# Otter.ai — AI Meeting Assistants & Notetakers

Otter.ai by Otter.ai, Inc. holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-06. Provenance: Rest of world; sovereignty: 1 of 6 dimensions proven.

- Vendor: Otter.ai, Inc. (https://otter.ai)
- Category: [AI Meeting Assistants & Notetakers](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): Rest of world
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/otter
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/otter/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/otter/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-06 · evaluated 2026-11-06 · oldest source captured 2026-11-05

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Otter.ai, Inc.
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 5 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Outside the EU by default [S8]
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S2]

## The panel's verdict

Otter.ai is an AI meeting assistant from Otter.ai, Inc., a Delaware company based in Mountain View, California. Strongest is capture and transcription, a flat 7: a bot joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, desktop and mobile apps record without a bot, and German sits among six transcription languages. Integrations follow at 7-8, summaries at 6-7. Consent and codetermination falls to 2-3, the works council chair lowest at 2 and unable to recommend a works agreement from these pages: the terms make the customer solely responsible for notices and consent, and no public information was found on participant opt-out, default-off sentiment analytics or DPIA support. Data control scores 4-5 and sovereignty 3-4 — storage on Amazon Web Services in the United States, a US-based subprocessor list, no European hosting option found. Scores spread widest on pricing transparency, 5 to 7: published tiers are detailed — Basic free, Pro $8.33 /user/month, Business $19.99 /user/month — but Enterprise is contact-sales with a 100-user minimum for SSO and SCIM, VAT is unstated, and two judges found different figures for Business transcription minutes across the captured pages.

**Speaks for it:**
- Capture spans a meeting bot for Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, botless desktop and mobile recording, and calls via Zoom Phone and RingCentral, with German among six transcription languages.
- Public tier detail is unusually granular — Basic free with 300 monthly minutes, Pro $8.33 /user/month, Business $19.99 /user/month, each with published minute, import and AI-chat limits.
- Integrations and workflow scored 7-8 for a catalogue spanning Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics and Zoho, Slack, SharePoint, Zapier and viaSocket, plus an API with webhooks on Enterprise and an MCP server.
- The subprocessor list names each provider with its country and role, and Anthropic and OpenAI are listed as storing no customer data and training no models on it.
- SSO and SCIM with Okta and Azure AD, audit logging, central admin policy controls and bulk export are documented.

**Held against it:**
- Consent and codetermination scored 2-3 because the terms put notices and consent solely on the customer, with no public information on participant opt-out or default-off sentiment analytics.
- Training the vendor's own AI on de-identified audio and transcripts is the documented default, with an opt-out only by contacting the account manager.
- Retention is stated only as "as long as necessary", with no fixed period and no public information on admin-set retention policies.
- The documented chain is US-based — a Delaware contracting entity, Amazon Web Services storage in the United States, US subprocessors — with no European hosting option found.
- Enterprise is contact-sales with a 100-user minimum for SSO and SCIM, VAT treatment is unstated, and two judges found different figures for Business transcription minutes, 6,000 on one page and unlimited on another.

**Best for:**
- You need meeting capture across Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, with summaries and action items pushed into HubSpot, Salesforce, SharePoint or Jira.
- You can budget a small team on the published per-seat prices rather than needing the contact-sales Enterprise tier.
- You want automation breadth through Zapier, viaSocket and the MCP server available from the Basic plan up.

