Which AI note taker is best for a small team?
The best AI note taker depends on three facts you can check: how many meetings the free plan covers, whether a bot joins the call, and whether the vendor trains AI on your transcripts. On those facts the five tools below split cleanly. Every price and policy here was read on each vendor's own pages on 5 November 2026; nothing is ranked by opinion.
| If you need | Look first at | The deciding fact |
|---|---|---|
| A free plan with no meeting cap | Fathom | Its pricing page lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions on Free |
| No bot in the call, any meeting app | Granola | Its security page says it captures device audio and works with any meeting platform |
| The lowest annual price per seat | Otter | Pro is $8.33 a user a month billed annually |
| Many languages | Fireflies | Transcription in 100+ languages, including on Free |
| Any guest can stop the recording | Read AI | In web mode any attendee can opt out, and the session's data is deleted |
If the real problem is notes that nobody acts on, a tool won't fix it alone; start with our guide to meeting notes that become action items.
How do AI note taker prices and free plans compare?
Otter, Fireflies, Fathom and Read AI discount annual billing; Granola lists one per-user monthly price. All five charge per user, so a team's bill is the seat price times heads.
| Tool | Free plan limits | First paid plan, per user a month | Platforms and capture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter | 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 25 most recent conversations, 3 lifetime file imports | Pro: $16.99 monthly or $8.33 billed annually (1,200 minutes, 90 minutes per meeting) | Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet; Notetaker joins as a participant |
| Fireflies | Transcription, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team, 20 AI credits | Pro: $18 monthly or $10 billed annually (8,000 minutes of storage per seat) | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and more by bot (the page says 10+); bot-free via Chrome extension or desktop app |
| Fathom | Unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant summaries; Ask Fathom limited | Premium: $20 monthly or $16 annually; Team: $19 or $15, minimum 2 users | Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams; bot or bot-free (beta, Mac) |
| Granola | AI meeting notes with 30 days of meeting history | Business: $14 per user per month | Any meeting app from device audio, with audio deleted after transcription; desktop, iOS and Android apps |
| Read AI | 5 meetings a month, up to 1 hour each | Pro: $19.75 monthly or $15 billed annually (audio and video playback starts on Enterprise) | Zoom, Teams, Meet as a participant; desktop and mobile local capture |
Sources: Otter pricing, Fireflies pricing, Fathom pricing and homepage, Granola pricing, Read AI pricing, all checked 5 Nov 2026. Otter's page also showed a limited Business offer; we list the standard prices.
Siela, which we make, isn't a stand-alone note taker: its meeting notes record on your own device from the Windows or macOS desktop app and pull out decisions, owners and follow-ups, alongside three AI agents for finding customers. It has no plans or seats: $10 of free credit once after onboarding, then credit you add, $50 to $2,000 at a time, and its privacy policy says it doesn't use customer data to train AI models.
What does a three-person team pay in a year?
On annual billing, a three-person team pays from about $300 (Otter Pro) to $540 (Fathom Team or Read AI Pro) a year. The arithmetic, using the first paid plan that suits a team:
| Tool and plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Otter Pro | $8.33 x 3 x 12 = $299.88 | $16.99 x 3 x 12 = $611.64 |
| Fireflies Pro | $10 x 3 x 12 = $360 | $18 x 3 x 12 = $648 |
| Granola Business | $14 x 3 x 12 = $504 | Same: one listed price |
| Fathom Team | $15 x 3 x 12 = $540 | $19 x 3 x 12 = $684 |
| Read AI Pro | $15 x 3 x 12 = $540 | $19.75 x 3 x 12 = $711 |
Price is rarely the deciding line, though. The limit that bites a sales team first is the per-meeting cap: a 45-minute discovery call is cut at 30 minutes on Otter's free plan, and at 90 minutes on Otter Pro a long workshop still is. Read AI's free plan covers five meeting transcripts a month, each up to an hour. Check your calendar for last month's longest call and count your calls before you pick a plan.
How does each tool tell people they're being recorded?
Each vendor below gives you notice tools. What differs is whether guests are told by default, whether a guest can stop it, and when the help page says telling people is your job.
| Tool | What participants get, per the vendor's help pages |
|---|---|
| Otter | Notetaker appears as a named participant and posts a chat message with a link to the live transcript. Optional pre-recording emails go to all guests of the calendar event. If someone objects, the host removes Notetaker. Workspace auto-join defaults to meetings with a video conference link. (Otter help) |
| Fireflies | The bot follows each platform's opt-in or opt-out rules. You can switch on an email one hour before with a link to decline, and a pinned chat notice; /ff pause and /ff leave work in Meet, Teams and Zoom. Bot-free Take Notes can play an audio notice, post a chat message (Mac) and add a camera watermark, on by default. (bot consent, desktop app) |
| Fathom | The bot is visible and Zoom notifies participants; the bot-free version posts a chat notice or shows in-app consent prompts. Optional consent emails go out 24 hours before scheduled external meetings, but not for same-day meetings; with the bot, only when you host and there is exactly one guest. (Fathom help, consent emails) |
| Granola | No bot joins; you start it yourself. An optional automated message at the start of each meeting tells others you're using Granola, admin-enforceable on Enterprise. (Granola pricing page) |
| Read AI | In web mode it appears as a participant or icon, may post a chat message; if it does, anyone can type Read Stop or Opt Out (or click the opt-out link if one is posted), and opting out deletes the session's data. In desktop and mobile mode, the user running it must tell people. (Read AI help) |
Fathom's help centre puts it plainly: "There's no way to silently record." Read AI goes further and says in Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, if even one person says no, it won't join; in Zoom only the host decides whether it joins, though every participant can still opt out and delete the recording (Read AI article).
Do AI note takers train AI on your meetings?
