Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai

Fireflies.ai

Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android

Desktop supports system-audio recording and live assistance. Mobile supports in-person recording, reviewing meetings, search, sharing, and tasks.

EvidenceFireflies desktop appFireflies mobile app

Otter.ai

Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android

Broad app coverage makes Otter easy to use in virtual or room conversations. The desktop app now supports configurable automatic recording for detected calls. Feature parity and allowances differ between in-app and imported usage.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter desktop automatic recording

Fireflies.ai

Mobile and desktop room capture

iOS and Android can capture in-person conversations. Fireflies documents that mobile recordings often do not auto-detect speakers, so names may need manual correction. Bot-free desktop can also hear room/system audio, with its own media and generic-label caveats.

EvidenceFireflies mobile appFireflies speaker labels

Otter.ai

Strong mobile live transcription

iOS and Android are mature room-recording tools with live text. Otter separates voices after processing and can learn previously tagged speakers, but new or uncertain voices remain Speaker 1 or Unknown until tagged. Live platform-name labels are a separate Notetaker behavior, strongest on Zoom.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter speaker identification

Fireflies.ai

Bot mode saves AV; bot-free desktop saves neither

This is the key evaluation detail: bot meetings can preserve audio/video and named speakers, while desktop bot-free mode produces notes/transcript without recording files and uses Speaker 1/Speaker 2 labels.

EvidenceFireflies bot-free desktop recording

Otter.ai

Audio playback broadly; video replay on Enterprise

Audio is synchronized to text on ordinary plans. Video replay requires Enterprise and currently applies to supported Zoom and Google Meet recordings rather than every capture path.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter conversation export

Fireflies.ai

Notes, search, and a workspace-wide assigned task feed

Fireflies offers strong meeting search and multiple AI surfaces. It automatically creates and assigns meeting tasks, lets teams manage all accessible tasks in one feed, and can turn action items into trackable work in several project tools. Usage credits and plan gates still apply to advanced AI apps and assistant capabilities.

EvidenceFireflies pricing guideFireflies AI creditsFireflies Tasks Feed

Otter.ai

Live transcript, search, and automatically assigned action items

Otter’s transcript experience is mature. It automatically detects and assigns action items, links generated work back to transcript evidence, and gives each user a cross-meeting list with edit, reassign, and completion controls. That list only shows work assigned to the signed-in person, rather than a workspace-wide manager view. Allowances and advanced custom workflows vary by plan.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter action itemsOtter automatic action-item assignment

Fireflies.ai

Meeting channels and cross-meeting search

The meeting library is searchable and collaborative, but the product is less centered on a unified relationship timeline combining meetings, email, calendar, people, and companies.

EvidenceFireflies pricing guide

Otter.ai

Cross-meeting search and chat

Otter can answer across conversations, but does not emphasize full relationship pages combining meetings, email, calendar, people, companies, and future events.

EvidenceOtter pricing

Fireflies.ai

Enterprise rules can auto-route, share, and enforce privacy

Enterprise admins can match meeting title, host, participants, or internal/external type, then route to a channel, share with users or teams, or enforce privacy. This is genuinely strong automation. The default recap visibility is broader than many buyers expect—teammates plus anyone holding the link—so configure the workspace default deliberately.

EvidenceFireflies Rules EngineFireflies recap privacy defaults

Otter.ai

User auto-share and Enterprise workspace defaults

Individuals can auto-share by calendar audience and use channels. Enterprise admins can choose the options members see and set a default, but ordinary audience defaults are not fully locked; admins can only force privacy by leaving “Don’t share” as the sole option. External auto-share channels are also Enterprise-only.

EvidenceOtter automatic sharingOtter workspace auto-share controls

Fireflies.ai

Meeting rules, AI apps, CRM workflows, and automatic task handoff

Fireflies can automatically create and assign tasks, then route them to Linear, Asana, Monday.com, Planner, Salesforce, and other systems with meeting filters on eligible plans. It also supports specialized AI apps. The experience spans several feature systems rather than one simple general condition/action canvas.

EvidenceFireflies Rules EngineFireflies pricing guideFireflies Tasks FeedFireflies Linear integration

Otter.ai

Meeting agents and custom workflows, with plan differences

Otter automatically detects and assigns action items, tracks each person’s work across meetings, can create Jira issues with assignees and due dates, and uses custom workflows, Zapier, and AI Chat actions for role-specific output and downstream work. The personal action view does not give a manager one board for every assignee, and connector or workflow eligibility varies by plan.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter action itemsOtter automatic action-item assignmentOtter Jira integrationOtter AI Chat connectors

Fireflies.ai

100+ integrations plus Zapier and API

Breadth is a major advantage across CRM, collaboration, storage, dialers, and productivity tools. Verify the plan required for each connector and direction of sync.

EvidenceFireflies integration directoryFireflies Linear integration

Otter.ai

Meeting platforms, CRM, Zapier, Slack, Jira, work-app connectors, and Enterprise exports

Paid plans connect Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier. AI Chat’s Advanced mode can read and act in Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, and Jira, with Salesforce context available separately. Slack can post summaries and action notifications, while Enterprise supports account-manager-enabled SharePoint and automatic Drive exports. Availability and setup vary substantially by plan.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter AI Chat connectorsOtter Jira integrationOtter Slack integrationOtter SharePoint export

Fireflies.ai

GraphQL API, webhooks, and a rich remote MCP server

Fireflies exposes transcripts and core meeting data through GraphQL plus webhooks for custom integrations. Its OAuth or API-key remote MCP server can retrieve full transcripts, summaries, action items, active meetings, analytics, soundbites, channels, and user data; it can also share, rename, organize, and clip meetings. Some advanced search and fetch tools remain experimental. Super Summary and Custom Apps data are still absent from the documented GraphQL API, and content passed into an external AI follows that provider’s retention terms.

EvidenceFireflies APIFireflies MCP tools

Otter.ai

MCP broadly; API and webhooks on Enterprise

MCP is listed even on Basic and can access meetings captured by or shared with the authenticated user. It currently has no public API-key setup for arbitrary AI applications. The public API and webhooks require Enterprise and account-manager enablement.

EvidenceOtter MCP serverOtter public API

Fireflies.ai

Business and Enterprise governance

Enterprise adds SSO/SCIM, Rules Engine governance, custom retention, and private storage. Its Super Admin role can access every workspace meeting, including “Only Me” content—useful for compliance, but a material privacy-policy decision. Fireflies says meeting content is never used for internal or external model training.

EvidenceFireflies pricing guideFireflies storage limitsFireflies Rules EngineFireflies data safetyFireflies compliance recording modesFireflies Enterprise controls

Otter.ai

Business administration; advanced security on Enterprise

Business adds centralized features and bulk export. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, API access, video replay, granular retention, no-training by default, and HIPAA options. Several advanced controls—including retention and automatic Drive export—require account-manager setup.

EvidenceOtter pricingOtter workspace auto-share controlsOtter privacy and model trainingOtter Enterprise controlsOtter retention policyOtter conversation export

Fireflies.ai

100+ languages advertised

Fireflies advertises broad transcription coverage. Real-world speaker separation and accuracy still depend on capture mode, room acoustics, accents, and vocabulary.

EvidenceFireflies pricing guide

Otter.ai

Six transcription languages, two still in beta

Otter transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and spoken Mandarin with Simplified Chinese output. German and Chinese are beta. It normally handles one language per conversation; French can auto-switch with English, and other mixed-language pairs are not supported.

EvidenceOtter supported languages