Otter.ai Alternatives (2026): European and GDPR-Friendly Options Compared

Method: we make AudiosTranscribe, so we have an interest here. Every statement about another product comes from that vendor's own page, linked in the text, as read on October 4, 2026. We do not rate or rank tools, and prices change often: check the vendor's page before you buy.

Why people look for an Otter.ai alternative

Otter.ai is a well-known AI notetaker with a free plan, live transcription and a notetaker that joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. People usually compare it with other tools for reasons of fit:

• The meeting bot. A notetaker that joins as a participant is visible to everyone. Some teams like that transparency; others, in client, HR or coaching calls, prefer recording from their own computer. Many vendors, Otter.ai included, now offer a bot-free desktop app.
• Where the data lives. European organizations often prefer EU hosting or must document international transfers under the GDPR. Vendor statements range from a clear "stored in the EU" to nothing at all.
• Languages. Otter.ai's pricing page lists AI transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. Teams working in other languages, or mixing several, compare language coverage first.
• Pricing model. Per-user pricing in US dollars, monthly minute caps, per-conversation length limits and import limits all vary.

How to choose: five criteria

1. Bot or no bot? An assistant that joins calls from your calendar, or a recorder on your own computer? Either way, you must tell participants you are recording.
2. Real time or after the meeting? Live captions need a real-time tool; a transcript and summary afterwards only need an upload-based one.
3. Where must the data be hosted? Look for the stated storage region, the cloud provider and, if data leaves the EU, the transfer mechanism.
4. Which languages? Find yours on the vendor's own list, then test a real recording with accents and jargon.
5. What will your real volume cost? Multiply the per-user price by your users, and check monthly minutes, maximum length per recording and annual vs monthly billing.

Comparison table (checked October 2026)

Only verifiable columns, each taken from the vendor's own page. "Not stated" means we did not find a statement on the pages we checked, not that the feature or option does not exist. Starting price is the lowest listed paid price for a single user, per month, as shown on the pricing page, with the billing basis.

Prices as displayed on each vendor's pricing page on October 4, 2026. Some vendors show prices in your local currency or run temporary promotions, so the amount you see may differ.

The alternatives, one by one

Otter.ai (the baseline)

• Plans: Basic is free and lists 300 monthly transcription minutes, a maximum of 30 minutes per conversation and 3 lifetime audio/video file imports. Pro is listed at $16.99 per user per month billed monthly, or $8.33 billed annually, with up to 90 minutes per meeting. Business is listed at $19.99 per user per month billed annually, with up to 4 hours per meeting (the monthly price was shown with a limited-time discount when we checked). Enterprise is on request.
• Bot and desktop: the notetaker joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Otter's desktop app for Mac and Windows advertises recording "without a bot" across Slack Huddles, Zoom, Google Meet and in person.
• Languages: the pricing page lists AI transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
• Data: the privacy policy (effective June 16, 2026) lists "Amazon Web Services, based in the United States" among its cloud providers and states that Otter.ai complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

Sources: Otter.ai pricing, Otter desktop app, Otter.ai privacy policy. Checked October 2026.

Fireflies.ai

• Plans: a Free plan ("Free forever") with 400 minutes of storage per team and limited AI summaries. Pro is listed at $10 per seat per month billed annually ($18 billed monthly), and Business at $19 billed annually ($29 monthly).
• Bot and desktop: the Fireflies notetaker records Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other platforms. The pricing page also lists recording "using Chrome extension without Fireflies bot", and the desktop app (Mac and Windows) is presented as "botless", with a Fireflies indicator that lets participants know when the notetaker is on.
• Languages: the pricing page lists "Transcription in 100+ languages"; its FAQ says English is the primary supported language, with Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and 100+ other languages in beta.
• Data: the pages we checked mention SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance and "private storage" on Enterprise, but we did not find a statement on the hosting region. Ask the vendor if this matters to you.

Sources: Fireflies pricing, Fireflies desktop app. Checked October 2026.

Notta

• Plans: Free with 120 transcription minutes per month and up to 3 minutes per conversation. Pro is listed at $8.17 per month billed annually ($97.99 per year) with 1,800 minutes per month and up to 5 hours per recording. Business is $16.67 per month billed annually. For monthly billing, see the vendor's pricing page.
• Bot and desktop: Notta offers both a recorder that joins your call as a bot and a bot-free desktop recorder for Mac and Windows (downloads labeled beta).
• Languages: the bot-free recorder page mentions 58 languages.
• Data: Notta states that it hosts customer data on Amazon Web Services and is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified. The region is not given on the pricing page.

Sources: Notta pricing, Notta bot-free recorder. Checked October 2026. We compare Notta with our own tool in more detail in AudiosTranscribe vs Notta.

tl;dv

• Plans: a free plan; Pro at €18 per seat per month billed annually (€29 billed monthly); Business above that. Prices as shown in euros on tl;dv's pricing page; the currency may change with your location.
• Bot and desktop: the tl;dv notetaker joins your calls, and the tl;dv desktop app "records directly from your system audio, with no meeting bot required".
• Languages: the homepage mentions transcription in 30+ languages.
• Data: tl;dv's security page states "All our data centers are located in Europe", names Google Cloud Platform, AWS, Hetzner and Wasabi as providers, and says customers can choose whether the AI is hosted in Europe or the US.

