The short answer
The best Otter.ai alternative for most teams in November 2026 is Fireflies.ai, because it transcribes in more than 100 languages, says meeting content is never used to train AI models and can record without a bot on its Mac and Windows app. Pick tl;dv for EU-hosted data, Granola for bot-free personal notes, Fathom for a generous free plan, and your built-in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet recap if your company already pays for it.
Why people look for Otter alternatives
Otter.ai is a capable notetaker, and its new Work Mode (27 October 2026) is strong for sales follow-up. People leave for five concrete reasons.
- The free plan stops at 30 minutes. Otter Basic gives 300 minutes a month but caps each conversation at 30 minutes, shows only the 25 most recent conversations and exports MP3 and TXT only.
- Six languages. Otter's pricing page lists English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
- Training on recordings. Otter's privacy policy (effective 16 June 2026) lists training its own AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions, and no in-app opt-out toggle is described.
- The class action. In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, No. 25-cv-06911-EKL (N.D. Cal.), alleges Otter Notetaker recorded and transcribed calls without the consent of all participants and used conversations and voiceprints to train its models. On 13 August 2026 Judge Eumi K. Lee granted Otter's motion to dismiss in part and denied it in part, so claims including ECPA, CIPA section 631 and Illinois BIPA can proceed. There is no finding of liability.
- You may already pay for one. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet now write meeting summaries themselves on many paid plans.
Whatever you choose, one rule does not change: tell everyone on the call that an AI is taking notes, and get consent where the law requires it. Otter's own help centre names California, Illinois and Florida as US states where every participant must agree, and suggests treating every call that way. A tool without a visible bot makes telling people more important, not less.
The 7 best Otter alternatives
1. Fireflies.ai: best overall Otter alternative
Best for: teams that meet in several languages or handle client data.
Why: Fireflies transcribes more than 100 languages with automatic detection, connects to more than 100 tools including HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack and Notion, and offers an MCP connection to Claude, ChatGPT and Devin. It says meeting content is never used to train any AI models. Its consent email goes out one hour before the meeting with a decline link that stops Fireflies joining, and its desktop Take Notes mode records system audio without a bot. Read our Otter vs Fireflies verdicts.
The catch: for accounts created on or after 1 September 2026, free unlimited transcription only works while Auto-join calendar meetings is on, which is the setting that makes consent hardest to manage. No-bot recordings save no audio and label speakers as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.
Free plan: yes: 400 minutes of storage, 20 AI credits a month and recordings of up to 2 hours; transcript downloads need a paid plan.
2. tl;dv: best for teams that want data kept in the EU
Best for: European teams on Google Meet, Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Why: tl;dv (legal name tldx Solutions GmbH) says its data is hosted and stored in the EU, that your recordings and transcripts will never be used to train AI, and that it transcribes in more than 30 languages and dialects. Its desktop app can record without a bot on Mac or Windows, with any platform that outputs audio.
The catch: tl;dv's help centre warns that in bot-free mode, recording notifications may not appear automatically, and that informing participants and following privacy law is your responsibility.
Free plan: yes: unlimited recordings and transcripts, with AI notes for 10 meetings and 10 Ask tl;dv queries a month, according to tl;dv's own October 2026 comparison. Paid plans are Pro and Business, plus a custom-priced Enterprise plan.
3. Fathom: best free plan for unlimited recording
Best for: individuals and small sales or customer success teams on a budget.
Why: Fathom's free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, and clips, playlists and search across calls. Paid tiers (Premium, Team, Business, Enterprise) add AI action items, global search, CRM field sync and SSO. Fathom says there is no way to record silently: with its bot, the recording banner appears to all participants, and in bot-free mode it posts a chat message when recording starts. It says it is HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant, and stores all data in the United States.
The catch: Fathom uses de-identified data to improve its own models. Its help centre says you can opt out in My Settings, and Team Edition admins can opt everyone out in Organization Settings. Bot-free capture is in beta for Mac.
Free plan: yes, free forever, though some features such as AI action items are marked limited use.
4. Granola: best for bot-free personal notes
Best for: people who want private notes from their own device with no bot in the call.
Why: Granola captures device audio on every plan, so nothing joins the meeting, and it deletes audio after transcription. It offers AI meeting notes, AI chat, templates and apps for desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch. It says it does not allow third parties such as OpenAI or Anthropic to train on your data.
The catch: Granola trains on your anonymised data unless you opt out; Basic users can opt out any time, and Enterprise has training off by default. Because there is no bot, others may not know. Granola recommends asking permission and offers a "Let people know you're using Granola" setting that can send an automated message at the start of each meeting; Enterprise admins can enforce it.
Free plan: yes, Basic, with 30 days of meeting history. Business adds unlimited history, follow-up emails, integrations and MCP across all your apps (Basic's MCP covers only personal notes from the last 30 days).
