Fathom and Fireflies.ai are among the most widely used, joining calls on Zoom, Google Meet and Teams to record, transcribe and summarize automatically. Granola takes a quieter approach by enhancing your own notes, while MeetGeek focuses on searchable summaries. Laxis adds CRM-oriented capture. The right pick depends on your meeting platform, language needs and how you reuse notes.
Are there free AI meeting notetakers?
Yes. Fathom offers a free plan with unlimited recording and transcription for individual users, which is unusual in this category. Fireflies.ai and MeetGeek also provide free tiers, typically capped on transcription minutes or storage. Granola and Laxis lean toward paid plans after a trial. Free tiers usually limit advanced summaries, integrations and team features, so check the current quotas before committing.
Do I need consent to record meetings with an AI notetaker?
Often, yes. Many regions require informing or obtaining consent from all participants before recording, and rules vary by country and state. Tools like Fireflies.ai and Fathom can display a notification or announce their presence when joining, but legal responsibility stays with you. Krisp processes audio more locally for noise removal and transcription. Always check your jurisdiction and your organization policy before recording.
How do Otter, Fireflies and Fathom compare?
Otter is strong on live transcription and shared workspaces, popular for lectures and interviews. Fireflies.ai emphasizes CRM and workflow integrations plus conversation analytics across many platforms. Fathom focuses on clean, fast summaries and action items, with a generous free plan. All three join calls automatically; the difference lies in summary quality, integrations and pricing. Test each on your own meetings before standardizing.
How do I choose an AI meeting notetaker?
Start with your meeting platform and confirm native support for Zoom, Google Meet or Teams. Check transcription accuracy in your languages, since multilingual quality varies. Match integrations to your stack, whether that is Notion, Slack or a CRM via Laxis or Fireflies.ai. Weigh privacy and consent handling, then compare free limits. Fathom suits solo users, while MeetGeek and Fireflies.ai fit teams needing analytics.