Screenpipe vs Otter.ai in 2026 — Which One Should You Use?
Screenpipe vs Otter.ai — Which One Should You Use?
Otter.ai is one of the most popular AI meeting tools. It joins your Zoom, Meet, or Teams call, transcribes everything, and gives you a searchable summary with action items.
Screenpipe does something different. It captures your entire screen and audio 24/7 — meetings included, but also everything else.
Here's the honest comparison.
The Quick Version
| Screenpipe | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| What it captures | Screen (OCR) + all audio 24/7 | Meeting audio only |
| Screen recording | ✅ All monitors, all apps | ❌ None |
| Audio | System + mic, unlimited | Meeting audio, 6000 min/mo cap |
| Data storage | 100% local on your device | Cloud (Otter's servers) |
| Open source | ✅ MIT license | ❌ |
| Works offline | ✅ | ❌ |
| AI model | Any (Claude, GPT, Ollama, Apple Intelligence) | Otter's built-in AI only |
| Developer API | Full REST API + MCP server | Limited, paid plans only |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, Linux | Web, Desktop, iOS, Android |
| Price | $400 lifetime | $19.99/mo per user (Business) |
What Otter.ai Does Well
Give credit where it's due. Otter is polished:
- Real-time transcription with speaker identification during calls
- AI summaries and action items generated automatically after each meeting
- Integrations — connects to Zoom, Meet, Teams natively
- Mobile apps — iOS and Android for recording in-person meetings
- Specialized agents — built-in workflows for sales, recruiting, education
If meetings are your entire workflow, Otter handles them well.
Where Otter Falls Short
It Only Captures Meetings
This is the fundamental limitation. Otter joins calls and transcribes them. That's it. Everything else in your workday is invisible:
- The research you did before the meeting — gone
- The Slack thread with the key decision — not captured
- The URL dropped in the Zoom chat — missed entirely
- The spreadsheet someone shared on screen — audio-only, so Otter got "look at the Q3 numbers" without the actual numbers
- The follow-up email you wrote — not captured
Meetings are maybe 10-20% of a knowledge worker's day. Otter ignores the other 80-90%.
Cloud-Only Processing
Every transcript, every recording, every word said in your meetings lives on Otter's servers. For routine standups, that's probably fine. For conversations about:
- Acquisition targets
- Salary negotiations
- Legal strategy
- Patient information (HIPAA)
- Classified material
...sending that to a third-party server is a real problem. Otter's privacy policy exists, but you can't audit their code.
Per-User Pricing Adds Up
Otter Business costs $19.99 per user per month. A 10-person team pays $200/month or $2,400/year. That's just for meeting transcription — no screen capture, no always-on recording.
What Screenpipe Does Differently
Screenpipe captures your entire screen and audio continuously. Meetings are included automatically — no bot joining your call, no "Otter.ai wants to join the meeting" notification.
After a meeting, you get:
- Full audio transcript (system audio + mic)
- Everything shown on screen — slides, docs, chat messages, URLs
- Searchable by keyword, time range, or natural language AI query
Between meetings, you also get:
- Every app, every tab, every window — captured via OCR
- Slack messages, code reviews, browser content, emails
- All searchable, all local
The difference isn't incremental — it's a different category of tool.
Privacy
Screenpipe processes everything on your device. The code is MIT-licensed and open source. Your security team can audit every line before deploying. Data never touches a cloud server.
Cost
$400 for a lifetime license. One payment. No per-user fees. Compare that to Otter at $240/year per user — Screenpipe pays for itself in under two years for a single user, and the savings compound with team size.
When to Use Which
Choose Otter.ai if:
- Meetings are your primary workflow
- You need polished, shareable transcripts with team collaboration
- CRM integration matters (HubSpot/Salesforce via their workflows)
- You want mobile recording for in-person meetings
Choose Screenpipe if:
- You want to capture more than just meetings
- Privacy and local processing matter to you
- You're in a regulated industry (healthcare, legal, finance)
- You want developer API access to build on top of your data
- Per-user pricing is a concern for your team
For a deeper technical comparison, see the full Screenpipe vs Otter.ai breakdown. For more on the meeting features specifically, check the AI meeting notes use case.