Comparison
nTilia or Otter.ai: transcribing an interview without sending it to the cloud
The short answer
Otter.ai is a meeting assistant: it joins Zoom, Teams or Meet, transcribes in the cloud and summarizes. nTilia is a field notes app whose Whisper transcription runs on the phone: audio never leaves, even without a network. For online meetings, choose Otter.ai; for sensitive interviews in the field, choose nTilia.
nTilia and Otter.ai, side by side
| Criterion | nTilia | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|
| PriceTie | Free; local transcription from Pro, at $14/mo | Free (300 min/month, 30 min per conversation); Pro at $16.99/mo or $8.33/mo billed yearly |
| Where transcription runsnTilia’s edge | On the phone (Whisper): audio is not uploaded | On Otter’s servers, after the audio is uploaded |
| Without a networknTilia’s edge | Records and transcribes offline | Records offline; transcription waits for the upload |
| Online meetingsOtter.ai’s edge | No meeting assistant | Joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, takes notes and shares them |
| Summaries and sharingOtter.ai’s edge | AI on request, inside the note, with a Before / After review | Automatic AI summaries, transcripts shared with the team |
| WritingnTilia’s edge | Full Markdown editor: the transcript becomes a note, then an article | Transcripts and summaries; not an editor for long texts |
| Security on the phonenTilia’s edge | Encrypted vault (AES-256-GCM), device-only notes that never sync, Travel Mode (Pro) | Recordings and transcripts kept in Otter’s cloud |
| PublishingnTilia’s edge | Bilingual FR/EN public journal, Cite block, Zenodo DOI (Pro) | Transcript export and sharing |
Choose nTilia if…
- your interviews contain names or statements that must not leave the phone;
- you record where the network drops;
- you want to go from transcript to article in the same tool;
- you cross checkpoints with your phone.
Choose Otter.ai if…
- you mostly transcribe Zoom, Teams or Meet meetings;
- you want automatic summaries shared with a team;
- you are online while recording;
- audio privacy is not your first constraint.
Two tools, two jobs
Otter.ai is not a notes app: it is a meeting assistant. It excels at following a video call, transcribing it live and producing a summary for the team.
nTilia is a notes app for field work. Transcription is just one step: the audio sits in the note, the text becomes a draft, then an article.
Where the audio goes
This is the decisive difference. With Otter.ai, audio is uploaded to its servers to be transcribed; offline, the app records, then uploads the audio once the connection is back.
In nTilia, the Whisper model downloads once, then runs on the phone. Audio is not uploaded to be transcribed, and transcription works without a network. For a source taking a risk by talking to you, that changes everything.
What Otter.ai does better
For online meetings, Otter.ai is far more complete: it joins the call on its own, produces automatic summaries and shares them. nTilia offers nothing like it.
Frequently asked questions
Does Otter.ai work offline?
It records offline but does not transcribe: transcription happens on its servers once the audio is uploaded. nTilia transcribes on the phone, without a network.
Does nTilia’s transcription upload the audio?
No. Whisper runs on the device (from Pro): the audio is not uploaded to be transcribed.
Is nTilia an alternative to Otter.ai?
For field interviews, yes. For Zoom, Teams or Meet meetings with shared summaries, no: Otter.ai is built for that.
How much does Otter.ai cost?
The Free plan gives 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation. Pro costs $16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed yearly, for 1,200 minutes a month.
Sources, checked on
Free · No credit card · Works offline