What should a useful meeting-notes trial produce?
For a small SaaS team, a useful record might include a decision, its reason, an owner, and a due date. Compare the same harmless discussion in both products, using a capture method supported by the selected account. Tell the participants what is being recorded and use a deliberately arranged trial rather than connecting automatic recording to an unattended calendar.
An original fictional discussion can cover a launch date, a customer-requested change, and an unresolved question. Write the expected decisions before evaluating the output. Then inspect the transcript, speaker attribution, and generated summary. Keep a mistaken name, omitted condition, and invented action item as separate review categories instead of reducing every error to a single impression of accuracy.
Separate meeting limits from uploads and retained history
Otter's pricing table distinguishes maximum transcription time per conversation, imported-file allowances, and available conversation history. Fireflies presents transcription, storage, and other plan capabilities separately. Map the kind of recording you actually use to those definitions; a live meeting and an uploaded file may consume different allowances.
For a fictional workload of twelve forty-five-minute meetings and four uploaded interviews, inventory both capture paths. Check whether a long conversation exceeds a per-meeting limit even when another allowance remains available. Include later retrieval and export in the brief. An apparent surplus of one quota does not prove that a different requirement is covered.
| Requirement | Otter check | Fireflies check |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | Supported live, recording, or upload path | Supported live, recording, or upload path |
| Long meeting | Per-conversation limit on selected plan | Applicable capture and processing limits |
| Existing interviews | Imported-file and minute allowances | Applicable upload allowances |
| Later retrieval | Accessible conversation history | Storage and retention requirements |
| Reusable record | Required export format and permission | Required download format and permission |
Compare the export you need, not only the summary screen
Otter's export guide lists TXT for Basic accounts and additional formats on paid plans, including DOCX, PDF, and SRT. It also describes speaker and timestamp options and permission requirements for shared conversations. Fireflies documents Pro-and-higher downloads, with transcript formats including DOCX, PDF, SRT, CSV, JSON, and Markdown.
Pick the downstream job before choosing a format. A handoff document needs readable context; captions need timing; a structured import needs fields its destination understands. Export the same fictional discussion and inspect the actual file. Confirm that a summary, transcript, audio recording, and action list are treated as distinct outputs rather than assuming every item visible in the app appears in every export.
Review joining and sharing as separate decisions
Otter documents separate auto-join and auto-share settings. Fireflies documents administrator controls over teammates' automatic recording, including allowing individual choices or limiting which meetings are recorded. Verify the actual account and workspace controls before enabling a broader workflow.
In the trial, confirm which meeting the assistant should attend, who can view its record afterward, and whether the intended colleague can export it. Inspect a person outside the intended sharing group as well. A correct summary is only useful if the team can govern its destination and later find the evidence behind a decision.
Which one transcribes meetings more accurately?
This guide does not report an accuracy benchmark. Evaluate your own language, microphones, overlapping speech, and specialist names using the same review criteria. Compare errors against the original recording, and review important decisions before treating a generated summary as the team's agreed record. One successful sample does not establish performance for every meeting.
Why is the transcript download option missing?
Check the plan, whether processing is complete, the artifact that was actually captured, and the viewer's permissions. Otter distinguishes export permissions for shared conversations; Fireflies ties downloads to eligible plans and available meeting content. Identify which requirement failed before assuming the recording was lost or paying for a different product.
Sources and editorial method
Official sources linked throughout this guide were checked on October 29, 2026. Product editions, interfaces, plans, and limits can change. The examples and evaluation exercises are editorial proposals, not reports of hands-on product testing or customer results. Confirm the current documentation for your account before implementing a workflow.