Best AI meeting note-takers in 2026, ranked by what AI recommends

ChatGPT

For most people using both Zoom and Google Meet, I’d narrow it to Fathom, Granola, and Fireflies.

My picks

🏆 Best overall for an individual: Fathom. Its free offering is unusually strong: unlimited recordings, storage and transcription, with five advanced AI summaries per month. It works with both Zoom and Google Meet. Fathom Help Center

🥷 Best if you hate meeting bots: Granola. It runs locally alongside the meeting instead of having a conspicuous “AI Notetaker” participant join the call. Its Business plan is currently $14/user/month, with unlimited meeting-note history and integrations. Granola

👥 Best for a company/team: Fireflies. It has the deepest-looking mix of automation, integrations, multilingual transcription and meeting intelligence. Pro is currently $10/user/month annually or $18 monthly, while Business is $19 annually or $29 monthly. Fireflies Knowledge Base

📝 Best primarily for transcription: Otter. I’d pick it when having a polished live transcript during the meeting matters more than maximizing the free allowance. Otter.ai

One important distinction: Fathom/Fireflies/Otter can appear as meeting assistants, whereas Granola’s main appeal is that it can take notes without a bot joining. Fathom is also rolling out bot-free capture; as of August 2026, bot-free Zoom capture is available on Mac, while bot-free Google Meet video capture is still being rolled out. Fathom Help Center

So if you just want one recommendation: start with Fathom if free/value is the priority; choose Granola if discreet, bot-free note-taking is the priority.

Named: Fathom, Granola, Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai

Claude

There's no single winner, but for most people using both Zoom and Google Meet, Fathom is the safest starting recommendation, mainly because of its free plan. It supports Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and is known for an unusually generous free plan with unlimited recording and transcription and no time cap, on both bot and bot-free capture. It writes summaries and action items as soon as a call ends. One caveat: its bot-free capture on Google Meet is currently in beta on Mac, so Zoom is where it's most polished.

I tested 5 Best AI Note Takers in 2026 [Free & Paid] +2

The better choice depends on what matters most to you:

If you want team collaboration and searchable history, Otter.ai is the mature option. Its bot joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams automatically, and Otter AI Chat lets you ask questions about past meetings conversationally. The free tier is tighter, though: 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation.

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techrepublic

If you have lots of meetings or need CRM integrations, look at Fireflies.ai. It supports Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and more than 10 meeting platforms, with a Pro plan at $10/seat/month billed annually.

techrepublic

If you don't want a bot visibly joining your calls (useful for client meetings or when IT blocks third-party bots), consider tools that record from your own device. Fellow can record through a bot or botless desktop capture and supports Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack Huddles, and in-person meetings. Granola is another bot-free option that's popular for this reason.

techrepublic

If you mainly want something lightweight for Google Meet, Tactiq is a Chrome extension that delivers live transcription directly within Google Meet, Zoom, and Teams, with very little setup.

meetingnotes

If you might not need a separate tool at all: Zoom AI Companion and Google Meet's Gemini notes cost nothing extra if you're on the right plan and need zero setup. The trade-off is that each only works on its own platform, so if you regularly switch between Zoom and Meet, a third-party tool gives you one place for all your notes.

usecarly

A word of caution when you read reviews: many "best AI note taker" lists are published by the vendors themselves (Fellow, tl;dv, and Laxis all rank their own product first), so weigh them accordingly. Since most of these have free tiers, the most reliable approach is to try Fathom plus one alternative on a few real meetings and see whose summaries you actually find useful.

Named: Fathom, Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Fellow, Granola, Tactiq, Zoom AI Companion, Google Meet

Gemini

Because different teams have different workflow needs, there isn't a single "best" tool for everyone. However, based on reliability, integration, privacy, and value, these stand out as top choices for Zoom and Google Meet:

1. Best Overall & Best Free Option: Fathom

• Why it's great: Fathom offers one of the most generous free tiers available. It provides unlimited meeting recordings and quick, accurate summaries without locking core transcription features behind a paywall.

• Key Features: Fast (~30 second) post-call summaries, global cross-meeting search, and automatic action item generation.

