Otter AI Alternatives (2026): The 6 Best, From Scribbl and Fathom to Fireflies and Granola

The best Otter alternative for most people is Scribbl: like Otter, it keeps the recording and a searchable transcript, plus AI notes and action items, but nothing joins the call on Google Meet, Zoom or Teams. Otter.ai made AI meeting transcription mainstream, but the reasons people leave it have piled up in 2026: a Notetaker bot that joins calls by default, a free plan that shows only the first 30 minutes of each conversation, and a privacy class action that a federal judge let move forward in August.

This guide covers the 6 best Otter alternatives, what each does better, and how Scribbl compares with Otter side by side. Every price and free plan was checked on the vendor's own pricing page and help center on October 1 and 2, 2026. We make Scribbl, one of the tools below, and we hold it to the same standard as everything else on the list.

Why people leave Otter

30 min

of each free conversation you can view without upgrading

25

most recent conversations visible on the free plan

Aug 13

2026: the court let most of the privacy class action proceed

1. The bot in the call. Otter's Notetaker joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet as a participant by default. On client calls, interviews and sales calls, a visible recorder changes the conversation, and since June 2026 Microsoft Teams shows third-party bots separately in the meeting lobby, and the organizer has to admit them one by one, according to Microsoft. Otter has added a no-bot recording mode to its Mac and Windows apps, but the bot is still the default.

2. The privacy lawsuit. In August 2025, a class action was filed against Otter in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, now consolidated as In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation. It alleges the Notetaker recorded meeting participants without their consent and that Otter kept conversations and voiceprints to train its models. On August 13, 2026, the court dismissed some claims but let most go forward, including claims under the federal Wiretap Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act and Illinois' biometric privacy law. Otter denies the allegations, nothing has been proven, and the case is now in discovery, with a class certification motion due in May 2027.

3. The free plan's limits. Otter's free Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, but only the first 30 minutes of each conversation are viewable without upgrading, only your 25 most recent conversations stay visible, and file imports are 3 for the life of the account.

What to check in an Otter alternative

People leave Otter for the bot, the 30-minute free cap and the lawsuit. Plenty of alternatives fix one of those and quietly drop something Otter did well. These five checks catch that.

1. Does a bot join your call? Fathom, Fireflies, tl;dv and Read AI all send one by default, like Otter.
2. Does it keep the recording and the transcript, like Otter does? Granola keeps text only.
3. Are AI notes and action items on every free meeting, or only some? Fathom's advanced summaries cover 5 calls a month and its action items are paid.
4. Does it do the follow-up for you? With Scribbl, Smart Collections sort each new meeting into the groups you describe, so you can ask Claude or ChatGPT about just one group ("What were the main objections in my sales calls this week?"). Automations then do the follow-up: draft the follow-up email, log notes in HubSpot or Pipedrive, post to Slack or Teams, or save notes to Notion, Google Drive or Confluence, and they ask before changing anything by default.
5. Is the company facing the same kind of lawsuit? Otter is, and so is Granola (Chamberlain v. Granola, filed July 2026). Scribbl isn't.

Feature	Scribbl	Fathom	Fireflies	Granola	Otter
No bot by default	Yes	– No	– No	Yes	– No
Keeps the recording	Yes, with video	Yes	Yes	– No	Yes
AI notes and action items on every free meeting	Yes, 10 a month	Advanced summaries on 5 a month; action items paid	Unlimited only with auto-join on	Yes	First 30 minutes of each
Paid from (per user, billed annually)	$13	$16	$10	$14, billed monthly (no annual plan)	$8.33

Otter alternatives at a glance

The 6 best Otter alternatives

1. Scribbl: best Otter alternative overall

Scribbl takes notes without joining the call. On Google Meet it's a Chrome extension; on Zoom and Teams it's Scribbl Desktop, for Macs with Apple silicon and for Windows. Nothing appears in the participant list on any of them.

