If your calendar is full of video calls, you've probably lived this: you're either half-listening while typing notes, or fully present and then forgetting half of what was said an hour later. AI meeting notetakers fix this by joining your call, transcribing everything, and turning it into a summary with action items — automatically, without you doing anything during the meeting itself.
They're not all the same, though: some join as a visible bot in the call, others run invisibly on your computer; some have generous free tiers, others cap you fast. Here's an honest comparison of 4 real tools currently on the market.
The short version
If you want the most generous free tier and a way to ask questions about your entire meeting history, Fathom is the strongest starting point. If you're on a sales team that needs deep conversation analytics across dozens of languages, Fireflies.ai goes further. If you're on a Mac and don't want a visible bot joining your calls, Shadow is built exactly for that. And if you just want the long-established, no-frills option, Otter.ai is still around and still works.
Fathom
Fathom is a free AI notetaker that joins your video calls, transcribes them, and writes a summary with action items automatically — so you can actually listen instead of typing notes.
For who: sales, marketing, customer success and product teams doing frequent video calls who want a strong free tier before paying for anything.
Price: freemium — free tier includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions. Individual Premium is $20/mo ($16 billed annually), Team is $19/user/mo ($15 annual), Business is $34/user/mo ($25 annual), and Enterprise is custom.
Forces: a genuinely unlimited free tier for recording and transcription (not a crippled trial), an "Ask Fathom" feature that lets you query your whole meeting history in plain language, a bot-free capture option that's less intrusive than a visible participant, and it's the #1-ranked AI notetaker on G2 by review volume.
Limites: its engagement and productivity statistics don't disclose methodology, it has shallower conversation-intelligence analytics than Fireflies for large sales orgs, and it supports fewer languages than some multilingual-focused competitors.
Verdict: the best default if you want to try an AI notetaker without hitting a paywall on day one.
Fireflies.ai
Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant that transcribes calls in 100+ languages and turns them into searchable, analyzable conversation data across your whole team.
For who: sales teams, recruiters, enterprise CIOs, and international or multilingual teams that need more than just a transcript.
Price: freemium — free tier gives 400 minutes/team and 20 AI credits. Pro is $10/mo/seat billed annually (8,000 minutes, 20 credits), Business is $19/mo/seat (unlimited storage, 30 credits), Enterprise is $39/mo/seat, annual only, 50 credits.
Forces: transcription in 100+ languages (broader than most competitors), deep conversation-intelligence analytics like talk-time, sentiment and topic tracking, 200+ automatable "AI Skills" for meeting-data workflows, and MCP server integration that lets AI agents like Claude or Devin query your meeting data directly.
Limites: the free tier is capped at 400 minutes per team (not genuinely unlimited like Fathom's), per-seat pricing on paid tiers adds up fast for larger teams, and its accuracy and user-count claims don't come with disclosed methodology either.
Verdict: the strongest pick if you need analytics and multilingual support beyond a plain transcript, and you're prepared to pay per seat for it.
Shadow
Shadow is a bot-free AI meeting assistant for Mac that listens to your calls and writes the notes, without ever showing up as a visible participant.
For who: Mac users who take frequent calls and want automatic, private meeting notes without a bot visibly joining the room.
Price: freemium — free tier includes unlimited transcription, recording and smart screenshots, plus a 2-week trial of Plus features. Plus is $8/month for unlimited AI meeting notes, Skills and AI chat.
Forces: never joins as a visible bot (fully invisible OS-level capture), local-first design that keeps audio and data on-device without training on user data, works across Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack and Discord without per-platform setup, and $8/month is cheap for the category.
Limites: macOS only, with no Windows or Linux version, it's a newer entrant compared to established players like Otter.ai and Fireflies, and the full feature set requires the Plus tier once the trial ends.
Verdict: the clear pick if privacy and not having a visible bot in your calls matter to you — but only if you're on a Mac.
Otter.ai
Otter.ai is one of the longest-established AI meeting transcription tools, offering real-time transcription and automatic summaries.
For who: professionals who want a well-known, straightforward transcription tool without needing the newest features.
Price: freemium — free tier available, with a Pro version offering more advanced features (worth checking current details directly on their site).
Forces: real-time transcription, automatic summaries, and an accessible, easy-to-learn interface.
Limites: the free version is limited, and some fees aren't fully transparent up front.
Verdict: a safe, established choice if you want something simple and don't need the deeper analytics or privacy features of the newer tools above.
Side-by-side
| Tool | Free tier | Starting paid price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom | Unlimited recording & transcription | $16/mo (annual) | Best free tier, ask-your-meetings |
| Fireflies.ai | 400 min/team | $10/mo/seat (annual) | Analytics, 100+ languages |
| Shadow | Unlimited (Mac only) | $8/mo | Privacy, no visible bot |
| Otter.ai | Limited | Pro tier (check site) | Simple, established option |
Which one should you actually pick?
If you just want to try an AI notetaker without paying anything, start with Fathom's free tier — it's the most generous of the four. If your team lives and dies by call analytics and works across languages, Fireflies.ai earns its per-seat price. If you're on a Mac and the idea of a visible bot joining your calls bothers you (or your clients), Shadow is the one built specifically to avoid that. And if you just want something that's been around a while and does the basics reliably, Otter.ai still holds up.