Otter vs Notta for interviews: free plans, recording limits, languages and phone screens

For job interviews, Otter and Notta are close on price and both record without a bot from desktop apps for Mac and Windows, but they split on the details that matter in a hiring week. As of October 2026 Notta's Pro plan ($8.17 a month billed yearly) allows recordings of up to 5 hours and 1,800 minutes a month, transcribes 58+ languages including two at once, and offers an offline Privacy Mode. Otter's Pro plan ($8.33 a month billed yearly) stops each meeting at 90 minutes and transcribes six languages, but Otter has a far more usable free plan and a Recruiting Agent that syncs to Greenhouse through Zapier. Neither records a phone call directly. Pick Notta for long or multilingual interviews; pick Otter for free use and Greenhouse teams.

Every fact below comes from Otter's and Notta's own sites and help centers, checked in October 2026 and linked. Our separate reviews cover each tool in more depth: Otter.ai for recruiting and Notta for recruiting.

Otter vs Notta at a glance

Sources, as of October 2026: Otter pricing, desktop, desktop help, Recruiting Agent, phone calls, privacy and security; Notta pricing, bot-free recording, integrations, security, Notta Memo.

Which is cheaper for interviews?

On the sticker price they are almost level: Pro is $8.33 a month on Otter and $8.17 on Notta, both billed yearly. The difference is what the minutes buy. Otter Pro includes 1,200 minutes a month and stops a meeting at 90 minutes; Notta Pro includes 1,800 minutes and allows 5 hours per recording. Otter's monthly Pro price is $16.99; Notta's pricing page shows a 40% yearly discount but we could not read its monthly price in the page text.

A worked example, using 45-minute interviews (example numbers, not a benchmark):

For a busy interviewer, Notta is the cheaper way to cover a full calendar. For someone who interviews now and then and wants to pay nothing, Otter's free plan is the only one of the two that captures a meaningful part of a call; Notta's 7-day Business trial is the realistic way to test Notta on a real interview.

Which records interviews without a bot?

Both do. Otter's desktop page says you can "record any conversation without a bot across Slack Huddles, Zoom, Google Meet, and in-person," and its help center adds that the app detects Zoom, Microsoft Teams and dialers and, for Teams meetings, can post an automatic message to tell participants you are recording. Otter's Chrome extension captures Google Meet calls without a bot.

Notta Desktop, per Notta's bot-free guide, "captures system audio and microphone locally, so no bot joins the participant list," across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack and other desktop apps. We did not find a participant notice described on that page. With no bot visible on either, say out loud that you are taking notes; our consent script has wording. This is not legal advice.

Which handles long interviews and panels?

Notta, on every paid plan: Pro, Business and Enterprise all allow 5 hours per recording. Otter allows 90 minutes on Pro and 4 hours on Business. A two-hour technical panel fits Notta Pro but needs Otter Business. If your loops regularly run long, that single row may decide it.

Which is better for multilingual interviews?

Notta, by a wide margin. Otter's pricing page lists AI transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. Notta lists 58+ languages, bilingual transcription in 23 languages for interviews that switch language partway through, and live translation in 80. Bilingual transcription includes up to four free uses a month on every plan, then an add-on at $9 a month billed yearly or $15 monthly. Check the switch points before quoting anyone; our guide to interviewing bilingual candidates explains why.

Can either one record a phone screen?

Not directly. Otter's phone call article says "Apple and Google currently restrict third-party apps from recording phone calls directly, so calls must be recorded separately and imported," and that a live Otter recording pauses during a phone call. Notta's guide to transcribing calls also describes importing a call recording, and Notta sells the Notta Memo for $149, a device that attaches to the back of a phone and records calls through its vibrations.

If your phone screens run on a softphone on the computer, both desktop apps capture system audio, and Otter's help center names dialers among the apps it detects, so test that route on a real call before relying on it. How to record a phone screen covers the other options.

Which has features for recruiting?

Otter. Its Recruiting Agent page describes resume summaries, job description matching and interview agendas before the call; real-time transcription, keyword detection and sentiment analysis during it; and afterwards a summary of the candidate's strengths, weaknesses and concerns, drafted feedback emails, and a Greenhouse sync that the page says uses Zapier. The page lists Business from $19.99 a month per user with a 7-day trial. We would leave sentiment analysis out of hiring records; see NYC Local Law 144 and AI note takers.

Notta describes no recruiting features. Its "Built for" list names consultants, sales, customer success, media, education and agencies, and its integrations page lists CRMs, Zapier, Notion and Slack but no ATS. Custom AI templates (5 on Pro, unlimited on Business) are the way to shape interview notes.

Where does each keep interview data?

Otter's privacy and security page says it uses AWS S3 with server-side encryption, and that deleted conversations are removed from the trash after 30 days. Notta's security page says it hosts on AWS with encryption in transit and at rest. Neither page names a region. Notta's Pro-plan Privacy Mode is the outlier: it transcribes with a local model and, in Notta's words, "no cloud upload happens in Privacy Mode," which suits confidential searches.

Which should you choose?

Choose Otter if:

• You want a free plan that captures the first 30 minutes of a call.
• You are on Greenhouse and the Recruiting Agent's Zapier sync covers what you need.
• Your interviews are in English or one of Otter's five other languages and rarely pass 90 minutes.

Choose Notta if:

• Your interviews or panels run long, or you run more than 20 hours of calls a month.
• You interview in two languages or outside Otter's six.
• You want transcription that can stay on your laptop through Privacy Mode.

If what you need is help during the interview and a scorecard rather than a transcript, neither is built for it. We make Interview Signal, one option for that; everything about Otter and Notta on this page comes from their own sites, linked and dated. It is a bot-free desktop app with a question guide and quote-checked scorecards, at a higher price and with no ATS integration; Interview Signal vs Notta compares it directly. Other routes are in Notta alternatives for recruiters.

A one-week test

1. Install both desktop apps and run the same mock interview
   through each, bot-free, on your usual platform.
2. Check three facts in each transcript: a number, a company
   name, a technical term.
3. If you hire bilingual roles, run one mixed-language answer
   through Notta's bilingual mode.
4. Try one phone screen on each, the way your team really dials.
5. Add up your real monthly minutes before choosing a plan.