• Best For: Individuals, freelancers, and small teams who want simple, high-quality meeting notes for zero cost.

• Catch: Uses a visible bot that joins the call, which some external clients might find off-putting.

2. Best Bot-Free & Privacy-First Option: Granola

• Why it's great: Unlike traditional AI meeting assistants that send a visible "bot participant" into your call, Granola runs directly on your computer, capturing system audio locally.

• Key Features: Combines your rough, typed personal notes with the audio transcript to craft clean, human-like summaries. Because there's no bot, you never need host permissions to record.

• Best For: Executives, consultants, and privacy-conscious users who want seamless notes without interrupting call dynamics or asking hosts to admit an external recording bot.

3. Best for Sales & CRM Workflows: Fireflies.ai

• Why it's great: If your meeting notes need to flow directly into external databases, project management tools, or CRMs, Fireflies is the industry leader.

• Key Features: Integrates natively with 5,000+ apps (Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, Slack, Asana). Includes powerful conversation intelligence, sentiment analysis, and multi-language support (60+ languages). Supports both bot auto-join and browser extension workflows.

• Best For: Revenue teams, sales operations, and organizations needing deep workflow automation.

4. Best for Asynchronous & Remote Teams: tl;dv

• Why it's great: Instead of forcing everyone to read a giant text wall, tl;dv focuses on quick video bites and multi-meeting reporting.

• Key Features: Allows you to quickly highlight, timestamp, and clip 30-second video snippets from calls to drop directly into Slack, Teams, or email. It also aggregates patterns across multiple calls over days or weeks.

• Best For: Product managers, UX researchers, and remote teams who share visual feedback with external stakeholders or async teammates.

Quick Feature Comparison

Which one should you pick?

• Go with Fathom if you want something simple, reliable, and free right out of the box.

• Go with Granola if you dislike meeting bots or handle sensitive client information.

• Go with Fireflies if you need automated follow-ups sent straight to Salesforce, HubSpot, or Notion.

Named: Fathom, Granola, Fireflies.ai, tl;dv

Google AI Overview

The best AI note taker for Zoom and Google Meet depends on your workflow, but Fireflies.ai and Fathom stand out as top cross-platform choices for general use, while native tools work best if you stay within a single ecosystem.

Top Recommendations

• Fireflies.ai: The strongest choice for teams that need deep CRM integration, robust collaboration, and topic tracking across both Zoom and Google Meet.

• Fathom: The best free option for solo users or simple needs, offering great summaries and seamless recording on Zoom and Google Meet without forcing an expensive upgrade.

• Granola: Ideal if you want a clean, bot-free experience where no recording bot appears in the participant list.

• Scribbl: A fast, bot-free Chrome extension alternative that automatically records and transcribes calls directly in the browser for Google Meet and Zoom.

Native Built-in Options

• Zoom AI Companion: Excellent and included if your organization lives strictly inside paid Zoom Workplace plans, though it lacks visibility once you switch to Google Meet.

• Google Meet "Take notes for me" (Gemini): Convenient if you are on an eligible Google Workspace plan, automatically saving recaps to Google Docs, but limited exclusively to Google Meet.

Named: Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola, Scribbl, Zoom AI Companion, Google Meet

ChatGPT

For a small team on a budget, I’d start with Fireflies.ai Pro. At $10/user/month billed annually ($18 monthly), it offers unlimited transcription and AI summaries, video recording, downloads, action items, and broad integrations. That’s a strong price/features balance for a team that needs shared meeting notes rather than just personal transcription.

Fireflies is particularly attractive because its Pro plan includes 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, unlimited integrations, video recording and unlimited AI summaries. If you later need team analytics and conversation intelligence, Business is $19/user/month annually.

If every dollar matters, Otter Pro is slightly cheaper at about $8.33/user/month annually. It gives you AI chat, advanced search/export, unlimited storage and integrations such as HubSpot, Salesforce and Zapier, but its Pro tier currently caps in-app recording at 1,200 minutes per month and 90 minutes per meeting.

For a team willing to stay mostly on free plans, Fathom is unusually generous: its individual free tier currently has unlimited recordings, storage and transcription, although advanced summaries are limited to five calls per month and features such as AI action items and follow-up emails require Premium. Its newer Team plans also require paid seats rather than letting you build a team workspace entirely from free users.

My shortlist by scenario: choose Fireflies Pro for a typical 3–10 person startup or agency; Otter Pro if the lowest paid price matters more than generous meeting limits; Fathom Free if each person mostly needs their own notes and your budget is effectively zero; tl;dv if customer interviews, searchable clips and cross-meeting insights are central; and Avoma if this is primarily for sales/client calls and CRM follow-up. Avoma's Startup plan is $19 per recorder monthly on annual billing, while viewers are free.

For example, for 5 users paid annually, Fireflies is about $50/month, versus roughly $42 for Otter Pro, $90 for tl;dv Pro, and $95 for Avoma Startup. On balance, that extra ~$8/month over Otter is often worth it for Fireflies' higher usage allowances and team-oriented workflow.

Named: Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai, Fathom, tl;dv, Avoma

Claude

For most small teams watching costs, Fathom is the safest place to start, with Fireflies and Granola as strong alternatives depending on how you work.

Why Fathom first: Its free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcripts with no seat minimum, while Otter, Fireflies, and tl;dv each cap something important — minutes, storage, or AI summaries — on their free tier. So your whole team can try it at no cost. One caveat: reviews disagree on the free plan's AI limits. One reports that AI features are capped at five meetings/month on the free plan, so check Fathom's current pricing page. If you outgrow it, the Team plan is $19 per user per month (two-user minimum), and it's cheaper if you pay annually.

Fireflies.ai is best if you want the cheapest paid plan. Its free plan gives unlimited transcription and AI summaries with 400 minutes of storage per team. Pro is $10 per seat per month billed annually ($18 monthly). The catch is that 400 minutes of storage is shared by the whole team, so the free tier fills up quickly.

Granola is best for client calls. No bot joins your call; it runs locally on your Mac or Windows, with an iPhone app for in-person conversations. Many teams prefer this for external meetings, where a visible recording bot can feel awkward. Paid team plans cost a bit more, $14–$35+/user/mo.

MeetGeek is another low-cost option. Pro is still $9.99/month, though the free tier dropped from 5 hours to 3 hours of transcription per month in mid-2026.

Check what you already pay for. If your team uses paid Zoom, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365, you may already have a built-in AI notetaker. Zoom AI Companion, for example, is included on paid Zoom plans and needs no setup. For a small team, that can be the cheapest option of all.

A simple way to decide: start everyone on Fathom's free tier for a few weeks. If people mostly need searchable transcripts, move to Fireflies Pro. If most of your meetings are with clients, try Granola instead. Also confirm a tool supports the languages you speak in meetings before you commit.

Named: Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Granola, MeetGeek, Zoom AI Companion, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365

Gemini

Choosing the best AI meeting assistant for a small team on a budget depends on whether you value a generous free plan or cheap per-seat paid tiers.

Here are the top options compared:

Comparison of Top Budget Options

Which One Should You Pick?

1. Fathom — Best Overall Choice for Teams on a Zero-Dollar Budget

If you don't want to pay anything upfront, Fathom offers the most robust free plan. It records, transcribes, and generates instant call summaries, action items, and follow-up emails without capping your monthly call limits.

• Pros: Clean UI, fast summaries, zero-cost core experience.

• Cons: Advanced team repository search and administrative controls require the paid Team plan.

2. Fireflies.ai — Best for Workflows, Workspaces & CRM Sync

If you need paid team features on a tight budget, Fireflies has one of the cheapest entry paid plans (~$10/user/mo). It's excellent for centralizing meeting intelligence into Slack or project management apps like Trello and Notion.

• Pros: Deep search across all team meetings, high app integration compatibility.

• Cons: The free tier restricts advanced AI summaries and action item generation after initial credits run out.

3. Otter.ai — Best for Live Collaboration During Meetings

If your team often wants to highlight text live during calls or ask AI questions in real-time ("What did Sarah say about the launch date?"), Otter is a strong contender.

