otter.ai Reviews 549

Sending a ridiculous amount of spam emails without permission. When you try to unsubscribe, it gives a 403 notice. This can't be compliant

Scam…… took ages to download on a free account I just set up then what a surprise….. I have to upgrade to download it….. shitty shitty product

Avoid this service. I’ve been charged twice—over £150 total—in just three months. Initially, I was misled into paying the full annual amount of £99, which I accepted, thinking I’d have access for a year. However, two months later, I was charged again simply because a colleague joined my workspace (we share the same email domain). They treated it as if I was on a business plan, even though I signed up for the Pro plan.

I’ve contacted my bank and am currently waiting for an explanation. Be cautious—this kind of billing practice feels misleading and unfair.

Terrible! Horrendous customer service (takes ages for them to respond with no useful information) and automatically records and sends transcripts to call attendees without your permission in order to increase sign ups for their service (including clients on a call outside of our domain!). Really sketchy business practices and i'm sure they'll be subject to a law suit sometime soon. Promptly will be cancelling our services and restricting their domains internally.

Great product. And I mean really great. Sadly the customer service is none existent. I have to cancel my subscription as I have lost my job. Have contacted Otter 3 times now via their submissions page and no one is responding. Not even an auto response. They have just taken the next quarter’s subscription fee which is an awful lot of money when you have no income. I am hoping that they read Trust Pilot and will get back to me. Sad to say as I really enjoyed using Otter at work. Says a lot about company when they are all over you to get your money but disappear into the ether when it’s a case of asking for a refund. I can’t even remove my credit card from my profile. Is that even legal? If I am missing something obvious please let me know Otter. Otherwise please engage with my requests.

Otter.ai has been inserting itself into meetings between myself and work colleagues without permission. It has happened several times and none of us have formal accounts with Otter.ai. I'm unsure if it is because Google is our main host for all of our administration (instead of Microsoft Office, but this is alarming and concerning. It has happened multiple times and there is no easy way to complain through the company website. Of course there is no easy way of finding out how to contact the company either. I highly recommend to avoid if they are disrespecting digital spaces this way already. Even more so as a lot of people I have spoken with about Otter.ai have had similar experiences.

Lack of transparency, fragmented structure, and GDPR concerns

Otter.ai appears to be composed of several loosely connected modules, each with its own set of features and behaviors. While the toolset is powerful, the overall service feels fragmented and unpredictable from a user perspective. It’s often unclear which features are triggered automatically versus those requiring user action, and settings are spread across different areas with limited control or visibility.

This lack of transparency becomes even more problematic when it results in unintentional data processing, such as OtterPilot joining meetings without explicit consent. This behavior may constitute a violation of GDPR, particularly Article 6 (lawfulness of processing) and Article 7 (conditions for consent). In addition, the designated privacy contact address listed in Otter.ai’s Privacy Policy is currently inactive, which violates Article 12 of the GDPR regarding accessible communication with data subjects.

Furthermore, attempts to provide constructive feedback seem to go unnoticed or are handled without clear responsiveness. For a service handling sensitive user data and positioning itself as a productivity and trust-based tool, this is highly concerning.

I strongly recommend:
•Centralizing user settings and permissions
•Offering user-controlled activation of AI features
•Ensuring full GDPR compliance, including responsive contact channels
•Taking user feedback seriously to improve both trust and usability

Otter.ai has great potential, but without structural improvements and responsible data practices, the user experience will continue to suffer.

I bought two subscriptions to this service by accident, one month apart. When I realized the error and asked for a refund of the less-expensive plan, they said no — I should have read the Terms of Service.
I'm such a good customer that I bought their service TWICE (once by accident), yet they won't refund the cheaper plan.
Is that the kind of customer service you want in an AI company? I think not. Find someone who treats their customers better.

I downloaded Otter just this morning, and without my permission or even joining a meeting, it automatically joined on my behalf, recorded the call, and sent the transcript to all participants. I didn’t attend. I didn’t click anything. Otter just inserted itself — uninvited — into a private meeting.

