TL;DR / Key Takeaways
- 19.5% word error rate on a messy 10-minute meeting, near the best.
- Four speakers, talk-time within 4 points of the real split.
- Only Otter and HappyScribe heard 'tool training' correctly.
- Free plan: 300 min a month but just 3 file imports ever.
Verdict: Otter tied for accuracy in our four-tool accuracy test (19.5% word error rate over a messy 10-minute meeting) and was the best at the extras: four speakers with a talk-time split close to the real one, automatic keywords, and the only correct "tool training". The catch for uploaders: the free plan allows three file imports per account, ever. Tested October 31, 2026.
How we tested: on October 31, 2026 we took the first 10 minutes of a real recorded meeting from the AMI Meeting Corpus (meeting ES2004a, University of Edinburgh, licensed CC BY 4.0): four people with British and European accents, often talking over each other. We uploaded the same MP3 to each tool on a new free account with default settings and English selected. We then scored each transcript against the corpus's human transcript using word error rate (WER): the share of words a tool got wrong, dropped or added. Before scoring we lowercased both sides, removed punctuation and filler words such as "um", and spelled out numbers, so "25" and "twenty five" count as the same. Lower is better. This is one recording, so treat differences of a point or two as a tie.
Otter at a glance
| What we checked | Result |
|---|---|
| WER, first 5.5 minutes | 13.0% |
| WER, full 10 minutes | 19.5% |
| Speakers | 4 found: 43%, 30%, 16%, 11% (real: 40%, 27%, 19%, 15%) |
| Time to transcript | About 2 minutes after upload |
| Extras on free | Keywords, AI chat, summary |
| Free plan | 300 min a month, 30 min per conversation, 3 file imports ever |
| Pro | $16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed yearly; 1,200 min, 10 imports a month |
Accuracy
Otter's 19.5% over the full meeting was within half a point of the best score (HappyScribe, 19.1%). It was the only tool besides HappyScribe to hear "tool training" correctly. Its worst moment was the price discussion at the end, where "seventeen, seventeen pounds" became "1717 pounds", and "crocodile" once came out as "crack".
Speakers and keywords
After processing finished, Otter split the meeting into four speakers. Its talk-time shares (43%, 30%, 16%, 11%) were within four points of the real ones from the human transcript (40%, 27%, 19%, 15%). It also pulled out keywords that read like a usable agenda: Tool Training, Project Plan, Functional Design, Selling Price.
The import limit
On the free Basic plan, Otter's pricing page lists 300 minutes a month and up to 30 minutes per conversation, but only three audio or video file imports per user, lifetime. After our test the counter read "2 of 3 imports left". Otter is built around recording live meetings, and that part is generous; uploading old recordings is where it pushes you to Pro.
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Who Otter is for
- Good fit: recording and summarising live meetings, with speakers and keywords.
- Less good: transcribing a backlog of files on the free plan. HyNote and HappyScribe both returned our full file free.
Related reading
- Transkriptor review
- HappyScribe review
- HyNote review
- We tested 4 AI transcription tools on the same meeting
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is Otter.ai?
On our real 10-minute, four-person meeting test (October 31, 2026), Otter had a 19.5% word error rate over the full meeting and 13.0% over the first 5.5 minutes, within about a point of the best tool.
How many files can you upload to Otter for free?
Otter's free Basic plan allows three audio or video file imports per user, lifetime, according to its pricing page. Pro allows 10 a month.
How much is Otter Pro?
$16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed yearly, with 1,200 transcription minutes and 10 file imports a month.