• Pros: Great mobile app, live interactive transcription, affordable ~$8.33/mo paid entry point.

• Cons: Strict minute caps on the free tier.

Native Option: Check What You Already Pay For

Before purchasing a third-party tool, check your existing video conferencing stack:

• Zoom Workplace: If you pay for Zoom Pro, Zoom's built-in AI Companion provides free meeting summaries, action items, and real-time questions at no extra charge.

• Google Workspace / Microsoft 365: Google Meet and Microsoft Teams both have built-in AI transcription features, though higher-tier features often require add-ons (Gemini/Copilot).

Named: Fathom, Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, tl;dv, Zoom Workplace, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365

Google AI Overview

Fathom is the best AI meeting assistant for a small team on a budget because it offers unlimited free recordings, transcriptions, and AI summaries.

Top Budget-Friendly Options

• Fathom (Best Free Option): Provides unlimited free core recording and transcription with no caps on meeting length or volume, making it ideal for budget-constrained teams before considering paid tiers.

• tl;dv(Best for Video & Search): Offers an extensive free tier with unlimited meetings and recordings, plus searchable video libraries and multi-platform support for Zoom and Google Meet.

• Fireflies.ai(Best for Analytics & CRM): Features robust conversation intelligence, topic tracking, and automatic CRM syncing, though free tiers limit storage over time rather than minutes.

• Otter.ai(Best for Collaboration): Great for English-first transcription and real-time team chat, though the free plan is tightly restricted to 300 minutes per month.

Named: Fathom, tl;dv, Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai

ChatGPT

For a genuinely useful free option, I’d start with Fathom. Its individual free plan currently includes unlimited meeting recordings, unlimited transcription, and automatic AI summaries. It works with common video-meeting platforms, and you can search and revisit calls afterward. The main limitation is that more advanced summary templates and AI-generated action items are restricted on the free tier.

Two other solid choices are Fireflies.ai, which supports Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and 100+ languages but has a 400-minute storage allowance on its free plan, and tl;dv, which gives unlimited recordings/transcripts but only provides full automatic AI notes for the first 10 meetings; afterward, free AI notes cover only the first 10 minutes.

So, roughly:

My pick: Fathom if your main goal is “join my Zoom/Meet/Teams call, record it, and give me a useful recap afterward.”

One thing to keep in mind: because these services record/transcribe participants, make sure everyone knows the meeting is being recorded, especially for work or client calls.

Named: Fathom, Fireflies.ai, tl;dv, Otter.ai

Claude

If you want one pick to start with, Fathom is the most commonly recommended free option. Its free plan offers unlimited meeting recording and transcription across Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, plus a searchable library and shareable highlights, with the main cap being five AI summaries a month. One caveat: some older reviews describe the summaries as unlimited, so check the current limit when you sign up.

A few alternatives are worth a look depending on your needs:

tl;dv is the strongest option if you want lots of summaries. It offers unlimited video recordings, transcripts, and AI summaries on its free plan across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, although the free plan limits how many full AI meeting notes and multi-meeting reports you can run, so heavy users hit caps quickly.

Otter works well if you want live transcription during the call. The free plan includes 300 transcription minutes per month, but meetings are limited to 30 minutes each and history is limited to 25 recordings, which makes it better for occasional, shorter meetings.

Granola fits if you don't want a bot joining your calls. Its free plan includes AI meeting notes and AI chat with bot-free capture that keeps things discreet. However, it only keeps 14 days of meeting history on the free plan.

Many of these "best of" rankings are published by the tool makers themselves, and each tends to put its own product first. Fathom stands out because independent reviewers also rank it highly.

Whichever tool you choose, tell the other participants that you're recording. AI notetakers raise questions about recording meetings without everyone's consent, and about the privacy and security of meeting data. This matters most for work calls involving confidential information.

Named: Fathom, tl;dv, Otter.ai, Granola

Gemini

Several stand out for recording and summarizing meetings on a free plan, depending on whether you mind a "notetaker bot" joining your call:

Top Overall: Fathom

If you want a generous cloud option, Fathom is currently one of the best choices for individuals.

