Head-to-head · documents read November 4, 2026 or later
Otter.ai vs Descript: which fine print is kinder to you?
Short answer
Otter records and summarizes meetings; Descript edits audio and video by editing the transcript. On fine print Descript comes out ahead: a visible switch keeps your recordings out of AI work, and plan refunds are possible if you ask within 48 hours. Otter says subscriptions are non-refundable and its privacy policy describes training on de-identified recordings and transcripts with no opt-out offered. Neither rolls unused minutes or credits over.
| Otter.ai | Descript | |
|---|---|---|
| Zone score | 5.4/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Paid from | $8.33/user/month (Pro, billed annually) | $16/person/month billed yearly (Hobbyist; $24 month to month) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| What users say | A Users are broadly happy: 4.8 from 88,080 App Store ratings, 4.8 from 47,641 on Google Play, 4.6 from 32 Product Hunt reviews and 4.4 from 867 on Trustpilot, though a quarter of Trustpilot reviews are one-star. The most repeated complaint is unexpected or duplicate charges, plus features moved to pricier tiers. The most repeated praise is accurate, searchable transcripts and fast billing fixes from support. Many recent five-star Trustpilot reviews thank support agents by name, which Otter often replies to. | C Opinion splits: G2 and Capterra both rate Descript 4.6, but Trustpilot sits at 2.6 from 292 reviews. The most repeated complaint is that the AI features are unreliable (cut words, audio drift, edits to redo), use up paid credits, and come with crashes and a sluggish editor. The most repeated praise is the core idea: editing audio and video by editing the transcript, with fast, accurate transcription that saves podcasters real time. |
| Pricing clarity | C Prices are in US dollars per user, but the cards mix list prices and promotions. Pro shows $16.99 a month with an asterisked $8.49 offer that the footnote limits to India-issued credit cards. Business shows $30 a month with a $24 promo for the first months via a promo code, and $19.99 a month on annual billing. Students and teachers with a .edu email get 20% off Pro ($6.67 a month billed $79.99 yearly, or $13.59 monthly). Pro caps a workspace at 5 billed users, Business at 25. The pricing page does not mention taxes. | B Prices are public, in dollars and per person, with yearly billing advertised as saving up to 35% over monthly. Creator and Business seats are billed separately, so a three-person Creator team pays three times. The pricing page does not mention taxes, and paid plans are charged automatically to a card on the chosen cycle. |
| Cancel & refunds | D The help center is blunt: 'Subscriptions are non-refundable', including when you forget to cancel. Plans renew automatically; cancel at least 24 hours before the next billing date. Only the workspace owner or an admin can cancel, paid features run to the end of the period, and a one-time pause is offered instead. App Store and Google Play purchases follow Apple's and Google's refund rules. The terms (September 19, 2025) confirm that 'All fees are in U.S. Dollars and are non-refundable'. | C The refund policy is explicit but short: plan refunds must be requested within 48 hours of the invoice date, Editor seat refunds within 7 days, and top-ups are not refundable. Cancelling, downgrading or switching from annual to monthly takes effect at the end of the cycle, with no proration or refund for unused time. |
| Limits & credits | C Limits are per user, per month, and marked '(no rollover)'. Basic gets 300 minutes, 30 minutes per conversation and 3 imports for life. Pro gets 1,200 minutes, 90 minutes per conversation and 10 imports a month. Business removes the meeting-minute cap but stops a conversation at 4 hours and imports at 6,000 minutes. AI Chat is capped at 20, 50 and 200 queries a month. When a paid plan lapses, members see only their 25 most recent conversations. | C Media minutes (uploads and recordings) and AI credits (Underlord, Studio Sound, Green Screen and similar) reset at each renewal, and the help centre says unused amounts do not roll over. Top-ups, sold only on Creator and Business from $25 for 5 media hours or $35 for 350 AI credits, last 12 months and are spent after the plan allowance. Free plan AI credits are a one-time 100. |
| Your data | D The privacy policy (effective June 16, 2026) lists 'training our proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions (which may contain Personal Information)'. Otter's security page says de-identification is automatic, recordings are not manually reviewed without explicit customer consent, and customer data does not train its AI providers' models. No training opt-out is described. Retention is 'as long as necessary', with no fixed period. | B The Terms allow Descript to use inputs and outputs to train its models unless you opt out. The help centre explains how: App Settings, Profile tab, 'Share data with Descript'. It adds that current production models use no Descript user data and that opted-out users' data will not be used at any stage. Users are asked for a preference at onboarding; Enterprise drives have sharing disabled by default. |
| Output rights | B The terms say 'Customer retains all ownership rights to the User Content processed using the service', though content in a company workspace belongs to that workspace or organization. You grant Otter a worldwide, royalty-free license with the right to sublicense, and Otter may use aggregated or de-identified data for machine learning. The terms make you 'solely responsible' for giving notice to and getting consent from the people you record. | B Descript claims no ownership of your content, and you own AI output to the extent the law protects it, with a warning that generated output may not be unique. Free exports carry a watermark at 720p. Stock libraries other than Storyblocks may need a separate license for commercial use, and voice clones require the speaker's explicit consent. |
Pick Otter.ai if…
you want automatic notes and searchable transcripts for routine internal calls, and the recordings are not sensitive.
Pick Descript if…
you edit podcasts or videos and want transcript-based editing with a clear opt-out from AI training.
Plans side by side
| Otter.ai | |
|---|---|
| Basic free | $0 |
| Pro monthly or annual | $16.99/user/month or $8.33/user/month billed annually |
| Business monthly or annual | $30/user/month or $19.99/user/month billed annually |
| Enterprise custom | Contact sales |
| Descript | |
|---|---|
| Free free | $0 |
| Hobbyist monthly or yearly | $24/person/month ($16 billed yearly) |
| Creator monthly or yearly | $35/person/month ($24 billed yearly) |
| Business monthly or yearly | $65/person/month ($50 billed yearly) |
| Enterprise contract | Custom |
Every grade links back to its source in each full review. How we grade · Affiliate disclosure.