Otter vs Fireflies (2026): free limits, prices and privacy compared

Otter.ai is the name most people know. Fireflies.ai is the one many teams switch to. Both join your calls, transcribe them and write a summary. The real differences are in the free limits, the price and what happens to your recordings.

Quick answer: Fireflies is the better free choice and supports more languages. Otter is slightly cheaper on a yearly plan and is good for recording in-person conversations from your phone.

Otter vs Fireflies at a glance

	Otter	Fireflies
Free plan	300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes max per conversation, 3 file imports total	Unlimited transcription, 400 min storage per team, 20 AI credits
Pro price	$8.33/mo yearly, $16.99 monthly	$10/seat/mo yearly, $18 monthly
Pro minutes	1,200 per month, 10 file imports a month	Unlimited transcription, 8,000 min storage per seat
Languages	Check Otter’s site	100+
Trains on your data?	Yes, on de-identified audio and transcripts	Says it doesn’t train on personal information
Minimum age	13+	Check terms

Free plan: Fireflies wins

Otter’s free plan is tight: 300 minutes a month, and each conversation stops at 30 minutes. That’s fine for short check-ins but cuts off most real meetings. Fireflies transcribes without a minute limit on the free plan; the catch is that it keeps only 400 minutes of recordings per team.

Price: close, with Otter slightly cheaper yearly

On yearly billing, Otter Pro is $8.33 a month and Fireflies Pro is $10 per seat. Monthly, they’re $16.99 and $18. The bigger question is limits: Otter Pro caps you at 1,200 transcription minutes a month (about 20 hours), while Fireflies Pro has unlimited transcription.

If you’re in more than 20 hours of meetings a month, Fireflies is the better value even though it costs a little more.

Privacy: the biggest difference

• Otter trains its models on de-identified audio and transcripts. In August 2026 a US federal judge let wiretap and privacy claims proceed in a class action against Otter. These are allegations, not findings.
• Fireflies says it does not train on your personal information, though it also faces two proposed class actions in Illinois over voice data.

For sensitive meetings, check your company’s rules first, turn off auto-join, and tell everyone the call is recorded. Our meeting notes guide has a safe setup checklist.

Which should you choose?

• Choose Fireflies if you want a usable free plan, have long meetings, work in several languages, or prefer a tool that says it doesn’t train on your data.
• Choose Otter if you mostly record short calls or in-person conversations, and you’ll pay yearly.

Considering Fathom too? See Fathom vs Fireflies. Fathom’s free plan has no recording limit at all.