What Is Notta in 2026: Traditional Chinese Transcription + AI Summaries in One Tool

Why Do You Need a Tool That "Takes Notes" for You?

After a meeting ends, the recording sits on your phone for 47 minutes; after an interview, all you have left are a few scribbled lines. The real hassle was never the recording itself—it's having to listen from the beginning afterward just to figure out what was actually said.

That's why speech-to-text tools have become popular in recent years. Below, I'll first explain Notta clearly: what it is, whether the free plan is enough, how pricing works, and then round up a few similar options so you can compare them all at once.

What Is Notta?

Notta is an AI speech-to-text tool that converts meetings, interviews, classes, or media files into transcripts and automatically generates summaries.

It supports Traditional Chinese and can also handle recordings that mix two languages, such as Chinese-English or Chinese-Japanese. Third-party write-ups mention it supports real-time transcription and translation in 58 languages, which is one of its main selling points for cross-language meetings.

There are three ways to use it: upload existing audio or video files, record live via the app or web, or let Notta Bot join Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex as a participant.

Notta's 5 Core Features

• Real-time recording to text: Transcribes as you record, ideal for in-person meetings and interviews.
• Audio file to transcript: Upload already-recorded meeting or class files for processing.
• AI summary: Automatically captures meeting highlights and produces structured summaries.
• Meeting Bot: Lets the tool join online meetings and take notes on its own, so you don't have to manually start recording.
• Translation and custom vocabulary: Transcripts can be translated; Pro and above support custom vocabulary for handling company-specific terminology.

Security is worth mentioning. Third-party write-ups note that Notta has achieved SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA certifications. For teams that need to hand meeting content to an external service, this is usually part of the evaluation.

Is Notta's Free Plan Enough?

The free plan offers 120 minutes of transcription per month, but each segment can be at most 3 minutes long.

In addition, you can upload 50 files per month, generate 10 AI summaries, and the meeting Bot can also join those four major meeting platforms.

Honestly, the quota looks generous, but the real key is the "per-recording cap." A 30-minute meeting can't be transcribed in one go on the free plan; splitting the file into ten segments also breaks up speaker identification and context. Moreover, free accounts don't have full download functionality—you can only edit or copy the segments you need within the interface.

I usually suggest: first cut a 3-minute sample that includes technical terms, two speakers, and some background noise, and test the recognition results. If you're satisfied, then consider paying.

Notta's Paid Plans and Pricing

The Pro plan costs about USD 8.17/month when billed annually, or USD 13.99/month billed monthly, with 1,800 minutes of transcription per month.

The Business plan costs about USD 16.67/seat/month when billed annually, offering unlimited transcription, role permissions, and usage reports—suitable for teams that need multi-person management.

Additionally, Notta offers a 7-day Business trial without requiring credit card information.

Note that prices and benefits may change with official promotions; please refer to Notta's official pricing page for the actual checkout amount. Annual plans charge the full year's fee at once.

How to Use Notta: 3 Steps to Your First Transcript

Step 1: Sign up and log in. Use the web version or download the app—your data will sync.

Step 2: Choose an input method. For live notes, press record; if you already have a file, choose upload; for online meetings, install the Bot or desktop app.

Step 3: Review after transcription. First check speaker segmentation and technical terms for errors, then use AI summary to capture key points, and finally copy or export the segments you need.

Besides Notta, These Options Are Worth Considering

Tinrec — Turn Meetings into Usable Team Data

Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams. Its positioning isn't just "turning voice into text" but organizing meeting recordings into searchable, summarizable, queryable, and exportable data.

Its most obvious difference is how it captures meetings. The desktop version directly captures computer system audio, so when handling Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, no extra bot needs to join the meeting—no additional account appears on the participant list.

What happens after transcription is the real focus. Beyond the transcript, it automatically generates summaries, chapters, and key points, and extracts action items from discussions; if you want to ask about details, you can do AI Q&A around a single meeting or across meetings, and further produce reports, tables, or documents, exporting to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, Dropbox, and other tools for further processing.

The team version is another level: independent team spaces, member and role management, seat allocation, usage analytics, audit logs, and an audio recycle bin. Meeting data belongs to the team; when members change, handover is required, and data won't disappear with individual accounts.

For pricing, the personal version has a free plan, weekly pass, Pro monthly, and annual plans; the team version offers a 7-day trial for first-time eligible users (1 free seat, 300 minutes of team shared import quota), USD 29.80/paid seat/month, or USD 199/paid seat/year (about USD 16.58/month), with each paid seat providing 2,000 minutes of team shared import quota per month. Actual prices are subject to the official purchase page.

Who it's for: Those who need Chinese meeting notes, don't want bots joining meetings, and want post-meeting data to stay with the team for continued use.

Otter.ai — A Veteran Choice for English Business Meetings

Otter.ai is a mature AI meeting assistant covering Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet, offering real-time transcription, speaker identification, AI Chat, and team management.