• Free Plan Includes: Unlimited recording time and transcriptions for Zoom and Google Meet.

• Pros: Generates instant post-meeting summaries, action items, and video highlights without strict monthly minute caps.

• Catch: A visible Fathom bot joins your meetings to record, and it currently lacks native Microsoft Teams support on its standard free tier.

Best Bot-Free Option: Tactiq

If you prefer not to have an AI bot join your call, Tactiq operates via a Chrome extension.

• Free Plan Includes: Up to 10 meeting transcriptions per month.

• Pros: Works silently in the background across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams without adding a bot user to the participant list.

• Catch: The free tier limits the total number of meetings per month.

Best Privacy & Local Option: Meetily

If you deal with sensitive data or care deeply about privacy, Meetily is an open-source tool.

• Free Plan Includes: 100% free, local on-device transcription using local AI models (like Whisper).

• Pros: Completely private (no cloud uploads) and operates without a meeting bot.

• Catch: Uses local system resources to transcribe.

Popular Alternative: Otter.ai

• Free Plan Includes: 300 transcription minutes per month.

• Pros: Excellent live transcription, speaker identification, and searchable transcripts.

• Catch: Caps individual conversations at 30 minutes on the free tier.

Named: Fathom, Tactiq, Meetily, Otter.ai

Google AI Overview

Fathom is a popular and highly rated free AI tool that records, transcribes, and summarizes your Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings.

Top Free AI Meeting Tools

• Fathom: Offers a robust free tier with unlimited meeting recording, transcription, and instant AI summaries without hidden limits on standard use.

• Otter.ai: Provides live in-call transcription and automated summaries, though the free plan caps you at 300 minutes per month (about 10 meetings).

• Fireflies.ai: Good for team collaboration, topic tracking, and searchable meeting archives, featuring a generous free tier with basic AI summaries.

• Granola: A minimalist, bot-free notepad for Mac and Windows that listens to your computer audio and blends your manual notes with AI-generated summaries.

Named: Fathom, Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Granola

ChatGPT

For a bot-free AI meeting note taker, I’d narrow it to Granola and Krisp right now.

Granola is the strongest fit if your priority is simply: no bot joins the call, excellent notes, minimal friction. It captures your computer’s audio locally rather than appearing as a participant, works across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack Huddles, and other meeting apps, and combines the transcript with any rough notes you type. It also lets you query past meetings and push notes/actions into tools such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Linear, Slack, and others.

Krisp is the one I’d consider if you also care a lot about audio quality. Its standard meeting assistant works at the device-audio level without joining as a participant, while also offering noise cancellation and other voice features. It does have an optional bot mode, but you don’t need to use it.

My shortlist would be:

Fathom has introduced a bot-free experience as well, including botless Zoom recording, although its documentation still describes its traditional calendar-connected notetaker workflow too, so I’d check whether the bot-free version is available for your exact OS/setup.

One privacy distinction worth knowing: Granola says it doesn’t retain meeting audio after transcription; it stores the transcript/notes instead. It also says notes are private by default.

If I were choosing purely for “I want it running quietly on my laptop and absolutely no weird AI attendee in my client calls,” I’d start with Granola.

Also, bot-free doesn't mean disclosure-free: depending on where participants are located and your company policies, you may still need to tell people you're transcribing/recording the conversation. Granola itself recommends informing participants.

Named: Granola, Krisp, Fathom

Claude

For most people, Granola is the one I'd start with. It runs on your computer, captures the audio from your device instead of joining the call, and works with Zoom, Meet, Teams, or anything else. What sets it apart is the workflow: you take rough notes during calls, and the AI polishes them afterward. It appears near the top of nearly every independent roundup, even ones written by its competitors. One caveat: it doesn't offer HIPAA compliance, so it's not for healthcare teams, but it's excellent for consultants and freelancers.

The best alternative depends on what you need:

• Free: Fathom. It has unlimited free recordings and has offered bot-free recording since April 2026, so it's worth another look if you ruled it out earlier because of its bot.

