# What is Otter.ai? > Otter.ai joins your Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls, transcribes them live and writes a summary with action items. What it does, free plan, example. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/otter-ai · Updated 2026-10-20 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) [Web apps](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary#topic-web-apps) · [AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) Quick answer Otter.ai (otter.ai) is an AI meeting notetaker. Its Notetaker joins your Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings, transcribes them in real time with speaker identification, and writes a meeting summary with action items. You can also record from the desktop, phone or browser, and ask Otter AI Chat questions about your meetings. Last updated October 20, 2026 [Take the free module →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/intro-to-ai-automation/3)Module 3 of the free [Intro to AI Automation](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/intro-to-ai-automation) course, about 9 minutes. No account needed. Updated October 20, 2026 · By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) ## Why it matters for a small business Someone always has to write up the meeting, and when nobody does, tasks get lost. Otter takes the writing part away: the transcript and summary exist as soon as the call ends, so the follow-up can go out the same hour. Setup is mostly the calendar. Otter's help center says you go to **Integrations**, click **Connect** for your Google or Microsoft account, and your meetings sync to the Otter homepage, where you choose which ones the Notetaker joins. It can even join a meeting you cannot attend, and it shows up in the call as a participant named after you. After the meeting, Otter AI Chat searches across your meetings to answer questions and help write follow-ups and reports. ## In a real lesson: Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT The [meeting summary lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-summarize-meeting-transcript) does not use Otter. In it, you copy the transcript Google Meet saved after Harbor Street Bakery's Monday team meeting, paste it into ChatGPT under a request for a summary, the decisions, an action items table with owner and due date, and open questions, and tell it to write "Not stated" instead of guessing. You fill in the missing dates, then ask for the follow-up email. Otter does the capture and first-draft part of that job. Its Notetaker would join the call, record who said what and write the summary and action items, so there is no transcript to copy. The checking step from the lesson still matters: read the owners and dates against what was said before the recap goes to the team. [Try this lesson free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/chatgpt-meeting-summary) or [read the step-by-step guide](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-summarize-meeting-transcript). ## Common confusions ### Otter vs ChatGPT for meeting notes Otter records and transcribes the meeting itself. ChatGPT works on a transcript you give it, so you need a recording or a saved [meeting transcript](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/meeting-transcript) first. ### Transcript vs summary The transcript is every word, with [speaker labels](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/speaker-labels). The summary is Otter's short version with the key points and [action items](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/action-items). ## Tips - Tell people at the start that Otter is recording, and follow your company's rules on recording calls. - Choose which meetings the Notetaker joins instead of letting it join everything. - Check every owner and due date in the summary before you share it. ## Related terms [AI note-taker](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/ai-note-taker) · [Meeting transcript](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/meeting-transcript) · [Action items](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/action-items) · [Speaker labels](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/speaker-labels) · [Call summary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/call-summary) · [Meeting minutes](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/meeting-minutes) ## More Web apps terms [Preview deployment](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/preview-deployment) · [Pull request (PR)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/pull-request) · [Reclaim.ai](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/reclaim-ai) · [Request body (payload)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/request-body) ## Where you use it: free lessons - [Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-summarize-meeting-transcript) (ChatGPT, 9 min) - [OLVA: A Private AI Assistant on Your Client Calls](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/olva-ai-meeting-assistant-client-calls) (OLVA, 9 min) - [CoHear: AI Meeting Notes from a Team Training Session](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cohear-ai-meeting-notes-training-session) (CoHear, 8 min) ## AI tools that use it - [Otter.ai](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/meetings-notes#tool-otter-ai) - [ChatGPT](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/llms-chat-assistants#tool-chatgpt) ([free lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompt-writing-101-role-context-task-format)) [More terms by tool](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/ai-tool-terms) ## Frequently asked questions **Is Otter.ai free?** Yes. Otter's pricing page lists a Basic plan that is free forever, with live transcription, speaker identification, AI Chat and a monthly allowance of transcription minutes. See otter.ai/pricing for the paid plans. **Which meeting apps does Otter work with?** Otter's help center says the Notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings. You can also record from the Otter desktop app, the iOS and Android apps, or the browser. **How does Otter know which meetings to join?** You connect your Google or Microsoft calendar under Integrations. Your meetings sync to the Otter homepage, and you choose which ones the Notetaker joins. [All AI glossary terms, A to Z](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) · [Free prompt templates](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts)