# 7 Best AI Meeting Note Takers in 2026: (Ranked on Notes, Capture, Privacy & Price)

> Fathom is the best AI meeting note taker in 2026 for most people: its free plan gives unlimited recordings, transcripts, and instant summaries, and it scored 51/60. Granola is the better pick if you do not want a bot in your calls, and Fireflies is the better pick for searching and analyzing a large meeting archive.

By Chloe Bennett (Senior Content Researcher) · Reviewed by Ethan Brooks (Editor in Chief) · Updated 2026-10-03 · 13 min read
Source: https://thebenchmarklab.com/best-ai-meeting-note-takers

Last tested 2026-10-03 · 7 tools tested · Full methodology: https://thebenchmarklab.com/methodology

## Full ranking

| Rank | Tool | Notes & Summary Quality | Capture Flexibility | Search & Cross-Meeting Recall | Integrations & Workflow | Privacy & Compliance | Free Tier & Value | Score |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| #1 (Winner) | Fathom | 9/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 | 10/10 | 51/60 |
| #2 | Granola | 9/10 | 9/10 | 7/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | 47/60 |
| #3 | Fireflies.ai | 7/10 | 7/10 | 9/10 | 9/10 | 7/10 | 7/10 | 46/60 |
| #4 | Fellow | 8/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 9/10 | 5/10 | 45/60 |
| #5 | Krisp | 6/10 | 9/10 | 6/10 | 7/10 | 9/10 | 5/10 | 42/60 |
| #6 | Read AI | 7/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | 6/10 | 6/10 | 41/60 |
| #7 | Otter.ai | 7/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | 6/10 | 6/10 | 6/10 | 40/60 |

## Why Fathom wins this benchmark

Fathom won because it combines the best free plan with strong notes and integrations: unlimited recordings and transcripts, instant summaries, CRM sync, and Claude and ChatGPT connectors, at $15-$25 a month once a team needs more. It does not win every criterion. Granola is better at capturing meetings without a bot and in person, Fellow is stronger on compliance and agenda workflow, and Fireflies has the deepest search and analytics. If a visible bot in your calls is a dealbreaker, pick Granola; if you mostly need to search and analyze a big archive, pick Fireflies.

- The most generous free plan we found: unlimited recordings, transcripts, and instant summaries with no minute cap
- Summaries land within moments of the call ending, and action items, clips, and highlight playlists are easy to share
- Strong integrations for the price: HubSpot and Salesforce CRM sync, Zapier, Asana, Slack, Claude and ChatGPT connectors, and a public API with an MCP server

## How each criterion was scored

### Notes & Summary Quality

Fathom and Granola lead. Fathom produces instant summaries and AI action items on every plan and has more than 15 summary templates on paid tiers, and reviewers praise the accuracy of its summaries. Granola blends your own jotted notes with the transcript, which is why its output reads as your notes rather than a generic recap. Fellow ties notes to the meeting agenda. Fireflies, Otter, and Read AI produce solid summaries but are described as more generic, and Krisp's notes are called basic, with limited control over format. We did not run our own accuracy test: scores combine documented features and the findings reported across the ranking pages we read.

1. **Fathom** — 9/10
2. **Granola** — 9/10
3. **Fellow** — 8/10
4. **Fireflies.ai** — 7/10
5. **Read AI** — 7/10
6. **Otter.ai** — 7/10
7. **Krisp** — 6/10

### Capture Flexibility

Granola and Krisp lead because they are bot-free by design and handle in-person meetings and phone calls. Fellow works with or without a bot and has desktop apps. Otter has mobile apps and live captions, which suit in-person recording and lectures. Fathom now offers bot-free capture, but only as a Mac beta, and reviewers say it is built for online meetings. Fireflies and Read AI offer desktop, mobile, and extension capture, but the visible bot is still their default way in.