• Coverage beyond video calls: Fireflies. Its desktop app for Mac and Windows works with Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack huddles, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Discord, and in-person conversations, and there's also a Chrome extension for web calls.

• Company compliance requirements: Fellow. It holds SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, and GDPR certifications, and IT keeps admin control, which most personal botless tools don't offer.

• Noisy environments: Krisp, which adds strong noise cancellation.

• Just Google Meet, in the browser: Tactiq. It reads Meet's captions, so it's lightweight but less robust.

Be skeptical of these rankings, though. Most "best botless notetaker" articles are published by one of the vendors and put themselves first (Laxis, Scribbl, Fellow, HappyScribe, and Wispr all do this). The recommendations above are the tools that show up again and again across those lists, not any single site's pick.

Also, "no bot" doesn't mean "no disclosure." Other participants can't see that you're recording, so check the consent rules where you and they are located, and your company's policy. Many places require everyone's consent to record a call.

Named: Granola, Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Fellow, Krisp, Tactiq

Gemini

"Botless" AI note takers capture system audio directly from your device, browser, or virtual microphone instead of sending an intrusive third-party account into your meeting.

The best option depends on your platform, workflow, and privacy requirements:

Top Picks

1. Granola (Best Overall for Collaborative / Active Note-Takers)

• How it works: Desktop app (macOS, Windows, iOS, Android) that records system audio directly.

• Why it stands out: Instead of giving you a passive text dump, Granola lets you jot down rough bullet points during the meeting, then uses AI to cross-reference your actual audio transcript and flesh your notes out into a polished, structured summary.

• Best for: People who still like writing brief notes themselves but want AI to fill in the missing context, action items, and quotes.

2. Tactiq (Best Free / Chrome Extension Option)

• How it works: Chrome/Edge extension that transcribes live closed captions generated directly inside Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams web apps.

• Why it stands out: Zero installation required on desktop—no external apps or bots. It captures real-time transcripts discreetly on screen and lets you generate summary templates with a click.

• Best for: Anyone who primarily uses Google Meet or web-based video platforms and wants a lightweight, free solution.

3. Fellow (Best for Enterprise & Regulated Teams)

• How it works: Desktop app that provides on-device system capture for Zoom, Meet, Teams, and Slack Huddles, alongside traditional bot options.

• Why it stands out: It bridges the gap between privacy and corporate compliance. It is SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, and GDPR compliant, with configurable zero-day data retention so client audio/transcripts aren't trained on or permanently stored.

• Best for: Legal, financial, healthcare, or corporate teams that need botless privacy with enterprise-grade governance and security controls.

4. Wispr Notetaker (Best for Multi-Speaker Identification)

• How it works: Desktop app on macOS and Windows.

• Why it stands out: Most local system-audio recorders struggle with speaker attribution (identifying who said what without a bot). Wispr pulls attendee lists from calendar invites and uses audio processing to tag speakers by name in the final transcript.

• Best for: Group meetings where knowing who committed to an action item or said a quote is essential.

5. Krisp (Best for Noisy Environments & Multi-Tasking)

• How it works: Runs as a virtual microphone/speaker driver on your computer.

• Why it stands out: Known primarily for its AI noise cancellation, Krisp transcribes audio locally through its virtual audio driver while filtering out background noise, pets, and keyboard clacks.

• Best for: Remote workers in noisy environments or cafes who want noise cleanup and auto-summaries in one tool.

Comparison Summary

Named: Granola, Tactiq, Fellow, Wispr Notetaker, Krisp

Google AI Overview

Granola is widely considered the best overall bot-free AI note taker. It runs natively on your device, listening to system audio and your microphone without sending an awkward virtual participant into your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls.

Top Bot-Free AI Note Takers

• Granola (Best Overall): Offers a polished desktop app that captures audio locally. It allows you to take rough manual notes during a call, which the AI then combines with the local transcript to generate clean, structured summaries.

• (Best for Noise Cancellation & Value): Famous for its background noise removal, Krisp also includes a discreet, local AI transcription and meeting summary feature that runs entirely in the background without any visible bots.

