Best AI Meeting Note Takers: Free Limits, Capture and Exports

A visible bot is not the only way to capture a call. Fathom's homepage describes bot-free capture in beta for Mac alongside bot capture, and its workflow covers Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Fireflies can invite its Notetaker bot, use its Chrome extension for Google Meet, record in its mobile or desktop apps, or transcribe uploaded audio and video. Jamie is built around a desktop app that works across online, hybrid and offline meetings without a bot. Check which device will hear the meeting before you compare plan limits. Otter also offers a bot-free desktop app for Mac and Windows alongside its Meeting Agent for Zoom, Teams and Google Meet. A bot-free label alone does not distinguish these products; the saved output and device support do.

The word free describes different allowances here. Fathom explicitly marks Free as free forever with unlimited recordings and transcriptions. Fireflies gives Free users three website sign-up transcription credits; its help page says eligible auto-join transcriptions are unlimited, while summaries and uploaded files consume transcription credits. Free also shows 20 AI credits per month and 400 minutes of storage; confirm how storage is allocated in your workspace because the public pages use both team and seat wording. Jamie displays ten meetings per month with a 30-minute limit. Otter Basic instead measures 300 monthly transcription minutes, up to 30 minutes per conversation, with three lifetime audio/video imports and the 25 most recent conversations in history. Write down whether your next month contains ten short calls, a few long interviews, or uploaded recordings before choosing.

Otter Basic can suit a small number of short calls, but budget for every limit. Ten 30-minute conversations use its 300 monthly minutes; unused minutes do not roll over. The three-import allowance is lifetime, so repeatedly uploading revised recordings can exhaust it. Pro lists 1,200 monthly meeting/recording minutes, a 90-minute conversation limit and ten monthly imports. Business lists unlimited meeting/recording minutes and unlimited imported-file counts, while imported-file transcription is separately capped at 6,000 minutes per month. Choose around the type of recording you actually process. Compare Fireflies with Otter or check Otter's current plans.

If you need to replay the meeting, confirm the recording path. Fireflies says its desktop system-audio mode does not save separate audio or video files; it produces a transcript and summary after the meeting. The same mode does not provide named speaker labels or Sales Assist, which require the bot. Fathom's public pricing page lists unlimited call downloads and clips but does not establish a file-format list. Jamie says meeting audio is deleted after transcription. These are different privacy and evidence tradeoffs: a transcript may be enough for follow-up, while a replay file matters when you need to revisit tone, visuals or an interview detail.

Fireflies connects with Google Docs, Notion, Slack, CRMs and project-management tools, and its Free plan lists integrations. Its help page says transcript downloads require a paid plan. Jamie lists Notion, Google Docs and OneNote on its free and Plus cards, while paid tiers add broader integrations such as Salesforce and HubSpot. Fathom lists searchable transcripts, summaries, action items, clips and integrations including Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion and Asana. Choose the destination for the notes before you choose the plan, then confirm whether you need a downloadable transcript, a shared workspace, or an API handoff.

Fathom displays Premium at $20 per user/month monthly or $16 per user/month billed annually, with Team at $19 monthly or $15 annually and Business at $34 monthly or $25 annually. Fireflies displays Pro at $18 per seat/month monthly or $10 per seat/month billed annually, and Business at $29 monthly or $19 annually on its pricing page. Jamie displays prices in euros: Plus €21/month and Pro €39/month billed annually. Check the current selector, tax and renewal terms before starting a plan. Annual figures are monthly equivalents for an annual commitment; confirm the full charge rather than treating them as month-to-month prices. For any capture method, tell participants how notes or recordings will be captured and shared, and obtain any required permission. Fireflies documents consent and notification controls for system-audio capture; those controls help inform participants but do not replace your own policy review.

Use one meeting that reflects your normal work: a 45-minute project review, a customer call or an uploaded interview. Check device and microphone access, participant permission, the meeting-duration cap, and the destination for the notes. Afterward, review names, numbers, decisions and action owners against your own notes. Test the intended share or export control before the deadline. If you need original audio, confirm that the chosen capture mode actually saves it. If a summary proposes a CRM update, review the fields before sending it. This comparison was checked against official pages on September 10, 2026; no recordings were uploaded and transcription accuracy was not independently tested.