1. **Granola** — 9/10
2. **Krisp** — 9/10
3. **Fellow** — 8/10
4. **Otter.ai** — 8/10
5. **Fathom** — 7/10
6. **Fireflies.ai** — 7/10
7. **Read AI** — 7/10

### Search & Cross-Meeting Recall

Fireflies leads: AskFred answers questions across your archive, and Business adds topic trackers and analytics. Fathom and Read AI follow. Ask Fathom answers questions about a single call (limited use on free) and works across all calls in a beta for paid plans, and Ask Read searches meetings together with email and messages. Otter, Fellow, and Granola all have AI chat across meetings, with caps on free plans (Otter allows 20 queries a month on Basic, Granola limits free history to 30 days). Krisp has AI chat but the least search depth.

1. **Fireflies.ai** — 9/10
2. **Fathom** — 8/10
3. **Read AI** — 8/10
4. **Granola** — 7/10
5. **Fellow** — 7/10
6. **Otter.ai** — 7/10
7. **Krisp** — 6/10

### Integrations & Workflow

Fathom and Fireflies lead. Fathom ships CRM sync (HubSpot, Salesforce), Zapier, Asana, Slack, Claude and ChatGPT connectors, and an API with an MCP server. Fireflies includes all integrations on every paid plan. Fellow has the best agenda and task workflow and adds Salesforce and HubSpot on Business. Granola's Notion, Zapier, and HubSpot integrations sit on Business, and Salesforce on Enterprise. Read AI, Krisp, and Otter cover the main CRMs but with user limits or higher-tier gates.

1. **Fathom** — 9/10
2. **Fireflies.ai** — 9/10
3. **Fellow** — 8/10
4. **Granola** — 7/10
5. **Krisp** — 7/10
6. **Read AI** — 7/10
7. **Otter.ai** — 6/10

### Privacy & Compliance

Fellow and Krisp lead. Fellow lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA with a stated no-training policy, and Krisp adds on-device private transcription at Enterprise. Fathom and Granola are close behind: Fathom shows SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA on its homepage with a signed BAA at Enterprise, and Granola gives every plan SOC 2 Type II, deletes audio after transcription, and lets users opt out of model training. Fireflies reserves HIPAA, SSO, and audit logs for its $39 Enterprise tier. Otter charges extra for HIPAA and requires 100 licenses for SSO, and Read AI reserves HIPAA and SAML for Enterprise+.

1. **Fellow** — 9/10
2. **Krisp** — 9/10
3. **Fathom** — 8/10
4. **Granola** — 8/10
5. **Fireflies.ai** — 7/10
6. **Read AI** — 6/10
7. **Otter.ai** — 6/10

### Free Tier & Value

Fathom leads by a distance: unlimited recordings, transcripts, and instant summaries for free. Fireflies offers unlimited transcription on free but limits storage to 400 minutes per team, Granola's free plan keeps 30 days of history, and Otter caps free use at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per meeting. Read AI's free plan stops at 5 meetings a month, Fellow's gives 5 AI notes for life, and Krisp has only a 7-day trial. On paid plans, Fellow ($7 annual) and Krisp ($8 annual) are cheapest, but both cap or trim what you get.

1. **Fathom** — 10/10
2. **Granola** — 7/10
3. **Fireflies.ai** — 7/10
4. **Read AI** — 6/10
5. **Otter.ai** — 6/10
6. **Fellow** — 5/10
7. **Krisp** — 5/10

## Individual tool reviews

### #1 Fathom (Winner) — 51/60
https://fathom.ai
An AI meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams calls, with unlimited recordings and transcripts on its free plan and a bot-free capture option for Mac (beta).
The free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, clips, playlists, and search across calls, with a choice of bot-free (beta, Mac) or bot capture. Premium is $16/month billed annually ($20 monthly) and adds advanced summaries, AI action items, and a custom meeting bot. Team is $15/user/month billed annually ($19 monthly, 2-user minimum), Business is $25 ($34 monthly) with CRM field sync, deal view, and coaching metrics. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and a signed BAA for HIPAA (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- The most generous free plan we found: unlimited recordings, transcripts, and instant summaries with no minute cap
- Summaries land within moments of the call ending, and action items, clips, and highlight playlists are easy to share
- Strong integrations for the price: HubSpot and Salesforce CRM sync, Zapier, Asana, Slack, Claude and ChatGPT connectors, and a public API with an MCP server

**Weaknesses**
- Built around online meetings; reviewers report it is weak for in-person conversations and has no mobile app
- Bot-free capture is a beta feature on Mac only, so Windows users still get a visible bot in the call
- The best summary templates, account-wide Ask Fathom search, and CRM field sync sit on paid plans

**Heads up:** Fathom's homepage now shows it as part of Superhuman. Prices and plan names on its pricing page can change after an acquisition, so confirm them before you commit a team to annual billing.
### #2 Granola — 47/60
https://www.granola.ai
An AI notepad that captures your device's audio without a meeting bot. You jot rough notes during the call and Granola turns them into structured notes afterward.
Basic is free with AI meeting notes, AI chat, shared folders, and 30 days of meeting history. Business is $14/user/month and adds unlimited history, advanced AI models, Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Attio, and Affinity integrations, MCP and API access. Enterprise is $35/user/month with SSO, SCIM, HIPAA-compliant workspaces, and org-wide controls (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- Bot-free by design: nothing joins the call, so clients and interviewees never see a recorder, and it works for in-person meetings and phone calls too
- Notes you write yourself steer the AI summary, which is why reviewers like the output so much
- Apps for macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch, with SOC 2 Type II certification and a model-training opt-out on every plan

**Weaknesses**
- The free plan only keeps 30 days of meeting history, and the Notion, Zapier, and HubSpot integrations need Business
- No saved audio or video: it deletes audio after transcription, so you cannot replay a call or share a clip
- Team features are lighter than Fireflies or Fellow, with no conversation analytics or deal tracking

**Heads up:** Because nobody sees a bot, you are responsible for telling people they are being recorded. Granola has a setting to let attendees know, but depending on where your participants are, you may need explicit consent before you start.
### #3 Fireflies.ai — 46/60
https://fireflies.ai
A meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes calls across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and 10+ other platforms in 100+ languages, with AskFred search over your whole meeting archive.
Free has unlimited transcription but limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team, and 20 AI credits. Pro is $10/seat/month billed annually ($18 monthly) with unlimited AI summaries, video recording, and 8,000 minutes of storage per seat. Business is $19/seat/month annually ($29 monthly) with unlimited storage, conversation intelligence, and team analytics. Enterprise is $39/seat/month, annual only, with SSO, SCIM, and HIPAA compliance (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- The deepest search and analytics: AskFred queries every meeting, and Business adds topic trackers, sentiment, talk-time, and team insights
- Broadest platform and language coverage: 100+ languages, 10+ conferencing platforms, desktop and mobile apps, and uploads
- All integrations come on every paid plan, and the Pro price is low for what it includes

**Weaknesses**
- The free plan is limited by storage (400 minutes per team) and a credit system that is hard to predict
- The Fireflies bot joins visibly by default, and reviewers flag that notes can be shared to all attendees automatically
- HIPAA compliance, SSO, and audit logs are Enterprise only

**Heads up:** Check the auto-join and auto-share settings before you connect your calendar. Several reviewers report the bot joining every meeting and emailing notes to attendees by default, which is awkward on client calls.
### #4 Fellow — 45/60
https://fellow.ai
An AI meeting assistant that ties agendas, notes, and action items together, with bot or botless recording, 100+ transcription languages, and SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance.
Free includes 5 AI notes and 5 AI recordings per user for life, with Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, and Slack integrations. Team is $7/user/month billed annually ($11 monthly) for up to 20 seats and 10 AI notes per user per month. Business is $15/user/month annually ($23 monthly) with unlimited AI notes and recordings, Salesforce and HubSpot integrations, and sales recap templates. Enterprise is $25/user/month annually, starts at 10 users, and adds HIPAA/BAA, SSO, and transcript redaction (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- The only tool here built around the full meeting cycle: collaborative agendas, pre-meeting reminders, notes, and tracked action items with due dates
- Strongest compliance story below enterprise: SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA, with a stated policy that your data is not used to train its AI
- Works with or without a bot, with Claude connector, MCP server, and API access

