Comparison

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes vs Obsidian

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes

This app offers real-time voice transcription for meetings, lectures, and conversations. It acts as an AI assistant, capturing slides, generating summaries, and allowing for collaborative editing and sharing of notes. Available in multiple languages and on web.

Highlights
  • Real-time transcription
  • Automated meeting notes & summaries
  • AI Chat for answers
  • Record & transcribe live
  • Share & collaborate
  • Searchable notes
  • Automated slide capture
Read full description

Never take meeting notes again. Otter AI is the fastest way to transcribe voice in real time. Get a meeting assistant that records audio, writes notes, automatically captures slides, and generates summaries. Available in English, Spanish, French and Japanese. Otter AI is also available on the web. Start for free. Trusted by over 10 million people and featured by Apple as "App of the Day" and "Editors' Choice." Automated meeting notes for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and more. Stay connected and collaborative when you work from home. Otter transcribes all your meetings, interviews, lectures, and everyday voice conversations in real time, so you can focus on the discussion. KEY FEATURES • AI Meeting Assistant: get automated meeting notes & summaries • AI Chat: get answers and generate content • AI Channels: combine live conversations with async updates. Chat with teammates. • Record & transcribe live • Automated meeting notes & summaries • Share & collaborate • All notes are searchable & shareable • Edit & highlight • Organize & export • Import & sync Looking for a specific feature? Here are the details: RECORD & TRANSCRIBE LIVE • Instantly record in one tap • Transcribe in real time • Highlight key points to review later • Insert photos of whiteboard discussions, slides, etc. • Input audio via built-in mic or Bluetooth device ENRICH NOTES WITH AI • Gather information across all your conversations • Ask questions about a specific meeting • Generate follow- up emails • Automated Slide Capture during virtual meetings • Generate summary, outline and keywords after all meetings • Punctuate, capitalize, and break paragraphs automatically SHARE & COLLABORATE • Invite group members to view, edit, and highlight collaboratively • Add comments and assign action items • Share links externally SEARCH & PLAYBACK • Search the text so you don't have to scrub through the whole audio • Playback at adjustable speeds • Follow along the highlighted word as the audio is playing • Tap on any word to jump the audio to that spot EDIT & HIGHLIGHT • Edit the text to correct any errors • Tag the speakers to label the paragraphs and train Otter to identify speakers too • Highlight sentences in one tap IMPORT & SYNC • Import audio and video files • Upload from other call recording apps • Sync your calendars to be reminded to record your meetings and auto-title your notes • Import your contacts for easy sharing OPTIMIZED FOR iOS • Start/Stop recording with Siri Shortcut & home widget • Record via AirPods • Sync with iOS Calendar, Contacts & Camera Otter Pro Get more playback speeds, skip silence, and bulk export. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscriptions in Settings and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Need help? Check out our Help Center: https://help.otter.ai Terms of Service: https://otter.ai/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://otter.ai/privacy-policy

About

Obsidian

Organize your thoughts and ideas with a powerful knowledge base that utilizes local Markdown files. This app acts as your personal second brain, accessible on your mobile device for seamless note-taking and idea connection.

Highlights
  • Local Markdown file storage
  • Customizable toolbar
  • Graph view for connections
  • Community plugins
  • Themes
  • iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files. It is a second brain, for you, forever. Now available on the go for iOS! Features include: - Customizable toolbar - Pull down quick actions - Graph view - Community plugins - Themes - Sidebar pinning for tablet - iCloud vaults

Screenshots

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes4 screens
Obsidian4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Obsidian at none against Otter Transcribe Voice Notes's 10. Otter Transcribe Voice Notes's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (79K vs 2.7K). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Otter Transcribe Voice Notes sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $16.99 per month. Obsidian asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Otter Transcribe Voice Notes has 79K ratings behind it against 2.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 55% of Otter Transcribe Voice Notes's written reviews are positive against 62% of Obsidian's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes ships an update fortnightly, Obsidian every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes versus Obsidian: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOtter Transcribe Voice NotesObsidian
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (79K ratings) — better4.5 (2.7K ratings)
Positive reviews55.0% of reviews62.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings79K — better2.7K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#11 — better#133
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size219 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOtter.ai, Inc.Dynalist Inc.

Customer experience

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes

All ratings79,250 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews1,381 reviews
Positive55.0%
Neutral8.6%
Negative36.4%

Obsidian

All ratings2,674 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral4.0%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews1,303 reviews
Positive62.1%
Neutral11.9%
Negative26.0%

User reviews

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes

From 79K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent transcription accuracy
  • 👍 Convenient features like speaker identification and timestamps
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient transcription process
  • 👍 Versatile for various use cases (meetings, interviews, lectures)
  • 👍 Helpful for deaf/hard of hearing users

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional transcription errors, especially with technical terms
  • 💰 Concerns about increasing subscription costs and reduced free minutes
  • 🐛 Buggy behavior and crashes reported by some users
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns around data usage for model training

Obsidian

From 2.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful features
  • 👍 Customizable and flexible
  • 🔒 Secure and private
  • 💡 Innovative note-taking approach
  • 🚀 Smooth mobile experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues and unreliable iCloud integration
  • 🔋 Slow startup and performance issues on mobile
  • 👎 Steep learning curve for new users
  • 👎 Limited sorting and organization options
  • 👎 Lack of WYSIWYG editing on mobile

Bugs and requests

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Microphone not working consistently
  • Transcription stops unexpectedly during recordings
  • Difficulty organizing and managing recorded files

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to record and transcribe phone calls
  • Improved editing and formatting capabilities
  • Integration with note-taking apps and cloud storage
  • Custom vocabulary training and speaker recognition
  • Offline transcription mode

Obsidian

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Sync issues leading to data loss
  • Freezing and crashing on mobile devices
  • Editing bugs and text input issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved sorting and organization options
  • WYSIWYG editing on mobile
  • Better integration with other cloud storage services
  • More intuitive onboarding process for new users
  • Native mobile widgets and share sheet integration

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes

Subscriptions9
  • Otter Pro (monthly)2 variants$16.991 Month
  • Otter Pro (monthly)7 Days trial$16.991 Month
  • Otter Business (monthly)$30.001 Month
Show 6 more
  • Otter Business (monthly)7 Days trial$30.001 Month
  • Otter Pro (Yearly)$99.991 Year
  • Otter Pro (yearly)$99.991 Year
  • Otter Pro (yearly)7 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • Otter Business (yearly)$239.991 Year
  • Otter Business (yearly)7 Days trial$239.991 Year
None

Obsidian

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Otter Transcribe Voice Notes free?
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Obsidian free?
Obsidian is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Otter Transcribe Voice Notes or Obsidian?
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes is rated higher. Otter Transcribe Voice Notes averages 4.8 out of 5 from 79K ratings, while Obsidian averages 4.5 from 2.7K ratings.
Do Otter Transcribe Voice Notes or Obsidian have ads?
Neither Otter Transcribe Voice Notes nor Obsidian shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Otter Transcribe Voice Notes or Obsidian?
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes ships an update fortnightly, and Obsidian every 3 weeks. Most recently, Otter Transcribe Voice Notes was updated on September 24, 2026 and Obsidian on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Otter Transcribe Voice Notes or Obsidian?
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes currently peaks at #11 in the App Store charts, and Obsidian at #133. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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