Otter vs Zoom AI Companion
Otter.ai provides live, real-time transcription and captions during meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, alongside automated summaries generated after the call. Its "Otter AI Chat" lets you ask questions across your meeting history — for example, pulling up what was decided about a topic across several past calls. The free tier includes a set number of transcription minutes per month, which is enough for light use but is the main constraint for regular meeting-heavy schedules; paid plans starting around $8.33/mo (billed annually) raise monthly minute allowances and add team features like shared channels. Transcription quality is solid for English audio in quiet conditions, but support for other languages and noisy environments is more limited than some competitors.
AI Companion is Zoom's built-in assistant, generating meeting summaries and action items automatically and letting you ask questions about a meeting after it ends. Because it is bundled with many existing Zoom plans, it is often the lowest-friction way for a team already on Zoom to get AI meeting notes without adopting a separate tool.
| Otter | Zoom AI Companion | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Audio | Productivity |
| Price | Free / from $8.33mo | Included with paid Zoom plans |
- + Real-time live captions during calls
- + Solid free tier with monthly minutes
- + AI chat across past meeting history
- + Easy calendar/conferencing integration
- – Monthly transcription minute caps
- – Quality varies with audio conditions
- – Limited non-English language support
- + Included with many Zoom plans
- + Good meeting summaries and action items
- + Integrates with existing Zoom workflow
- – Tied to Zoom ecosystem
- – Summary quality varies with audio clarity