An Otter alternative for people who type by voice
Otter.ai is a meeting recorder at heart: it listens to calls and writes notes. blablaType is the opposite kind of speech to text app: you talk, and the text is typed where you actually work.
| Otter.ai | blablaType | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Records meetings and turns them into notes and summaries | Types your speech live into any app and transcribes audio and video files |
| Live dictation | Built around transcripts you read later, not text at your cursor | Hold F9 and the words land right where your cursor is: Word, chat, email |
| Languages | Strongest in English | Tuned for Russian and Ukrainian alongside English |
| File transcription | Free plan comes with caps, bigger volumes mean a subscription | First minutes are free, then a top-up balance from about $5 with per-minute billing |
| Where the text ends up | Inside Otter's own app, you copy results out to use them | Straight in your document, chat or email, no copy-paste |
| Learning your words | Transcripts are cleaned up after the fact | Fix a word once and the dictionary remembers it, plus voice commands edit text on the spot |
Who should switch
Otter is a fine tool if your day is back-to-back English meetings and you want automatic notes. If you mostly need to type by voice in messengers, documents and email, or you speak Russian or Ukrainian, blablaType fits much better. You also get file transcription on a simple pay-as-you-go balance instead of plan caps.
Where blablaType is strong
Dictation in any app
Otter.ai voice to text lives in its own workspace. blablaType types at your cursor in every Windows app: hold F9, talk, send. Hold F8 and your speech comes out translated.
Strong non-English speech
The engine is tuned for live Russian and Ukrainian speech with names, slang and fast talk. English is covered too, but you are not stuck with English-first quality in your own language.
Transcription without plan caps
Upload mp3, wav, m4a, ogg, mp4 or mov and get clean text. The first few minutes are free, then you top up a balance from about $5 and pay per minute used.
How to switch from Otter
- Download blablaType for Windows and start the 7-day free Premium trial. No card needed.
- Hold F9 in any app to dictate and F8 to translate as you speak. Correct a word once and the dictionary learns it.
- For recordings, open the transcription page and upload your audio or video file. The first minutes are free, so you can judge the quality before paying.
Frequently asked questions
Honestly, only partly. blablaType does not join your calls as a bot or write meeting summaries. What it does instead: record the meeting with any tool you like, upload the file and get an accurate transcript. If automatic meeting notes are your main need, Otter is built for that.
Yes. It accepts mp3, wav, m4a, ogg, mp4 and mov. The first few minutes are free, then you top up a balance starting from about $5 and pay per minute. No monthly caps to plan around.
Russian, Ukrainian and English. Accuracy is highest on Russian and Ukrainian, which is exactly where English-first tools usually fall short.
For desktop dictation and file transcription, audio goes to our servers only for the moment of recognition and is not stored. The free widget on our home page uses browser recognition, which sends audio to Google's speech service.