Fireflies vs Otter AI: Which AI Note Taker Reigns Supreme?

Every now and then a new kind of technology comes along that shakes up our work lives. Just think of how Slack swooped in and replaced email. Now, the latest and greatest work tech is an AI meeting assistant.

‍AI meeting assistants, also called AI note takers, are able to take the audio or video of an online meeting and produce meeting summaries. They can also transcribe meetings quickly, providing a full record of everything that was said. Being able to get automated meeting notes cuts down on tedious manual note taking and frees us up to fully engage in our work meetings.

There are also more of these AI meeting assistant apps for online meetings available than ever. Two of the most common options are Fireflies.ai and Otter AI. If you’re looking to adopt an AI meeting assistant, there’s a strong chance you’re considering one of them. While many of their features overlap, there are some key differences between them worth noting.

Here, we’re going to take a deep dive into looking at how Otter AI and Fireflies compare to each other, how their features differ, and what their best use cases are. Then, ultimately, we’ll show you an even better alterative after comparing these two tools.

Fireflies AI: An overview

Fireflies AI is an AI meeting assistant that can record, summarize, transcribe, and analyze conversations. 

Fireflies AI works by having its bot join your meetings as an attendee, whether in Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams. While you talk, Fireflies listens and captures the conversation with the ability to identify speakers. You’re then able to search through those transcripts as well as use Fireflies’ built-in chatbot, AskFred.

Some specialized features included with Fireflies are conversational intelligence to analyze calls, the ability to upload and transcribe audio and video files, and integrations with common dialers. 

Finally, Fireflies also integrates with some other tools, such as Slack, project management apps like Asana, and CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce.

However, there are some areas where Fireflies falls short, which we’ll dive into later on.

Otter AI: An overview

Otter AI differs from Fireflies in that it began as purely a transcription tool to transcribe spoken conversations. Initially, users could upload audio and video files and Otter AI would automatically create a transcription. This made it popular for use cases such as transcribing a university lecture, or for a journalist transcribing an interview.

However, Otter AI has evolved since its launch to compete more closely with AI meeting assistants. Now, Otter AIPilot can join meetings like Fireflies to create AI summaries and transcripts, while also being able to transcribe uploaded content. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams and also has mobile apps.

Summaries are organized in a central library and can be searched using Otter AI Chat. Otter AI also integrates with popular tools such as Slack, Notion, Jira, and HubSpot.

Fireflies vs Otter AI: Comparing key differences

Now that we’ve seen a broad overview of both Otter AI and Fireflies AI, let's take a closer, head-to-head look at the key differences that set these two AI meeting assistants apart. 

Meeting recording, notes, and transcription

Both Fireflies AI and Otter AI are able to join meetings to record, take notes, and create a transcription. However, the way they work is a bit different.

‍Fireflies AI is purpose-built for meetings, as opposed to general transcription. While it can provide meeting summaries as well as record, and transcribe all calls, there are some limitations based on your plan. For example, video recording is only available at Business tier and higher. The free plan also limits the number of AI summaries that are available. The summaries are structured in a way that makes sense for business meetings and Fireflies can also note action items based on meeting transcripts.

‍Otter AI differs in that it provides real-time transcription during meetings and you can immediately highlight key moments. This transcription tool can also capture content from slides and presentations, but Otter AI only offers video replay on its Enterprise plan. Otter AI’s AI summaries are fairly basic but do note action items.

While both options are very comparable, Fireflies takes the edge because it offers more robust features at lower plan tiers.

AI accuracy

One of the most important features an AI meeting assistant has to get right is transcription accuracy. It’s crucial that words are correct with a transcription tool, but also that they’re accurately assigned to the right speaker.

‍Fireflies AI boasts “90% accuracy for most types of meetings.” However, according to reviews on G2, AI transcription accuracy is the number one complaint. Reviewers have noted that Fireflies can sometimes identify the wrong speaker and can also struggle with strong accents. As well, reviewers note that Fireflies can have trouble transcribing slang or technical terms.

‍Otter AI doesn’t make specific claims about transcription accuracy but it's most accurate when Otter AIPilot is used. “However, the accuracy can vary based on factors such as background noise, speaker accents, and the complexity of the conversation,” Otter AI notes. G2 reviews reflect this — people say recording quality will impact accuracy.

At this stage in AI transcription, some errors are still to be expected, which can be frustrating if key moments are missed. Otter AI just takes the edge with fewer accuracy complaints.

Meeting management support

Ideally, an AI meeting assistant doesn’t simply summarize and transcribe meetings — it helps to make the quality of your meetings better. Let’s take a look at Fireflies’ and Otter AI’s meeting management features.