Sources: tl;dv pricing, tl;dv security commitment, tl;dv desktop app. Checked October 2026.

Fathom

• Plans: Free ("Free forever") with unlimited recordings and transcriptions and limited use of some AI features. Premium is listed at $16 per user per month billed annually ($20 monthly). Team and Business plans require at least 2 users.
• Bot and desktop: the pricing page offers a "choice of bot-free and bot capture", with bot-free marked as a beta feature for Mac.
• Data: Fathom's help center states "All Fathom data is stored in the United States", and that for EU/UK users it is GDPR compliant and will sign a DPA.

Sources: Fathom pricing, Fathom help: Is Fathom secure? Checked October 2026.

Happy Scribe

• Plans: a free plan that includes a 10-minute trial of AI transcription, subtitling and translation. Basic is listed at €8.50 per month billed annually (€17 monthly) with 120 minutes per month; Pro and Business plans add minutes and seats.
• Bot and desktop: the AI Notetaker connects to Google Calendar or Outlook and automatically joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings. We did not find a desktop app; the notetaker page also offers a Browser Recorder for impromptu conversations recorded from your browser.
• Languages: more than 150 languages and dialects, according to the notetaker page.
• Data: the security page states that its data center "is located in the European Union".

Sources: Happy Scribe pricing, Happy Scribe AI notetaker, Happy Scribe security. Checked October 2026.

Microsoft Teams transcription and Copilot

If your meetings already happen in Teams, the built-in option needs no third-party tool.

• Transcription: you start it from the meeting controls (More actions, then Record and transcribe). All participants see a notification that the meeting is being transcribed. Availability depends on your organization's license and admin policies.
• Copilot: Microsoft's admin documentation lists "an add-on Microsoft Copilot license" as a prerequisite for Copilot in Teams meetings. For prices, see Microsoft's pricing page.
• Data: Microsoft 365 customers with a sign-up location in the EU or EFTA are in scope for Microsoft's EU Data Boundary, with stated exceptions (for example, tenants that purchased Multi-Geo).
• Scope: it covers Teams meetings, not Zoom or Google Meet calls.

Sources: Microsoft Support: live transcription in Teams, Microsoft Learn: Copilot in Teams meetings, Microsoft Learn: EU Data Boundary. Checked October 2026. Our guide to transcribing a Teams meeting covers the steps.

AudiosTranscribe (our product)

Data location and GDPR: what actually matters

"GDPR-compliant" on a vendor page is a starting point: compliance also depends on how you use the tool.

US hosting is not automatically unlawful. Under the GDPR, sending personal data outside the European Economic Area is an international transfer and needs a transfer tool. The European Data Protection Board's guide on international transfers lists the main ones: adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, binding corporate rules and, as a last resort, derogations. On July 10, 2023, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1795; see also the Commission's page on EU-US data transfers), under which personal data can flow to US companies that participate in it. Otter.ai, for example, states that it complies with that framework.

EU hosting simplifies the paperwork. When data stays in the EU, there are usually fewer transfer questions to document, which is why many public bodies, HR teams and researchers ask for it.

Your own obligations remain. Whatever the tool, you need a legal basis for recording, a data processing agreement with the vendor, a retention period and, in most cases, to inform participants before recording. A bot-free recorder does not remove the duty to tell people.

Which option fits which situation

• Automatic notes for every calendar meeting: a bot-based assistant (Otter.ai, Fireflies, Notta, tl;dv, Fathom, Happy Scribe). AudiosTranscribe does not do this.
• Live captions or notes during the call: a real-time tool such as Otter.ai or Teams live transcription.
• Everyone is on Microsoft 365 in the EU: start with Teams transcription, and add Copilot if you have the license.
• EU hosting stated by the vendor: shortlist tl;dv, Happy Scribe, Teams (EU Data Boundary) and AudiosTranscribe, then read each data processing agreement.
• Client, HR or research conversations with no extra participant: a bot-free desktop recorder, or a recording made with your meeting platform and uploaded afterwards. See our guides to transcribing a Zoom meeting and transcribing a Teams meeting.

Sources

All vendor pages were checked on October 4, 2026.

• Otter.ai: pricing, desktop app, privacy policy
• Fireflies.ai: pricing, desktop app
• Notta: pricing, bot-free recorder
• tl;dv: pricing, security commitment, desktop app, homepage
• Fathom: pricing, help center: Is Fathom secure?
• Happy Scribe: pricing, AI notetaker, security
• Microsoft: live transcription in Teams meetings, manage Copilot in Teams meetings, What is the EU Data Boundary?
• European Data Protection Board, International data transfers (SME data protection guide)
• European Commission, EU-US data transfers
• Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1795 of July 10, 2023 on the adequate level of protection of personal data under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, EUR-Lex