Otter.ai is the better app overall, scoring 8.0 to 7.5. Otter.ai wins on 4 of the 5 scores, DeepSeek on 1.
Students, journalists and teams who want searchable transcripts of every meeting
Students and developers who want strong reasoning help for free
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Otter.ai | DeepSeek |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Assistants | AI Assistants |
| Category rank | #13 of 16 | #16 of 16 |
| Developer | Otter.ai | DeepSeek |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | — |
| Windows | ✓ | — |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Otter.ai better than DeepSeek?
Otter.ai is the better app overall, scoring 8.0 to 7.5. Otter.ai wins on 4 of the 5 scores, DeepSeek on 1.
Which is cheaper, Otter.ai or DeepSeek?
Otter.ai: Free: 300 minutes a month; Pro is $8.33 a month billed yearly or $16.99 monthly. DeepSeek: Free app and website; developers pay separately for the API. On value for money, DeepSeek scores higher.
Do Otter.ai and DeepSeek work on the same devices?
Only Otter.ai runs on Mac, Windows.
Which is more private, Otter.ai or DeepSeek?
Otter.ai scores higher on privacy (5.8/10). Otter trains its AI on de-identified recordings and transcripts, with no in-app opt-out. The App Store label lists identifiers used to track you and links audio, contacts and location to you.
Strengths and weaknesses
Otter.ai
- Years of experience with meeting and lecture transcripts
- Free plan includes 300 minutes a month
- Apps for phone, computer and web
- Free conversations stop at 30 minutes
- Trains AI on recordings with personal details removed, by default
- Faces a class action lawsuit over recording consent
Otter has typed up meetings and lectures for years. It writes live transcripts with speaker labels. Its notetaker can join Zoom, Meet and Teams on its own. AI Chat answers questions across your meetings. A new desktop app records calls and chats outside scheduled meetings. The free plan works but stops each conversation at 30 minutes. Otter trains its AI on recordings with personal details removed. It also faces a class action lawsuit over recording consent.
Full Otter.ai review
DeepSeek
- Strong reasoning and coding help for free
- Reads pictures and very long documents
- Open models you can run yourself
- Your data is stored on servers in China
- Can't make images, and has few extras beyond chat
DeepSeek gives you strong reasoning and coding help for free. Its open-weight models use the MIT license, so anyone can run them. Expert mode takes on harder problems, and web search is built in. The app now reads photos and very long documents. It's still basic next to paid rivals and can't make images. Its privacy policy says data is stored in China, and several governments limit it on official devices.
Full DeepSeek review
