Otter.ai is a meeting recorder: it joins your Zoom/Meet/Teams calls (or records locally), transcribes them in real time, and adds AI notes and summaries. It is a strong product for meetings.
yt-transcript is a YouTube-to-text pipeline: paste a URL, get the exact caption track (or an AI transcription of the audio), and export it as TXT, SRT, or VTT. No recording, no meeting, no import step.
Side by side
| yt-transcript | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | YouTube video → text | Live meetings & calls → text |
| YouTube URL input | Direct | Requires exporting/recording audio first |
| Video without captions | AI transcription (ASR) | Transcribes audio you import |
| Exports | TXT, SRT, VTT, CSV, JSON, bilingual SRT | Transcript text, AI notes, PDF export |
| Translation | 100+ languages | Limited / not a core feature |
| Batch / playlist | Up to 25 videos per job | Not its use case |
| Developer API | REST + Bearer keys | REST API (meetings-centric) |
| Pricing (2026) | Free 50 credits · €9 / €29 / €79 per month | Free 300 min/mo · Pro ~$17/user/mo (1,200 min) · Business ~$30/user/mo |
Pricing, concretely
yt-transcript charges per transcript: 1 credit per video, with plans from €9/month (1,200 credits ≈ 1,200 captioned videos) to €79/month (unlimited), and a free tier of 50 transcripts. Otter (2026 pricing) is free for 300 minutes/month, then Pro at about $16.99 per user/month for 1,200 minutes, and Business at about $30 per user/month. That model fits a team recording dozens of calls a day; it is overkill when you just want a few YouTube videos as text. Competitor pricing per public sources, Sep 2026 — check the vendor for current numbers.
Verdict
- Pick yt-transcript when the source is a YouTube video and you want the text (or subtitles) fast, cheaply, and in a format you can use.
- Pick Otter when you need live meeting transcription, speaker identification, and AI notes from calls.
- They are not really competitors — they cover different inputs. Many teams use both.
Frequently asked questions
Can Otter.ai transcribe YouTube videos?
Otter is built around recording live meetings and calls (and importing audio files). To get a YouTube video into Otter you typically have to download or record the audio first — extra steps our tool skips, since it reads the video's captions or transcribes the audio directly from the URL.
Which is cheaper for YouTube transcripts?
For the job of 'give me this YouTube video as text', yt-transcript is cheaper: credits are per transcript (1 credit each), plans start at €9/month, and there is a free tier. Otter's plans price minutes of recording, which costs more per video when your source is YouTube content.
Which gives me subtitle files (SRT/VTT)?
yt-transcript exports SRT, VTT, TXT, and JSON directly. Otter focuses on the meeting transcript and notes; getting a clean .srt out of it is not its core workflow.
When should I still pick Otter?
If you need to transcribe live meetings, phone calls, or in-person conversations — and want real-time transcription with AI notes — Otter is the right tool. If your source is YouTube, a dedicated transcript tool is faster and cheaper.