Otter AI Alternatives: 3 Tools I Tested (Incl. Urdu)

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Updated 26 Oct 2026 · 7 min read

Otter is one of the best-known AI note takers, but in my own test it made the most mistakes of every tool I tried, and it doesn’t understand Hindi or Urdu at all. So which Otter AI alternatives are actually better? I recorded one test meeting with names, dates, a budget and tasks, plus Hindi and Urdu lines, and gave exactly the same files to Otter, Fireflies, Notta and ElevenLabs Speech to Text in October 2026. Prices below were checked on the official pricing pages on 26 October 2026.

Otter AI alternatives: quick comparison

Test results from my own uploads: Otter and Fireflies on 16 October, Notta and ElevenLabs on 19 October 2026. *Fireflies’ free plan is unlimited only if the bot joins all your meetings and shares notes with everyone; with that off, my account showed 3 meetings. Prices checked on official pages on 26 October 2026.

Why people look for an Otter AI alternative

• Accuracy: Otter turned “$250” into “two $50” and “Ahmed” into “Emma” in my test, and its summary said the budget was $50 while its own AI Chat said $250.
• No Hindi or Urdu: Otter transcribes only six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
• Free plan limits: 30 minutes per conversation and only 3 file imports for the lifetime of the account.
• Empty action items: the action items list stayed empty even though my script had two clear tasks.

Full details are in my Otter AI review.

1. Fireflies: the best Otter AI alternative overall

My score: 4.5/5. Fireflies got almost all of my English script right where Otter slipped: $250, 10:30 and November 15 were correct, and the summary had clear sections. Its meeting bot joins Zoom, Google Meet and Teams, and its AI assistant, AskFred, answered questions about the meeting.

• Price: Pro $10 per seat/month yearly or $18 monthly; Business $19 yearly or $29 monthly.
• Free plan: “unlimited transcription” only if the bot joins all calendar meetings and shares notes with all invitees; 400 minutes of storage and 20 AI credits. No downloads on free.
• Weak spot: it dropped the name “Ahmed”, lost half of my Urdu line, and can’t summarize in Hindi or Urdu.

Best for: English-speaking teams who want a bot in every meeting. More in my Fireflies AI review and Fireflies vs Otter comparison.

Try Fireflies free

2. Notta: the best Otter alternative for Urdu and Hindi

My score: 4.4/5. This is the biggest gap with Otter. Notta wrote my Urdu recording in proper Urdu script, both lines, word for word, and Hindi was perfect. In English it also got $250, the dates, the 5 PM deadline and Monday 10:30 right.

Its AI summary follows the transcript language, so it made meeting notes in Hindi, something neither Otter nor Fireflies could do.

• Price: Pro $8.17/month billed yearly ($97.99); Business $16.67/month yearly ($199.99). The cheapest paid plan in this list.
• Free plan: 120 minutes a month, but only 3 minutes per recording; 50 uploads and 10 AI summaries a month; no exports.
• Weak spot: “Ahmed” became “Amal” and “Otter” became “water”. Watch the trial offers during signup.

Best for: Pakistani and Indian users, and anyone who mixes Urdu, Hindi and English. More in my Notta AI review.

Try Notta free

3. ElevenLabs Speech to Text: most accurate for uploaded recordings

ElevenLabs is best known for AI voices, but its Speech to Text tool (Scribe) was the most accurate on my English test file: “AI Tool Wise”, November 15, $250, 5 PM, 10:30 and even the tool names “Fireflies and Otter” were all correct. It marked the name “Ahmed” as unclear instead of guessing wrong. Hindi was perfect.

• Price: it uses credits from your ElevenLabs plan, from $6/month on Starter. ElevenLabs’ pricing page lists 330 credits per minute.
• Free plan: 10,000 credits a month. In my free-plan test on 19 October, 13 seconds of audio used 187 credits, so it runs out fast.
• Weak spot: it doesn’t join meetings, and it wrote my Urdu in Devanagari (Hindi) script even with Urdu selected.

Best for: transcribing interviews, podcasts or recordings where every name and number must be right. See my Urdu speech to text test for the full results.

When Otter is still the better choice

Otter isn’t a bad tool, and it wins one category clearly: its free Basic plan. You get 300 minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, and, unlike Fireflies and Notta, you can export your transcript and audio (as txt and mp3) for free. Stay with Otter if:

• all your meetings are in English, and
• you want the most free minutes and free exports, and
• you’re willing to check numbers and names in every transcript.

Try Otter free

Otter AI alternatives pricing in 2026

Per seat, in USD, checked on the official pricing pages on 26 October 2026. *Notta’s monthly prices were checked on 21 October 2026; its pricing page showed only yearly prices on 26 October. Taxes may apply.

Which Otter alternative should you choose?

• English meetings, bot in every call: Fireflies.
• Urdu or Hindi, or a mix with English: Notta.
• Cheapest paid plan: Notta Pro on yearly billing.
• Most accurate transcript of a file: ElevenLabs Speech to Text.
• Most free minutes and free exports, English only: stay on Otter.

For the full ranking, see my best AI note taker test.

Tools I haven’t tested yet

Other Otter alternatives people often mention include Fathom, tl;dv, Granola and Read.ai. I haven’t run my test meeting through them yet, so I don’t rank them here.

Otter AI alternatives FAQ

What is the best alternative to Otter AI?

In my test, Fireflies: it was more accurate on English, joins Zoom, Meet and Teams, and scored 4.5/5 against Otter’s 4.0/5.

Is there a free Otter AI alternative?

Fireflies, Notta and ElevenLabs all have free plans, but none is as generous as Otter’s 300 free minutes. Notta’s free plan stops at 3 minutes per recording, and Fireflies is unlimited only with its join-all and share-all settings.

Which Otter alternative supports Urdu?

Notta wrote my Urdu completely in Urdu script. Fireflies also lists Urdu but missed half of my recording. Otter doesn’t support Urdu.

Is Fireflies better than Otter?

For accuracy, yes: Fireflies got the budget, times and dates right where Otter didn’t. Otter has the better free plan. See my Fireflies vs Otter comparison.

Is this Otter AI alternatives list sponsored?

No. I tested every tool on my own accounts and ranked them myself. Some links may become affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See the affiliate disclosure.

Final verdict: the best Otter AI alternatives

To sum up these Otter AI alternatives: Fireflies is the best switch for English meetings, Notta is the clear choice if Urdu or Hindi is part of your work, and ElevenLabs Speech to Text is the most accurate for files. If you only need English and want the most for free, Otter’s free plan is still hard to beat.

Try Fireflies free

Shoaib is a freelance SEO specialist from Pakistan who tests AI tools hands-on for AI Tool Wise. He signs up for every tool himself, tests it in English, Hindi and Urdu, and checks every price on the official page before writing. More about Shoaib