Otter.ai Pricing (2026): Free Plan Limits, Pro vs Business, and Is It Worth It?

Short version: Otter.ai has a free plan, and the paid plans cost $8.33 to $19.99 per user per month billed annually, or $16.99 to $30 month-to-month. The catch with every tier is minutes: how many you get per month and how long a single conversation can run. Below is each plan, the limits that actually matter, and whether the upgrade is worth it.

Prices were verified on Otter's pricing page on August 20, 2026. Otter runs periodic promotions (a half-off offer was showing when we checked), so the exact figure you see may be lower for a limited time. Confirm on their site before you buy.

Otter.ai pricing at a glance

Pricing is per user, so a five-person team on Business annual is roughly $100/month, not $20.

Is Otter.ai free?

Yes. The Basic plan is free forever and gives you 300 transcription minutes a month, a 30-minute cap per conversation, and 3 audio or video file imports for the lifetime of the account. It connects to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, identifies speakers, and includes Otter's AI Chat for asking questions about your meetings.

Two limits define the free plan. The 30-minute cap per conversation means a normal hour-long meeting is cut off halfway. And 3 lifetime imports means you can't use it as a transcription tool for existing recordings; it is built for live meetings, not your back catalog. For a few short calls a week it works. For anything more, you'll hit a wall within the first month.

Each Otter.ai plan, explained

Basic ($0)

Live meeting notes for short calls. 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, one meeting at a time, three file imports ever.

Pro ($16.99 monthly or $8.33 per user per month billed annually)

The plan most individuals land on. 1,200 minutes a month, a 90-minute cap per conversation, 10 file imports a month, two concurrent meetings, unlimited storage, team vocabulary, advanced AI workflows, and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier. The 90-minute cap covers almost every real meeting; the 10 imports a month is the limit to watch if you also want to transcribe recordings.

Business ($30 monthly or $19.99 per user per month billed annually)

Unlimited transcription and imports, a 4-hour cap per conversation, three concurrent meetings, custom AI workflows, and admin features like activity logs and usage analytics, plus prioritized support. This is the first plan that works as a general transcription tool rather than a meeting-only tool.

Enterprise (custom)

Everything in Business plus SSO, SCIM and domain capture, enterprise security controls, a HIPAA add-on, API and webhooks, and a customer success program. Priced per seat through sales.

Where Otter's costs actually hide

• The per-conversation cap, not the monthly total, is what bites first. On Basic a 45-minute call is truncated. On Pro a 2-hour workshop is truncated. Check your longest regular meeting against the cap before choosing.
• Imports are the real upgrade trigger. If you want to transcribe existing recordings (podcast episodes, interviews, webinars), Basic gives you three ever and Pro ten a month. Only Business is unlimited.
• Annual vs monthly is a 2x difference on Pro. $8.33 billed annually versus $16.99 month-to-month. If you'll use it all year, annual is the obvious choice; if you're unsure, the monthly price is double.
• Seats add up quietly. Per-user pricing means adding teammates scales the bill linearly.

Which Otter plan should you pick?

• A few short internal calls a week: Basic.
• Regular meetings under 90 minutes, and you're the note-taker: Pro, annual.
• You transcribe recordings as well as meetings, or you manage a team: Business.
• You need SSO, HIPAA, or API access: Enterprise.

Is Otter.ai worth the price?

For live meeting notes, yes. Otter joins the call, produces a usable transcript and summary, and its AI Chat is handy for "what did we decide about X." At $8.33 a month on annual Pro it is one of the cheaper dedicated meeting assistants.

It is worth thinking twice if your recordings aren't meetings. Otter is built around the live call; importing files is rationed on every plan below Business, and the output is notes and summaries, not finished content. If you're recording podcasts, interviews, webinars, or coaching sessions and the goal is to publish something from them, you'll pay Otter for a transcript and then still need to write everything else.

That is the gap Castmagic is built for: import the recording (Zoom, Google Drive, or upload) and get the transcript, summary, show notes, blog draft, social posts and clips in one pass, from $21/month billed annually. It doesn't join calls live the way Otter does, so for pure in-meeting note-taking Otter is the better tool; for turning recordings into content, one tool does the work of two. See Castmagic vs Otter.ai for the side-by-side.

Otter.ai pricing vs the alternatives

Entry-level paid plans billed annually, as of August 2026:

For the full rundown of what each does better, read our best Otter.ai alternatives and the Otter.ai review.

Otter.ai pricing FAQ

How much does Otter.ai cost?

Otter.ai Pro costs $16.99 per user per month billed monthly or $8.33 per user per month billed annually. Business costs $30 monthly or $19.99 annually per user. Basic is free. Enterprise is custom.

Is Otter.ai free?

Yes. The Basic plan is free and includes 300 transcription minutes per month, a 30-minute limit per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, and integrations with Zoom, Teams and Google Meet.

What is the difference between Otter Pro and Business?

Pro gives you 1,200 minutes a month, a 90-minute cap per conversation, and 10 file imports a month. Business removes the monthly limit, raises the cap to 4 hours, makes imports unlimited, and adds admin features and custom AI workflows.

Does Otter.ai charge per user?

Yes. Pro and Business are priced per user per month, so the bill scales with the number of seats.

Can I transcribe uploaded audio files on the free plan?

Only three, ever. The free plan allows 3 lifetime imports. Pro allows 10 per month and Business is unlimited.

Does Otter.ai have a free trial?

Otter's pricing page presents Basic as a free-forever plan rather than advertising a timed trial of Pro or Business.