Otter vs Fireflies: Which AI Meeting Assistant Wins?

Stop taking notes. We tested the top AI meeting tools to see which one actually captures the details (and action items) correctly.

🏆 Winner: Fireflies.ai

Best for integrations & action items.

The Problem with Meetings

You're in a meeting. You're trying to listen, but you're also frantically typing notes. By the time you write down one point, you've missed the next two. It's a broken system.

AI meeting assistants fix this. They join your Zoom/Teams/Meet calls, record audio, transcribe it, and—most importantly—summarize it into key takeaways.

1. Fireflies.ai (The Powerhouse)

Fireflies isn't just a transcription tool; it's a knowledge base for your meetings. It connects deeply with your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) and project management tools (Asana, Monday, Trello).

Key Features

  • Video Recording: Captures video, not just audio (great for reading reactions).
  • Smart Search: Search "show me action items" or "when did we talk about pricing?" across all past meetings.
  • AskFred: A ChatGPT-like bot that you can ask questions to about the meeting ("Did he mention a budget?").

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2. Otter.ai (The Original)

Otter is the tool that started it all. It's excellent at pure transcription and has a very clean, simple interface.

Key Features

  • Real-time Transcription: Watch the text appear as people speak (great for accessibility).
  • OtterPilot: Auto-joins meetings and emails summaries.
  • Slide Capture: Automatically grabs screenshots of slides presented during the meeting.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Feature Fireflies.ai Otter.ai
Transcription Accuracy Excellent Excellent
Video Capture ✅ Yes ❌ No (Screenshots only)
Integrations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (CRM deep dive) ⭐⭐⭐ (Basic)
AI Intelligence AskFred (Advanced) OtterChat (Good)

The Verdict

Choose Fireflies.ai if: You need to integrate meetings with your workflow (CRM, Asana, Slack) or want video recording. It's the better tool for business professionals.

Choose Otter.ai if: You just want simple, fast transcription and don't need complex integrations.

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