5. Zoom's built-in AI: best if your meetings are on Zoom
Best for: organisations that already pay for Zoom Workplace.
Why: On 24 June 2026 Zoom stopped using the AI Companion brand for its built-in features. Meeting summaries, transcription and the rest are now built into Zoom Workplace under their functional names, and Zoom says eligible paid plans include core AI features at no additional cost. ZoomMate is a separate add-on that acts on meeting context to complete work. Zoom's privacy statement (updated 17 September 2026) says it does not use your audio, video, chat, screen sharing or attachments to train Zoom's or third-party AI models.
The catch: meeting summaries are part of Zoom Workplace; for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or in-person conversations you need Zoom's separate cross-platform notetaker, My Notes, which the free tier allows 3 times a month.
Free plan: Zoom Workplace Basic includes the free ZoomMate Basic Limited tier, with meeting summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month and 20 AI queries a month.
6. Microsoft Teams intelligent recap: best for Microsoft 365 Copilot companies
Best for: organisations where staff already have Microsoft 365 Copilot licences.
Why: Intelligent recap writes AI summaries of Teams meetings. There is also a version that saves no recording or persistent transcript: organisers with a Copilot licence can switch it on in Meeting options, the summary is stored as a read-only Word document in the organiser's OneDrive, and by default it expires after 120 days. It supports Purview eDiscovery and legal hold, which compliance teams need.
The catch: only attendees in the same organisation with a Copilot licence can view the summary; guests and external attendees cannot. The no-transcript version works for scheduled meetings only.
Free plan: no; it needs a Microsoft Copilot licence. See our Copilot guide.
7. Google Meet "Take notes for me": best for Google Workspace teams
Best for: companies on Google Workspace that meet in Google Meet.
Why: Gemini takes notes and saves them as a Google Doc in the organiser's Drive, attached to the Calendar event. It supports English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, one language per meeting. Meet tells all participants that notes are being taken and shows a pencil icon, and admins can require everyone to consent explicitly. Hosts choose who receives the notes, from all invited guests to hosts and co-hosts only.
The catch: it only works in Google Meet and needs an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan.
Free plan: not on a free personal account; it comes with eligible paid plans. See our Gemini guide.
Otter alternatives compared
| Tool | Best for | Bot in the call | Free plan | Trains on your meetings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | English sales follow-up | Yes, Otter Notetaker; desktop app also records | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation | Yes, de-identified; no toggle described |
| Fireflies.ai | Multilingual teams | Yes, or no bot on desktop | 400 minutes storage, 20 AI credits | No, says never |
| tl;dv | EU data hosting | Yes, or no bot on desktop | Unlimited recordings, AI notes for 10 meetings a month | No, says never |
| Fathom | Free unlimited recording | Yes, or bot-free beta on Mac | Unlimited recordings and summaries | De-identified, own models; opt out in My Settings |
| Granola | Private notes | No, device audio | 30 days of history | Anonymised, opt out any time; off on Enterprise |
| Zoom built-in AI | Zoom meetings | No, built in | Summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month on Basic | No for audio, video and chat |
| Teams intelligent recap | Microsoft 365 Copilot users | No, built in | No, needs a Copilot licence | Work accounts: not used to train foundation models |
| Google Meet Take notes for me | Google Workspace teams | No, built in | No, needs an eligible plan | Workspace rule: no training outside your domain without permission |
How to switch from Otter without losing your meetings
- Export what you need first. On Basic you can export MP3 and TXT, and you only see your 25 most recent conversations, so export the important ones before you cancel or downgrade a paid plan.
- Stop Otter joining. Turn off auto-join in your settings (admins set workspace defaults in Manage Workspace > Settings), then disconnect your calendar, so two bots do not turn up to the same call.
- Stop automatic sharing. On the home calendar, open the gear icon and set Default audience for shared notes to Don't Share-keep my notes private, so old meetings are not sent to new attendees.
- Set up consent in the new tool on day one. Turn on its pre-meeting email or chat notice before the first meeting, and decide whether the bot joins every meeting or only the ones you choose.
- Run both for one week, on different meetings. Compare summaries for accuracy on names, numbers and action items before you move the whole team.
- Request deletion if you want it. Otter describes no training toggle; privacy requests go to privacy@otter.ai or its online form.
For a full comparison of meeting tools, see the best AI for meeting notes and our Otter guide.
Prompts to copy
Decisions and owners from any notetaker
From this meeting transcript, list every decision and every action item with its owner and due date. If an owner or date was not said out loud, write "not agreed". Then list open questions. [paste transcript or summary]
You get: A checkable action list from whichever tool you switch to
Compare two tools' summaries
Here are two summaries of the same meeting from two different notetakers. List every fact, name, number or action item that appears in one but not the other, and say which summary is more complete. Summary A: [paste] Summary B: [paste]
You get: A fair side-by-side check during your trial week