**Avoid if:**
- You operate under German works-council codetermination — ask the vendor: the public pages we read do not show it
- Your procurement requires EU hosting or a European contracting entity — storage runs on Amazon Web Services in the United States and every listed subprocessor is US-based.
- You need confidential client conversations excluded from the vendor's AI training by default rather than via an opt-out through the account manager.
- You must pin down a company-wide annual cost before signing — Enterprise is contact-sales, VAT treatment is unstated and fees are non-refundable.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Management Consultant | The Sales Team Lead | The Works Council Chair | The Data Protection Officer | The IT Lead | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Recording, transcription & languages | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Summaries, action items & meeting knowledge | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Integrations, API & workflow | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| Consent, participant rights & works council | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Retention, AI training & administration | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **3/5** | **3/5** | **2/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Management Consultant** (v1.0): Partner at a twelve-person management consultancy in Munich with six client calls a day, half in German, half in English, and workshops in the client's meeting room. Writes the minutes at night and wants that to stop. Wants accurate German transcripts with the right names, minutes by meeting type with decisions and action items, capture of in-person workshops without a laptop on the table, and a promise in writing that client conversations train nobody's model.
- **The Sales Team Lead** (v1.0): Leads eight account executives at a software vendor for the German Mittelstand. Discovery calls run on Teams and Zoom, and the CRM is only as good as the notes someone found time to type. Does not want a coaching platform that scores the team: wants the call summary, next steps and the fields that matter written into HubSpot after every call, a follow-up email draft, and prospects told politely that the call is recorded.
- **The Works Council Chair** (v1.0): Chairs the works council of a machine builder with 2,300 employees in Baden-Württemberg. Management wants a notetaker in every Teams meeting; the council has to agree to it under § 87 BetrVG first. Wants to know who is told that a recording runs and who can say no, whether talk time or engagement scores per person exist and can be switched off for good, how long recordings are kept, and material the vendor provides for a works agreement.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Data protection officer of a private bank in Frankfurt that falls under DORA. Has to write the data protection impact assessment before the first recording. Reads the subprocessor list before the feature page, because the language model that reads the transcript is a processor too, and wants its name and region, contractual exclusion from training, retention and deletion by policy, voice profiles explained, and a DPA that matches what the security page claims.
- **The IT Lead** (v1.0): Head of IT at a 450-person engineering services firm on Microsoft 365, where a dozen employees already signed up for free notetakers with their work address. Wants one tool for everyone instead: single sign-on and SCIM, admin policies for when the assistant joins and what may be shared outside the company, retention set centrally, audit logs, Teams and SharePoint working properly, and a seat price that holds at four hundred users.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "99% accuracy in 100 languages" turn a German meeting into English nonsense, a bot that joined a meeting its owner never attended and mailed the summary to every guest, and an action item no one in the room had agreed to. Asks which model wrote the summary and where it runs, whether each statement can be traced to the transcript, who told the external participants, what "we do not train on your data" covers in the DPA — and how the archive leaves.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: 1 of 6 dimensions proven.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Outside the EU | 0/4 | [S8] |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- AI disclaimer: no [S6]
- AI training opt out: yes [S4]
- Audit logging: yes [S4]
- Cross border safeguards: yes [S7]
- Data sale and targeted ads: yes [S7]
- Dispute resolution: JAMS · 0 [S7]
- DPA: Appendix 1 · yes [S6]
- Dpf certified: yes · EU-U.S. DPF · UK Extension to EU-U.S. DPF · Swiss-U.S. DPF [S7]
- Encryption: TLS · AES-256 for real-time content [S5]
- Ftc oversight: yes [S7]
- HIPAA addon: add-on · yes · HIPAA [S5]
- Identity verification: yes [S7]
- No significant profiling: no [S7]
- Opt out mechanism: Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information · no [S7]
- Recording consent: yes [S6]
- Security safeguards: physical · administrative · technical [S7]
- Self assessment: yes [S7]
- US state DPA: Appendix 6 · yes [S6]

**Data**
- Aggregated use: no · yes [S6]
- Cookie opt out google analytics: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout [S7]
- Deletion: yes [S7]
- Deletion trash: yes · yes · yes [S6]
- Machine learning use: none · yes [S6]
- Retention: as long as necessary for stated purposes or legal/regulatory requirement · yes [S7]
- User content license: worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, with right to sublicense · yes [S6]

**Hosting**
- Cloud provider: United States · Amazon Web Services [S7]

**Integrations**
- Airtable: Airtable · send transcripts, summaries, and meeting metadata [S3]
- Amazon s3: Amazon S3 · export transcripts, summaries, and metadata [S3]
- Android app: Android app · record, transcribe, access meetings [S3]
- API webhooks: API · Webhooks · Enterprise section [S5]
- Asana: Asana · meeting notes into action items with deadlines [S3]
- Chrome extension: yes [S2]
- Chrome extension: Google Chrome Extension · bot-free Google Meet capture, transcribe website media [S3]
- Claude: Claude · transcripts and action items via MCP [S3]
- Clickup: ClickUp · send summaries and action items [S3]
- Desktop app: yes [S2]
- Desktop app: macOS 12.3+, Windows 10+ · Desktop app for Windows and Mac · desktop recording, no bot, headphones [S3]
- Dropbox: Dropbox · transcribe uploaded audio/video files [S3]
- Egnyte: Egnyte · export transcripts, summaries, metadata [S3]
- Glean: Glean · search transcripts, notes, action items [S3]
- Google calendar: Google Calendar · auto-join Zoom, Teams, Google Meet meetings [S3]
- Google docs: Google Docs · sync transcriptions and notes [S3]
- Google drive: Google Drive · sync transcripts and meeting content [S3]
- Google meet: Google Meet · real-time transcriptions, summaries, Q&A [S3]
- Hubspot: HubSpot · log transcripts, push sales insights to CRM [S3]
- Ios app: iOS app · record and transcribe meetings [S3]
- Jira: JIRA · send key takeaways and action items [S3]
- Microsoft dynamics: Microsoft Dynamics · Sales Agent pushes insights and call notes [S3]
- Microsoft onedrive: Microsoft OneDrive · export transcripts, summaries, insights [S3]
- Microsoft outlook: Microsoft Outlook · schedule notetaker from Outlook calendar [S3]
- Microsoft teams: Microsoft Teams · real-time transcriptions, takeaways, action items [S3]
- Monday com: Monday.com · Sales Agent pushes insights and call notes [S3]
- Notion: Notion · sync transcripts, notes, takeaways [S3]
- Outreach: Outreach · review and search recorded conversations [S3]
- Paid integrations: Salesforce and HubSpot subject to user limits · Pro+ · Salesforce · HubSpot · Zapier [S5]
- Platforms: Google Calendar · iCal · Google Contacts · Zoom · Google · Microsoft [S7]
- Ringcentral: RingCentral · automatic transcription of calls [S3]
- Salesforce: Salesforce · auto-log transcripts and insights [S3]
- Salesloft: Salesloft · automatic call transcription [S3]
- Sharepoint: SharePoint · export transcripts, summaries, metadata [S3]
- Slack: Slack · share transcripts, summaries, takeaways [S3]
- Snowflake: Snowflake · export and analyze transcripts [S3]
- Third party accounts: yes [S6]

