Otter.ai Pricing 2026: Free Plan Limits and What Plans Cost

Otter.ai's free Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation and three pre-recorded file imports per user for the life of the account, according to otter.ai/pricing (checked October 2026). Pro and Business add minutes and imports; the page can show promotional prices, so check the current figure before you buy.

Short answer: Basic is free. Pro is $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 billed annually. Business is $30 per user a month, or $19.99 billed annually. Enterprise prices aren't published. If you mostly upload recordings rather than record meetings, the per-conversation caps (30 minutes on Basic, 90 on Pro) matter more than the price.

Otter.ai plans and prices (checked 26 Oct 2026)

* The page's footnote for this offer: "Offer valid only with an India-issued credit card."

Source: Otter's pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026; prices may have changed since. "Prices in USD", per the page. We are TranscribTxt (RESTART AI LLC) and are not affiliated with Otter.ai. Trademarks belong to their owners. Found an error? Write to support@transcribtxt.com and we will check and fix it.

Is Otter.ai free?

Yes. The pricing page lists Basic as "Free" and "forever". What it includes, per the same page:

• 300 minutes per user a month, a shared pool for live meetings, recordings and imported files, with no rollover;
• 30 minutes per conversation, the longest a single transcript can run;
• 3 lifetime imports of pre-recorded audio or video files;
• exports as MP3 and TXT;
• AI transcription in six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.

The limit people hit first depends on how they use Otter. If you record live meetings, it's the 300 monthly minutes or the 30-minute cap. If you upload recordings, it's the imports: after the third import, Basic's lifetime limit is used up, and each import is still capped at 30 minutes.

The promotional prices, explained

Otter's pricing page can show a discount next to the list price. On 26 October 2026 it showed:

• Pro: $16.99 crossed out, with $8.49* and "save 50%". On the annual toggle, $8.33 crossed out and $4.17*. A footnote on the page reads "*Offer valid only with an India-issued credit card."
• Business: $30 crossed out, with $24 and "20% off for 3 months+". A footnote in the comparison table reads "+ Offer valid for first-time subscribers only".

So for budgeting outside that offer, use the list prices: Pro at $16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month on the annual plan. Business is $30 a month once the three discounted months end, or $19.99 a month on the annual plan. Offers change, and the page may show a different one on the day you check.

Pro vs Business: what the extra money buys

Pro suits one person who records meetings most days:

• 1,200 minutes a month;
• conversations up to 90 minutes;
• 10 file imports a month;
• exports as MP3, TXT, PDF, DOCX and SRT.

Business removes the monthly cap on meeting and recording transcription. It allows conversations up to 4 hours and unlimited imports, with imported-file transcription capped at 6,000 minutes per user a month. It adds bulk export.

For uploads, the per-conversation cap decides it. A 2-hour lecture or interview is longer than Pro's 90 minutes, so on Otter it needs Business.

What Otter costs over a year

Monthly and annual billing differ a lot, so it's worth doing the sums at list prices (our arithmetic from the 26 October 2026 prices):

• Pro, billed monthly: $16.99 × 12 = $203.88 per user a year.
• Pro, billed annually: $8.33 × 12 = $99.96 per user a year, roughly half.
• Business, billed monthly: $30 × 12 = $360 per user a year, less the three discounted months if you're a first-time subscriber.
• Business, billed annually: $19.99 × 12 = $239.88 per user a year.

For a team, multiply by the number of seats: five people on Business annual come to about $1,200 a year. Annual billing is only worth it if you're sure you'll use Otter every month. For a few recordings a year, a month-to-month plan you cancel, or a tool you pay per file, usually costs less.

How to transcribe a long upload when Otter's limits stop you

If you've used your imports or your file is longer than your plan's cap, you don't have to upgrade for a single recording:

1. Find the original file, such as the MP4 or M4A from your phone, camera or Zoom. TranscribTxt accepts MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM and AVI, up to 2 GB.
2. Upload it on TranscribTxt. Your first file needs no account, and the language is detected automatically among 99.
3. Check the free part. The first 30 minutes are transcribed free, so you see the quality on your own audio before paying anything.
4. Get the full file with a Week Pass, $5 once. It gives 7 days of Pro, up to 25 hours of audio, and never renews. You don't upload the file again.
5. Download TXT or SRT. Note that TranscribTxt doesn't label speakers or translate.

If you transcribe uploads every week, Pro at $10 a month covers up to 100 hours of audio a month, with no per-file length cap.

When Otter is worth paying for

Otter is built for live meetings, and that's where its plans make sense. Speaker identification, a large pool of meeting minutes and PDF or DOCX exports matter more there than the import count. If you're in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese or Chinese meetings every day, Pro or Business is reasonable value.

It's a weaker fit for occasional long uploads, where the import limits and per-conversation caps stop you. For a closer look at the tool itself, see how accurate Otter.ai is, our Descript vs Otter comparison, and the Otter.ai alternatives for uploaded recordings. If you'd rather not subscribe at all, see transcription without a subscription.