The free Basic plan offers 300 minutes per month; Pro costs about USD 8.49/user/month billed annually, including 1,200 minutes of in-app recording and 10 file imports per month.

Who it's for: Teams whose meetings are primarily in English and need a mature meeting automation workflow.

TurboScribe — A Cost-Effective Option for Bulk File Transcription

TurboScribe leans toward a high-value file transcription tool, focusing on long files, batch uploads, subtitles, and translation.

The free plan allows 3 files per day with a 30-minute cap per file; Unlimited costs USD 120/year (about USD 10/month), with paid plans supporting files up to 10 hours or 5 GB and up to 50 files per upload.

Who it's for: Those with a large number of recording files to process in batches who don't really need real-time meeting features.

Granola — A Meeting Notes Tool That Combines Handwritten Notes

Granola takes a bot-free approach, capturing system audio and microphone via the desktop app for real-time transcription, then combining it with the user's own typed notes to generate meeting content.

Basic is free, Business is USD 14/user/month, Enterprise is USD 35/user/month. Note that it doesn't support uploading pre-recorded audio files and doesn't save meeting audio.

Who it's for: Those who are used to typing notes during meetings and value "notes plus AI enhancement."

PLAUD Note / NotePin — A Hardware Solution for Portable Recording

PLAUD is AI recording hardware—what you're buying is the experience of a standalone device, portable recording, and phone call recording.

NotePin is USD 159 on the U.S. official site, Note Pro is USD 189; membership Starter offers 300 minutes per month, Pro is USD 99.99/year with 1,200 minutes per month.

Who it's for: Those who are frequently on the go and need a physical device to record anytime.

With So Many Options, How Should You Choose?

• Want transcription followed by summaries, chapters, action items, and AI Q&A all in one flow → Tinrec wraps up the post-meeting workflow in one go.
• Don't want a meeting bot joining as a participant → Tinrec's desktop version directly captures system audio.
• Want meeting data to stay with the team and not be lost when members change → Tinrec's team version has independent spaces, seats, usage, and auditing.
• Need real-time translation and bilingual comparison for cross-language meetings → Tinrec supports real-time translation; Notta supports 58 languages and is also worth testing.
• Mainly handle English business meetings and want to connect a mature automation workflow → Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai.
• Have a bunch of long recording files to batch transcribe into subtitles → TurboScribe.
• Just want a device for portable recording → PLAUD.

3 Things to Know Before Using These Tools

1. Look at the "per-recording cap" for free quotas, not just total minutes. Notta's free plan offers 120 minutes per month, but each segment is only 3 minutes, so the actual meeting length you can handle is limited. Confirm this first when choosing a tool.

2. A transcript is not the same as meeting notes. Most tools can generate summaries, but technical terms, numbers, and conclusions still need human verification; for important decisions, it's advisable to listen back to the original audio.

3. Confirm consent and regulations before recording. Meeting recording involves personal data and local regulations; before sharing externally, also confirm whether participants are aware.

Conclusion

Back to the original question: What is Notta? It's an AI tool that turns recordings into transcripts and summaries, with decent Chinese support and a quick learning curve; the free plan is good for testing the waters.

If what you want is "no bots joining meetings, the ability to keep asking questions and organizing after transcription, and data staying with the team," then Tinrec's complete workflow will be closer to your needs and worth adding to your test list.

FAQ

Q1: Does Notta support Traditional Chinese? A: Yes, and it can also handle recordings that mix Chinese-English or Chinese-Japanese.

Q2: Can I download transcripts with Notta's free plan? A: Free accounts don't have full download functionality; you can only edit or copy the segments you need within the interface.

Q3: Which platforms does Notta's meeting Bot support? A: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex.

Q4: How accurate is Notta's transcription? A: Actual performance is affected by recording quality, noise, accents, overlapping speakers, and technical terminology. It's recommended to test with your own recording first.

Q5: What's the difference between Tinrec and Notta? A: Notta leans toward multi-platform transcription, translation, and file processing; Tinrec emphasizes bot-free desktop recording of online meetings, plus post-transcription summaries, action items, AI Q&A, export, and team data retention. You can choose based on whether you need team collaboration and a post-meeting workflow.

Q6: Which plan should I choose for team use? A: If meeting data needs centralized management and you need member and seat control, Tinrec's team version offers independent spaces, roles and seats, usage analytics, and audit logs; Notta's Business plan offers unlimited transcription, role permissions, and usage reports.

References

• What Is Notta? Free Plan Limits, Pricing, and Traditional Chinese Transcription Tutorial | Mason AI Lab
• Notta | Learn AI
• Comparison of 5 AI Meeting Notes Tools: Otter, Notta, and More—Features and Pricing
• 2026 Notta Complete Guide: Feature Analysis, Student Use Cases, and Better Alternatives - Tinrec Blog
• Notta - Speech to Text, Voice Notes and Recording - Google Play App