Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai
Two meeting bots, two privacy lawsuits. Which one would we let into a call?
Last revised 2026-09-17
Our pick
Fireflies, narrowly, with the bot announced
Fireflies has the better integrations and a more generous free tier, and it is defending an Illinois biometric privacy class action over voiceprints allegedly collected from people who never signed up. Otter is defending a broader consolidated federal class action over recording without all-party consent, which survived dismissal in part. Neither is a tool to point at a sensitive conversation.
Side by side
| Otter.ai AI Productivity | Fireflies.ai AI Productivity Our pick | |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 2.5 cydersDrinkable | 2.5 cydersDrinkable |
| Starting price | $8/mo | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes300 minutes/month, 30 minutes per conversation | Yes800 minutes/storage, limited features |
| What the paid plans are | Pro at $17/mo, Business at $23/seat/mo | Pro at $10/seat/mo, Business at $19/seat/mo |
| Best for | Remote TeamsProject ManagersSales Teams | Sales TeamsRemote TeamsCustomer Success |
| Pros |
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
| Price checked | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-16 |
| Visit | Otter.ai → | Fireflies.ai → |
The features, briefly
Fireflies connects to more things, has a genuinely usable free tier, and its search across past meetings is good. Otter is the more familiar name, has been doing this longer, and its live transcription in the meeting itself is smoother.
On features alone Fireflies edges it for most teams, mainly because the integrations mean the notes land where work already happens rather than in another inbox.
The part that should decide it
Both are in court over how they collect from people who are not their customers.
Otter is defending a consolidated federal privacy class action in the Northern District of California over its Notetaker recording meetings without all-party consent. In August 2026 the court granted its motion to dismiss only in part, so the case continues under federal wiretap law plus California, Illinois and Washington state claims.
Fireflies is defending a putative Illinois biometric privacy class action alleging its speaker recognition collected participants' voiceprints without notice or written consent, including from people with no account.
These are different theories about the same underlying fact: a meeting bot processes everyone in the room, and only one person agreed to anything.
What that means in practice
- •Announce the bot out loud at the start, not in the calendar invite. Two-party consent states require actual consent, and a line in an invite nobody read is not it.
- •Keep it out of interviews, performance conversations, medical and legal discussions, and anything involving a customer's personal data.
- •Assume transcripts are discoverable in litigation, because they are.
- •Check whether your own video platform already does this. Zoom, Teams and Meet all have native summaries now, governed by the contract your company already signed, which is a much easier conversation with legal than a third-party bot.
How we would buy it
- •Sales and internal teams wanting notes in Slack and the CRM: Fireflies, with the bot announced.
- •Individuals wanting a personal record of their own calls: either free tier.
- •Regulated industries: neither. Use the native feature in the platform you already have under contract.
- •Already running one of these across a company: get someone to read the consent policy before the next lawsuit reads it for you.
Otter.ai
2.5DrinkableOtter transcribes well and the auto-join is genuinely convenient, which is exactly the problem. It records people who never agreed to be recorded, transcripts have gone to the wrong people, and it is defending a consolidated federal privacy class action in California that survived dismissal in part in August 2026. Convenient for you, a consent problem for everyone else in the meeting.
Full Otter.ai reviewFireflies.ai
2.5DrinkableA capable note-taker with excellent integrations and a generous free tier, facing an Illinois biometric privacy class action over voiceprints taken from people who never signed up. Guests get recorded because the host enabled a bot, seats get billed after trials, and regulated industries should assume every summary is discoverable.
Full Fireflies.ai reviewOther comparisons
Scores are our own editorial verdicts in cyders out of 5, not an average of other people's ratings. How we score. Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page on the date shown above, and vendors change plans often, so confirm before you buy.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our pick. See our affiliate disclosure.