Description: Otter Basic renews 300 transcription minutes per billing cycle, but its three file imports never reset. Compare the 30-minute transcript limit, paid plans, languages and October 2026 AI Chat rollout.
Answer, checked October 18, 2026: Otter.ai Basic provides 300 transcription minutes per monthly cycle. The renewal follows your account’s billing-cycle start date and time, not necessarily the first day of the month. Unused minutes expire. Three audio/video file imports are a lifetime allowance per account, not three per month.
Plan comparison
| Plan | Monthly transcription | Per conversation | File imports | AI Chat/month | Price in USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 300 minutes | 30 minutes | 3 lifetime | 20 questions, 3 per conversation | Free |
| Pro | 1,200 minutes | 90 minutes | 10 monthly | 50 | $16.99 monthly; $8.33/month equivalent annually |
| Business | Unlimited meetings and in-app recordings; imported files 6,000 min/month | 4 hours | Unlimited count | 200 | $30 monthly; $19.99/month equivalent annually |
| Enterprise | Unlimited meetings/in-app recordings; public table lists 6,000 imported min/month | 4 hours | Unlimited count | 200 | Custom |
Annual equivalents require annual billing. Regional discounts, taxes and negotiated terms vary.
Finding the exact reset time
Otter’s help says monthly minutes renew at the date and time your billing cycle began. Its example is June 26 at 7:03 p.m. PST, followed by the 26th of each month at that time. This is an illustration, not a universal reset clock. On the web, visit Account Settings → Plan; on mobile, open Account. When Basic’s 300 minutes are gone, new recordings and imports are blocked until renewal. Deleting a conversation does not restore minutes. Monthly renewal cannot grant a fourth free import once all three lifetime imports have been used.
Why a 60-minute meeting is different
Basic exposes at most 30 minutes of transcription per conversation. The recording may continue, but Otter says the remainder can be unlocked after a paid upgrade. Only the 25 most recent conversations are directly visible; older ones are archived. Therefore, 300 monthly minutes should not be interpreted as five fully readable hour-long transcripts.
What changed, and which languages work?
Contemporary reporting in August 2022 described a planned September 27 reduction from 600 to 300 free minutes. That historical date comes from reporting; the current 300-minute rule is confirmed by official pricing and help. Otter announced Japanese transcription on November 4, 2025. The May 6, 2026 help lists English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, with German and Chinese marked beta. The interface remains English. On October 14, 2026, Otter’s AI Chat help described a gradual Chat/Work rollout; it did not announce unlimited Work actions for Basic, which still lists 20 AI Chat questions monthly.
The pricing page also uses the phrase “unlimited in-app recordings” while separately listing 300 Basic transcription minutes. Recording count and transcribed duration are different measures. The Basic-specific 300-minute limit is the more precise guidance.
Bottom line
Monthly minutes renew; three lifetime imports do not. Check your account’s cycle and the 30-minute per-conversation limit before relying on the free plan for a long meeting.
