How to choose an AI meeting note-taker in 2026: bot or botless, free-tier limits, languages and CRM sync
Bot or botless capture, free-tier minutes and history, languages, CRM and ATS sync, and Fathom's sale to Superhuman: how to pick an AI note-taker in 2026.
On this page14 sections
- Bot in the call or a recorder on your device
- Free plans: read the meter, not the word "free"
- Languages: count, then test one recording
- CRM and ATS sync: price the tier that has it
- Where the transcript lives
- What changed in September: Fathom now belongs to Superhuman
- What a paid seat costs
- Which one, by situation
- Questions people ask
- What is the best free AI note-taker?
- Can an AI note-taker work without a bot joining the call?
- Is Fathom still free after the Superhuman acquisition?
- Which AI note-takers integrate with a CRM?
- Sources
Every AI note-taker promises the same three things: a transcript, a summary and a list of action items. That part has become a commodity. What separates Fathom, Otter, Fireflies, Granola, Bluedot and the rest is everything around it: how the audio is captured, what the free plan actually rations, which languages it hears, where the notes go after the call, and who owns the company next year.
This guide works through those decisions in the order they tend to bite, using the vendors' own pages as they stood on October 18, 2026. It does not repeat the consent, retention and training questions; those are in our privacy checklist for AI meeting assistants, and they apply whichever tool you pick.
Bot in the call or a recorder on your device
There are two ways to get the audio. A bot joins the meeting as a named participant and records what the platform sends it. A botless recorder runs on your own computer or phone and captures what your device plays and hears, so no extra name appears in the participant list.
In 2026 this is less a choice between products than between modes. Otter's desktop app for Mac and Windows records "without needing Notetaker to join", while its Notetaker bot, by Otter's own help center, cannot join a meeting anonymously. Fireflies' desktop app has a Take Notes mode that captures system audio without a bot. Fathom 3.0 asks you to pick a capture mode before each meeting, from a full bot recording down to a bot-free transcript with no recording saved; the bot-free modes are a beta on Mac, and Windows stays on the previous version for now. Granola, Bluedot and Krisp are botless by design: Granola listens through the computer's audio, Bluedot records through a Chrome extension or desktop app, and Krisp sits beneath whatever conferencing app is running.
What each mode costs you:
- A bot gets the fullest record. It can record video and name speakers. Fireflies' help guide is candid that its system-audio mode saves no separate audio or video file and labels people as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.
- A botless recorder works where bots cannot. Granola and Krisp capture in-person conversations and calls on any app, and nobody has to admit a guest from the waiting room.
- A botless recorder hears only your device. If your connection drops or a colleague's side is muted on your end, that part is gone.
- An admin can overrule you. Fathom's release notes say organization admins can block bot-free capture for the whole organization, so every meeting gets a bot.
Neither mode removes the duty to tell people. A visible bot is a reminder; a silent recorder makes the announcement entirely yours.
Free plans: read the meter, not the word "free"
Every tool here has a free way in, and each rations something different. There are four meters, and the one that matters is the one your calendar hits first.
- Minutes per month. Otter's Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month; MeetGeek's free plan gives 3 hours.
- Length of one meeting. Otter Basic stops at 30 minutes per conversation, which cuts a standard hour-long call in half. Bluedot's own pages give its free plan a 1-hour cap per recording; Fireflies and MeetGeek allow 2 hours on their free plans.
- Number of meetings. Bluedot's free plan covers 5 meetings in the lifetime of the account, which makes it a trial, not a plan. Read AI's free plan allows 5 transcripts a month.
- History. Granola's Basic plan keeps unlimited notes but shows only the last 30 days. Otter Basic shows your 25 most recent conversations and archives the rest until you upgrade or delete. Fireflies keeps transcription unlimited on Free and puts the cap on storage and AI features instead.
- Otter Basic30 minutes
- Bluedot Free60 minutes
- Fireflies Free120 minutes
- MeetGeek free120 minutes
Fathom is the outlier. Its pricing page lists unlimited recordings, transcripts and AI summaries on the free plan, and its help center says the free version keeps "unlimited storage and recordings - forever". If one person wants every call transcribed at no cost, that is the plan to test first. If you need a full archive on any other tool, budget for a paid seat from day one: a free plan that hides older notes is a trial with a longer fuse.
