For educational use cases, Otter AI helps improve information retention and accommodates different learning preferences. Professors can use Otter AI to automatically transcribe their lectures and share the meeting notes with students. This is especially helpful for students who have hearing impairments, struggle to take notes, or want to review the lecture at their own pace. Students can highlight key concepts during class and add their own annotations to the transcript.

Media Teams

Media teams can use Otter AI to streamline the process of transcribing interviews, meetings, and events. Journalists can import recordings into Otter to get a searchable transcript. They can then highlight quotes, add comments, and easily export the text for video captions. Podcasters and video creators can also use Otter to record remote interviews.

Otter AI offers integrations with popular productivity and collaboration tools:

Video Conferencing Tools 

Otter AI directly integrates with the most popular video conferencing platforms—Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet—to provide a seamless experience. For scheduled meetings, Otter AI will automatically join the call as a virtual participant. During the meeting, users can view the live transcript and highlight key moments. The host can also set Otter AI to capture slides. After the meeting, the recording and transcript are available in Otter AI for review and sharing.

Cloud Storage Platforms

Otter AI integrates with several cloud storage platforms for easy access and backup. Finished meeting notes can be automatically exported to tools like Egnyte, Amazon S3, Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, or Dropbox. This allows organizations to store meeting data in their preferred repository and apply existing retention and security policies. Users can also import audio and video files from these storage platforms into Otter AI for transcription.

CRM Platforms

For sales teams, Otter AI offers integrations with popular CRM platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot. Meeting insights like key topics, action items, and attendees are automatically logged as notes in the relevant CRM record. This eliminates manual data entry and provides a more complete history of client interactions over time. The transcription from Otter AI is also attached for easy reference.

Calendar Apps

As mentioned, Otter AI syncs with users' calendars to automate meeting note-taking. It scans upcoming events and allows users to choose which ones they want Otter AI to join. This works with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Based on users' scheduling preferences, Otter AI starts taking notes at the designated meeting time without any manual setup required.

Below are the primary channels through which users can seek assistance from Otter AI.

Tickets

Users can submit support tickets through Otter AI's website to get help with account issues, billing, feature requests, and more. The support form collects key details about the user's issue and routes it to the appropriate team. Otter AI has separate queues for sales questions, press inquiries, and general support.

Otter AI Chatbot

In addition to answering questions about meetings, Otter's AI chatbot also provides support. Users can ask the chatbot things like how to change their account settings, upgrade their plan, or troubleshoot common technical issues. The chatbot scans Otter AI's knowledge base to find relevant help articles and instructions. If the chatbot can't fully resolve the issue, it will create a support ticket for human follow-up.

Help Center

Otter AI has an online help center with articles and tutorials covering various aspects of the software. The content is organized into categories like Getting Started, Account Settings & Billing, and Announcements. Users can browse the topics or search for specific keywords, like "OtterPilot" or "Zoom." The articles provide step-by-step guidance with screenshots.

Otter AI has a free Basic plan with limited features, plus paid Pro plans and Business plans with more comprehensive capabilities. Here are more details:

Free Plan

Otter AI offers a free plan with limited features. It includes 300 minutes of AI transcription per month, with a maximum of 30 minutes per conversation. The free plan supports up to 3 participants in a meeting and 3 audio imports. Free users can export transcripts and sync highlights to calendar events. However, some advanced features like custom vocabulary, live captions, and bulk export are not included.

Monthly Plan: $16.99 to $30 per month

Otter AI has two paid pricing plans with monthly billing. The Pro plan costs $16.99 per user per month and includes 1200 minutes of AI transcription with a maximum of 90 minutes per conversation. It adds features like advanced search, custom vocabulary, speaker identification, and live captions. The Business plan costs $30 per user per month and includes 6000 minutes of AI transcription with a 4-hour limit per conversation. It adds advanced admin controls, usage analytics, and higher priority support.

Annual Plan: $8.33 to $20 per month

Otter AI's annual pricing plans provide a discount compared to monthly billing. The Pro plan costs $8.33 per user per month ($99.96 billed annually) and the Business plan costs $20 per user per month ($240 billed annually). The features are the same as the monthly pricing plans but the annual commitment provides greater savings. Annual subscribers can also roll over unused minutes for up to 3 months.

Here are some pros of using Otter AI:

Ease of Use

One of Otter AI's standout features is its simplicity and ease of use. Its interface is clean and intuitive, with clear buttons for starting recordings, highlighting text, and sharing notes. This transcription app works across web browsers and mobile without requiring any downloads or complex setup. Even non-technical users can get up and running quickly. The automated scheduling and AI meeting notes and summaries also reduce friction compared to manual alternatives.

Free Plan Available

Otter AI is one of the few transcription tools that offer a free plan. While limited, the free tier still provides a good amount of value. Users get 300 minutes of transcription per month and can sync the meeting notes to their calendar. This allows individuals to try out the core features without any upfront cost. The free plan is sufficient for users with lighter meeting volumes.

Mobile Accessibility

In addition to a web app, Otter AI has full-featured mobile apps for iOS and Android. This allows users to record, transcribe, and review meetings on the go. 

While Otter AI offers several benefits, there are also some drawbacks to consider. Let's explore a few of its main limitations.

Substandard Transcription Quality

One issue with Otter AI is the accuracy of its transcriptions. While the software generally captures the gist of the conversation, it often struggles with specific words, names, and context and with punctuating sentences. Background noise, overlapping speakers, and accents can exacerbate the problem. This means users may need to spend significant time reviewing and editing the transcript or hire a human transcriber to ensure accuracy. Even with clear audio, Otter AI's transcription accuracy falls short of other audio to text apps like Castmagic.

Very Limited Language Support

Currently, Otter AI can only transcribe English, Spanish, and French. This is a fairly limited selection compared to some other transcription apps. For example, Castmagic supports voice to text in over 60 languages, making it more useful for multilingual teams and global organizations. If you need to transcribe audio in languages beyond the three that Otter AI supports, Castmagic may be a better fit.

Limited Content Output

Otter AI is primarily designed for transcribing meetings and conversations. It lacks features for repurposing meeting content into other formats like blog posts, social media snippets, or newsletters. Users can't directly turn meeting transcripts into more polished, shareable content. This means Otter AI is not ideal for audio/video content creators and marketers who want to efficiently reuse interviews or recordings. Castmagic offers more flexibility and templates for turning video or audio files into transcripts then into multiple content types.

No Offline Access

Otter AI requires an internet connection to work. There's no way to record and transcribe meetings offline. For users who frequently travel or work in low-connectivity environments, this can be a major drawback. The lack of offline support also means that any network issues or outages disrupt the entire workflow. The dependence on a stable internet connection limits Otter AI's reliability and flexibility.

Limited Customer Support 

While Otter AI does offer a knowledge base and email support, many users report slow response times and generic answers. There's no live chat or phone support for urgent issues. For large organizations, the lack of premium support options may be a concern. Timely, personalized support is especially important for mission-critical tools like AI meeting apps.