Otter.ai vs tl;dv: Features, Pricing and Verdict

Otter.ai transcribes live and Pro costs $8.33 a month billed annually. tl;dv records unlimited video free but caps AI notes at 10 meetings ever.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-13T01:35:41+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-13T01:35:41+00:00

Otter.ai vs tl;dv: Features, Pricing and Verdict

Otter.ai and tl;dv both turn meetings into searchable notes, but they start from opposite ends. Otter is a live transcription tool. It writes notes while the meeting runs. tl;dv is a recording tool. It captures the whole call on video, then writes the notes after. Otter also has the cheaper paid plans. tl;dv has the more generous free plan. This comparison uses the vendors' own pricing pages, checked in November 2026. It also covers the August 2026 tl;dv security disclosure, because it matters for anyone choosing a notetaker for work. Confirm prices at checkout.

Otter.ai vs tl;dv at a glance

Otter.ai joins your Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet call as a notetaker. It transcribes live, identifies speakers, and produces a summary with action items when the call ends. You can also record in person with the mobile app, or import audio and video files. Otter AI Chat lets you ask questions about a meeting. Otter works in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Chinese. tl;dv records your meetings on video. A bot joins the call, or you record from the desktop app. It transcribes in more than 100 languages, then writes AI notes with highlights and clips. You can search across all your meetings, build shareable clips, and ask the Ask AI assistant about a call. tl;dv stores data in the EU and lists GDPR and SOC 2 compliance. The core difference is capture. Otter is built for live notes and in-person recording. tl;dv is built for video capture and post-call review. If you run interviews or sales calls and want the video, tl;dv fits. If you want live captions and quick notes during the call, Otter fits.

Otter.ai pricing

Otter sells four plans, priced per user per month. Basic is free. It includes 300 transcription minutes a month, a 30-minute cap per conversation, three file imports for the life of the account, the 25 most recent conversations, and 20 AI Chat questions a month. Pro costs $16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed annually. It raises the limits to 1,200 minutes a month, 90 minutes per conversation, 10 imports a month, and 50 AI Chat questions. Pro also adds unlimited history, more exports, and CRM sync for one user. A Pro workspace caps at 5 billed users. Business costs $30 a month, or $19.99 a month billed annually. It adds unlimited meeting minutes, 4 hours per conversation, 3 concurrent meetings, 6,000 import minutes a month, and 200 AI Chat questions. Enterprise is a custom quote. Students and teachers with a .edu address get 20 percent off Pro. The only free trial is a 7-day Business trial, which needs a card and rolls into Business Monthly at $30 a month. Otter does not offer refunds. One more fact belongs in any Otter decision. A privacy class action against Otter is pending. In August 2026, a federal judge let the core wiretap claims proceed. The plaintiffs allege the notetaker records calls without every participant's consent. Otter denies the allegations. No court has ruled that Otter broke the law. Otter's privacy policy also allows training its models on de-identified recordings and transcripts. Read the consent rules for your meetings before you use it.

tl;dv pricing

tl;dv sells four plans, priced per seat per month. Free costs $0. It includes unlimited video recordings and transcription in more than 100 languages. The AI is capped. You get full AI notes on your first 10 meetings, for the life of the account, and 10 Ask AI queries. After that, only the first 10 minutes of each call get notes. Recordings are kept for up to 3 months. You can record 40 web meetings a week and upload 5 files. Every plan stops a single recording at 3 hours. Pro costs $29 a month, or $18 a month billed annually. It adds unlimited AI notes, custom note templates, premium transcription, multi-language meetings, 5,000-plus integrations, API and webhooks, unlimited uploads and storage, and unlimited single-meeting Ask AI. Business costs $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually. It adds custom vocabulary, unlimited multi-meeting AI insights, scheduled AI reports, playbook monitoring and coaching, and team management. Enterprise is a custom quote. It adds single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, privately hosted AI, and a dedicated success manager. tl;dv charges no usage-based AI fees on Business. All fees are non-refundable, according to the terms. The free plan is generous on capture and tight on AI. That is the trade-off to understand before you sign up.

The August 2026 tl;dv security disclosure

In August 2026, security researcher BobDaHacker published a report about a misconfigured database at tl;dv. A missing security rule on the meetings collection meant any signed-in user could query meeting records belonging to other customers. The researcher counted 181,874 meeting records from 84,312 users across 35,003 email domains. The exposed records held meeting metadata: who set up the call, the conference ID, the platform, whether it was recording, and timestamps. About 1,000 meetings were marked as actively recording at any given moment. The researcher reported the issue to tl;dv on 28 January 2026. He says it stayed open through July. tl;dv published a response the next day. The company says the fix was implemented shortly after the issue was found, and that the researcher was describing two separate vulnerabilities. Nobody has claimed recordings or transcripts were downloaded. What was reachable was the map: who was meeting whom, when, and on which link. tl;dv holds SOC 2 Type I certification, not Type II, and does not offer HIPAA compliance. Teams in regulated industries should weigh that. Check tl;dv's current security page before you decide.

Features compared

Otter wins on price and live use. Pro at $8.33 a month billed annually is the cheapest paid seat in this comparison. It also wins for in-person meetings, live captions, and interviews where you need notes during the call. tl;dv wins on free capture and languages. Unlimited recording in more than 100 languages for $0 is a strong offer. It also wins for teams that review calls on video and want clips to share. Otter's free plan is a taster. Three hundred minutes a month and a 30-minute cap per call run out fast. tl;dv's free plan is a real tool for recording, but the AI wall hits after 10 meetings and never resets.

Which one should you choose

Choose Otter if you need live transcription or you attend meetings in person. It fits journalists, researchers, students, and anyone who takes notes during the call. Pro is cheap enough that most solo users can justify it. Choose Business if your team needs unlimited minutes and concurrent meetings. Choose tl;dv if you record sales calls, interviews, or user research and want the video. The free plan covers unlimited capture, and Pro at $18 a month billed annually unlocks unlimited AI notes. Choose tl;dv if your meetings run in many languages. Avoid tl;dv for regulated work until you have checked its current security posture and confirmed it meets your compliance needs. Avoid Otter if you record long calls on the free plan, or if your meetings need consent from every participant and you cannot guarantee it.

Bottom line

Otter.ai vs tl;dv splits on how you work. Otter wins for live notes and price, with Pro at $8.33 a month billed annually. tl;dv wins for free video capture and language coverage, with unlimited recording for $0. Pick Otter if your notes need to happen during the meeting. Pick tl;dv if your value comes from the recording after it. Either way, get consent from everyone on the call before you record it.