A pay-as-you-go Otter.ai alternative
Transcribe files you already have without a per-seat subscription or a monthly minute cap that resets. Buy credits once – they never expire.
60 min free · no card required · we never train on your audio
Is Pepys a good Otter.ai alternative?
Pepys is a pay-as-you-go alternative to Otter.ai: instead of a per-user monthly subscription with a minute cap that resets, you buy credits once and they never expire, paying only for what you transcribe. You get accurate transcripts, speaker labels, timestamps, 99+ languages, and built-in AI summaries and chat. Your first 60 minutes are free, no card.
Otter is built around its meeting assistant – a bot that joins your Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet calls and takes live notes. That's a great fit if your whole job is live meetings. But Otter's plans are per-user monthly subscriptions, and the transcription minutes are a monthly cap that resets with no rollover, so unused minutes simply disappear.
Pepys is for transcribing the audio and video you already have – interviews, recordings, podcasts, lectures, voice memos. You buy credits once, they never expire, and you only pay for the minutes you transcribe. Every transcript comes speaker-labeled and timestamped in 99+ languages, with AI summaries and chat built in, and we never train on your audio or text. Start with 60 minutes free, no card.
Pepys vs Otter.ai, side by side
Public, verifiable facts only. Where something isn't publicly stated, we leave it blank rather than guess.
| Feature | Pepys | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go – buy credits once | Per-user monthly / annual subscription |
| Do credits / minutes expire? | Never – credits don't expire | Monthly minute cap resets, no rollover |
| Free tier | 60 minutes free, no card | 300 min/month, 3 lifetime file imports |
| Per-seat pricing? | No – one balance, no seats | Yes – priced per user |
| File-import limits | Upload as much as your credits cover | 3 lifetime (Basic) / 10 per month (Pro) |
| Primary focus | Transcribing files & links you already have | Live meeting assistant (Zoom, Teams, Meet) |
| Speaker labels & timestamps | Yes – on every transcript | Yes |
| Languages | 99+, auto-detected | Multi-language; AI transcription in a set of supported languages |
| Built-in AI summaries & chat | Yes – summaries, chapters, and chat with the transcript | Yes – AI Chat (monthly query limits by plan) |
| Paste a link to transcribe | Yes – YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and more | – |
| Exports | TXT, Markdown, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT, JSON | mp3/txt (Basic); pdf/docx/srt added on paid plans |
| Developer JSON export | Yes – open, Whisper-compatible JSON | – |
| Trains AI on your data? | Never – we don't train on your audio or text | – |
Why people switch to Pepys
No per-seat subscription – one credit balance instead of a monthly bill for every user.
Minutes you buy never expire, so nothing resets or disappears at the end of the month.
Purpose-built for transcribing files and links you already have, not just live meetings – upload a recording or paste a link and go.
We never train AI on your audio or text, and you can auto-delete files after processing.
Any language – 99+ detected automatically
- English
- 中文
- Español
- العربية
- हिन्दी
- Français
- 日本語
- Português
- Русский
- Deutsch
- 한국어
- Italiano
- বাংলা
- Türkçe
- فارسی
- Tiếng Việt
- தமிழ்
- Polski
- ไทย
- Українська
- Nederlands
- עברית
- Ελληνικά
- తెలుగు
- Bahasa Indonesia
- اردو
- Svenska
- मराठी
- Română
- Magyar
- Čeština
- ગુજરાતી
- Kiswahili
- ქართული
- Tagalog
- አማርኛ
Switching from Otter.ai – questions, answered
How is Pepys different from Otter.ai?
Otter is built around a live meeting assistant that joins your calls, with per-user monthly subscriptions and a transcription cap that resets each month. Pepys is pay-as-you-go transcription for files and links you already have: you buy credits once, they never expire, and you only pay for the minutes you transcribe.
Does Pepys join my Zoom or Teams meetings like Otter?
No – Pepys doesn't send a bot into live calls. If you want a transcript of a meeting, record it (with everyone's consent) and upload the recording, and Pepys transcribes it with speaker labels and timestamps.
Do unused minutes roll over in Pepys?
There's nothing to roll over because nothing resets. You buy credits once and they never expire, so your balance is always there whenever you need it.
Can I get speaker labels and summaries like Otter?
Yes. Every Pepys transcript comes speaker-labeled and timestamped, with AI summaries, chapters, and chat with the transcript built in – no separate tool.
Is it free to try?
Yes. Your first 60 minutes are free with no card required, so you can compare Pepys against Otter before you pay.
Compare more alternatives
Try Pepys free – no card
Pay as you go – credits never expire, nothing to cancel. Compare the transcript against Otter.ai with 60 free minutes.