Some do by default, some only if you opt in, and the wording varies, so read the policy rather than the homepage. What each policy said on 5 November 2026:
| Tool | Training on your meeting data |
|---|---|
| Otter | Its privacy policy (effective 16 June 2026) lists training its own AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions, which may contain personal information. |
| Fireflies | Its security page says it doesn't train on your data by default. |
| Fathom | Its privacy policy (updated 16 August 2026) says, depending on account settings, it may use de-identified meeting data to train its in-house models, with an opt-out in settings, and doesn't authorise third parties such as OpenAI or Google to train on it. |
| Granola | Trains on anonymised data; each user can opt out in Settings; off by default on Enterprise; third parties may not train on it. |
| Read AI | Its privacy policy (updated 29 June 2026) says it uses information, consistent with your account settings, to train and improve its models within its services, and describes a Customer Experience Program you can opt in to, letting meeting information and connected email and messages be used to improve features. |
If clients ask, the honest answer is the row above plus the setting you chose. Write it into your recording notice.
Are AI note takers legal to use on sales calls?
Yes, if you follow the consent rules where you and every participant are. This is general information, not legal advice. US federal law, 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d), allows recording when you are a party to the call or one party has given prior consent, unless the purpose is a criminal or tortious act. Several states require everyone's consent:
- California Penal Code 632: recording a confidential communication without the consent of all parties can bring a fine of up to $2,500 per violation, imprisonment, or both, with higher fines for repeat offences.
- Washington RCW 9.73.030: needs the consent of all participants, but consent counts as obtained when one party announces the recording in a reasonably effective manner and the announcement itself is recorded.
- Florida statute 934.03: interception is lawful when all parties have given prior consent.
Otter's help page names California, Illinois and Florida as all-party states, and Read AI says recording without consent is illegal in at least 12 US states. Your note taker's notice is a tool, not your consent. The habit that covers most cases: say at the start that the call is recorded and why, and let the person say no. For call-recording rules in more depth, see our guide to sales call recording rules and tools.
Can ChatGPT take meeting notes?
Yes, on a Mac. OpenAI's ChatGPT Record help page says Record is available for Plus, Enterprise, Edu, Business and Pro workspaces, only in the macOS desktop app, with sessions capped at 4 hours and no extra cost at launch. It needs your Mac's microphone and system-audio permissions, and OpenAI says you're responsible for getting consent. Audio is deleted after transcription and not used for training; on Free, Plus and Pro, transcripts may be used for training if Improve the model for everyone is on.
Calendar auto-join works only for Google Meet links with Google Calendar connected; for Zoom, Teams and Webex you start Record by hand. The page doesn't describe CRM sync or a notice to guests (checked 5 Nov 2026), so it suits a founder's own calls more than a team's.
How do you test which one is most accurate?
Test on your own calls, because accuracy depends on your accents, audio and product names. A one-week test for a small team:
Pick two tools on their free plans
Choose by the tables above: one bot, one bot-free if your buyers dislike bots. Our piece on whether buyers accept AI on a call covers how people react.
Record three real calls with consent
One clean call, one with crosstalk, one with your jargon or a non-native speaker.
Score five things
Names and company names spelled right, speaker labels, every number and date, action items with an owner, and minutes spent fixing the summary.
Check where the notes land
Count the copy-pastes needed to get each summary into your CRM. The tool that saves the most fixing time wins.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most accurate AI note taker?
The pricing and help pages we read for these five tools don't give an accuracy score you could compare (checked 5 November 2026), and accuracy changes with audio quality, accents and jargon. The practical answer is to record three of your own calls on two free plans and count errors in names, numbers and action items. Pick the tool that needs the fewest corrections.
Is there a free AI tool that can take meeting notes?
Yes. As of 5 November 2026, Fathom's free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, Fireflies has a free plan with 400 minutes of storage per team, Otter gives 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation, Read AI gives five meetings a month and Granola's free plan keeps 30 days of history.
Are AI notetakers illegal?
No, but recording without the right consent can be. US federal law allows recording with one party's consent, while states such as California and Florida require all parties to agree. Announce the recording at the start, let people decline, and check the law where each participant is. This is general information, not legal advice.
Which AI is best for transcribing?
For many languages, Fireflies lists transcription in more than 100. Otter lists English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. OpenAI says ChatGPT Record works best in English. For uploaded recordings rather than live calls, Fireflies and Otter both accept audio and video files, with Otter's free plan limited to three imports in total.
Do AI note takers join the call as a bot?
Some do and some don't. Otter's Notetaker and Read AI in web mode join as visible participants. Granola captures audio from your own device, and Fathom and Fireflies offer both: a bot, or bot-free capture from a desktop app or extension. With bot-free capture, what guests see depends on the vendor's notice settings, so check them before your first external call.
Sources
- Otter.ai pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Otter Help: Recording Permissions with Otter (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Otter.ai privacy policy (effective 16 June 2026, checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fireflies.ai pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fireflies guide: Recording consent and meeting compliance (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fireflies guide: Consent and notifications on the desktop app (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fireflies.ai security (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fathom pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fathom homepage (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fathom Help: Can I record calls without asking for permission? (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fathom Help: Automatically requesting recording consent (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Fathom privacy policy (updated 16 August 2026, checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Granola pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Granola security (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Read AI plans and pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Read AI Help: How consent works on web mode vs desktop mode (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Read AI: How to stop Read AI from joining my meetings (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Read AI privacy policy (updated 29 June 2026, checked 5 Nov 2026)
- OpenAI Help: ChatGPT Record (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- 18 U.S. Code 2511 (Cornell LII) (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- California Penal Code 632 (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Washington RCW 9.73.030 (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Florida Statutes 934.03 (checked 5 Nov 2026)