**Legal**
- Agreements: Privacy policy · Terms of service · Software service agreement [S1]
- Arbitration: yes · yes [S6]
- Arbitration optout: 800 W El Camino Real, Suite 170, Mountain View, CA 94040 · yes · 30 [S6]
- Children age limit: 13 [S7]
- Copyright: 2026 · Otter.ai Inc [S1]
- Copyright entity: Otter.ai Inc [S4]
- Dmilca agent address: yes · 800 W El Camino Real, Suite 170, Mountain View, CA 94040 [S6]
- Effective date: 2025-09-19 [S6]
- Entity name: Otter.ai, Inc. [S6]
- Governing arbitration body: Consumer Arbitration Rules · American Arbitration Association [S6]
- Repeat infringer policy: yes [S6]
- Termination by customer: yes [S6]

**Pricing**
- Annual savings: Monthly · Annual · save 51% [S5]
- Basic features: yes · Zoom · Google Meet · Teams · Slack · yes [S4]
- Basic free: yes [S4]
- Basic price: Basic · 0 · USD [S5]
- Business features: yes · yes · 4 · 6000 [S4]
- Business monthly price: user/month · Business · 19.99 · USD · save 33% [S5]
- Business price: USD · 7 · 19.99 [S4]
- Change rights: yes · yes [S6]
- Currency refundability: USD · no [S6]
- Enterprise custom: yes · yes [S4]
- Enterprise demo only: Enterprise · contact via demo · yes [S5]
- Free tier: yes [S2]
- Invoice option: yes · 30 [S6]
- Pro monthly price: user/month · Pro · 8.33 · USD · save 51% [S5]
- Prorated user additions: yes [S6]

**Product**
- Add images: yes [S2]
- Admin controls: yes [S2]
- Admin controls: yes [S4]
- Admin features: Business · activity logs · usage analytics [S5]
- AI chat queries: 50 per user · 20 per user (3 per conversation) · 200 per user · 200 per user [S5]
- AI chat work mode: yes [S4]
- AI training on user data: yes · yes [S7]
- Assistant meeting platforms: Zoom · Microsoft Teams · Google Meet [S2]
- Business meeting limit: Business · 4 [S5]
- Calendar connections: Google Calendar · Microsoft Outlook · iOS Calendar [S2]
- Categories: Collaboration · CRM · Calendar · Desktop App · Mobile · Browser Extensions · Storage · Analytics · Dialers · Video Conferencing [S3]
- Centralized billing management reporting: yes [S2]
- Comment: yes [S2]
- Concurrent meetings: 2 · 1 · 3 · 3 [S5]
- Controller processor roles: yes [S7]
- Conversation channels: yes [S4]
- Conversation history: Unlimited · 25 most recent · Unlimited · Unlimited [S5]
- Conversation intelligence: yes [S4]
- Cross team visibility: yes [S4]
- Custom template limits: 15 meetings per user · 5 meetings per user · 30 meetings per user · Unlimited [S5]
- Custom vocabulary: custom vocabulary · 5 terms [S5]
- Custom vocabulary: yes [S2]
- Data ownership workspaces: yes · yes [S6]
- Dropbox sync: Dropbox automatic file sync [S5]
- Edit text speakers timecodes: yes [S2]
- Enterprise AI chat integrations: Enterprise · Gmail · Google Drive · Notion · Jira [S5]
- Enterprise capabilities: Enterprise · SSO · SCIM · Domain Capture · HIPAA compliance (add-on) · Otter API & Webhooks [S5]
- Export audio text captions: audio · text · captions · yes [S2]
- Export formats: mp3 · txt · pdf · docx · srt · mp3 · txt · mp3 · txt · pdf · docx · srt · mp3 · txt · pdf · docx · srt · bulk export · mp3 · txt · pdf · docx · srt · bulk export [S5]
- Folders: yes [S2]
- Follow up automation: yes [S4]
- Free tier: yes · yes [S6]
- Highlight: yes [S2]
- Import prerecorded: yes [S2]
- Import transcription limit: 1,200 min/user · 300 min/user · 6,000 min/user · 6,000 min/user [S5]
- Imported files limit: 10 monthly · 3 lifetime · Unlimited · Unlimited [S5]
- Inline images: yes [S2]