Languages: count, then test one recording
Language support varies more than the marketing suggests. Otter's help center lists six transcription languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese) and asks you to choose one before recording; French and English are the only pair it handles together. Fathom's help center says it transcribes 38 languages. Read AI's homepage says 20 or more. Fireflies, Bluedot and MeetGeek each claim more than 100, and Fireflies' mode for meetings that switch language mid-call is a beta on its Business and Enterprise plans.
A count is a ceiling, not a promise. If your meetings mix languages, record one real call on the free plan before you pay, and read the summary as well as the transcript.
CRM and ATS sync: price the tier that has it
For sales and recruiting teams the transcript is the raw material and the integration is the product: notes that land in the deal or the candidate record without anyone retyping them. The catch is that integrations are where vendors draw their tier lines.
- Fathom puts CRM field sync, deal insights and coaching metrics on Business, with a two-user minimum.
- Fireflies saves transcripts to Salesforce and HubSpot from Pro, but Autofill CRM and deal intelligence need Business.
- Otter adds CRM sync on Business; Pro does not include it.
- Bluedot lists CRM and ATS integrations on Business, and documents a native connection to the Ashby ATS.
- Granola includes HubSpot, Notion and Zapier on Business, not on the free Basic plan.
- tl;dv says it pushes meeting summaries to HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive records from its Pro plan.
Recruiters have a specialist option. Metaview is built for interviews and says it writes notes and scorecards into Ashby, Greenhouse and Lever. For CRM-centric teams, our conversation intelligence category lists the tools that go further into call scoring and forecasting.
The practical rule: find the cheapest tier that includes the integration you need, and compare that price, not the entry price. On several tools it is the second or third tier.
Where the transcript lives
The capture mode decides what exists; the vendor decides where it is kept. Granola's help center says its Mac and Windows apps keep no audio, only the transcript, and that the iPhone app caches audio during the meeting and deletes it when transcription finishes. tl;dv's privacy policy says data is primarily stored in the European Economic Area, in data centers in Germany and Finland, while AI processing can leave the EEA depending on the hosting location you choose in your account. MeetGeek's homepage warns that after a downgrade, past data falls under the new plan's retention window.
Two habits cover most of the risk. Export transcripts on a schedule, not on the day you cancel. And if your contracts require EU hosting, choose a vendor that names its data centers in writing; a vendor's marketing page is not a data processing agreement.
What changed in September: Fathom now belongs to Superhuman
Superhuman, the company behind Grammarly, which took the Superhuman name in October 2025, announced on September 14, 2026 that it had acquired Fathom. Financial terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch reported that Fathom, founded in 2020, had raised more than $30 million and was valued at $94 million in 2024, according to PitchBook. Superhuman says it will bring Fathom's note-taking into its email, calendar, documents and agents. A Fathom connector for Superhuman Go is already live, and Fathom's own announcement page says the app, login and product experience stay the same for now.
When we re-checked Fathom on October 15 we recorded it as acquired. The product is still sold on its own, and its prices, as of October 18, 2026, are per user per month: Premium $20 monthly or $16 billed annually; Team $19 or $15 and Business $34 or $25, both with a two-user minimum; Enterprise by quote.
An acquisition is not a reason to leave a tool that works. It is a reason to keep the commitment short: stay on monthly billing or a one-year term until the roadmap is public, and keep your exports current.
What a paid seat costs
Per-user prices sit in a narrow band once you compare like with like. These are the cheapest plans one person can buy, billed annually, from each vendor's pricing page as of October 18, 2026. Month-to-month billing costs more everywhere: Otter Pro is $16.99, Fireflies Pro $18, Read AI Pro $19.75 and Fathom Premium $20.
- Krisp Core$8
- Otter Pro$8.33
- MeetGeek Pro$9.99
- Fireflies Pro$10
- Bluedot Basic$14
- Read AI Pro$15
- Fathom Premium$16
The chart hides what each price buys. Bluedot's Basic is audio only and still caps a recording at an hour; video and unlimited length start at Pro, $20 billed annually. Fathom's cheaper Team plan needs two users. Granola's Business plan is $14 per user per month, and its pricing page does not say whether that is a monthly or an annual rate, so it is left off the chart. Our guide to AI tool pricing models explains why per-seat prices only compare once you count who records.
