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Fathom vs Recal

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. Fathom starts at $20, Recal at $14. Both have a free tier. Only Fathom ships a public API.

FathomMeeting recorder with instant summaries and CRM write-backRecalTurns Slack threads, meetings, and calls into recap summaries, decisions, and tasks.

Side by side

FactFathomRecal
CategoryMeeting AssistantsMeeting Assistants
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$20 month$14 month
Public APIYesNo
PlatformsWeb, macOS, APIWeb, Chrome Ext
CompanyFathomRecal
Launched2020—
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 1, 2026

What our research says

Fathom

The best free notetaker on the market, and the paid tiers are cheap enough that most sales teams can skip a dedicated revenue-intelligence platform. Pick it unless you need deep conversation analytics, in which case Gong is still a different class of product.

Pros

  • Free tier includes unlimited recordings, transcripts and clips, which competitors gate
  • Bot-free capture avoids the awkward third participant in the call
  • Public API and MCP server on paid plans, plus native Claude and ChatGPT integrations
  • Aggressive switching offers: free Business for Gong contract holders, 10 free nonprofit seats

Cons

  • CRM sync is capped at three users per domain on lower tiers
  • Team plan requires a two-seat minimum, so a solo user pays the $20 Premium rate
  • Advanced and custom summary templates sit behind the higher tiers
  • Account-wide Ask Fathom search is still marked beta and has lookback limits by tier

Recal

Ingests Slack threads, meetings, calls, and shared docs, then produces recap summaries, decisions, and task lists that sync into Linear, Notion, Jira, and GitHub. The free plan covers only 30 minutes of async recaps a month, so any real team use lands on a paid tier quickly.

Pros

  • Covers both meetings and async Slack threads, not just calls
  • Pushes extracted tasks directly into Linear, Notion, Jira, and GitHub
  • Free Starter tier exists to test before paying

Cons

  • Free tier capped at just 30 minutes of async recaps per month
  • Meeting-recap and async-recap minutes are tracked and billed separately, complicating usage estimates
  • No native desktop app; relies on browser extension and integrations

Which one fits

Choose Fathom if you need

  • Individuals who want unlimited recording and summaries without paying anything
  • Small sales teams that need CRM notes written automatically after every call
  • Anyone who wants meeting context piped into ChatGPT or Claude via API/MCP

Choose Recal if you need

  • Teams wanting meeting and Slack recaps pushed into existing task tools
  • Async-first teams summarizing long Slack threads into decisions
  • Managers wanting a searchable record of what was decided and by whom

More comparisons

All Fathom alternatives →All Recal alternatives →Browse all Meeting Assistants →