Otter.ai vs. Sally: The Best German Alternative for AI Meeting Transcription

In today’s digital workplace, employees spend a large portion of their time in virtual meetings. This makes AI-powered transcription and meeting summary tools a smart solution for automating meeting documentation. They save time, boost efficiency, and ensure clear, consistent records of what was discussed.

But with so many tools available, choosing the right one isn’t easy. Each solution has its own strengths, limitations, and unique features. Two standout names you’ll often encounter are Sally and Otter.ai.

In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at both platforms and compare them side by side. What sets them apart? Which integrations do they offer? And which tool best suits your company’s needs?

By the end of this comparison, you’ll have a clear understanding of both tools' key features, use cases, and advantages — helping you decide which AI assistant is the better fit for your meeting notes and transcriptions.

Sally vs. Otter.ai: A Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Sally is a comprehensive AI assistant designed for online meetings and task automation — especially ideal for sales teams and mid-to-large companies. Its standout feature is contextual transcription, tailored to different meeting types. Sally also identifies tasks, assigns them to the right people, and tracks them to completion. Managers benefit from cross-team dashboards that surface recurring objections and sales opportunities.

Otter.ai, by contrast, is best known for its real-time transcription capabilities. It excels at delivering fast, accurate notes — ideal for teams that prioritize instant meeting summaries in English.

Let’s break down the 10 key areas where these tools differ:

1. Unlimited Transcriptions

• Sally: Offers unlimited transcription starting from its basic plan — ideal for busy teams and long meetings.
• Otter.ai: Limits transcription to 1,200 minutes/month on the Pro plan and 6,000 minutes/month on the Business plan.

2. Real-Time Transcription

• Otter.ai: Supports real-time transcription, great for live note-taking.
• Sally: Focuses on post-meeting transcription, prioritizing accuracy and structure over speed.

3. Language Support

• Sally: Transcribes in 35 languages, including German, English, Chinese, and Spanish — ideal for international teams.
• Otter.ai: Supports English only, limiting use in multilingual environments.

4. Detection of Key Meeting Facts

• Both tools reliably identify tasks, decisions, and action items, making follow-up easier and more accurate.

5. AI Summaries

• Both platforms generate concise summaries of meetings using AI, giving users a quick overview of the key points.

6. Meeting Highlights

• Sally: Trained to recognize highlights and tag them with clickable time stamps in video recordings.
• Otter.ai: Identifies key topics, but lacks video recordings or timestamp-based navigation.

7. Customer Objection Recognition

• Sally: Specially trained to detect and track customer objections, and even verify if they were addressed.
• Otter.ai: May recognize objections but doesn’t highlight or track them systematically.

8. Task Assistant Capabilities

• Sally: Doubles as a task manager, assigning and tracking meeting-generated tasks automatically.
• Otter.ai: Focuses on transcription only; no task management features.

9. Dashboards

• Sally: Offers team-wide and personal dashboards that provide insights into meetings and task progress.
• Otter.ai: Provides personal dashboards with meeting notes and transcripts — ideal for individuals, but limited for teams.

10. Automatic Meeting Recording

• Sally: Joins meetings automatically 5 minutes early and begins recording with prior approval.
• Otter.ai: Requires manual activation to start recording meetings.

Sally AI vs. Otter.ai: Integration Comparison

Now that we’ve explored the key features of both tools, let’s turn our attention to integrations. How well do Sally and Otter.ai connect with other platforms, and where do they differ?

1. Online Meeting Platforms

Both Sally and Otter.ai integrate seamlessly with major platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. This ensures smooth transcription and meeting documentation regardless of the virtual meeting tool your team uses.

2. CRM Systems

Otter.ai supports integration with Salesforce and HubSpot, enabling basic CRM linkage.
Sally, on the other hand, integrates with over 30 CRM systems, including Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and more — allowing for automatic syncing of meeting notes into your existing sales and service workflows.

3. Email Inbox Integration

Sally offers direct integrations with Outlook and Gmail, enabling AI-generated summaries and automatic task entry into your inbox.
Otter.ai offers calendar syncing but does not support direct email inbox integration.

4. Collaboration Tools

Sally connects to over 5,000 tools via platforms like Zapier and native integrations, supporting everything from task tools to project management software.
Otter.ai integrates with Slack, Notion, and a variety of other team tools, offering broad but slightly more limited integration options.

Other Distinct Features to Consider

Beyond integrations and core functionality, there are additional differences worth noting:

1. File Upload Capability

Otter.ai lets users upload and transcribe pre-recorded audio files.
Sally currently does not support file uploads, focusing instead on live and scheduled meetings.

2. Tailored Transcriptions

Sally delivers customized transcripts based on the type of meeting — sales, brainstorm, team syncs, etc. This ensures only the most relevant information is highlighted.
Otter.ai generates clean, general-purpose transcripts, without context-based filtering.

3. Advanced Management Features

Sally allows managers to define specific meeting objectives, such as tracking whether objections were addressed or next steps were set. It also offers cross-team dashboards for insights into meeting activity.
Otter.ai focuses on individual meeting summaries, without broader tracking or managerial controls.

4. Free Trial Comparison

Sally provides a full-featured 4-week trial, giving teams ample time to evaluate its capabilities.
Otter.ai offers a limited trial, with up to 300 minutes per month and 30 minutes per meeting.

Final Verdict: Which Tool Should You Choose?

Both Otter.ai and Sally are powerful AI transcription tools, but they cater to different needs:

• Otter.ai is ideal for real-time transcription, fast summaries, and companies that conduct English-only meetings. It’s lightweight, efficient, and easy to integrate with popular collaboration tools.
• Sally, in contrast, delivers a holistic, post-meeting solution that includes tailored transcripts, task automation, and manager-level insights. Its deep integrations and GDPR-friendly multilingual support make it a strong fit for medium-to-large teams that want more than just transcripts.

If your organization needs quick meeting notes and primarily uses English, Otter.ai is a solid choice.
But if you’re seeking a more robust AI assistant that supports your entire meeting lifecycle, from transcription to follow-up and performance tracking, then Sally is the superior, long-term solution.

Let me know if you’d like a comparison table to accompany this or a version formatted for web landing pages.