**Weaknesses**
- The free plan is a trial in practice: 5 AI notes for life, so it is not a long-term free option despite what some roundups say
- Team is capped at 10 AI notes per user per month, so heavy meeting loads need Business at $15
- Transcription and summary quality is not the reason people pick it; reviewers rate dedicated note takers higher on raw notes

**Heads up:** The most-cited Granola-alternatives article is published by Fellow and ranks Fellow first. We score it on the same criteria as everything else: it wins on privacy and team workflow, and loses on free-tier value.
### #5 Krisp — 42/60
https://krisp.ai
A bot-free AI meeting assistant that runs on your device, cleans up background noise in both directions, and transcribes and summarizes online and in-person meetings.
Krisp's current pricing page offers a 7-day free trial rather than a standing free plan. Core is $8/user/month billed annually ($16 monthly) with unlimited bot-free transcription, notes, noise cancellation, and in-person meeting notes. Advanced is $15/user/month annually ($30 monthly) and adds Salesforce, ConnectWise, a manager view, and 60 GB of storage. Enterprise adds SSO/SCIM, a SOC 2 report, data center choice, and on-device private transcription (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- Noise and echo cancellation on both your mic and incoming audio, which lifts transcript accuracy in loud rooms
- Bot-free capture that works with any app and handles in-person meetings, phone calls, and uploaded recordings
- SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA, with a stated policy that meeting data is never used for model training and on-device processing at Enterprise

**Weaknesses**
- No standing free plan any more; older roundups still list a free tier with 60 minutes of daily noise cancellation
- Reviewers describe the AI notes as basic next to Fathom or Granola, and customization of the output is limited
- Fewer native CRM and project-tool integrations than Fireflies or Fathom, with Salesforce only on Advanced

**Heads up:** Krisp is a noise-cancellation product that grew a note taker, not the other way around. If your calls are clean already, you are paying for the part you do not need.
### #6 Read AI — 41/60
https://www.read.ai
A meeting assistant that produces summaries, action items, and a meeting coach report, and searches across meetings, email, and messages with Ask Read.
Free includes 5 meeting reports per month (1-hour maximum meeting length), unlimited enterprise search, and basic integrations. Pro is $15/user/month billed annually ($19.75 monthly) with unlimited reports and premium integrations (Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence, Zapier). Enterprise is $22.50 annually ($29.75 monthly) and adds audio and video playback. Enterprise+ is $29.75 annually ($39.75 monthly), needs 5+ licenses, and adds HIPAA, SAML, and SCIM (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- Ask Read searches meetings together with email and messages, which goes beyond meeting-only search
- A personal meeting coach with talk-speed, filler-word, and engagement metrics on every plan
- Apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android plus a Chrome extension, and Claude and ChatGPT connectors

**Weaknesses**
- The free plan stops at 5 meetings a month and 1-hour meetings
- Video and audio playback only starts at the Enterprise tier, and HIPAA and SSO at Enterprise+
- All licenses in a workspace must be on the same plan, which makes mixed teams expensive

**Heads up:** The pricing page we read still carried a 2025 copyright footer, so treat its numbers as the most likely to have moved and confirm them at checkout.
### #7 Otter.ai — 40/60
https://otter.ai
One of the most established AI transcription apps, with live transcription during meetings, slide capture, AI Chat across your meetings, and mobile apps for in-person recording.
Basic is free with 300 transcription minutes per month and a 30-minute limit per conversation. Pro is $16.99/user/month ($8.33 billed annually) with 1,200 minutes and 90 minutes per meeting. Business is $30/user/month ($19.99 billed annually) with unlimited meetings, up to 4 hours per meeting, and 3 concurrent meetings. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and HIPAA as an add-on, with SSO requiring a 100-user license minimum (checked 3 October 2026).

