Compare · Otter.ai
GetNotes vs Otter.ai: which fits your meetings?
Otter has the most mature phone-recording app of any bot-based assistant — its limit is not capture, it is that six languages do not cover most rooms.
Side by side
Languages
Otter.ai: Six transcription languages as of July 2026 — English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified), the last two still flagged beta, one language per conversation.
GetNotes: 99 languages, including Urdu, Hindi and Arabic, and meetings that code-switch mid-sentence stay in one clean transcript.
How the audio is captured
Otter.ai: Primarily a notetaker that joins the online call; the mobile app covers in-person recording as a second path.
GetNotes: One path only: the browser records the actual room from a phone or laptop mic, or you upload an existing file.
Free tier
Otter.ai: 300 recording minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation, plus 300 lifetime imported-file minutes spread across three imports in total.
GetNotes: One free meeting of up to 30 minutes, in any supported language, no card required. It is a trial, not a monthly allowance.
Entry paid plan
Otter.ai: Pro at $16.99 billed monthly, or $8.33 a month billed annually, capped at 1,200 minutes a month, 90 minutes per conversation and 10 file imports a month.
GetNotes: $19 a month billed monthly. Unlimited meetings, up to 3 hours per recording, fair-use 25 hours of processed audio a month.
Where Otter.ai is the better pick
Pick Otter if your meetings are English-language online calls, you want captions scrolling live while people speak, and you can commit annually — at $8.33 a month billed yearly it is materially cheaper than GetNotes, and the auto-joining notetaker means nobody has to remember to hit record on a recurring Zoom.
Comparison based on publicly available information, checked July 2026. Products change — check their site for current details.
Otter.ai is the closest thing this category has to a default. Its OtterPilot notetaker joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet from your calendar, and unlike most rivals it also ships a proper native iOS and Android app that records a conversation happening in front of you, with live text scrolling on screen as people talk. If you have ever watched a colleague hold a phone up in a meeting and read the transcript in real time, that was probably Otter.
The constraint is language. As of July 2026 Otter transcribes six: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified), with German and Chinese still marked beta, and one language per conversation. That is fine for an all-English standup and unworkable for a meeting where two people slip into Urdu, Hindi, Arabic or Tagalog for a sentence and back out again. GetNotes runs ElevenLabs transcription across 99 languages and is built to survive that mid-sentence switch.
The other difference is where the recording comes from. Otter's centre of gravity is the online call and the calendar that schedules it; GetNotes has no calendar connection and no bot, because the meeting it expects is happening in a room. You open getnotes.dev in the phone browser, press record, and put the handset on the table. Nothing to install, nothing for IT to approve, and the same flow whether it is a boardroom or a café.
Where it earns its keep
A standup that is half in English and half in Hindi
Your engineering team runs its daily in a mix of English and Hindi, switching language mid-sentence when the technical word is easier in one and the joke is better in the other. Otter transcribes one language per conversation and Hindi is not among the six it supports as of July 2026, so half the meeting comes back wrong. GetNotes transcribes both and keeps the switch intact.
Six people around one table, one phone in the middle
A client workshop with six voices and a single phone on the table. Otter's mobile app will record it, but the free plan stops you at 30 minutes per conversation and Pro at 90 — and a long workshop overruns both. GetNotes takes up to three hours in one recording on Pro and labels each speaker from that single room mic.
You have a backlog of old recordings to process
Two years of interview audio sitting in a folder. Otter's free plan allows three file imports in total and Pro allows ten a month, so a bulk backlog is slow going. GetNotes accepts MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM and MP4 uploads as a core workflow, with the same transcription, speaker labels and minutes as a live recording.
How GetNotes works
- Record or upload. Hit record on your phone or laptop in the room — or drop in an audio file you already have. No bot joins anything.
- It writes it down. Every word transcribed, every speaker labelled, in 90+ languages including ones that switch mid-sentence.
- Share the minutes.Summary, decisions, and action items with owners — ready before everyone's back at their desk.
Questions, answered
Is GetNotes a good Otter.ai alternative for in-person meetings?
It is built for exactly that. GetNotes records the physical room from a phone or laptop browser rather than joining a call, so there is no bot, no calendar connection and no app install. You get a speaker-labelled transcript plus minutes with decisions and action items. Otter can record in person too, via its mobile app, but with far fewer languages.
How many languages does Otter.ai support compared with GetNotes?
As of July 2026 Otter transcribes six languages — English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified) — with German and Chinese still flagged beta, and handles one language per conversation. GetNotes transcribes 99, including Urdu, Hindi and Arabic, and is designed for meetings that switch language mid-sentence rather than staying in one.
Is GetNotes cheaper than Otter.ai Pro?
Not on annual billing. Otter Pro is $16.99 billed monthly or $8.33 a month billed annually; GetNotes Pro is $19 a month. What differs is the shape: Otter Pro meters 1,200 minutes a month with a 90-minute ceiling per conversation, while GetNotes gives unlimited meetings, three hours per recording and a fair-use cap of 25 hours a month.
Can GetNotes transcribe a Zoom call the way Otter does?
Yes, but by a different route. GetNotes never joins the call. You either record the call audio on the device you are on, or export the Zoom recording afterwards and upload the file — MP3, M4A, WAV, WebM or MP4. GetNotes then transcribes it, labels the speakers and writes the same minutes it produces for a meeting held in person.
Other comparisons
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