Fathom and Otter both record your video calls, write the transcript and send a summary. Fathom stands out for a free plan with no minutes cap, and team plans with sales features such as CRM sync. Otter stands out for live transcription, including for meetings in a room. If you run calls with clients, the choice comes down to how many calls you take, how long they run and where the notes need to go.
Facts below come from the Fathom pricing page, the Otter pricing page and each company's privacy pages, as of October 2026. Prices are in US dollars.
Some places require consent from everyone on a call before you record it. Check the rules where you work, and tell people when a notetaker joins.
The short verdict
- Pick Fathom if you take many video calls with clients and want recordings and transcripts without counting minutes, or you want notes sent to your CRM.
- Pick Otter if you want live transcription while you talk, or you also record in-person meetings on your phone.
What Fathom gives you
Free:
- Unlimited recordings and transcriptions.
- Instant AI call summaries.
- A choice of bot capture, or bot-free capture, which is in beta on Mac.
- Clips, playlists and search across your calls.
Premium, for one person: $20 a month billed monthly, or $16 a month billed yearly. Adds advanced summaries, AI action items, a meeting assistant you can ask questions, and a custom meeting bot.
Team: $19 per user a month billed monthly, or $15 billed yearly, with a minimum of 2 users. Adds search across the team's calls, shared playlists, comments and folders.
Business: $34 per user a month billed monthly, or $25 billed yearly, also with 2 users minimum. Adds CRM field sync that updates records after meetings, a deal view and coaching metrics.
Fathom lists integrations with Claude and ChatGPT, Zapier, Make and Slack, plus a public API.
What Otter gives you
This post keeps Otter short. There is a full breakdown in Otter.ai vs Fireflies.
- Free: 300 transcription minutes a month per user, up to 30 minutes per conversation.
- Pro: $16.99 per user a month billed monthly, or $8.33 billed yearly. 1,200 minutes a month and up to 90 minutes per meeting.
- Business: $30 per user a month billed monthly, or $19.99 billed yearly. Unlimited meetings, up to 4 hours each.
Otter also has iOS and Android apps for recording in person, with live transcription as people speak.
The differences that matter
Limits on the free plan
This is the biggest gap. Fathom's free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcripts. Otter's free plan stops at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per call. If you run four one-hour client calls a week, Fathom's free plan covers them and Otter's does not.
Price for one person on a paid plan
On yearly billing, Otter Pro is about half the price of Fathom Premium. On monthly billing, they are closer: $16.99 for Otter Pro and $20 for Fathom Premium. Check what you get for each. Fathom Premium has no minutes cap. Otter Pro has 1,200 minutes a month.
Notes into your CRM
Fathom Business syncs fields to your CRM after a call. Otter lists Salesforce and HubSpot sync on its paid plans, with user limits. If your notes must land in a CRM, test the sync with your own CRM before you pay.
In-person meetings
Fathom is built around video calls. If you also want to record a meeting in a café or an office on your phone, Otter's apps are made for that.
Data and AI training
- Fathom says its AI providers are not allowed to train on users' data. It also says it uses de-identified customer data to improve its own models, and you can opt out in your user settings. Team admins can opt out for everyone. Fathom stores data in the United States and keeps recordings until you delete them (Fathom Trust Center).
- Otter says it de-identifies user data before it trains its own models, and its outside AI providers do not train on customer data (Otter privacy and security).
If you record client calls, turn off training where you can and tell clients which tool you use.
Fathom vs Fireflies, in brief
People also compare Fathom with Fireflies. As of October 2026, the Fireflies pricing page lists a free plan with unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team. Fireflies Pro is $10 per seat a month billed yearly. Fireflies supports transcription in more than 100 languages. If your calls are in several languages, add Fireflies to your test.
How to decide
- Count your calls last month and how long they ran.
- Note whether any were in person or in another language.
- Write down where notes must go after a call: your inbox, a shared folder or your CRM.
- Record the same two calls with each tool on the free plan, with consent.
- Pick the tool whose summary needed the fewest edits before you could use it.
A good recording still needs a clear follow-up. Use how to write meeting notes to turn a summary into next steps, and discovery call questions to make the call itself more useful.