• Jamie (Best for Privacy & EU Data Residency): Operates completely in the background from your device and guarantees strict data privacy compliance without training models on your private conversations.

• (Best for Teams): While known for its meeting bot, tl;dv offers a dedicated "Audio-only (Without Bot)" desktop recording toggle that brings its meeting intelligence features to your calls locally.

Named: Granola, Krisp, Jamie, tl;dv

ChatGPT

The strongest Otter.ai alternatives right now depend mostly on whether you want a visible meeting bot, a bot-free experience, or deeper sales/CRM automation.

*Annual-billing prices where applicable, checked September 2026.

Fathom is probably the first one I'd try if you're mainly replacing Otter for everyday Zoom/Meet/Teams calls. Its individual free tier currently includes unlimited recordings, storage, and transcription in 38 languages; advanced AI summaries are included for five calls per month on Free.

Granola is especially appealing if you dislike having an obvious “AI Notetaker” participant enter every meeting. It takes a more note-centric, bot-free approach and lets you customize templates and chat across your meetings. Its Business plan is $14/user/month, with integrations including Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Attio and Zapier.

Fireflies.ai is a better fit if meetings need to feed into a larger workflow. It supports Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and others, transcription in 100+ languages, searchable meetings, AI summaries and extensive integrations. Pro is $10/user/month annually, while Business is $19.

tl;dv is worth considering if recorded video and reusable meeting knowledge matter. Its free plan offers unlimited recordings/transcripts, while paid tiers add unlimited AI notes, CRM integration and multi-meeting analysis. Pro is currently $18/user/month annually.

Notta stands out for multilingual work. Pro gives 1,800 transcription minutes/month, meetings up to five hours, translation and custom vocabulary for $8.17/month annually. Its Business tier adds unlimited transcription and team controls.

For sales teams, Avoma goes considerably beyond transcription: automatic CRM notes, AI follow-up emails, custom note templates, scheduling and optional conversation/revenue intelligence. Its Startup plan begins at $19 per recorder/month annually.

And Read AI is interesting if you want analytics as much as notes: alongside transcripts and summaries it includes meeting metrics/coaching and integrations with systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira and Notion. Its free tier covers five meetings/month; Pro is $29.75/user/month annually.

For most people, I'd narrow the shortlist this way: Fathom for a generous free replacement, Granola if you don't want bots joining meetings, Fireflies for automations/integrations, Notta for multilingual meetings, and Avoma if the notes are primarily for sales or customer-success workflows.

Named: Fathom, Granola, Fireflies.ai, tl;dv, Notta, Avoma, Read AI

Claude

The right pick depends on why you're leaving Otter. Here are the strongest options by use case.

If you want a free option: Fathom is the most commonly recommended. If your main problem with Otter is hitting its 300-minute monthly limit, Fathom is probably the simplest fix. Its free plan includes unlimited meeting recording, transcription, and summaries. tl;dv is similar: it also allows unlimited free recording in 30-plus languages, though its AI summaries are capped.

If you dislike a bot joining your calls: Granola and Jamie both avoid bots. Granola captures background audio without a bot and enhances notes you write in your own words, starting from $14 per user per month. Jamie records meeting audio and produces transcripts, summaries, and action items without joining as a bot, runs on your device, works on any meeting platform, and supports over 100 languages.

If you do sales or need CRM integration: Fireflies.ai is the closest like-for-like Otter competitor, and it pairs CRM integration with conversation analytics, which suits sales and customer-facing teams. Avoma is another option, best for sales teams that want conversation and revenue intelligence.

If privacy and team controls matter most: Fellow combines transcription and AI meeting notes with meeting agendas and enterprise-grade controls.

If you work in several languages: Otter supports only a few languages. Notta, Fireflies, and Fellow all support far more than Otter's six.

If you want detailed, structured summaries: MeetGeek produces structured AI notes with conversation insights.

It's also worth checking whether your meeting platform already includes a note-taker. Zoom AI Companion, Gemini in Google Meet, and Copilot in Microsoft Teams all generate summaries, and they may be covered by your existing subscription. Gemini suits anyone who wants meeting notes without managing another platform.