This is a blatant overstep and a huge privacy issue. It turns out this has happened to many others too. It’s a shady business practice and a dark pattern: by default, Otter links to your calendar and auto-joins meetings without clear consent.

The transcript quality was poor too — not that I would ever trust them again anyway. I’ve since deleted my account and uninstalled the app. I strongly recommend you stay away if you care about control, privacy, or professionalism. Yes this was written by Ai, but it conveys exactly what happened.

Very expensive. Starts of indicting that the packages are cheaper but the price keep increasing significantly. Transcripts are poor and I've even had Otter transcribe an entire 2 hour+ meeting then loose the entire transcript. Summaries are inconsistent and vary from good to awful. I recommend that you consider alternatives. Trying to cancel your subscription is possible but is difficult to do.

Otter have misled me and taken $99 annual subscription payment without my consent.

I tried to cancel my membership as I have recently has persistent audio issues where meetings just don't record. This is an issue with Chrome and Otter.

They refused so far to refund me for the months when the service was unusable. There is no phone support only via a ticketing system online where no conversation can be had - they simply decline to help.

They are rapidly going downhill and I feel they deliberately make it difficult to cancel. I have already raised multiple tickets saying the service is not working and asking for a refund. Then I try to cancel - they offer me a month free - and then as I foolishly agreed (to give me time to download and export all my audio
before cancelling) they automatically take a ful lyear's subscription from my account and now I cannot cancel - as they say I have the service until 2026. A service that is not working and I said I did not want. THIS IS FRAUD> Years ago Otter was very reliable, I had a membership for years but now - don't touch it. There are other AI services available

This app behaves like spam. Despite deleting my account, disconnecting it, and removing it from my Microsoft account apps, it still tries to join every meeting I have. Completely unacceptable behavior. Do not install this CRAP

I registered because it was used by other people on an external project. Next thing I know, this thing started recording a meeting i wasn't even at. (Plus the summary was pretty bad).

Do not install Otter.AI!

It acts exactly like a virus and emails all the people that attend any of your meetings. The configuration doesn't seem to work and it is extremely difficult to un-install. I deleted my account and it still spamming people. I am working with my IT department to get rid of its irritating effects and we are treating it like a virus.

Basically a virus. Without explaining a thing, it joins all your meetings, transcribes perfectly for the laywers (any company allowing this is fng crazy) and then proceeds to opt-in every email it can get. This is a Silicon Valley scam/virus/break everything VC play. They will sell before all the lawsuits start and this fails. UNINSTALL.

Why am I getting emails every day to join Otter from other team members? They did not invite me, it's unsolicited and a clogging up my inbox.

Intentional deception and complexity in managing your account and subscription cancellation. Intentionally obfuscating ways to disable it's intrusion in Teams meetings - causing jokes among many professional's I work with that the Otter can't be Killed. Think about it...

Send too many unsolicited emails to other email contacts on the background which is very unprofessional. Also send too many chats in the meeting room when invited.

If you're looking for a way to discreetly record conversations, find something else! If you're just looking for transcription, it's pretty good.

Sadly, Otter stops recording when you're phone screen locks, and there appears to be no way to run it in the background. Otter's developers apparently do not comprehend that there are VALID reasons to secretly record some conversations, and many jurisdictions, such as mine, permit such recordings to be used in trial--as long as one person to the conversation is aware of the recording. In my particular job, privately recording certain interactions is precisely what I am supposed to do. Consequently, for my purposes, Otter was a waste of $100.

The inability to use the app to privately record should be made clear up front. The failure to do so is very misleading.

I ordered otter al and i had two choices of one year subscription of monthly. the one year plan was 99.99 and the monthly plan was 16.99.
I selected the monthly plan but after i saw my charges to my debit card, they decided to go ahead and bill me for the whole year. Then i submitted a request for a refund for the service, I still havent been contacted by the company. They have no chat of phone number. Beware of this company. My advice is to not subscribe. Im submitting a complaint to the florida attorney generals office if im not contacted soon.