Otter vs Fathom

• You record many video calls
• Your meetings run long
• You want the video, not only the audio
• You run sales or customer calls

Fathom is the better meeting note taker for most people, because its free plan records unlimited meetings while Otter Basic stops at 300 minutes a month. Choose Otter for live transcription on a phone, lectures and imported audio, with Pro at USD 8.33 a month billed annually, though each Pro meeting stops at 90 minutes.

Choose Fathom if

• You record many video calls. Fathom's free plan lists unlimited recordings, transcriptions and storage, with instant AI call summaries, clips and search across calls.
• Your meetings run long. Fathom lists no meeting length cap, while Otter Basic stops at 30 minutes and Pro at 90.
• You want the video, not only the audio. Fathom keeps full video recordings, so shared screens and demos stay in the record.
• You run sales or customer calls. Fathom Business adds CRM field sync, Deal View, coaching metrics and AI scorecards for USD 25 per user a month billed annually.

• You transcribe live, in the room. Otter's free Basic plan lists live transcription, speaker identification and iOS and Android apps that record from the built-in mic, Bluetooth and AirPods.
• You already have recordings. Basic allows 3 lifetime file imports, Pro 10 a month and Business unlimited imports, up to 6,000 imported minutes per user a month.
• You want the cheapest paid plan. Otter Pro costs USD 8.33 a month billed annually with 1,200 minutes. Students and teachers with a .edu email pay USD 79.99 a year.
• You need exports for captions. Pro and above export DOCX, PDF, TXT and SRT files, along with MP3 audio.

Both join Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, both write AI summaries with action items, and both offer a free plan with no time limit. Both connect to Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier, both run an MCP server or public API for AI assistants, and both reserve SSO for their Enterprise plans. Both need you to tell people they are being recorded.

Otter.ai

• Best for: students, journalists and anyone who needs live transcription on a phone or transcripts of recorded files.
• Main limitation: the free plan caps minutes, meeting length and history, and Pro still stops each meeting at 90 minutes.
• Price or plan limits (checked 23 October 2026): Basic free, 300 minutes a month; Pro USD 8.33 a month billed annually or USD 16.99 monthly, 1,200 minutes; Business USD 19.99 per user billed annually, unlimited meetings up to 4 hours each.

Fathom

• Best for: consultants, founders and sales teams who record many Zoom, Meet or Teams calls.
• Main limitation: the pricing page lists no imports of existing audio files, and bot-free capture is a beta for Mac only.
• Price or plan limits (checked 23 October 2026): Free USD 0; Premium USD 16 billed annually or USD 20 monthly; Team USD 15 or USD 19; Business USD 25 or USD 34 per user, both with a 2-user minimum.

Otter is cheaper for one person who pays. Otter Pro costs USD 8.33 a month billed annually, or USD 16.99 monthly, and Otter's annual toggle advertises a 51% saving. Fathom Premium costs USD 16 a month billed annually or USD 20 monthly, almost double Otter Pro on annual billing.

Fathom is cheaper for most people who do not pay at all. Otter's 300 free minutes cover about ten 30-minute calls a month, and each conversation stops at 30 minutes. Fathom's free plan has no minute counter.

For teams the order flips again. Fathom Team costs USD 15 per user billed annually with a two-user minimum, against Otter Business at USD 19.99 per user billed annually. Otter Business monthly is USD 30, shown at USD 24 for the first three months, and Otter Pro is capped at 5 billed users per workspace.

Otter Pro costs USD 8.33 per user a month billed annually with 1,200 minutes, according to Otter's pricing page on 23 October 2026.

Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions, according to Fathom's pricing page on 23 October 2026.

Otter counts minutes and Fathom does not. Otter's comparison table lists 300 transcription minutes per user a month on Basic and 1,200 on Pro, in a shared pool across live and imported audio with no rollover. Business and Enterprise remove the monthly cap on meeting minutes, allow 4 hours per meeting and keep a 6,000 minute monthly limit on imported files.

File transcription is Otter's clearest advantage. Fathom's own Otter comparison page says Otter is the better fit if you want to import and transcribe audio files you already have, or want live transcription for classrooms with an education discount. If recorded files are most of your work, also read our AI transcription tools ranking and our TurboScribe alternatives.

Fathom covers in-person meetings through its iOS app, which records conversations away from your laptop and adds them to your Fathom history. Fathom lists no Android app on that page; Otter lists both iOS and Android.

1. Pull last month's numbers: total meeting minutes, longest meeting and number of recorded files.
2. Run both for one week on the same calls, with attendees told about both tools.
3. Compare action items from each summary against your own notes and mark anything missed or invented.
4. Test one in-person meeting with Otter's mobile app and Fathom's iOS app.
5. Export one transcript from each to check the formats you need before paying.

See also our AI meeting assistant rankings, Otter AI alternatives, Fathom alternatives and AI summarizer picks.

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