Otter.ai
AI Meeting Notes
Otter.ai is the AI notetaker standard for auto-join transcription and summaries — bot joins Zoom/Meet/Teams, free Basic tier gives 300 min/month, Pro entry at $8.33/mo annual.
★★★★★4.5
Docs-based · official check ← All tools
Best AI Meeting Notes Tools 2026
Picking an AI meeting-notes tool is a four-axis decision: how much free transcription or summary you get, how the per-user minute or credit pool scales and where the per-meeting cap bites, whether a bot visibly joins the call or it captures quietly in the browser, and how deep the CRM auto-fill and team collaboration go. If you want the category reference for auto-join transcription and summaries, Otter.ai is the benchmark. For the widest CRM/Zapier/Slack integration surface, Fireflies. For the most generous $0 tier plus sales-oriented CRM auto-fill, Fathom. For a no-bot, privacy-first notepad that enhances the notes you already write, Granola. For a cheap, lightweight Chrome extension with no download, Tactiq. Here is where each one actually lands on the meter. Otter is the only plan in the set with hard per-meeting caps that scale with tier: Basic (free, 300 min/mo) tops out at 30 min per meeting, Pro ($16.99/mo, 1,200 min/mo) at 90 min, and Business ($30/mo) removes live caps and adds 6,000 imported minutes — annual billing cuts Pro to $8.33/mo and Business to $19.99/mo, roughly 51% off Pro. Fireflies bills per seat instead of per minute: Free is 400 min/team, Pro $18/mo ($10 annual) unlocks 8,000 min/seat, and Business $29/mo ($19 annual) and Enterprise $39/mo are unlimited transcription, so the bill driver is seat count, not duration. Fathom is the most generous $0 tier in the set — unlimited recordings and transcription on the free plan — and its paid ladder starts at Premium $20/mo ($16 annual) before Team $19/mo and Business $34/mo ($25 annual, 2-user minimum) add advanced summaries, action items, and CRM field sync. Granola is the privacy-first pick: Basic is free with limited note history, Business $14/user/mo adds unlimited history plus Notion, Slack, HubSpot, and Zapier integrations, and Enterprise $35/user/mo adds SSO and an org-wide opt-out of model training, with audio processed locally and deleted after transcription. Tactiq is the cheapest paid entry: the free plan gives 10 transcripts/mo and 5 AI credits, Pro is $12/mo ($8 annual) with unlimited transcripts, and Team $20/mo ($16.67 annual) adds unlimited AI credits and auto-share. Prices are re-checked against each vendor's live pricing page on the date shown.
How we rated
- Free or trial tier depth
- Scaling model (minutes / credits / per user)
- Bot-joins vs no-bot (privacy)
- CRM auto-fill & team depth
Otter.ai
Best overall & auto-join benchmark★★★★★4.5
Cluster top rating (4.5/5): auto-join bot across Zoom/Meet/Teams with structured AI summaries and the widest language set. Free Basic = 300 min/mo with a 30-min per-meeting cap; Pro entry $8.33/mo annual.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $8.33/mo (Pro, annual) (Per-user minutes pool: Basic 300 min/mo, Pro 1,200 min/mo, Business/Enterprise unlimited live + 6,000 imported. Per-meeting caps: 30 min Basic, 90 min Pro, 4h Business. Annual saves ~51% on Pro / ~33% on Business.)
Fireflies.ai
Best for teams & CRM integrations★★★★4.4
4.4/5: one notetaker bot across Zoom/Meet/Teams piped into 30+ apps, unlimited transcription on every tier and conversation intelligence on Business. Per-seat billing from $10/mo annual is the cost driver.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $10/mo (Pro, annual) (Unlimited transcription and AI summaries on every plan; the meter is storage + automation depth. Free 400 min/team, Pro 8,000 min/seat, Business/Enterprise unlimited. Per-seat billing is the bill driver. Annual saves ~44% Pro / ~34% Business.)
