Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai: Which Meeting Transcription Tool is Better in 2025?

Compare Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai for AI meeting transcription. Detailed analysis of accuracy, features, pricing, and integrations to choose the best tool.

O

Otter.ai

AI meeting assistant for transcription and notes

Freemium
4
Wins
VS
F

Fireflies.ai

AI meeting assistant and note-taker

Freemium
6
Wins
4 wins for Otter.ai
2 ties
6 wins for Fireflies.ai

Overview

Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai are leading AI-powered meeting transcription and note-taking tools. Otter provides real-time transcription for meetings, interviews, and lectures with speaker identification and summaries. Fireflies automatically joins meetings to transcribe, summarize, and create searchable records with CRM integration. Both offer free tiers and AI-powered features, but they excel in different areas.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Feature
O
Otter.ai
F
Fireflies.ai
Pricing
$0-30/user/month
$0-19/user/month
Free Tier
600 min/month, 30 min/meeting
800 min/month
Real-time Transcription
Excellent - live captions
Good - post-meeting
CRM Integration
Limited
Excellent - Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive
Multi-speaker
Excellent - handles cross-talk well
Good - best with clear speakers
Mobile Apps
Excellent iOS/Android apps
Mobile apps available
Automated Join
Yes - OtterPilot
Yes - auto-joins all meetings
Action Items
AI summaries
Excellent - extracts action items
Team Collaboration
Real-time collaborative notes
Comments, sharing, team spaces
Analytics
Basic usage stats
Conversation intelligence, talk-time
Learning Curve
Easy - simple focused interface
Moderate - more features to learn
Platform Support
Zoom, Teams, Meet, mobile
Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex, phone

Pricing

O
Otter.ai

$0-30/user/month

F
Fireflies.ai

$0-19/user/month

Free Tier

O
Otter.ai

600 min/month, 30 min/meeting

F
Fireflies.ai

800 min/month

Real-time Transcription

O
Otter.ai

Excellent - live captions

F
Fireflies.ai

Good - post-meeting

CRM Integration

O
Otter.ai

Limited

F
Fireflies.ai

Excellent - Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive

Multi-speaker

O
Otter.ai

Excellent - handles cross-talk well

F
Fireflies.ai

Good - best with clear speakers

Mobile Apps

O
Otter.ai

Excellent iOS/Android apps

F
Fireflies.ai

Mobile apps available

Automated Join

O
Otter.ai

Yes - OtterPilot

F
Fireflies.ai

Yes - auto-joins all meetings

Action Items

O
Otter.ai

AI summaries

F
Fireflies.ai

Excellent - extracts action items

Team Collaboration

O
Otter.ai

Real-time collaborative notes

F
Fireflies.ai

Comments, sharing, team spaces

Analytics

O
Otter.ai

Basic usage stats

F
Fireflies.ai

Conversation intelligence, talk-time

Learning Curve

O
Otter.ai

Easy - simple focused interface

F
Fireflies.ai

Moderate - more features to learn

Platform Support

O
Otter.ai

Zoom, Teams, Meet, mobile

F
Fireflies.ai

Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex, phone

In-Depth Analysis

**Core Functionality**: Otter.ai focuses on real-time transcription with live captions, speaker identification, searchable notes, and AI summaries. It works across Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet with mobile recording capabilities. Fireflies.ai emphasizes automated meeting attendance—it joins meetings automatically, transcribes everything, generates summaries, extracts action items, and integrates with CRM systems to log meeting data. **Transcription Accuracy**: Both tools offer high accuracy (85-95%), though performance varies by audio quality and accents. Otter is praised for better handling of multiple speakers and cross-talk. Fireflies excels at clean audio with clear speakers. **Integrations**: Otter integrates with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack, Dropbox, and has mobile apps. Fireflies connects with Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex, plus deep CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) and project tools (Asana, Trello, Monday). **Pricing**: Otter offers Free (600 minutes/month, 30 min/meeting), Pro ($16.99/month), Business ($30/user/month). Fireflies offers Free (800 minutes/month), Pro ($10/month), Business ($19/user/month), Enterprise (custom). Fireflies is more affordable overall. **Use Cases**: Otter is better for real-time transcription needs, live note-taking during lectures, individual users and students, mobile recording, and teams prioritizing speaker identification. Fireflies is better for sales teams needing CRM integration, automated meeting logs, team collaboration on transcripts, extracting action items, and businesses wanting AI meeting insights. **Unique Features**: Otter provides OtterPilot for automated meeting joining, real-time collaboration on notes, and voice commands. Fireflies offers conversation intelligence, talk-time analytics, CRM auto-logging, and custom topic tracking.

The Verdict

Choose Otter.ai if you need real-time live transcription, prioritize mobile recording, are a student or educator, want better multi-speaker handling, need live captions during calls, or prefer simpler interface focused on transcription. Choose Fireflies.ai if you're in sales with CRM integration needs, want automated meeting attendance, need team collaboration on transcripts, require conversation analytics and insights, want action item extraction, or prioritize affordability ($10 vs $17/month). Many teams use both: Otter for real-time note-taking and mobile use, Fireflies for automated CRM logging and team meetings. Cost: ~$27/month for both.

Frequently Asked Questions About Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai

Both offer 85-95% accuracy depending on audio quality. Otter handles multiple speakers and cross-talk better. Fireflies excels with clear audio and distinct speakers. For complex multi-speaker scenarios, Otter has the edge. For clean sales calls, both perform equally well.

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Last updated: 10/21/2025