Kaldi vs Otter.ai

Kaldi is a free, open-source C++ toolkit for speech recognition aimed at researchers and professionals. Its code and scripts cover methods including linear transforms, MMI, boosted MMI, MCE discriminative training and feature-space discriminative training. The toolkit integrates finite-state transducers through OpenFst and includes a matrix library that wraps standard BLAS and LAPACK routines. Example recipes support building speech recognition systems, and downloadable model archives cover speech recognition, speaker identification, speech activity detection, diarization and language modeling. The models may be used for any purpose. Kaldi is released under Apache License 2.0, which permits commercial use and redistribution. It runs on Linux distributions and Mac OS X, supports Android cross-compilation, and can be compiled to WebAssembly for browser execution. Windows compatibility is not actively maintained, and example scripts do not work there. Users obtain the current development version by cloning the GitHub repository and following its INSTALL file. Documentation is expert-oriented; the project directs help requests to its mailing list and bug reports or feature requests to GitHub issues.

Otter.ai transcribes meetings into searchable text and provides summaries and action items. Its meeting bot can capture calls on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams; the Mac and Windows desktop apps can record conversations without a bot joining. Other listed features include live transcription, speaker labels, note templates, calendar integrations and a searchable archive. It supports six languages and is available through Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and Chrome apps or extensions. Basic is free forever and includes 300 transcription minutes per user each month, three lifetime imported files per user, and a 30-minute maximum per conversation. Pro Annual costs $8.33/user/month, billed annually; Pro Monthly costs $16.99/user/month. Business Annual costs $19.99/user/month, billed annually, while Business Monthly costs $30/user/month. Business includes a seven-day free trial and allows conversations up to four hours. Otter lists TLS encryption and AES-256 encryption for real-time content. Payment options include credit and debit cards and Apple App Store or Google Play purchases.