Scriben vs Otter.ai
Otter is for the call. Scriben is for the room.
Otter.ai is a strong meeting assistant when the meeting is on a screen and someone is signed in. Scriben is a working ballpoint that captures the conversation itself — across a table, on a ward round, in a car — and charges nothing after the pen.
- What it actually is
- SoftwareWeb, iOS, Android, meeting bots
- A penIts own hardware, syncs to iOS
- Three years, one person
- $720Business, at $19.99 per user per month billed annually
- $129Pen purchase. Free software plan included
- What has to be running
- A deviceSigned in, with the app or the call open
- NothingNo phone, no app, no network
- Writes on paper
- NoIt is software
- YesA real 0.6mm ballpoint
Start here
What Otter does better.
If your meetings are video calls and you want live transcription with search across a team, Otter does that well and has done for years. Its free tier gets you started, the integrations are mature, and a team already standardised on it has little reason to move. If that is your whole working life, buy Otter.
Beyond the recording
Capture is only the first step.
Scriben combines purpose-built hardware, durable memory and agents that can move approved work through the tools you already use.
Where each one works
The same week, on both.
Not a feature list. The actual situations a working week is made of, and what happens in each.
- A video call at your desk
- ✓
- ✓
- Live transcription while the call runs
- ✓
- —
- A meeting across a table, laptop shut
- Phone app
- ✓
- A ward round, a site visit, a walk
- Phone app
- ✓
- Somewhere with no signal
- —
- ✓
- Recording past your monthly minutes
- Business
- ✓
- Writing on paper while it captures
- —
- ✓
Otter runs on the web, iOS and Android and joins calls as a meeting assistant. Where a row says Phone app, Otter can do it — on a phone you are holding out. Checked on 15 September 2026 on otter.ai.
Over time
Per seat, per month, for three years.
Otter’s free Basic tier gives 300 minutes a month and caps a conversation at 30 minutes. The bars price Business, the tier with unlimited minutes.
After one year
After two years
After three years
Otter figures checked on 15 September 2026 on otter.ai/pricing: Basic free with 300 monthly transcription minutes and a 30-minute conversation cap; Pro $16.99 per user per month, or $8.33 billed annually, with 1,200 minutes and a 90-minute cap; Business $30 per user per month, or $19.99 billed annually, with unlimited minutes and a four-hour cap; Enterprise custom. The bars use the annual rate, which is Otter’s cheaper one, for one seat over three years. Prices change — check theirs before you decide. The Scriben bar is the Free plan at $0 a month after the $129 pen. Our Pro plan is $12.99 a month, and on Pro our three-year total would be $597 — still under Otter Business, but not by much.
Questions
The ones people actually ask.
Is Scriben a good Otter.ai alternative?
How much does Otter cost per year?
Does Scriben have transcription minute limits?
Can Scriben join a Zoom or Teams call?
Which should I buy?
Also worth comparing
The other three.
Anyone choosing between two of these is usually choosing between several. Every page uses the same rules and dates its sources.
Honestly
Which one to buy.
Otter if your meetings are on a screen and you want live transcription and team search. Scriben if the conversations that decide things happen away from one, and you would rather $129 be the last money you spend on it.