A meeting assistant should help produce a usable record of decisions, owners and next actions. For a freelance engagement, the buying question is whether the selected plan and review process can deliver that record to the client.
Updated October 8, 2026. This is a source-based buying guide and an original acceptance checklist. Earlier numeric ratings, comparative winners and three purported real tests have been removed because this article has no supporting test records. We have not measured Otter’s transcription accuracy, time savings or performance against competitors.
Separate meetings, imports and conversation length
The official pricing page , checked October 8, distinguishes transcription allowances, recording length and imported files. Its Basic plan lists 300 monthly transcription minutes, a 30-minute conversation limit and three lifetime file imports per user. Pro lists 1,200 monthly recording/transcription minutes, up to 90 minutes per meeting and ten monthly file imports. Business lists unlimited meetings/in-app recordings, up to four hours per meeting, and a separate imported-file transcription allowance.
An unlimited file count is not the same as unlimited imported audio minutes. Check the detailed comparison, the plan actually offered to your account and any applicable conditions before committing. The page also displays monthly, annual and regional promotional prices; this guide avoids treating one displayed offer as a universal quote.
Specify what the client needs from the notes
Use a brief before connecting a calendar or authorising a recording. These are proposed requirements, not observed product results.
| Requirement | Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | Which meeting and participants are authorised for this workflow? | Agreed scope and intended audience |
| Language | Does the selected service support the actual language and terminology? | A representative authorised sample |
| Transcript | Which names, numbers and technical terms must be correct? | Corrections checked against the source |
| Decisions | What was agreed, rejected or left open? | Reviewed decision list |
| Actions | Who owns each task and by when? | Confirmed owner and due date |
| Delivery | What access and export does the client need? | A verified handoff using client permissions |
Do not infer supported languages or accuracy from an English product demo. The official comparison lists supported languages; confirm the actual requirement before choosing the service.
A proposed meeting-notes acceptance exercise
This exercise has not been executed for this review. Use a fictional script and authorised test participants rather than a real client’s confidential meeting.
- Write a short source script containing two decisions, one unresolved question and three explicitly assigned tasks.
- Include a fictional name, a number and a domain-specific term that the reviewer can check.
- Select the intended recording/import route and record the plan and remaining allowance.
- Compare the transcript with the script; record corrections instead of estimating an accuracy percentage from memory.
- Review the summary for missing conditions and decisions that were never made.
- Confirm that each action has the right owner and deadline; leave an ambiguous action unresolved until a person clarifies it.
- Share or export the approved record using the intended client workflow and test access with an authorised recipient.
A readable summary is not proof that its decisions are correct. A successful test with one clear script does not establish performance on accents, crosstalk or every future meeting.
Control capture, sharing and review
Before connecting a calendar, inspect which meetings the assistant may join and who receives the resulting notes. Confirm the recording arrangement with the people responsible for the meeting. Review the actual account settings rather than assuming every meeting is appropriate for automatic capture.
Keep a named reviewer responsible for the final notes. If an AI-generated follow-up adds an obligation, date or promise that was not agreed, correct it before sending. A task suggestion should not silently become a commitment to a client.
The recording access and handoff checklist provides related delivery questions. It does not prove that Loom and Otter have identical permissions or features.
Test the exit before promising a deliverable
The pricing comparison lists export options by edition. Confirm the format required by the client and test a sample export. Retaining text is different from retaining audio, timestamps, speaker information or a working shared workspace.
Agree who owns the account, recording, notes, billing and retained copies. Document the retention period and what happens when the engagement or subscription ends. Do not promise permanent access merely because a link works in the author’s signed-in browser.
If the actual job is editing an audio deliverable, compare the Descript workflow checklist against that requirement. This article does not declare either product a universal winner.
Count preparation and corrections in the price
Use the freelance project-cost worksheet to include the subscription, seats, preparation, manual review, revisions and handoff support. Record the billing term and any promotion’s eligibility and renewal conditions.
A plan with a lower displayed price can still require more delivery work. Measure that work on an authorised sample before quoting recurring savings to a client.
Before choosing Otter
Check Otter’s current plan comparison against the meeting length, monthly minutes, imports, language, sharing and export requirements. Choose a plan only after the proposed workflow passes the acceptance criteria you need.
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