Most "best alternatives" lists are written by one of the competing vendors, and each tends to rank its own tool first. The only names that appear across nearly all of them are Fathom, Fireflies, and Granola. Most of these tools have free tiers or trials, so the best test is to run two of them on the same real meeting and compare.

Named: Fathom, tl;dv, Granola, Jamie, Fireflies.ai, Avoma, Fellow, Notta, MeetGeek, Zoom AI Companion

Gemini

The best alternatives to Otter.ai depend heavily on whether you prioritize free features, sales/CRM integrations, workflow management, or privacy.

1. Fathom — Best Overall & Best Free Plan

If you want standard AI note-taking without paying a subscription, Fathom offers the most generous free tier on the market.

• Best for: Individuals, small teams, and freelancers wanting zero-cost meeting recaps.

• Key Features: Unlimited free recording and transcription with no monthly time caps, 30-second post-call summaries, and instant action item extraction.

• Platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams.

• Pricing:Free (unlimited recordings); Team plan starts at $15/user/month.

2. Fireflies.ai — Best for Sales & High-Volume Teams

Fireflies goes beyond transcription by serving as a full conversation intelligence engine, making it a favorite for revenue and customer success teams.

• Best for: Teams needing deep integrations with CRMs and project management tools.

• Key Features: Supports 60+ languages, deep search filters (track topics, sentiments, and speaker talk-time ratios), and automatic field syncing to Salesforce, HubSpot, Asana, and Jira.

• Platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex.

• Pricing:Free (unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries); Pro starts at $10/user/month.

3. Granola — Best for "Bot-Free" Privacy & Discretion

Unlike Otter or Fireflies, which send a visible meeting bot into your video call, Granola records audio directly from your Mac device.

• Best for: Solo executives, sensitive discussions, and users who hate visible "meeting bots" joining calls.

• Key Features: Captures screen/device audio natively without an external bot joining the call, works effortlessly across Slack Huddles, 1-on-1s, and offline face-to-face chats.

• Platforms: Any Mac-based audio (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack Huddles, or local microphone).

• Pricing: Generous free plan available.

4. Fellow — Best for Team Workflows & Agendas

Fellow treats meetings as an end-to-end management workflow rather than just a transcript.

• Best for: Managers, HR teams, and corporate teams running structured recurring meetings.

• Key Features: Pre-meeting collaborative agenda templates, mid-meeting transcript pause options, automated follow-up assignments, and cross-meeting AI search.

• Platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddles, and botless/in-person options.

• Pricing: Free tier available; Pro plan starts at $7–$10/user/month.

5. Notta — Best for Multilingual Teams & Translation

If your meetings frequently mix languages or require quick foreign language transcripts, Notta outperforms Otter.

• Best for: International teams, cross-border clients, or academic researchers.

• Key Features: Supports real-time transcription in over 50 languages and real-time translation for multi-speaker meetings.

• Platforms: Web, mobile app, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams.

• Pricing:Free (120 mins/mo); Pro starts at ~$8.17/month.

Summary Recommendation

Named: Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Granola, Fellow, Notta

Google AI Overview

The best alternatives to Otter.ai for meeting notes include for compliance and security, for team integrations, and Fathom for free individual use.

Top Alternatives by Use Case

• Fellow: Best for privacy, security, and regulated teams. It offers advanced compliance (SOC2, GDPR, HIPAA), does not train AI models on user data, and allows transcript redaction.

• Fireflies.ai: Best for team collaboration and CRM syncing. It supports over 100 languages, logs notes automatically into tools like HubSpot and Salesforce, and has a robust search library.

• Fathom: Best free option for individuals. It offers generous unlimited transcription and basic summaries for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet without a minute cap on the free tier.

• Notta: Best for multilingual translation and international teams, supporting nearly 60 languages with high accuracy on accented speech.

• tl;dv: Best for asynchronous and remote teams who prefer sharing video highlights, clips, and specific moments over long text transcripts.

Named: Fellow, Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Notta, tl;dv