On listed annual prices, Otter.ai is cheaper for one person: Otter Pro works out at $99.96 a year against $120 for Fireflies.ai Pro. For a five-person team on the business tiers, Fireflies is slightly cheaper: $1,140 a year for Fireflies Business against $1,199.40 for Otter Business (all our arithmetic). Otter Pro caps transcription at 1,200 minutes a month but keeps unlimited history, while Fireflies Pro has unlimited transcription but caps storage at 8,000 minutes per seat. Otter says it gives no refunds; Fireflies gives conditional refunds, though its own help articles conflict.
This is a documentary comparison based on the providers’ official pages. We have not bought, installed or tested either tool, so nothing here is a verdict on transcript accuracy, summary quality or security. Privacy and feature statements are the providers’ own claims.
Prices at a glance
Prices and plan details were checked on the providers’ official pages on 5 November 2026. Fireflies figures were read on its live pricing page. Figures are in USD. Prices vary by country, currency, taxes and promotions, so confirm the final amount at checkout.
| Plan | Otter.ai | Fireflies.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Basic: 300 minutes/user/month, up to 5 workspace members | Free: unlimited transcription (footnoted), 400 minutes storage per team |
| Individual, monthly billing | Pro: $16.99/month list ($8.49 shown as a promotion) | Pro: $18 per seat/month |
| Individual, annual billing | Pro: $8.33/month list ($4.17 shown on the plan card) | Pro: $10 per seat/month |
| Team, annual billing | Business: $19.99 per user/month, up to 25 billed users | Business: $19 per seat/month |
| Team, monthly billing | Business: $30 list (shown as $24, “20% off for 3 months+”) | Business: $29 per seat/month |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | $39 per seat/month, annual only |
| Refunds | No refunds | Conditional; sources conflict |
Otter’s pricing page showed promotional prices marked with asterisks that were not explained. A footnote says “Offer valid for first-time subscribers only”, but it is not clearly tied to a price, and the Pro annual card ($4.17) did not match the comparison table ($8.33). We use the list prices below and treat the promotion as unconfirmed. Fireflies advertises “Save up to 44%” on annual billing.
What it costs per year
For one person on annual billing:
- Otter Pro: $99.96 a year at the $8.33 list price (our arithmetic). If the $4.17 promotional price applied for a full year, it would be $50.04 (our arithmetic), but that is not confirmed.
- Fireflies Pro: $120 a year (10 × 12, our arithmetic).
On monthly billing for twelve months, Otter Pro would cost $203.88 at list price and Fireflies Pro $216 (our arithmetic).
For a five-person team on annual billing:
- Otter Pro: $499.80 (5 × $99.96, our arithmetic). Pro allows up to five billed users, so five is its ceiling.
- Fireflies Pro: $600 (5 × $120, our arithmetic).
- Fireflies Business: $1,140 (5 × $19 × 12, our arithmetic).
- Otter Business: $1,199.40 (5 × $19.99 × 12, our arithmetic).
Fireflies bills per seat and states no seat minimum. Otter Business allows up to 25 billed users; if you expect to grow past five, Otter Pro will not fit.
Free plans
Otter Basic gives 300 transcription minutes per user per month, caps each conversation at 30 minutes, keeps only the 25 most recent conversations and allows three lifetime file imports. It includes 20 AI Chat queries a month and covers up to five workspace members.
Fireflies Free lists unlimited transcription, with a footnote, plus limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits. The storage cap is the main limit: once it is full, you will need to delete recordings or upgrade. You can compare it with the paid tiers on Fireflies.ai.
Storage, limits and AI credits
The two providers limit different things. Otter limits minutes per month and conversation length. Fireflies limits stored minutes and uses AI credits.
- Otter Pro: 1,200 meeting minutes and 1,200 imported-file minutes per user per month, 90 minutes per conversation, unlimited conversation history, 50 AI Chat queries a month.
- Otter Business: unlimited meeting transcription, meetings up to 4 hours, 200 AI Chat queries a month.
- Fireflies Pro: unlimited transcription and AI summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, 20 AI credits, video recording and downloads.
- Fireflies Business: unlimited storage, 30 AI credits, multi-language mode, conversation intelligence, team analytics and a 3-hour recording limit.
- Fireflies Enterprise: 50 AI credits, SSO and SCIM, HIPAA compliance, private storage and custom data retention.
Fireflies lists 20 AI credits on Free and Pro, 30 on Business and 50 on Enterprise. The pricing page does not say over what period the listed credits apply, so check before relying on them. Otter lists AI transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. Fireflies’ pricing FAQ lists English as primary, with Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian supported and more than 100 other languages in beta.
Refunds and cancellation
Otter’s help centre says it does not offer refunds, and its terms say fees are non-refundable. Subscriptions renew automatically, and Otter advises cancelling at least 24 hours before the next billing date. Paid features stay active until the end of the period. If you bought through Apple or Google, you cancel there. Otter does not accept PayPal on the web.
Fireflies’ refund policy gives a full refund on monthly plans if you have been active seven days or less and have three meetings or fewer, otherwise a pro-rated refund. Annual plans get a full refund within seven days and 20 meetings, with no pro-rated refunds. A different Fireflies help article says it does not refund subscriptions. Because the sources conflict, confirm the terms before paying. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing cycle and moves the account to Free; the terms require cancelling at least 24 hours before the period ends.
Recording consent
Otter’s notetaker joins calls as a named participant and posts a chat announcement. Enterprise admins can enforce pre-meeting notification emails to calendar guests. For botless desktop recording, Otter says you are responsible for notifying participants and getting consent, and its privacy page asks users to comply with local laws.
Fireflies offers an audio consent message, a meeting chat post and an “AI Taking Notes” video watermark for bot-free capture. If you turn these off, Fireflies says you are responsible for informing participants and following recording laws. Participants can opt out, and the bot will then not join.
With either tool, you are responsible for telling participants and following the recording-consent laws where you and they are. This is not legal advice. Our guide to classifying data before using AI tools helps you decide which meetings should not be recorded at all.
What they say about your data
Fireflies’ pricing page states that customer data is never used for AI training. That is the provider’s claim; we have not verified it. The Otter pages in our data did not include a comparable statement on AI training, so read Otter’s privacy policy before uploading sensitive recordings. If several people will share one workspace, set ownership and review rules first, as described in our guide to deploying a team AI assistant with human review.
Who each suits
Otter suits one person or a group of up to five who want the lowest listed annual price, unlimited history and meetings under 90 minutes on Pro. It also suits teams who want Business with unlimited transcription and meetings up to 4 hours. You can check the current offer on Otter.ai.
Fireflies suits people who record many meetings and care more about unlimited transcription than unlimited storage, and teams who want the slightly lower listed Business price or a stated no-training policy. It also has a refund window, though with conditions. For Fathom and Read.ai in the same table, see our AI meeting assistants comparison.
- Estimate your monthly meeting minutes and longest meeting.
- Count users: Otter Pro stops at five billed users.
- Use list prices for budgeting; treat Otter’s promotion as unconfirmed.
- Check the refund terms: none at Otter, conditional at Fireflies.
- Turn on consent features and tell participants before recording.
- Confirm the final price, taxes and currency at checkout.
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