Otter.ai Review 2025: The Knowledge Base
Otter.ai is the industry veteran of AI meeting assistants. While newer tools focus purely on sales, Otter has evolved into a “Meeting GenAI” platform that works across your entire organization. With its 2025 updates, it now acts as a centralized knowledge base, allowing you to chat with all your past meetings at once, not just one.
Pricing: Free / $8.33 mo
Quick Verdict: Is Otter Worth It in 2025?
If you need a tool that works both on Zoom and in real life, Otter.ai is the winner. Unlike Fathom (which only works for video calls), Otter’s mobile app lets you record coffee chats and boardroom meetings with high accuracy. The Pro plan is incredibly affordable ($8.33/mo paid annually), making it the budget-friendly choice for power users who need searchable audio.
Pros
- Otter Chat: You can ask questions like “What did we decide about Q4 marketing?” and it will search across all your past meetings to find the answer.
- Hybrid flexibility: Works perfectly for in-person meetings via the iOS/Android app, whereas competitors like Fathom are video-only.
- Slide Capture: Automatically detects when a slide is shared on Zoom/Teams, snaps a screenshot, and inserts it into the notes.
- Value: The Pro plan offers 1,200 minutes per month for under $10, which is significantly cheaper than Fireflies.
Cons
- Strict Caps: Even paid plans have minute limits (90 mins per conversation on Pro). If you have 2-hour workshops, you need the Business plan.
- Bot Intrusiveness: The “OtterPilot” bot that joins meetings is often visible and can annoy clients if not explained beforehand.
- English Centric: While it now supports French and Spanish, its language support is far more limited than Fireflies (60+ languages).
Key Features & Real-World Workflows
1. Multi-Meeting Chat (Otter Chat)
This is the 2025 game-changer. You don’t have to remember which meeting a topic was discussed in. You just ask Otter, and it scans your entire history to generate a synthesized answer with citations.
- Strength: Turns your meeting history into a searchable database.
2. Automated Slide Capture
During a presentation, Otter uses visual recognition to insert slides into the transcript exactly when they were shown. You get a visual timeline of the meeting alongside the text.
- Strength: Perfect for technical reviews or design critiques where “audio only” isn’t enough.
3. “My Action Items”
Otter consolidates tasks from every single meeting into one central dashboard. You don’t have to open five different transcripts to see what you need to do today.
- Strength: Reduces “task anxiety” by centralizing your to-do list.
How Otter Scores on Our Rankings
| Criteria | Score | Why it scored this way |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Experience | 10.0 | The mobile app is flawless. It handles background noise well and syncs instantly with the web. |
| Searchability | 9.5 | Otter Chat acts like a “Google” for your conversations. It finds needles in haystacks. |
| Pricing & Value | 9.0 | At $8.33/mo for the Pro plan, it is one of the cheapest paid options on the market. |
| Meeting Caps | 7.0 | The 90-minute limit on the Pro plan is a pain point for long strategy sessions or lectures. |
| Integrations | 8.5 | Good integration with Slack and HubSpot, but less “deep” CRM sync than Fathom. |
Otter Pricing in 2025
| Plan | Key Limits | Price (Annual) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 300 mins/mo (30 min max/call) | $0 |
| Pro | 1,200 mins/mo (90 min max/call) | $8.33/mo |
| Business | 6,000 mins/mo (4 hours max/call) | $20/mo |
Alternatives to Otter.ai
- Fathom: Best if you need Unlimited Free Calls. Fathom has no minute caps on its free plan, unlike Otter’s 30-minute limit.
- Fireflies.ai: Best for Global Teams. If you need transcription in German, Portuguese, or Italian, Fireflies is superior.
- NotebookLM: Best for Study & Synthesis. If you are uploading PDFs alongside audio, Google’s tool is better for synthesis.
Final Verdict: Should You Use Otter?
If you attend a mix of virtual and in-person meetings, Otter is the only tool that bridges the gap effectively. Its low price point ($100/year for Pro) makes it an easy expense for anyone who wants a “second brain” for their conversations. However, if you strictly do Zoom sales calls, Fathom’s free tier might be enough.