Otter.ai vs tl;dv Comparison 2026
Both cover transcription & show notes. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Searchable transcripts of calls and recordings
Recordings and notes from every call, free to start
At a glance
- Otter.ai starts cheaper, at $16.99.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Otter.ai | tl;dv | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $16.99 | From $18 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
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.
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
- Covers ai content tools
- Covers audio & podcasting
- Works with Podcast
tl;dv
Recordings and notes from every call, free to start
tl;dv records Zoom, Meet and Teams calls, transcribes them in more than thirty languages and writes the notes, with the recording and the transcription uncapped even on the free plan. What the free plan meters is the AI on top: ten meetings of notes and ten questions. Paying removes that ceiling and adds templates, action items and a search across every transcript. This is aimed at calls rather than at published audio, so a podcaster wants a transcription service instead.
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.