Revenue teams, sales orgs, and businesses that need CRM automation and deep integrations
Individuals, students, and journalists who want a well-known transcription tool with a clean UI
Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai are two of the most-searched AI meeting assistants in 2026. Both auto-join your Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams calls, both transcribe in real time, and both offer free plans. But the gap between them widens fast once a business team starts using them. Fireflies.ai wins this comparison on integrations, CRM sync, meeting analytics, and API depth — the features that matter most when your sales or revenue team needs meeting data inside their existing stack.
We evaluated both tools on the same set of criteria: free plan generosity, paid pricing, CRM integration depth, API availability, meeting bot reliability, real-time summaries, and storage limits. Pricing was verified against Fireflies' pricing page and Otter.ai's pricing page in May 2026.
Bottom line: Fireflies.ai is the stronger choice for business teams that need Salesforce or HubSpot sync, 100+ app integrations, or programmatic access via API. Otter.ai suits individuals and non-technical users who want a simpler interface and strong brand recognition — but its 300 min/mo free cap and $16.99/mo Pro price make it harder to justify against Fireflies' $10/mo Pro tier. Independent ratings on G2 place Fireflies at 4.8/5 across 500+ reviews versus Otter.ai at 4.2/5 — consistent with our hands-on findings. Capterra reviewers similarly rate Fireflies higher for business team use cases.
Side by side
Fireflies.ai
Our pick
Score
4.4 / 5
Price
Free plan
Revenue teams, sales orgs, and businesses that need CRM automation and deep integrations
Fireflies.ai auto-joins every major meeting platform, transcribes accurately, and plugs natively into Salesforce, HubSpot, and 100+ other apps — including a full developer API. The free plan gives 800 minutes of storage (enough for casual use), while Pro at $10/seat/mo annual is one of the most competitive prices in the category. Meeting analytics, topic detection, and AI search across all your calls make it the go-to for revenue teams.
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Otter.ai
Score
3.9 / 5
Price
Free plan
Individuals, students, and journalists who want a well-known transcription tool with a clean UI
Otter.ai is the most widely recognized name in AI transcription and its OtterPilot bot reliably joins meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams. The free plan caps at 300 min/mo (roughly 5 hours), and live summaries during calls are genuinely useful. However, at $16.99/mo annual for Pro — higher than Fireflies' $10/mo — and with narrower integrations, Otter.ai is harder to recommend for teams that need CRM sync or API access.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 800 min storage, unlimited seats, limited AI credits | 300 min/mo transcription, 3 imports |
| Paid starting price | $10/mo Pro plan, billed annually per seat | $16.99/mo Pro plan, billed annually |
| CRM integrations | Native Salesforce and HubSpot sync on Business plan | ~ HubSpot via OtterPilot for Sales; no Salesforce native |
| API access | Full developer API available; enables custom workflows | No public developer API in 2026 |
| Meeting bot (auto-joins) | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams via OtterPilot |
| Real-time live summary | Live transcript and AI notes during the call | Live summary during meeting, visible to all participants |
| App integrations count | 100+ Slack, Notion, Zapier, CRM tools, and more | ~10 Zoom, Salesforce (Sales plan), limited ecosystem |
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Fireflies.ai's free plan compare to Otter.ai's free plan?
Fireflies.ai's free plan provides 800 minutes of storage per seat with unlimited seats, which means your whole team can use it without paying — the storage just caps at 800 total recorded minutes. Otter.ai's free plan gives 300 minutes of transcription per month per user, plus only 3 import slots. For a team of five that holds daily standups and weekly syncs, Fireflies' free storage goes further. Otter's monthly reset can be better for occasional individual users who want a fresh slate each month.
Does Fireflies.ai integrate with Salesforce and HubSpot?
Fireflies.ai offers native Salesforce and HubSpot integration on its Business plan ($19/seat/mo annual). The integration pushes call summaries, action items, and transcripts directly into CRM records without manual copy-paste. Otter.ai offers limited HubSpot sync via its OtterPilot for Sales add-on, but does not have a native Salesforce connector. For teams relying on CRM data from sales calls, Fireflies is the purpose-built choice.
Which tool is more accurate for transcription — Fireflies or Otter?
Both Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai use modern speech recognition models and achieve comparable accuracy on clear audio (typically 90-95% on English calls). Fireflies uses a combination of its own models and leading ASR providers; Otter uses its proprietary Otter Speech Engine. Accuracy drops for both on heavy accents, technical jargon, or poor audio quality. In independent user reviews on G2, Fireflies scores slightly higher (4.8/5 on G2 reviews) versus Otter.ai (4.2/5), with Fireflies users citing stronger speaker identification.
Can Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai both join meetings automatically?
Both tools offer a meeting bot that auto-joins scheduled calls. Fireflies' Notetaker bot works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. Otter's OtterPilot joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams. Neither requires a browser extension for bot-joining — both work by detecting calendar invites and joining via a bot link. Fireflies additionally supports manual meeting import via audio file upload on all paid plans.
Is Otter.ai worth paying for over Fireflies.ai?
For most business users, Fireflies.ai's Pro plan at $10/mo annual offers better value than Otter.ai's Pro at $16.99/mo. Fireflies includes 100+ integrations, a developer API, meeting analytics, and topic detection at a lower price point. Otter.ai's premium comes mainly from brand recognition and its polished consumer UX. If you specifically need Otter's live summary visible to all meeting participants, that feature is strong — but Fireflies also provides live transcription and summaries on its plans.
Does Otter.ai have an API for developers?
Otter.ai does not offer a public developer API in 2026. Developers and teams that need programmatic access to meeting transcripts, notes, or action items — to build custom workflows, populate internal databases, or integrate with proprietary tools — will need Fireflies.ai, which provides a full GraphQL-based API on its paid plans. This is one of the clearest differentiators between the two tools for technical teams.
