Otter.ai review: AI meeting notes, and what lawyers should know first

What it does: Otter records and transcribes meetings and conversations, writes summaries with action items, and can join Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet calls to take notes on its own (Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026).

Who it fits: General business meeting notes. It is not built for law firms, and lawyers should read the data section below before using it on client matters (our take, based on the sourced facts on this page).

Price

(Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026)

• Basic: free, with 300 transcription minutes a month and 3 lifetime file imports.
• Pro: $16.99 per user per month billed monthly. A lower annual price ($8.49 per month) was shown with a note that the offer is for first time subscribers only.
• Business: listed at $30 per user per month, with $24 also shown. In one view of the page, the lower price was labeled "20% off for 3 months."
• Enterprise: custom. HIPAA compliance is listed as an Enterprise add on. Single sign on requires at least a 100 user license.

Otter's pricing page showed different numbers in different views on the same day, so confirm before you buy.

Where your client data goes

Data Trail card

Question	What Otter says	Source
Where is data stored?	Amazon Web Services S3, encrypted with AES 256. Country not stated on the security page.	Otter privacy and security, checked Oct 19, 2026
Is it used to train AI?	Yes, after de-identifying. Otter says: "Otter uses a proprietary method to de-identify user data before training our models." Its privacy policy lists "training our proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions (which may contain Personal Information)." Imported documents, such as from Google Workspace, are not used for training.	Otter privacy and security, Otter privacy policy, checked Oct 19, 2026
Do humans review it?	Otter says training is automatic and recordings and transcripts are not manually reviewed. Staff need your explicit consent to look at a recording for support.	Otter privacy and security, checked Oct 19, 2026
Who else touches it?	The privacy policy lists data labeling service providers among the companies it shares data with.	Otter privacy policy, checked Oct 19, 2026
How long is it kept?	Deleted conversations go to Trash and are removed after 30 days. The privacy policy says data is kept as long as necessary; no fixed period is published. The pricing page lists "Custom data retention" as a feature on higher plans.	Otter privacy and security, Otter privacy policy, Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026
SOC 2 or other audit	SOC 2 Type 2 report.	Otter privacy and security, checked Oct 19, 2026
BAA / HIPAA	HIPAA compliance is an Enterprise add on.	Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026
Export and leave	Paid plans can export audio and text; Business and Enterprise add bulk export.	Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026

Legal risk to know about

A federal lawsuit seeking class action status claims that Otter recorded private conversations without the consent of everyone on the call and used them to train its service. These are allegations, not findings (NPR, Aug 15, 2025, checked Oct 19, 2026). The case appears on the federal court docket as In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, No. 5:25-cv-06911 (CourtListener docket, checked Oct 19, 2026). We did not find a final ruling as of our check date.

Integrations

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zapier, with Salesforce and HubSpot on some plans (Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026). We did not find a published integration with Clio or other legal case tools (checked Oct 19, 2026).

Setup effort and hidden costs

• The free plan is easy to start, but limits are tight (Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026).
• HIPAA compliance is an Enterprise add on, and single sign on needs a 100 user minimum (Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026).

Contract traps

• Lower intro prices may apply only to first time subscribers or the first few months (Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026).

Questions to ask Otter

1. Can my firm opt out of having our recordings and transcripts used for training, on any plan?
2. How do you de-identify transcripts that are full of names and case facts?
3. Where, by country, is my data stored?
4. What does the meeting bot tell other participants before it records?

Strengths

• SOC 2 Type 2 and AES 256 encryption (Otter privacy and security, checked Oct 19, 2026).
• Free plan to test with, and broad meeting platform support (Otter pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026).
• Open about training on de-identified data, rather than hiding it (Otter privacy and security, checked Oct 19, 2026).

Limits

• Trains its AI on de-identified recordings and transcripts that may contain personal information (Otter privacy policy, checked Oct 19, 2026).
• Pending privacy lawsuit over recording consent (NPR, checked Oct 19, 2026).
• No legal software integrations found (checked Oct 19, 2026).

Our take

This is our opinion, based on the sourced facts above. Otter is a popular general tool, but for client conversations we would be cautious. ABA Formal Opinion 512 says that for tools that learn from what you put in, a client's informed consent is needed before you share information about their matter (ABA Formal Opinion 512, checked Oct 19, 2026). Otter's training on de-identified transcripts puts it squarely in the zone where you should think hard, talk to your bar's guidance, and get clear answers before recording client calls.

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Last checked: Oct 19, 2026. Published by the team behind The Small Firm Stack, who also build phone and intake systems for law firms. See our About page for the full disclosure. We never list, rank, or review ourselves. No vendor paid for this page and it has no affiliate links. Not legal advice. Vendors can send corrections through our About page.