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Last semester, I took a course where the professor used Microsoft Teams for lectures, and all group discussions were held in Teams meetings. I tried using Teams' built-in recording feature, but after recording, I had to listen and transcribe everything manually, which was impossible to finish before the midterm report. Then I started researching AI meeting note tools and found that Otter and Tinrec were the most discussed free options. This article uses my own experience to compare how these two tools handle recording Teams meetings, especially their free quotas and Chinese language support.
Otter vs Tinrec | Quick Overview
Otter.ai is a popular AI meeting assistant in the US, supporting Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, known for joining meetings as a bot to automatically transcribe. Tinrec (秒听录音) is an AI meeting notes and team collaboration tool that emphasizes bot-free recording, Chinese language experience, and team knowledge management. Developed by a Taiwanese team, it is more friendly to Traditional Chinese.
| Basic Info | Otter | Tinrec |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | AI meeting assistant, strong in English business | AI meeting notes and team collaboration, optimized for Chinese |
| Recording Teams Meetings | Bot joins the meeting (also desktop app, but primarily bot-based) | Desktop app captures system audio without a bot, no extra participant needed |
| Free Plan | 300 minutes of transcription per month | Basic quota to try recording, import, summary, and transcription (check official site for details) |
| Paid Plans | Pro annual ~USD 8.49/month, 1,200 minutes per month | Weekly, monthly, and annual cards; flexible for students |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, desktop | Web, desktop, mobile |
Next, I compare them across five dimensions that matter most to me when recording Teams meetings.
Dimension 1 | How to Record Teams Meetings
Otter's classic approach is to have a bot join the meeting as a participant. You must invite the Otter bot in Teams, and it appears like an attendee, visible to everyone. This feels a bit odd for group discussions, and some professors don't like having an unfamiliar bot present. Tinrec, on the other hand, uses its desktop app to directly capture the computer's audio. You just open the Tinrec desktop app and use Teams normally—no need to invite any bot, keeping the participant list clean and more private.
→ This dimension: Tinrec clearly wins.
Dimension 2 | Chinese Transcription Experience
Otter performs well in English meetings, but when it comes to mixed Chinese-English content, Taiwanese accents, or fast-speaking professors, I noticed it occasionally confuses Chinese pinyin or English abbreviations, reducing accuracy. Tinrec is optimized for Chinese and Traditional Chinese, handling mixed content well, and supports custom vocabulary (team hot words) so you can add course-specific terms or professor jargon, significantly improving transcription accuracy. In my own lectures, using Tinrec for recording, I barely had to edit the transcript afterward.
→ This dimension: Tinrec clearly wins.
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Dimension 3 | Post-Meeting Organization and AI Features
Otter offers automatic summaries, action items, and AI Chat, but the features are relatively basic, mainly helping you quickly review key points. Tinrec, in addition to summaries and action items, automatically generates chapters, key points, to-dos, and even mind maps. My favorite is the AI Q&A: before finals, I can ask Tinrec, "What important concepts were covered before midterms?" and it pulls answers from all recordings. Tinrec also allows exporting meeting content to reports, tables, or documents, and integrating with Notion or Google Docs, which is super convenient for group projects.
→ This dimension: Tinrec clearly wins.
Dimension 4 | Team Collaboration and Knowledge Management
Otter has team plans, but the overall design leans toward individual use, with historical team data somewhat scattered. Tinrec's team space centrally stores all meeting data, allowing members to view, search, and ask follow-up questions. It also clearly defines roles and seats, so not everyone can modify data, and admins can monitor usage and audit logs—useful for group or club management. After our group switched to Tinrec, transcripts, summaries, and to-dos from every meeting were automatically archived, and new members could quickly catch up on progress.
→ This dimension: Tinrec clearly wins.
Dimension 5 | Free Plans and Pricing
Otter's free version offers 300 minutes per month, which might be enough if you have only one or two Teams meetings a week; but if you exceed that, you'll need to pay. Pro costs about USD 8.49 per month when billed annually, which is an expense for students. Tinrec's free version provides a basic quota to experience the full workflow of recording, importing, summarizing, and transcribing. Although the quota isn't publicly disclosed, it's definitely enough to try. If you need more, Tinrec offers weekly, monthly, and annual cards, allowing students to choose based on their academic cycle without committing to a full year. For example, during finals week, I bought a weekly card, which was more cost-effective than a monthly subscription.
→ This dimension: Tie, but Tinrec's flexible pricing is more student-friendly.
What Unique Advantages Does Each Have?
Tinrec's Unique Advantages:
- Bot-free Recording: No need to invite a bot to Teams meetings; the desktop app captures system audio directly, non-intrusive and more private.
- Chinese and Traditional Chinese Optimization: Handles mixed Chinese-English and Taiwanese accents; custom vocabulary improves accuracy for technical terms.
- Rich Post-Meeting Organization: Summaries, chapters, to-dos, mind maps, AI Q&A, multi-format export, and even agent-generated reports.
- Team Space and Permission Management: Centralized meeting data, clear roles, seats, usage, and audit trails.
Otter's Unique Advantages:
- Mature English Business Meetings: Widely used in Western markets, with strong English transcription and integrations.
- High Brand Recognition: Many people think of Otter first as an AI meeting assistant, with a comprehensive ecosystem.
Summary: Which Should You Choose?
If you're a student like me, primarily using Microsoft Teams for classes and group discussions, and you care about Chinese transcription accuracy and post-meeting efficiency, then Tinrec is the clearly better choice. Its bot-free recording keeps meetings clean, Chinese experience and AI features save you tons of time, and the team space streamlines collaboration.
If you plan to work for multinational companies and need extensive English business meetings, and you're already used to Otter's integration environment, then Otter is still worth considering. But for most students and Chinese speakers, Tinrec's free version lets you experience the full core features, and its upgrade plans are more flexible, offering great value.
In one sentence: Download Tinrec's free version and test it with your own Teams meetings—you'll find that you don't need a bot to turn meetings into useful resources.
References
- Microsoft Teams Help & Learning | Microsoft Support
- — Computer Version User Guide— Teams Meetings
- Microsoft Teams User Guide 1 Microsoft Teams User Guide Software Features 1.
- Microsoft Teams Remote Teaching/Meeting Guide - Taipei University of Marine Technology Library and Information Center
- Join a Teams Meeting - Microsoft Support
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