Pick Otter.ai if…
you mainly want live transcripts of Zoom, Teams or Meet calls and the cheapest monthly per-seat price of the two.
Both produce meeting transcripts and notes; the extra layer is different. Otter is built around the live transcript and AI Chat over your notes. Read AI adds a "meeting coach" — participant engagement analytics — and a search that spans meetings, email and Slack.
Pick Otter.ai ($16.99/mo per user) if you want transcripts and CRM integrations at the lower monthly per-seat price. Pick Read AI ($19.75/mo per seat monthly, less billed annually) if you want coaching analytics and unlimited transcripts without a minutes cap.
| App | Free tier | Paid from | Top plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Yes | $16.99/mo | $30/mo | Teams already living in Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet who want automatic notes and searchable transcripts |
| Read AI | Yes | $19.75/mo | $39.75/mo | Teams that want engagement analytics and coaching feedback on top of standard meeting transcripts |
Monthly prices in US dollars before tax, from each vendor's official pricing (US list price; weekly-billed plans converted to a monthly figure). Updated November 2, 2026
| Otter.ai | Read AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 300 transcription minutes/mo | 5 meeting transcripts/mo, unlimited enterprise search |
| Entry paid plan | Pro: 1,200 minutes/mo, meetings up to 90 min | Pro: unlimited transcripts, 100 upload credits/mo |
| Integrations on entry plan | Salesforce, HubSpot & Zapier | Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence, Zapier, webhooks |
| Standout | Real-time transcription, AI Chat | Participant analytics, cross-surface search |
| Compliance tier | Enterprise: custom, contact sales | Enterprise+: HIPAA, SAML/SCIM, custom data retention |
you mainly want live transcripts of Zoom, Teams or Meet calls and the cheapest monthly per-seat price of the two.
you want feedback on how meetings go, search that also covers email and Slack, and no monthly minutes ceiling.
Otter Pro caps you at 1,200 minutes and 90-minute meetings; longer calls need Business. Read AI Pro has no transcript cap, but audio/video playback and video highlights only arrive on its Enterprise plan ($29.75/mo per seat), so check whether you need to rewatch calls.
For analytics, yes — participant engagement metrics and coaching are Read AI's focus. For straightforward transcription at a lower monthly per-seat price, Otter Pro is the simpler buy.
Otter's 300 minutes a month covers several meetings; Read AI's free plan stops at 5 meeting transcripts a month but includes unlimited search and 20+ languages.
Some do — participant analytics can feel intrusive to some attendees, which is worth raising with your team before rolling it out.
How we choose: prices come from each vendor's official pricing page and are re-checked every week. We take no affiliate fees, so rankings aren't for sale.