Otter and the other product names on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. They are used here only to identify those products for comparison. Recordist is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Statements about Otter describe what its own pages said on the date shown, and the pages are listed under the table; tell us at hello@recordist.app if something is out of date and we will correct it.
Recordist and Otter
Otter: Cloud meeting assistant with a meeting agent and a desktop app.
What we admire. Otter did a great deal to make meeting transcription an everyday tool, and it keeps giving people a choice: an assistant that joins the call for them, or a desktop app when they would rather it did not.
Otter is one of the best-known names in meeting transcription. Its AI Meeting Agent can join Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet calls for you, and its desktop app for Mac and Windows records a conversation without a bot joining. Otter also has apps for iPhone and Android and a Chrome extension.
Recordist runs with you, not in the call. It notices when a meeting app takes the microphone, asks whether to record, and then transcribes and writes notes right there. Both give you a transcript, a summary and action items. They differ most in where that work happens.
| Feature | Otter | Recordist |
|---|---|---|
| Joins the call as a bot | Its meeting agent does; the desktop app records without one | Never |
| Where audio is transcribed | Otter's service, on Amazon Web Services | On-device (Whisper) |
| Free plan | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime imports, 20 AI chat queries a month, the 25 most recent conversations | Unlimited recording and transcription; 7-day Pro trial, then 3 AI notes a month |
| Price | Pro $8.33/user/mo yearly, $16.99 monthly; Business $19.99 yearly, $30 monthly | Free with no time limit; Pro $9/mo or $90/yr for anyone who subscribes by 8 Jan 2027, kept while subscribed; $15/mo or $144/yr after |
| Agent access | MCP server | Local MCP server and A2A agent |
| Platforms | Desktop app for Mac and Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension | macOS on Apple silicon, Windows and Linux |
What this page says about Otter comes from these pages, read on the date shown. Prices and plans change, so check Otter's site before you decide.
- otter.ai: the meeting agent for Zoom, Teams and Meet, the desktop app that records without a bot, the MCP server, the apps (read 7 October 2026)
- otter.ai/pricing: plans, annual and monthly list prices, minute limits, lifetime imports, AI chat queries and conversation history (read 14 October 2026)
- otter.ai/privacy-policy: audio recordings you provide, and Amazon Web Services for compute and storage (read 7 October 2026)
The bot
Otter gives you a choice. Its meeting agent joins calls as a participant, so everyone on the call can see it, and its desktop app records from your machine with no bot in the call.
Recordist never joins a call. It records your microphone and the call's audio as it reaches you, so it does not appear in the participant list. It copies a short notice for you to read out or paste into the chat and keeps a mark of when you said you gave it, but telling people stays your job. A card asks before each recording, and nothing is captured until you click Record, unless you add that app to the automatic-recording list in Settings, which is empty until you do. The recording-law guide explains where consent is required.
Where the audio goes
Otter's privacy policy describes the audio recordings you provide to its service, and it names Amazon Web Services, in the United States, as the provider it relies on for compute and data storage.
With Recordist, audio is written to files in a folder on your machine and transcribed there with Whisper. There is no Recordist account and no Recordist server holding meeting content. The Privacy Ledger in the app lists the network requests the app makes (a few kinds are not recorded yet; the help article lists them), and on the default setup none of them carries your meetings. If you choose your own Anthropic or OpenAI-compatible key for notes, the transcript text goes directly to that provider and the ledger records it.
Price and limits
Otter's free Basic plan has 300 transcription minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports, 20 AI chat queries a month and your 25 most recent conversations. Pro is $16.99 per user per month, or $8.33 a month billed yearly, with 1,200 minutes a month and up to 90 minutes per meeting. Business is $30 per user per month, or $19.99 a month billed yearly, with meetings of up to 4 hours.
Recordist Free has no minute limit on recording or transcription, because your own machine does the work. It includes 7 days of every Pro feature, then includes 3 AI notes a month. Pro is $9 a month or $90 a year for anyone who subscribes by 8 January 2027, and that price stays for as long as the subscription stays active; from 9 January 2027 new subscribers pay $15 a month or $144 a year. Pro adds unlimited notes, Ask and follow-up emails. A team of 3 to 49 people buys Pro in one checkout, with a personal key for each person; larger organisations write to hello@recordist.app.
Agent access and offline use
Otter has an MCP server, so ChatGPT, Claude and other AI chat tools can reach the meetings held in your Otter account.
Recordist's MCP server and A2A agent run on-device and read your local database, with no API key and no hosted service in the middle. Recording, transcription, search and local notes all work with no network connection once the models are downloaded.
When Otter is the better choice
If you need your transcripts on your phone or want an agent that joins your calls for you, Otter covers that today and Recordist does not.
When Recordist may suit you better
If the meeting must stay with you, if you want no account, or if you want your own agents to read your meetings without a hosted service in the middle, Recordist is built for that.
Try Recordist free, with no bot in the call.
The Free plan gives you unlimited recording, transcription, search and export, with no account. On the default setup, nothing in the Privacy Ledger carries your meetings.
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