Honest comparison of two AI transcription services
Last updated: November 2025Choose Transcribee if you need multilingual support (50+ languages), a simple free plan (5 recordings/week), and straightforward pricing.
Choose Otter.ai if you need real-time transcription during meetings, advanced team collaboration features, and work primarily in English.
| Feature | Transcribee | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | ✓ 5 recordings/week forever | ✓ 300 min/month |
| Languages | ✓ 50+ languages | ✗ English only |
| Accuracy | ✓ 95-99% (AssemblyAI) | ✓ 95-98% |
| Speaker Detection | ✓ Yes (auto-detect) | ✓ Yes (advanced) |
| Processing Speed | ✓ 2-5 minutes | ✓ Real-time |
| Export Formats | ✓ TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT, JSON | ✓ TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT |
| AI Summaries | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Real-time Transcription | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Meeting Integration | ✗ Upload recordings only | ✓ Auto-joins meetings |
| Data Storage | ✓ Text only (secure) | ✓ Full recordings |
| Pricing Simplicity | ✓ Simple tiers | ✗ Per-user pricing |
| Mobile App | ✗ Web only | ✓ iOS & Android |
Transcribee: Supports 50+ languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, and many more. This is a major advantage for international users or multilingual content.
Otter.ai: Primarily English-only. While they're testing other languages, support remains very limited. This makes Otter unsuitable for non-English transcription.
Transcribee: Uses AssemblyAI technology achieving 95-99% accuracy depending on audio quality. Works well with clear recordings and handles multiple speakers effectively.
Otter.ai: Reports 95-98% accuracy. Excellent for English conversations and meetings, but can struggle with heavy accents or technical terminology.
Transcribee: Free plan includes 5 recordings per week (no time limit per file). Simple, straightforward pricing with no per-user costs. Files are processed and deleted immediately after transcription - only text is stored for maximum privacy.
Otter.ai: Free plan offers 300 minutes per month with a 30-minute limit per conversation. Pro plan costs $16.99/user/month. Pricing can add up quickly for teams.
Transcribee: Designed for uploading pre-recorded files. Great for podcasts, interviews, lectures, and recordings you already have. No real-time meeting integration.
Otter.ai: Excels at real-time meeting transcription. The OtterPilot bot can join Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings automatically to transcribe in real-time. Better for live collaboration scenarios.
Transcribee: Takes a privacy-first approach. Audio files are deleted immediately after transcription - only the text transcript is stored in the database. This minimizes data exposure and storage requirements.
Otter.ai: Stores full recordings and transcripts. While they have SOC 2 compliance and security measures, more data is retained compared to Transcribee.
Transcribee: Simple and straightforward. Upload a file, wait 2-5 minutes, get your transcript. No complex setup or learning curve. Perfect for users who want simplicity.
Otter.ai: More feature-rich but requires more setup, especially for meeting integrations. Better for users who need advanced features and are willing to invest time in setup.
Both services excel in different areas. Transcribee is ideal for individuals and small teams who need multilingual support, value simplicity, and work with pre-recorded content.
Otter.ai is better for teams that need real-time meeting transcription, work primarily in English, and require advanced collaboration features.