**Strengths**
- Live transcription you can read and annotate as people speak, with automatic slide capture for presentations
- Mobile apps with web and mobile recording make it a natural choice for in-person meetings and lectures
- AI Chat across meetings, an MCP server, and Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier integrations

**Weaknesses**
- Hard minute caps: the free plan is 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, and Pro is 1,200 minutes
- Admin and compliance controls are thin below Enterprise, with SSO needing 100 licenses and HIPAA an add-on
- Reviewers report weaker speaker labeling in group calls and background noise hurting accuracy

**Heads up:** Otter's monthly minute limits are shared between recordings and imported files, and they do not roll over. A few long meetings can use up a Pro month.

## Feature comparison matrix

| Feature | Fathom | Granola | Fireflies.ai | Fellow | Krisp | Read AI | Otter.ai |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free plan | Yes (unlimited recordings) | Yes (30 days of history) | Yes (400 min storage/team) | Yes (5 AI notes lifetime) | 7-day trial only | Yes (5 meetings/mo) | Yes (300 min/mo) |
| Paid plan from (billed annually) | $16/mo ($20 monthly) | $14/mo (Business) | $10/mo ($18 monthly) | $7/mo ($11 monthly) | $8/mo ($16 monthly) | $15/mo ($19.75 monthly) | $8.33/mo ($16.99 monthly) |
| Bot-free recording | Yes (Mac, beta) | Yes (only mode) | Partial (Chrome extension) | Yes (desktop app) | Yes (default) | Yes (desktop and mobile apps) | Partial (apps) |
| In-person meetings | Limited (online first) | Yes (phone, watch) | Partial (mobile app, uploads) | Partial (uploads) | Yes | Yes (mobile apps) | Yes (mobile apps) |
| AI chat across meetings | Yes (beta, paid) | Yes | Yes (AskFred) | Yes (Ask Fellow) | Yes | Yes (Ask Read) | Yes (20/mo on free) |
| Video or audio recording saved | Yes | No (audio deleted) | Yes (video on Pro) | Yes | Yes | Enterprise plan | Audio playback |
| CRM sync (HubSpot, Salesforce) | Yes | HubSpot on Business; Salesforce on Enterprise | Yes (paid plans) | Business plan and up | HubSpot on Core; Salesforce on Advanced | Pro and up | Pro and up (user limits) |
| HIPAA compliance | Enterprise (BAA) | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise (BAA at 100+ seats) | Enterprise+ | Enterprise add-on |

## Ranked for your specific situation

- [For Free Users](https://thebenchmarklab.com/best-ai-meeting-note-takers-free): Fathom is the best free AI meeting note taker in 2026: unlimited recordings, transcripts, and instant AI summaries with no minute cap. Granola and Fireflies are the next best free plans, and Krisp no longer has one.
- [For Bot-Free Recording](https://thebenchmarklab.com/best-ai-meeting-note-takers-bot-free): Granola is the best bot-free AI meeting note taker in 2026: nothing joins your call, it works for in-person meetings and phone calls, and it holds SOC 2 Type II certification on every plan. Fathom, Fellow, and Krisp also offer bot-free modes.
- [For Sales Teams](https://thebenchmarklab.com/best-ai-meeting-note-takers-for-sales-teams): Fathom is the best AI meeting note taker for sales teams in 2026: Business is $25 per user per month billed annually, with CRM field sync, deal view, and coaching metrics. Fireflies is the stronger choice for call analytics and search across a big archive.

