Otter.ai vs. German Alternative Sally: Comparing Meeting Transcription Tools

In today's digital working world, where employees spend a majority of their time in online meetings, offer AI tools for transcriptions and AI summaries An ideal solution for automating meeting notes. They save valuable time, make meetings more efficient and ensure consistent and seamless documentation.

But when looking for a suitable tool, you can quickly lose track of things, because not every transcription tool is the same. Each has its own characteristics, special features and features, making the selection difficult. Two of the names you'll come across when researching AI tools for meeting documentation are Sally and Otter.ai.

In this article, we take a closer look at both tools, analyze and compare them: What is the difference between the two AI tools? Which integrations do they support? And which is right for me and my company?

By the end of this article, you'll have a clear picture of the key features, and use cases of both tools and decide which platform to use in the future Meeting notes and use transcriptions to get a bit closer.

Sally vs. Otter.ai

Sally is a complete AI assistant for online meetings and tasks and is ideal for sales teams from medium-sized to large companies. Sally stands out in particular because you receive tailored transcriptions, depending on the type of meeting, recognize tasks from meetings and automatically forward them to responsible employees and check them off after completion. You also get cross-team dashboards with valuable insights into common customer complaints and sales potential, which makes Sally interesting not only for individual employees, but also for team leads and managers.

Otter.ai, on the other hand, is known for its robust transcription capabilities and real-time transcriptions. It provides excellent support for meetings by providing accurate and quick minutes in real time, making it an ideal choice for companies that need instant text presentation.

Comparing 10 key factors

We first evaluate what we consider to be the most important features that distinguish both AI tools and directly uncover the most significant differences.

1. Unlimited transcriptions:

With Sally, meetings can be made from the starter version transcribed indefinitely become. Transcription at Otter, on the other hand, is limited to 1200 minutes a month in the Pro version and 6000 minutes in the business package.

2. Real-time AI transcription:

Otter.ai enables real-time transcriptions, which is particularly valuable for users who need instant text representations. Sally doesn't offer this feature and instead focuses on the accuracy and features of post-meeting transcription.

3. Language selection:

Sally supports transcriptions in 10 languages (including German, English, Chinese or Spanish) and thus covers the most important world languages to ensure full use by international teams and companies. However, Otter offers their transcription services exclusively in English, which limits its usefulness for non-English-speaking users or multilingual environments.

4. Automatic recognition of meeting facts:

Tasks, decisions and next steps are reliably recognized and recorded by both AI tools. Both tools excel in this discipline.

5. AI summaries:

Both platforms offer intelligent meeting summaries , which briefly and concisely present the most important points - this is where both tools shine.

6. Meeting highlights:

Sally was specifically trained to Highlights from meetings to filter and particularly highlight. It also records meetings via video and divides them into main discussion points, provided with clickable time stamps, which take you directly to the recorded location. Otter.ai recognizes core topics but does not offer video recording with time stamps, which means that post-processing is less visually supported and you may have to manually search for specific places in the transcript.

7. Recognition of customer objections:

Sally is specifically designed to identify customer complaints and highlight them in the transcript, including checking whether they have been addressed according to a predefined process (more on this later). Otter.ai can also recognize objections, but it doesn't particularly highlight them.

8. AI assistant for tasks:

Sally not only acts as a transcription tool, but also as AI assistant for tasks and provides comprehensive task management assistance by automatically recognizing, assigning, and tracking tasks. Otter.ai focuses primarily on transcription and therefore does not provide any functions for automatic task management.

9. Dashboards:

Sally provides both personal and cross-team dashboards for meetings and tasks to provide both individual employees and managers with a clear overview of all activities and appointments. Otter.ai provides meeting dashboards that include personal transcripts and summaries, which is ideal for individual users but less comprehensive when it comes to visualizing cross-team analyses and relationships

10. Start recording automatically:

Sally automatically starts recording as soon as she receives permission and enters the online meeting 5 minutes before the start. Otter.ai requires manual intervention to start recording.

Comparing integrations

We have now discussed the most important features of both platforms in detail. But what about the integrations with other tools? Which software can be used to create interfaces?

1. Online meeting platforms:

Both tools are seamlessly compatible with the most popular online meeting platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, making it possible to create transcripts and notes regardless of the platform used.

2. CRM systems:

Otter supports integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot. Sally offers integration with over 30 CRM systems, including Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, allowing seamless transfer of Meeting notes in the CRM.

3. E-mail inbox:

Sally offers email integrations for Outlook and Google, making it easy to automate meeting summaries and add tasks directly to users' inboxes. Although Otter.ai supports integration with the online calendar, it does not provide direct email integration.

4. Collaboration tools:

Sally is initially focused on Microsoft Teams and (still!) offers no connection to other collaboration tools. In addition to integration with Microsoft Teams, Otter.ai also supports Notion and Slack, which makes collaboration more versatile.

Other features of AI assistants

Now that we've discussed the core features and integrations of both AI tools in detail, we'd like to take a look at other features and differences in this section that have not been mentioned yet, but are important for a complete picture.

1. Upload files

Otter allows you to upload and transcribe meetings you've already recorded, a feature that Sally doesn't currently offer.

2. Tailored transcriptions

Sally creates customized transcripts that adapt to the specific type of meeting (e.g. sales calls, brainstorming sessions, or team meetings) to specifically filter out the information that is decisive.

3. Management features

Sally offers advanced management features, such as defining and tracking specific meeting objectives (such as “Has every customer objection been addressed” or “Clear next steps have been taken”) and cross-team dashboards to review team activity.

4. Free trial period:

Sally is offering a free 4-week trial period to get a comprehensive look at the features of AI transcription while Otter provides a limited trial with 30 minutes of transcription per meeting (300 per month).

conclusion

We have visualized all of the above points in a clear table to make the specific differences clearly visible at a glance.

Both Sally and Otter.ai are powerful tools. Otter.ai impresses with its real-time transcription and the ability to create quick and accurate minutes — ideal for companies that need immediate text presentation or only hold meetings in English. Otter also scores points with a wide range of integrations that facilitate collaboration in various tools.

Sally, on the other hand, stands out for a holistic approach that goes beyond pure transcription. With tailored transcripts, automated task management, and cross-team dashboards, Sally provides a comprehensive solution specifically tailored to the needs of larger teams and companies. The ability to automatically start meetings and get cross-team insights makes Sally a powerful AI tool for managers and team leads.

Depending on your company's specific requirements, each tool offers powerful benefits. However, when deeper integration into existing processes, extended task management and a stronger focus on the overall overview are required, Sally proves to be the more robust and versatile solution. Both tools are strong in their respective areas of application, but Sally offers a wide range of features that make it a valuable partner for long-term success.

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