How to transcribe and summarize meetings with AI (Otter.ai, Fireflies, and alternatives)

Before creating an account, compare the main options:

Tool	Free minutes	Languages	Best for
Otter.ai	300 min/month	Mainly English	Real-time transcription, team collaboration
Fireflies.ai	800 min/month	+60 languages (including Spanish)	Spanish meetings, CRM integrations
tl;dv	5 hours/month	+30 languages	Meeting clips, sales teams
Notion AI	Included in Notion	Several	If you already use Notion as your workspace

Quick recommendation: If your meetings are mainly in English and you want to get started without complications, go with Otter.ai. If you work in Spanish or need integrations with sales tools or CRMs, Fireflies.ai is the better option.

The steps below cover both tools in parallel so you can follow whichever you chose.

If you chose Otter.ai:

1. Go to https://otter.ai and click Sign Up.
2. Create your account with Google, Microsoft, or email.
3. Once inside, go to Settings and select Calendar.
4. Connect your Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook. Otter will automatically import your meetings.
5. Enable OtterPilot so the bot joins calendar meetings on its own.

If you chose Fireflies.ai:

1. Go to https://fireflies.ai and click Get started.
2. Sign up with Google, Microsoft, or email.
3. In the dashboard, click Integrations and then Calendar.
4. Connect Google Calendar or Outlook. Fireflies will detect your scheduled meetings.
5. Enable the Auto-join meetings option so the bot attends on its own.

In both tools, the bot will appear in your video calls as another participant, named “Otter.ai” or “Fireflies.ai”. Other participants can see it in the attendee list.

If you connected your calendar in the previous step, the bot will automatically join your next scheduled meeting on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. You don’t need to do anything else.

If you prefer to add it manually:

• In Otter.ai: from the main dashboard, click Start Otter on a meeting and enter the meeting link.
• In Fireflies.ai: from the dashboard, click Invite Fireflies and paste the video call link.

What happens during the meeting:

• The bot joins as a participant and starts recording and transcribing.
• In Otter.ai you can see the transcript in real time from the dashboard or the mobile app.
• In Fireflies.ai the transcript appears in the dashboard when the meeting ends.
• When the meeting finishes, both tools generate the summary automatically.

Let participants know the bot is active. In many countries and companies, it is a legal or policy requirement to notify everyone before recording a conversation.

When the meeting ends, you’ll receive an email with the summary. You can also review it from the tool’s dashboard.

What you’ll find in Otter.ai:

• Summary: a brief paragraph covering the main topics of the meeting.
• Action Items: tasks mentioned during the conversation, with the name of who is responsible.
• Transcript: full transcript with timestamps and each speaker’s name.

What you’ll find in Fireflies.ai:

• Meeting Summary: summary organized by sections (Overview, Action Items, Key Questions).
• Topics: the most discussed topics, with timestamps to jump directly to that moment in the recording.
• AskFred: an AI that answers questions about the meeting (for example: “What was said about the budget?”). Requires AI credits from the plan.

To get more out of the summary, you can paste it into Claude and ask for a deeper analysis or extract specific decisions. The tutorial How to use Claude for text analysis shows you exactly how to do it.

Once you’ve reviewed the summary, you can export or share it from both tools:

In Otter.ai:

1. Open the transcript and click the Export button (top right corner).
2. Choose the format: PDF, plain text, or subtitles (SRT).
3. To share, use the Share button and generate a public link or share with specific team members.
4. You can also copy the summary directly to Slack, Notion, or any other tool.

In Fireflies.ai:

1. Open the transcript and click Export.
2. Choose PDF, CSV, SRT, or copy to clipboard.
3. To share, use Share and decide whether to make it public or team-only.
4. Fireflies has direct integration with Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, and other tools (from Integrations in the dashboard).

If meeting summaries become part of your regular reports, the tutorial How to automate marketing reports with ChatGPT has techniques you can adapt for that workflow too.

If you have an already-recorded meeting (an MP3, MP4, or M4A file) and want to transcribe it without joining a video call:

In Otter.ai:

1. From the main dashboard, click the Import or Upload audio/video icon.
2. Upload your file. Otter will transcribe it and add it to your conversations list.

The free plan allows only 3 lifetime imports. For more, you need the Pro plan.

In Fireflies.ai:

1. From the dashboard, go to the Upload or Import audio/video section.
2. Upload your file. Fireflies will transcribe it and generate the summary automatically.

Imports use the same transcription credits from your plan. The free plan includes 800 minutes in total, shared between meetings and imports.

Both tools support the most common formats: MP3, MP4, WAV, M4A. Confirm supported formats on the official page before uploading your file.

Problem	What to do
The bot didn’t join the meeting	Check that the calendar is connected and “Auto-join” is enabled; you can also invite it manually from the dashboard
The transcript has many errors	Make sure the meeting audio was clear; errors increase with background noise or when multiple people speak at the same time
It doesn’t recognize speaker names	In Otter.ai you can assign names manually in the transcript; Fireflies identifies them automatically if participants have linked accounts
Free plan minutes ran out	Wait for the start of the month for them to renew, or consider the paid plan
The summary missed important points	Edit the transcript and regenerate the summary, or paste the transcript into Claude for a custom analysis
The bot was rejected from the meeting	In Zoom, verify that the host allows external participants; in Google Meet, the host must admit the bot from the waiting room