Fathom
71Meeting recorder with instant summaries and CRM write-back
Otter.ai
71Meeting transcription with per-plan minute and length caps
Meeting recorder that files notes into your CRM
Granola
71Meeting notepad that captures computer audio without a bot and merges your typed notes with the transcript into a summary.
Bluedot
79Bot-free meeting recorder that transcribes calls from device audio and syncs notes to CRM and docs tools
Read AI
71Meeting, email and message summaries in one feed
tl;dv
57Meeting recorder that clips moments and syncs to CRM
Krisp
71Real-time noise removal plus an AI note-taker for calls
MeetGeek
71Meeting bot that records, transcribes and summarises every call
Metaview
69Agentic recruiting platform: sourcing, application review, screening and interview notes, paid per agent used
Which one, by situation
- One person, every call, nothing to pay: Fathom's free plan, then Fireflies if you want unlimited transcription with an API on the free plan.
- No bot in client or candidate calls: Granola if you take your own notes and want them filled in; Bluedot if you need recordings and CRM or ATS sync; Krisp if noise is the bigger problem.
- Mostly English, lowest price: Otter Pro on annual billing, as long as six languages are enough.
- Sales team writing to a CRM: Fireflies, Fathom Business or tl;dv, priced at the tier that includes your CRM.
- Recruiting: Metaview, or Bluedot Business with an ATS connection.
- Meetings in many languages: Fireflies, Bluedot or MeetGeek, after one test recording.
The catalog's meeting assistants, meeting notes and AI meeting note-taker pages keep every tool's price, status and verification date on one card, checked the way we verify every listing.
Questions people ask
What is the best free AI note-taker?
For unlimited use, Fathom: its free plan lists unlimited recordings, transcripts and AI summaries. Fireflies' free plan also keeps transcription unlimited but caps storage. Otter Basic gives 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute limit per conversation.
Can an AI note-taker work without a bot joining the call?
Yes. Granola, Bluedot and Krisp never send a bot, and Otter's and Fireflies' desktop apps and Fathom's Mac beta can record without one. Botless recording captures only what your device hears, and Fireflies' version labels speakers generically.
Is Fathom still free after the Superhuman acquisition?
As of October 18, 2026, yes. Fathom's pricing page still lists the free plan, and its announcement says the app, login and product experience stay the same for now. We found no announced plan changes.
Which AI note-takers integrate with a CRM?
Most do, on a paid tier: Fathom, Otter, Bluedot and Granola on Business, Fireflies and tl;dv from Pro, with more CRM features on Fireflies Business. For recruiting, Metaview and Bluedot connect to an ATS.
Sources
- Fathom pricing
- What does Fathom cost?, Fathom help center
- What languages does Fathom support?, Fathom help center
- How to Upgrade to Fathom 3.0+, Fathom help center
- Coming Soon to the Fathom 3.0 Experience, Fathom help center
- Fathom release notes
- Fathom is now part of Superhuman
- Superhuman acquires Fathom, Superhuman blog
- Superhuman acquires YC-backed notetaker Fathom, TechCrunch
- Otter pricing
- Conversation, import, and app limits on the Basic free plan, Otter help center
- Supported languages, Otter help center
- Otter Desktop App, Otter help center
- Fireflies pricing
- Learn about the Fireflies pricing plans, Fireflies guide
- How to record meetings without a bot on the Fireflies desktop app
- Multilingual meeting transcription, Fireflies blog
- CRM platforms supported, Fireflies guide
- Granola pricing
- Granola pricing for teams, Granola blog
- Granola consent, security and privacy, Granola help center
- Bluedot pricing
- Bluedot AI note taker
- How to connect Bluedot to Ashby, Bluedot help center
- Read AI plans and pricing
- Read AI
- tl;dv privacy policy
- Krisp pricing
- Best AI note-taking apps for meetings, Krisp blog
- MeetGeek
- Best free AI meeting note takers, MeetGeek blog
- Metaview integrations
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