Novastart
Infinite canvas desktop where your apps, teammates and AI agents share one workspace
Freemium
Otter.ai
Record, transcribe and summarize meetings, with action items and searchable AI chat
Freemium
Verdict
Novastart is listed under Productivity and Otter.ai under Audio & Speech AI. Otter.ai scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.4 vs 7.3 out of 10). Both have a free plan or trial. Only Novastart is available on Linux. Only Otter.ai is available on Web, iOS and Android and offers an API.
Best overall
Otter.ai
- Sales teams
- Students and educators
- Journalists and media teams
- Recruiters
Choose Novastart if
- You want a tool built for keeping many apps and projects organized in saved workspaces, watching AI agents work step by step, sharing a live workspace with teammates.
- Agents work with a visible cursor and can be paused, steered or taken over.
- Permanent free plan with all apps available.
Choose Otter.ai if
- You want a tool built for meeting transcription and summaries.
- Permanent free plan with 300 monthly transcription minutes.
- Works through a notetaker bot or bot-free via desktop apps and Chrome extension.
- Best for beginners
- Novastart
- Best for business
- Otter.ai
Features
18 features compared.
- Infinite canvasNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Saved canvasesNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Visible AI agentsNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Multi-agent runsNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Agent modesNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Team collaborationNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Real appsNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Local-first dataNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Undo historyNovastartAvailableOtter.aiNot available
- Live transcriptionNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- Notetaker botNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- Bot-free recordingNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- AI summaries and action itemsNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- Otter AI ChatNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- ChannelsNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- File importNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- CRM syncNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
- Otter MCP serverNovastartNot availableOtter.aiAvailable
Pricing
Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.
- Pricing modelNovastartFreemiumOtter.aiFreemium
- Free planNovastartYesOtter.aiYes
- Starting priceNovastart$0Otter.ai$0
- PlansNovastart3 plansOtter.ai4 plans
Novastart plans
Free
$0
Try Novastart with limited canvas space.
- All apps
- 1 folder
- 2 canvases
- 4 windows per canvas
- AI agents pay per use
Pro
Most popular$10/month
Unlimited canvas space, marked as the recommended start.
- All apps
- Unlimited folders
- Unlimited canvases
- Unlimited windows
- AI agents pay per use
Team
$20/month
Pro plus shared canvases for teams.
- Everything in Pro
- Team collaboration
- Shared canvases
Otter.ai plans
Basic
$0
For those who want to give it a try
- 300 monthly transcription minutes
- 30 minutes per conversation
- 3 lifetime file imports
- Live transcription
- AI Chat
- iOS and Android apps
Pro
Most popular$16.99/user/mo
For individuals and small teams
- 1,200 monthly transcription minutes
- 90 minutes per meeting
- 10 monthly file imports
- Advanced search and export
- Custom vocabulary
- Salesforce and HubSpot and Zapier integrations
Business
$30/user/mo
For medium-sized teams
- Unlimited meetings and recordings
- 4 hours per meeting
- Unlimited file imports
- 3 concurrent meetings
- Custom AI workflows
- Admin activity logs and usage analytics
- Prioritized support
Enterprise
Custom/custom
For large teams and companies
- Everything in Business
- SSO and SCIM and Domain Capture
- Otter API and Webhooks
- Custom CRM and dialer integrations
- HIPAA compliance add-on
- Customer Success Program
Our ratings
Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.
- Novastart
- 7.3overall
- Otter.ai
- 8.4overall
Agent Transparency
- Novastart
- 8.0
- Otter.ai
- Not rated
Workspace Organization
- Novastart
- 8.0
- Otter.ai
- Not rated
Team Collaboration
- Novastart
- 7.5
- Otter.ai
- Not rated
Setup & Compatibility
- Novastart
- 6.0
- Otter.ai
- Not rated
Pricing Clarity
- Novastart
- 7.0
- Otter.ai
- Not rated
Transcription Accuracy
- Novastart
- Not rated
- Otter.ai
- 8.4
Meeting Summaries & Action Items
- Novastart
- Not rated
- Otter.ai
- 8.5
Integrations
- Novastart
- Not rated
- Otter.ai
- 8.3
Ease of Use
- Novastart
- Not rated
- Otter.ai
- 9.0
Value for Money
- Novastart
- Not rated
- Otter.ai
- 7.8
Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.
Pros and cons
Novastart
Pros
- Agents work with a visible cursor and can be paused, steered or taken over
- Permanent free plan with all apps available
- Pro at $10 per month removes canvas limits
- Local-first design keeps canvas contents on the user's machine
- Peer-to-peer canvas sharing with per-person cursors
Cons
- The app is a full computer in a window and the site warns to expect some lag
- App supports only Windows and Intel Macs, and needs 8 GB RAM and virtualization
- Novastart OS replaces the existing system on the PC it is installed on
- Agent use costs extra on every plan and needs credits of $25 or more
- Young product launched in September 2026 with little independent review history
Otter.ai
Pros
- Permanent free plan with 300 monthly transcription minutes
- Works through a notetaker bot or bot-free via desktop apps and Chrome extension
- Summaries, action items and AI Chat across past meetings
- Apps for web, iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, rated 4.8 on the App Store from 86K ratings
- Integrations with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack and CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot
Cons
- Free plan caps conversations at 30 minutes and file imports at 3 lifetime
- Pro caps monthly transcription at 1,200 minutes and meetings at 90 minutes
- Business costs $30 per user per month on monthly billing
- API access, SSO and HIPAA add-on require the Enterprise plan
- Transcription is limited to six listed languages
Platforms
- WebNovastartNot supportedOtter.aiSupported
- WindowsNovastartSupportedOtter.aiSupported
- macOSNovastartSupportedOtter.aiSupported
- iOSNovastartNot supportedOtter.aiSupported
- AndroidNovastartNot supportedOtter.aiSupported
- APINovastartNot supportedOtter.aiSupported
- Browser ExtensionNovastartNot supportedOtter.aiNot supported
- LinuxNovastartSupportedOtter.aiNot supported
- Chrome ExtensionNovastartNot supportedOtter.aiSupported
Integrations
Novastart
No integrations listed.
Otter.ai
13 integrations- Zoom
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Meet
- Google Calendar
- Slack
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Zapier
- Dropbox
- Google Drive
- Asana
- ClickUp
- Claude
Company
- CompanyNovastartMarketplace Distributors LLCOtter.aiOtter.ai, Inc.
- FoundedNovastartNot listedOtter.ai2016
- HeadquartersNovastartManhattan Beach, CAOtter.aiMountain View, CA
- ListingNovastartClaimedOtter.aiClaimed
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Frequently asked questions
Is Novastart better than Otter.ai?
It depends on your workflow. Novastart is built for keeping many apps and projects organized in saved workspaces, watching AI agents work step by step, sharing a live workspace with teammates. Otter.ai is built for meeting transcription and summaries.
What are the key feature differences between Novastart and Otter.ai?
Novastart: Infinite canvas desktop where your apps, teammates and AI agents share one workspace. Otter.ai: Record, transcribe and summarize meetings, with action items and searchable AI chat.
Does Novastart or Otter.ai have a free plan?
Yes, both do. Novastart is freemium and Otter.ai is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.
Which is cheaper, Novastart or Otter.ai?
Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.