‍Fireflies’ standout features here are its conversational intelligence and analytics. Fireflies helps users to understand their meetings better by offering insights on the sentiment from speakers, as well as the ability to track key topics and filter conversations by speaker. For analytics, Fireflies is able to track and reveal how long each meeting participant speaks, who has the longest monologues, how many filler words are used, and each speaker’s listening to talking ratio. Together, these features can help meeting participants assess their own meeting contributions as well as the success of meetings.

‍Otter AI, on the other hand, doesn’t have many features that support measuring the quality of meetings. The Ask Otter AI chatbot can do things like write follow-up emails or create blog posts, but that won’t in of itself make meetings better.

Fireflies offers more meeting management support, but neither tool ultimately supports better meetings with tools like agendas, a place for manual meeting notes, or pre-meeting briefs.

Language support

For businesses with international offices or even just local polyglots, it’s important that an AI meeting assistant can handle more than just English transcription.

‍Fireflies AI lists 116 languages that it supports. While it can auto-detect languages, it recommends setting a default language, either for all meetings or for each meeting if the language will be changing. This way, you’ll get your transcript and summary in your preferred language.

‍Otter AI only supports transcription in English (UK and US), Spanish, and French. However, you do have the option of using Otter AI Chat to transcribe an English transcription into another language.

Fireflies has much more robust language support.

Pricing

Now the big question — how much do these meeting transcription tools cost?

Fireflies

• Free: 800 mins of storage per seat with unlimited transcription and limited summaries.
• Pro: $10 per seat per month, billed annually. Includes 8,000 mins of storage per seat as well as unlimited transcriptions, summaries, and integrations.
• Business: $19 per seat per month, billed annually. Includes video recording, analytics, and conversational intelligence.
• Enterprise: $39 per seat per month, billed annually. Includes single sign-on, HIPAA compliance, and private storage.

Otter AI

• Free: 300 monthly transcription minutes with up to 30 minutes per conversation, along with summaries.
• Pro: $8.33 per seat per month, billed annually. Includes custom vocabulary, advanced search, and 1,200 monthly transcription minutes up to 90 minutes per conversation.
• Business: $20 per seat per month, billed annually. Includes 6,000 monthly transcription minutes at up to 4 hours per conversation and unlimited uploads.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing. This adds single sign-on, organization-wide deployment, OtterPilot for Sales, and advanced security controls.

Although Otter AI is slightly less expensive, Fireflies offers more features, making it worth the extra cost.

Fireflies vs Otter AI: The final verdict

On the surface, both Fireflies AI and Otter AI seem very similar. Both act as a transcription tool that can transcribe meetings and provide meeting summaries for online meetings, but you can see now that it's the finer details that really set them apart. 

Based on this direct comparison, either tool could be the right choice, depending on what you’re using it for.

Fireflies AI is the best option for freelancers who need a nimble option that is good at its core functionality. 

Otter AI is the best option if you need real time transcription.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for an organization-wide tool for meeting assistance, neither Fireflies or Otter AI is an ideal option compared to competitors.

A better, org-wide solution: Fellow

If you’re looking for the best AI meeting assistant that can record, summarize, create meeting notes, and provide meeting management support org-wide, the best choice on the market is Fellow.

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Like Otter AI and Fireflies AI, Fellow can join Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams calls to transcribe meetings, but it also has some standout features and key differences.

Why Fellow trumps both Otter AI and Fireflies:

• Video recording for all tiers
• Pre-meeting support with collaborative agendas and automated pre-meeting briefs
• A place during meetings to type manual meeting notes and action items
• Post-meeting recaps
• Pause/resume recording
• The ability to redact from meetings transcripts and summaries
• A centralized recording, summary, and transcription library
• Highly-accurate transcription
• Support for 99+ languages
• More than 50 integrations, including AI suggestions for HubSpot
• Robust permissioning and security

Overall, Fellow has the most pre- and post-meeting support, the most integrations, and the best security and privacy measures. It’s also best for team collaboration thanks to the central library.

Fellow is also well priced:

• Free: 5 AI recordings and meeting notes per user per month (3 hours per credit, for a total of up to 900 minutes), plus AI meeting summaries.
• Team: $7 per user per month, billed annually 10 AI meeting notes and recordings per month, plus action items, automations, and expanded integrations.
• Business: $15 per user per month, billed annually. Unlimited meeting notes and recordings, Ask Fellow chatbot, and CRM integration.
• Enterprise: $25 per user per month, billed annually. More robust security features, analytics, AI CRM sync, and redaction.

Overall, Fellow offers the best value with the most features, making it the best option for enterprise use. It goes far beyond being a transcription tool to being an all-in-one meeting solution.

Try Fellow for free today.

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