Otter.ai vs Fathom
Otter.ai and Fathom side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Otter.ai | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Business & Ops | Business & Ops |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $8.33/mo (checked October 2026) | Free; paid plans from $15/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Otter.ai has the lower starting price ($8.33/mo against $15/mo for Fathom). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Business & Ops category.
About each tool
Otter.ai
AI meeting notetaker that transcribes Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls and generates summaries and action items. Free plan includes 300 minutes per month.
Who it is for
Teams and individuals who want meeting notes and action items captured automatically. The vendor highlights sales, education, media, recruiting and SDR teams, and offers enterprise security and governance controls.
Strengths
- Free Basic plan with 300 transcription minutes per user per month
- Works with Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams; Google Calendar can schedule the notetaker to join meetings
- Can record without a bot through Mac and Windows desktop apps, a Chrome extension and iOS and Android apps
- Pro and Business list Salesforce and HubSpot sync and Zapier; Slack, Jira, Asana and Notion are listed on the homepage
- Offers an MCP server so tools such as ChatGPT and Claude can access meeting content
Limitations
- Basic allows 3 imported audio or video files per account in total, not per month
- Pro caps conversations at 90 minutes and imports at 10 files a month; Business and Enterprise allow 4 hours
- Salesforce and HubSpot note sync is limited by plan: 1 user on Pro, 5 on Business
Fathom
AI meeting notetaker for Zoom, Meet and Teams with a free plan; paid plans start at $15 per user a month billed annually (Team, 2-user minimum).
Who it is for
Fathom sells individual plans (Free, Premium) and team plans (Team, Business, Enterprise), so it suits solo users as well as teams that want shared call libraries. Its Business tier adds CRM field sync, Deal View and coaching scorecards aimed at sales-style use; Fathom says phone calls are not supported.
Strengths
- Fathom's pricing page lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions on every plan, including Free, and offers a choice of bot or bot-free capture (bot-free is marked beta).
- Fathom says it works on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack huddles, with bot-free capture on Mac and in-person meetings through the iOS app.
- Fathom's help center says transcription covers 38 languages, and CRM sync to HubSpot, Salesforce and Close works on Free and Premium for up to 3 users per email domain.
- Fathom's overview page names integrations including Asana, ChatGPT, Claude, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Slack, Notion and a public API and MCP.
- Fathom says its AI subprocessors (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) do not train on user data, and reports SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR compliance; it will sign a DPA on request.
- The pricing page shows a 90 day guarantee on all plans, a free Team offer for eligible startups (up to 2 years) and 10 free seats for qualifying nonprofits.
Limitations
- Fathom says it uses de-identified customer data to improve its own AI models (opt-out in My Settings; Team admins can opt out all users), and that all data is stored in the United States.
- Fathom's own pages differ on languages: the overview page lists native transcription and summaries in seven languages (Premium and Team) with Ask Fathom translating into 29 more, while the help center says 38 transcription languages. The pricing page's feature grid is also hard to map to each plan.
