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Both cover transcription & show notes. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Happy Scribe | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $8.50 | From $16.99 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | None | None |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export | Everything, in an open format | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Not stated |
| Covers | Captions & Subtitles, Transcription & Show Notes | Transcription & Show Notes, AI Content Tools, Audio & Podcasting |
| Works with | YouTube, Podcast | Podcast |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Transcripts and subtitles in 60-plus languages
Happy Scribe does machine transcription and subtitles, and will sell you a human pass over the top when the machine is not good enough. The export list is long, including the subtitle formats an editor actually needs. Minutes are metered per year rather than per month, which suits lumpy production.
Only on this side
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.
Our note
Otter for talking, Descript for publishing. If the transcript is the product this is faster and cheaper, and if the transcript is how you edit the audio, pay for Descript instead and skip this one.
Only on this side
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.