## Already using one of these? See alternatives

- [Granola alternatives](https://thebenchmarklab.com/granola-alternatives): Because nobody sees a bot, you are responsible for telling people they are being recorded. Granola has a setting to let attendees know, but depending on where your participants are, you may need explicit consent before you start.
- [Fireflies.ai alternatives](https://thebenchmarklab.com/fireflies-alternatives): Check the auto-join and auto-share settings before you connect your calendar. Several reviewers report the bot joining every meeting and emailing notes to attendees by default, which is awkward on client calls.
- [Fellow alternatives](https://thebenchmarklab.com/fellow-alternatives): The most-cited Granola-alternatives article is published by Fellow and ranks Fellow first. We score it on the same criteria as everything else: it wins on privacy and team workflow, and loses on free-tier value.
- [Krisp alternatives](https://thebenchmarklab.com/krisp-alternatives): Krisp is a noise-cancellation product that grew a note taker, not the other way around. If your calls are clean already, you are paying for the part you do not need.
- [Read AI alternatives](https://thebenchmarklab.com/read-ai-alternatives): The pricing page we read still carried a 2025 copyright footer, so treat its numbers as the most likely to have moved and confirm them at checkout.
- [Otter.ai alternatives](https://thebenchmarklab.com/otter-alternatives): Otter's monthly minute limits are shared between recordings and imported files, and they do not roll over. A few long meetings can use up a Pro month.

## FAQ

### What is the best AI meeting note taker in 2026?

Fathom is the best AI meeting note taker in our 2026 ranking, scoring 51/60. Its free plan includes unlimited recordings, transcripts, and instant AI summaries, and paid plans add CRM sync and coaching tools from $15 per user per month. Granola (47/60) is better if you want no bot in the call, and Fireflies (46/60) is better for searching a large archive.

### What is the best free AI meeting note taker?

Fathom. Its free plan has no minute cap: unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, clips, and search across calls. Fireflies offers unlimited transcription free but only 400 minutes of storage per team, Otter's free plan is 300 minutes a month, and Read AI's is 5 meetings a month.

### What is the best AI note taker without a bot?

Granola. It captures your device's audio, so no recorder joins the call, and it also works for in-person meetings and phone calls on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch. Krisp and Fellow are bot-free too, and Fathom now offers a bot-free mode in beta on Mac.

### Is Fathom really free?

Yes. Fathom's individual plan is free with unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, clips, playlists, and search across calls. Advanced summaries, AI action items, a custom meeting bot, and account-wide Ask Fathom start with Premium at $16 per month billed annually ($20 monthly).

### Which AI note taker is best for in-person meetings?

Granola and Krisp are built for it: both capture audio from your device without a bot, and Granola has iOS, Android, and Apple Watch apps. Otter and Read AI also have mobile apps for in-person recording. Fathom is built around online meetings, so it is the weakest fit here.

### Is Otter.ai still worth it?

For live transcription and lectures, yes: you can read and annotate the transcript as people speak, and it captures slides automatically. For regular meetings its limits matter more: Basic is 300 minutes a month with 30 minutes per conversation, and Pro is 1,200 minutes. Fathom and Fireflies have no minute cap on their transcription.

### Are AI meeting note takers HIPAA compliant?

Only on top tiers. HIPAA support is on Enterprise at Fathom (signed BAA), Granola, Fireflies, and Fellow, as an add-on at Otter, and at Enterprise+ for Read AI. Krisp offers a BAA for teams of 100+ seats. Do not record patient information on a free or standard plan.

### Do I need to tell people when an AI is recording?

Yes, as a rule. Recording-consent laws vary by country and by US state, and some require every participant to agree. Bot-based tools announce themselves by joining the call. Bot-free tools such as Granola and Krisp do not, so tell attendees yourself or use the setting that notifies them. This is general information, not legal advice.

### Does a meeting note taker train AI on my meetings?

It depends on the tool and plan. Granola lets you opt out of model training on every plan and deletes audio after transcription. Fellow and Krisp both state that your data is not used to train their AI, and Fireflies says the same on its security page. Check the privacy terms for the exact plan you will use.

### How much does an AI meeting note taker cost?

Most paid plans cost $7-$20 per user per month: Fellow $7, Krisp $8, Otter $8.33, Fireflies $10, Granola $14, Read AI $15, Fathom $16 for individuals (all billed annually except Granola, which lists a monthly price). Monthly billing is higher, for example Fireflies Pro $18 and Otter Pro $16.99. Prices checked 3 October 2026.