• Why it beats Otter: it keeps what Otter does well, the recording and a searchable transcript, and drops the rest: no bot on any platform; no 30-minute cap on free meetings; full AI notes and action items on every free meeting; the video kept alongside the notes.
• More than notes: ask Claude or ChatGPT about your meetings, let Smart Collections sort each new meeting into the groups you describe, and let Automations do the follow-up, like drafting the follow-up email, logging notes in HubSpot or Pipedrive, or posting a summary to Slack. By default they ask before changing anything.
• Your data: recordings are private by default, and Scribbl doesn't use your meetings to train AI for anyone other than you.
• Free plan: includes Google Meet, Zoom and Teams, with 10 meetings a month, no length limit, resets monthly. Zoom and Teams run through Scribbl Desktop.
• Paid: $13 per user per month billed annually, $20 monthly, with unlimited meetings on all three platforms.
• Trust: 4.9 from 725 reviews on G2, and 5.0 from 3,000 reviews on the Chrome Web Store, where Google marks it Featured and lists Scribbl, Inc. as a publisher with a good record and no history of violations.

2. Fathom: if a bot is fine and you want unlimited recording

• Why people switch to Fathom: unlimited free recordings and transcripts.
• Paid: $16 per user per month billed annually (Premium), $20 monthly.
• The catch: a bot joins by default; Fathom's own pricing page lists bot-free capture as a "Beta feature for Mac". Advanced AI summaries stop after your first 5 calls each month, and AI action items are a paid feature. So the free plan is unlimited recording, not unlimited AI notes.

3. Granola: best for your own notes

• Why people switch to Granola: no bot; it records your computer's audio, so it works with any call app. You type rough notes and Granola fills them in.
• Paid: $14 per user per month (Business), billed monthly. Granola's pricing page shows no annual plan.
• The catch: it keeps no recording, notes older than 30 days are hidden on the free plan, free integrations are Slack only, and it trains on users' data by default unless you opt out. It also faces its own privacy lawsuit, filed in July 2026.

4. Fireflies.ai: best for sales teams on a CRM

• Why people switch to Fireflies: wide platform coverage and native CRM integrations.
• Paid: $10 per seat per month billed annually, $18 monthly.
• The catch: a bot joins by default. Since September 1, 2026, new free accounts get unlimited transcription only with calendar auto-join on; otherwise 3 meetings. 400 minutes of storage in total.

5. tl;dv: best for a searchable recording library

• Paid: $18 per seat per month billed annually, $29 monthly.
• The catch: a bot by default. Free AI notes cover your first 10 meetings ever, then only the first 10 minutes of each, and free recordings are deleted after 3 months.

6. Read AI: best for meeting analytics

• Paid: $15 per user per month billed annually, $19.75 monthly.
• The catch: a bot by default; the free plan covers 5 meetings a month, each up to 1 hour.

Scribbl vs Otter

Feature	Scribbl	Otter.ai
Bot joins the call	No, on Meet, Zoom and Teams	Yes by default; no-bot mode in its desktop apps
Free meetings	10 a month, no length limit	300 minutes a month
Long free meetings	Whole meeting	First 30 minutes viewable
AI notes and action items	Yes	Yes
Recording kept	Yes, with video	Audio playback
Privacy lawsuit pending	No	Yes, most claims allowed to proceed
Paid from	$13/user/mo, annual	$8.33/user/mo, annual

How to switch from Otter

1. 1

   Export what you want to keep

   Pull the transcripts and notes you still need out of Otter first.

2. 2

   Install Scribbl

   Add the Chrome extension for Google Meet, or Scribbl Desktop for Zoom and Teams, and sign in on the free plan. No credit card.

3. 3

   Run it on a real meeting

   Nothing joins the call, so there is nothing for the other side to approve. Still tell people you are taking notes.

4. 4

   Cancel Otter

   Once the notes are what you want, turn off your Otter subscription.

What other Otter alternative lists get wrong

We checked the claims that show up in other 2026 lists against each vendor's own pages on October 1 and 2, 2026.

• The Otter lawsuit isn't early-stage anymore. On August 13, 2026 the court let most claims proceed, and the case is in discovery.
• Fathom's free plan isn't unlimited AI notes. Recording is unlimited, but advanced summaries cover your first 5 calls each month and AI action items are a paid feature. Its no-bot mode is a "Beta feature for Mac", per its own pricing page.