Fireflies.ai
AI Meeting Notes
Fireflies.ai is the integrations-heavy meeting recorder — one auto-join bot across Zoom/Teams/Meet plus 30+ CRM/Slack apps, unlimited transcription on every tier, Pro from $10/mo annual.
★★★★☆4.4
Docs-based · official check Fathom
Best free tier & sales CRM★★★★4.3
4.3/5: the most generous $0 tier in the set — unlimited recording and transcription — plus sales-first CRM auto-fill, deal views and coaching on the team tiers. Team from $15/mo annual.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $15/mo (Team, annual) (Free tier is unlimited recordings + transcription (the most generous in the set). Paid tiers add advanced summaries, action items and conversational assistant; team tiers gate CRM field sync, deal views and coaching. Annual ~20-26% off. 90-day guarantee.)
Fathom
AI Meeting Notes
Fathom is the free-first AI notetaker — unlimited recording and transcription on the $0 tier, sales-friendly CRM auto-fill, Premium entry at $16/mo annual for the teams tier.
★★★★☆4.3
Docs-based · official check Granola
Best for privacy / no-bot★★★★4.2
4.2/5: no bot joins the call — local system-audio capture on Mac/Windows that enhances your own notes. Privacy-first (audio deleted after processing); Business $14/user/mo adds unlimited history and integrations.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $14/mo (Business) (Freemium. Basic free with limited meeting history; Business adds unlimited history, integrations (Notion/Slack/HubSpot/Zapier), MCP support and admin controls; Enterprise adds SSO and org-wide opt-out of model training. Audio processed locally and deleted after transcription.)
Granola
AI Meeting Notes
Granola is the no-bot AI notepad — it transcribes local system audio on Mac/Windows and enhances the notes you already take, not a full transcript; Business from $14/mo, privacy-first local processing.
★★★★☆4.2
Docs-based · official check Tactiq
Best budget / lightweight entry★★★★4.0
4.0/5: a Chrome extension with no download and no audio storage, free 10 transcripts/month, Pro removes caps from $8/mo annual — the cheapest paid entry of the cluster.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $8/mo (Pro, annual) (Chrome-extension, no bot joins, no audio storage (privacy). Free = 10 transcripts/mo + 5 AI credits. Pro = unlimited transcripts; Team adds unlimited AI credits + auto-share; Business adds SSO/SAML. Cheapest paid entry of the cluster. No per-meeting minute cap.)
Tactiq
AI Meeting Notes
Tactiq is the lightweight Chrome-extension notetaker — no bot, no download, real-time captions on Google Meet/Zoom/Teams, free 10 transcripts/month, Pro from $8/mo annual.
★★★★☆4.0
Docs-based · official check Bottom line
Bottom line: Bottom line: Otter.ai (4.5/5) is the category reference point — the auto-join benchmark for transcription quality and structured summaries, with the widest language coverage. Fireflies (4.4/5) wins on the team and CRM-integration surface; Fathom (4.3/5) is the free-tier and sales pick; Granola (4.2/5) is the no-bot privacy differentiator; Tactiq (4.0/5) is the cheap, lightweight entry. Choose by what drives your bill — per-user minutes, the per-meeting cap, or whether a bot joining is acceptable.
FAQs
Which AI meeting-notes tool has the most generous free tier?
Fathom, with unlimited recording and transcription at $0. Otter's free Basic tier gives 300 min/month with a 30-minute per-meeting cap; Fireflies' free tier is unlimited transcription but caps storage at 400 min/team; Granola's free tier is limited in note history; Tactiq allows 10 transcripts/month.
Does the tool need a bot to join my call?
Otter, Fireflies and Fathom use a bot that auto-joins. Granola and Tactiq run without a bot — Granola captures local system audio (desktop app), Tactiq runs as a Chrome extension. That matters where a visible recorder changes the meeting dynamic.
What is the cheapest paid entry?
Tactiq Pro at $8/mo annual, then Otter Pro at $8.33/mo annual and Granola Business at $14/user/mo. Fathom Team is $15/mo annual; Fireflies Pro is $10/seat/mo annual. Verify on each vendor's live pricing page.