Otter.ai vs Nabla (2025): General Transcription vs Medical AI

Last reviewed: 2025-12-19 · Reviewed by

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At a Glance

Who is it for?

Otter.ai:General Business

Nabla:Clinicians

Why choose Otter.ai?

**Verbatim**: Perfect if you need an exact transcript of every word said.
**Speaker ID**: Great for identifying who said what in a multi-person meeting.
**Price**: Generous free/cheap tiers for general consumers.
**Search**: Excellent for finding a specific quote.

Why choose Nabla?

**Medical Intelligence**: Filters out 'small talk' about the weather.
**Structured Output**: Generates a SOAP note, not a transcript.
**Privacy First**: HIPAA/GDPR compliant with 'Zero Retention' options.
**Integration**: Formats text for EHR insertion.

Feature Comparison

Capability	Otter.ai	Nabla
Output	Long Text Transcript	Structured Medical Note
Compliance	Standard Business	Healthcare Specific
Intelligence	Speech-to-Text	Consultation-to-Note

In-Depth Analysis

Overview

Clinicians often try to use generic tools like Otter.ai to record consults because they are familiar with them. This is a mistake. Not only is there a significant privacy risk (uploading patient audio to a general consumer cloud), but it also creates more work. An Otter transcript of a 10-minute consult is 1,500 words of messy text you have to edit.

Nabla (and similar medical AIs like Heidi) are built to think like a doctor. They discard the chit-chat, extract the clinical history, and format it into a medical note. They are also architected to handle patient data safely.

Key Differences

Otter records what you said. Nabla records what you meant.

Looking for a faster way?

While Otter.ai and Nabla are powerful tools, iatroX offers a free, AI-driven alternative focused specifically on rapid UK guideline retrieval and exam prep.