Otter alternatives FAQ

Is Otter AI the best note-taking app?

Not for most people in 2026. Otter is mature, but its Notetaker joins calls as a bot by default, its free plan shows only the first 30 minutes of each conversation, and a federal judge let most of a privacy class action against it proceed in August 2026. Scribbl keeps what Otter does well, the recording and a searchable transcript, with AI notes and action items on every meeting, and drops the bot on Google Meet, Zoom and Teams. Its free plan covers 10 meetings a month with no length limit.

Is Otter.ai worth the cost?

Otter Pro is $8.33 per user per month billed annually, but its Notetaker bot joins your calls by default, and the free plan shows only the first 30 minutes of each conversation. If you want no bot in your calls and complete notes on the free plan, Scribbl is the better value: 10 meetings a month free on Google Meet, Zoom and Teams, with the video, a transcript, AI notes and action items on every one, and Pro at $13 per user per month billed annually.

What is the best free Otter alternative?

Scribbl. Its free plan includes Google Meet, Zoom and Teams with no bot, and gives 10 complete meetings a month with no length limit, with the video, a transcript, AI notes and action items on every one. Fathom is often called the most generous, but its free plan is unlimited recording, not unlimited AI notes: advanced summaries stop after your first 5 calls each month, AI action items are paid, and its bot joins your calls unless you're on a Mac using its beta no-bot mode.

Is there an Otter alternative that doesn't use a bot?

Yes, and Scribbl is the closest to Otter without the bot. Like Otter, it keeps the recording and a searchable transcript, plus AI notes and action items, and it works on Google Meet through a Chrome extension and on Zoom and Teams through Scribbl Desktop, with nothing joining the call on any of them. Granola also works without a bot, but it keeps no recording. Otter itself now has a no-bot mode in its desktop apps, but its Notetaker bot is still the default.

Is Otter.ai being sued?

Yes. In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, filed in August 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges Otter's Notetaker recorded meeting participants without their consent and used recordings to train its AI. On August 13, 2026 the court dismissed some claims but let most proceed, including federal wiretap, California privacy and Illinois biometric claims. Otter denies the allegations, and nothing has been proven.

Is Otter free?

Otter has a free Basic plan with 300 transcription minutes a month, but only the first 30 minutes of each conversation are viewable without upgrading, only your 25 most recent conversations stay visible, and file imports are 3 for the life of the account.

How do Otter, Fireflies and Fathom compare for a small team?

All three send a bot into your calls by default. Fathom's free plan is unlimited recordings, with advanced summaries on 5 calls a month. Fireflies is built for sales teams that push notes into a CRM, at $10 per seat per month billed annually. Otter's paid plan is $8.33 per user per month billed annually. If your team would rather not have a bot on client calls, Scribbl records Google Meet, Zoom and Teams with no bot and keeps the video, with AI notes and action items on every meeting, at $13 per user per month billed annually.

What are the best alternatives to Otter?

Scribbl is the best overall: it keeps the recording and a searchable transcript like Otter, adds AI notes and action items on every meeting, lets Automations do the follow-up, and sends no bot on Google Meet, Zoom or Teams. After that, Fathom if a bot is fine and you want unlimited free recording; Fireflies for sales teams that push notes into a CRM; and Granola if you type your own notes and don't need the recording.

Which Otter alternative works best on Google Meet?

Scribbl. It's a Chrome extension that records Google Meet with no bot and keeps the video, transcript, AI notes and action items. The free plan gives 10 complete meetings a month with no length limit, and it also includes Zoom and Teams through Scribbl Desktop.

Sources for Otter alternatives

Every price, limit and date above was checked on these pages on October 1 and 2, 2026.

• Otter: pricing, Otter Notetaker overview
• The lawsuit: In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, No. 5:25-cv-06911 (N.D. Cal.), court docket
• Scribbl: pricing, Chrome Web Store listing, G2 reviews, privacy policy
• Fathom: pricing, Free vs Premium, what's new
• Granola: pricing, security
• Fireflies pricing and free plan, tl;dv pricing, Read AI pricing
• Microsoft Teams bot lobby: Introducing smarter bot protection in Microsoft Teams meetings