CoHear vs Otter.ai: The Bot, or Your Phone?
Otter.ai and CoHear both turn conversations into transcripts and summaries, but they start from opposite assumptions. Otter sends a bot into your online meetings and runs a mature, everywhere-available platform around it. CoHear records on the iPhone already in your pocket — no bot, no extra participant — and is built for the conversations that happen in rooms, classrooms, and corridors, not just on Zoom.
The practical differences come down to three things: how the recording happens, what limits sit behind the price, and where each tool works.
Side by side
| CoHear | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| How it records | On your iPhone — no bot joins anything | Bot joins Zoom, Meet, and Teams; also records via its mobile/web apps |
| Free plan | 400 minutes/month, 3 file imports, up to 2 hours per recording | 300 minutes/month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime imports |
| Main paid plan | Meeting Plus: $14.99/mo after a 7-day free trial | Pro: ≈$16.99/mo billed monthly, or $99.99/yr billed annually |
| Transcription minutes (paid) | Unlimited | 1,200/month on Pro; unlimited on Business |
| Longest single session | 4+ hours | 90 minutes on Pro; 4 hours on Business |
| Platforms | iPhone only | Web, iOS, Android |
| In-person & lectures | Built for it — phone in your pocket, status visible | Possible via the mobile app, but the product centers on online meetings |
| Standout strength | Long in-person sessions, study plans and practice questions, quotes traceable to timestamps | Live transcription, speaker identification, a mature platform on every device |
Prices are US list prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked October 22, 2026. Otter does not print the Pro price on its pricing page; the figure above is derived from its published student discount (20% off: $13.59/month, $79.99/year).
Where Otter wins
Live transcription. Otter shows you the transcript as the meeting happens, with live notes and captioning for Google Meet. CoHear works after the fact: you record, then get the organized result (about 65 seconds for a one-hour recording). If you read along during calls — for accessibility, or to catch a name you missed — Otter's live stream is a real advantage.
It's everywhere, and it's the default. Otter has web, iOS, and Android apps, years of polish, and deep familiarity: many teams already have it, and it can join meetings you don't attend. CoHear has no Android app and no web recorder; if you're not an iPhone user, this comparison ends here.
A real student discount. Students and teachers with a .edu email get 20% off Otter Pro — $79.99/year. That's genuinely cheap for a year of notes, and we won't pretend otherwise. CoHear has no equivalent education discount today.
Automated online meetings. Schedule a call and Otter's bot shows up whether you remember or not. CoHear depends on you pressing record on your phone.
Where CoHear wins
No bot in the room. Nothing named "Otter.ai" joins your call or sits in your meeting. For client conversations, interviews, and anything sensitive, plenty of people prefer a phone on the table — with its recording status visible — over a bot participant their guests have to accept.
The caps are gone. This is the structural difference. Otter's free plan stops conversations at 30 minutes; Pro stops them at 90 minutes and 1,200 minutes a month. A two-hour lecture, a half-day workshop, or a long negotiation simply doesn't fit. CoHear records 4+ hours in one session, and Meeting Plus has no monthly minute limit. On the free plan, CoHear's caps (400 minutes/month, 2 hours per recording) are also more forgiving than Otter Basic's.
Built for in-person, not adapted to it. Otter's center of gravity is the online meeting; its app recording is a side door. CoHear starts from the room: lectures become study plans and practice questions, interviews keep every quote traceable to its timestamp in the original audio, and notes are private by default until you choose to share them.
Flat, individual pricing. $14.99/month is the whole story — no per-seat math, no "unlimited is on the next tier" asterisk. Otter's unlimited minutes sit on its Business plan, above the Pro plan most individuals buy.
Who should pick which
- You live in scheduled Zoom/Meet/Teams calls and want live captions → Otter.
- You're on Android, or your team already runs on Otter → Otter; CoHear doesn't run there.
- You're a student with a .edu address and mostly online classes → Otter Pro at $79.99/year is hard to beat on price.
- You record lectures, seminars, or office hours in person → CoHear — the session caps alone decide it.
- You meet clients face to face and a bot would be awkward → CoHear.
- Your conversations regularly run past 90 minutes → CoHear, unless you budget for Otter Business.
For the wider field — Fireflies, Granola, Plaud, Fathom, tl;dv — see our full comparison. Students can also read the dedicated roundup. Full CoHear plan details.
FAQ
Does Otter record in-person meetings?
Yes, through its mobile app — you can record a live conversation rather than a video call. The rest of the product (bot scheduling, live captioning, meeting integrations) is designed around online meetings, and the same minute and session caps apply to app recordings.
What happens when an Otter conversation hits the time limit?
On the free Basic plan, transcription stops at 30 minutes per conversation; on Pro, at 90 minutes. Monthly transcription minutes (300 free, 1,200 on Pro) also stop accumulating once used up, and unused minutes don't roll over. CoHear's sessions run 4+ hours, and its paid plan has no monthly minute limit.
Is CoHear available on Android?
No. CoHear is iPhone-only today. If you need Android or a web app, Otter covers both.
Which is better for lectures?
For in-person lectures, CoHear: a 2-hour class fits in one session (Otter Pro caps at 90 minutes), and the output includes study plans and practice questions, not just a transcript. For lectures delivered over Zoom that you attend at a computer, Otter's live transcription may serve you better — and its student discount makes Pro $79.99/year.
How we compared
Prices, minute limits, and session caps come from each vendor's official pricing page, checked October 22, 2026 (US list prices). Otter's Pro price is derived from the student-discount figures published on that page, as noted above. Vendors change plans; check their pages for current numbers.
