AssemblyAI vs Otter.ai Comparison 2026
AssemblyAI is a speech to text API with no interface: send audio, get a transcript back, priced at $0.15 an hour with 185 free hours to build on. Otter.ai joins a meeting itself or takes a file, returns a transcript with speakers separated, and lets you search across everything you have ever recorded, free for 300 minutes a month. One is a building block for a developer. The other is a finished tool for anybody whose recordings need to become searchable text without writing anything.
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
AssemblyAI | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not listed | From $16.99 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Usage-based | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API | Yes |
AssemblyAI
Speech to text you call as an API
AssemblyAI is a speech to text API rather than an app: you send audio and get back a transcript, with speaker labels and summarisation available on the same call. Both pre-recorded and live streaming are covered, and the free tier is generous enough to build something real before paying anything. It is bought by people writing software, not by people who want a transcript this afternoon.
Our note
At fifteen cents an hour the price is not the thing to agonise over, so pick on accuracy for your audio and on whether you want speaker labels in the same call. Deepgram is the direct comparison and the two trade places depending on the recording.
Only on this side
- Covers captions & subtitles
Otter.ai
Searchable transcripts of calls and recordings
Otter sits in a meeting or takes a file and returns a transcript with the speakers separated, which is where show notes, a follow-up post or a list of clips can start. Search across everything you have ever recorded is the part people keep paying for. Three hundred free minutes a month is five hours, so a weekly interview show fits and a daily one does not.
Why people weigh these two
- Otter.ai instead of AssemblyAI
- Searchable transcripts of calls and recordings in an app with a free tier; for people who want the transcript this afternoon, not an endpoint.
- AssemblyAI instead of Otter.ai
- AssemblyAI is an API for a developer to build transcription into their own product, not a meeting app like Otter with a dashboard to open.
Which one should you pick
Choose AssemblyAI if you are writing software around transcription rather than looking for an app to open. It costs $0.15 an hour with no monthly plan, streaming and pre-recorded are both covered, and 185 free hours is enough to build and prove something before paying at all.
Choose Otter.ai if you want a tool that joins your Zoom, Meet or Teams call itself and gives you a searchable archive of everything you have recorded. Free covers 300 minutes a month, about five hours, enough to judge accuracy against your own audio. Otter's API and webhooks are Enterprise only, so a developer wanting programmatic access at AssemblyAI's price and openness should buy AssemblyAI instead.
Common questions
- Can I access Otter's transcripts through an API the way I can with AssemblyAI?
- Only on Otter's Enterprise tier, where the API and webhooks live. AssemblyAI is the API from the start, at $0.15 an hour with no monthly plan, so a developer gets programmatic access without an enterprise sales conversation.
- How do the free tiers compare for testing?
- AssemblyAI gives 185 free hours of pre-recorded transcription and 333 hours of streaming, built for a developer proving a pipeline works. Otter gives 300 minutes a month, about five hours, capped by conversation length and three lifetime file imports on the free Basic plan.
- Which one searches across everything I have recorded?
- Otter does. One search box covers every conversation ever recorded on the account, which is how a quote from months ago gets found later. AssemblyAI returns a transcript per API call and leaves search and storage to whatever you build around it.
- What does Otter cost once 300 minutes a month is not enough?
- Pro is $16.99 a month, or $8.33 billed annually, raising the allowance to 1,200 minutes and ten file imports a month. Business is $30, or $19.99 annually, and removes the cap on a single conversation's length.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.