**Subprocessors**
- Analytics: Google Analytics · Amplitude · analytics [S7]
- Anthropic: Anthropic · United States · Provider for backend support of AI-enabled functionality · yes · yes [S8]
- Core infrastructure aws: Amazon Web Services, Inc. · United States · Cloud service provider and customer data storage platform [S8]
- Crescendo: Crescendo (formerly PartnerHero) · United States · Philippines · Honduras · customer-initiated support cases [S8]
- Crusoe: Crusoe · United States · Cloud service provider [S8]
- Effective date: 2026-03-31 [S8]
- Google cloud platform: Google Cloud Platform · United States · Cloud service provider [S8]
- Intercom: Intercom · United States · Support services [S8]
- Legal entity: Otter.ai Inc [S8]
- On24: On24 · United States · Webinar and virtual event hosting platform [S8]
- Onesignal: OneSignal · United States · Customer engagement and push notifications [S8]
- Openai: OpenAI · United States · Provider for evaluating the effectiveness of our Large Language Models (LLM) · yes · yes [S8]
- Payment stripe: Stripe, Inc. · payment processing · no [S7]
- Planhat: PlanHat · United States · Customer Success platform for post-sales lifecycle [S8]
- Research transcriptions: Research Transcriptions · United States · Provider for annotating training and evaluation data for our product features [S8]
- Slack: Slack · United States · Internal messaging platform for communications [S8]
- Stripe: Stripe · United States · Cloud-based Payment Processing [S8]
- Update notice: account owner notification and page posting · yes [S8]
- Workato: Workato · United States · Provider for building automations and integrations [S8]
- Workos: WorkOS · United States · Directory sync for enterprise login workflow [S8]
- Zendesk: Zendesk · United States · Cloud-based customer support services [S8]
- Zuora: Zuora · United States · Subscription Management & Billing [S8]

**Support**
- Cancellation channels: website settings · Apple App Store · Google Play Store · support@otter.ai [S6]
- Download options: Desktop App · iOS · Android · Chrome extension [S1]
- Help center: yes [S2]
- Help center: Help Center [S1]
- Help center: Help Center listed under Resources [S3]
- Prioritized support: Business+ · yes [S5]
- Privacy contact: privacy@otter.ai · 1-866-467-8688 [S7]
- Status page: yes [S1]

50 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/otter

## Questions

### Is Otter.ai European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Otter.ai as Rest of world.

### Where does Otter.ai store data?

Otter.ai stores customer data outside the EU by default, per [the vendor’s page captured 5 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/19150).

### Does Otter.ai have a free plan?

Yes. Otter.ai has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 5 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/19087).

### What are the best alternatives to Otter.ai?

As of 6 Nov 2026, the panel rates [MeetGeek (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/meetgeek), [Noota (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/noota) and [Jamie (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/jamie) highest among the other 14 AI Meeting Assistants & Notetakers products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [MeetGeek](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/meetgeek) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Otter.ai alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/otter/alternatives).

## Head-to-head

- [Otter.ai vs Jamie](https://whats-best.ai/compare/jamie-vs-otter.md)

## What this page leaves out

- 6 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 compliance fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 product fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 sovereignty dimension could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and is shown as unknown.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://otter.ai/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S2] Features page: https://otter.ai/features (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S3] Integrations page: https://otter.ai/integrations (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S4] Features page (enterprise): https://otter.ai/enterprise (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S5] Pricing page: https://otter.ai/pricing (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S6] Terms of service: https://otter.ai/terms-of-service (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S7] Privacy policy: https://otter.ai/privacy-policy (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S8] Subprocessor list: https://otter.ai/subprocessors (checked 2026-11-05)

---

Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Otter.ai — AI Meeting Assistants & Notetakers", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/software/meeting-assistants/otter

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1583?target=page