Questions and answers: Best AI Meeting Note Taker

All nine tools here have a free plan, with different limits: Otter 300 minutes a month, Notta 120 minutes, Read AI 5 meetings, jamie 10 notes, Fathom unlimited recordings for individuals, tl;dv and Fireflies with AI usage limits, Granola with 30 days of history, and meetergo with unlimited local transcription on your device. In depth on: The best AI meeting note taker for your team

According to the vendors: meetergo (Germany), tl;dv (EU) and jamie (EEA, Switzerland and the UK). Read AI offers EU hosting on its Enterprise+ plan. Otter, Fathom and Granola state US storage; Notta stores data in Tokyo. In depth on: The best AI meeting note taker for your team

Yes. Granola and jamie never join with a bot. Otter, Fathom (Mac), tl;dv, Notta and meetergo offer bot-free recording through a desktop or device app; Fireflies offers a Chrome extension. You still need to tell participants that you are recording. In depth on: The best AI meeting note taker for your team

Usually yes. Rules differ by country and state, and some require every participant to agree. Announce the recording at the start of the call and follow the law that applies to you and your participants. In depth on: The best AI meeting note taker for your team

The local desktop app works without an account. The cloud notetaker and summaries on contacts are part of the meetergo suite, starting with the Light plan at €9.90 per user per month on annual billing. In depth on: The best AI meeting note taker for your team

None of the free plans is free of limits. Fathom lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions for individuals, and meetergo lists unlimited transcription on your device. Both still limit some AI features: Fathom marks some as “Limited use”, meetergo includes 5 AI questions a month and starts cloud recaps on the Light plan. In depth on: Free plans

Fireflies allows recordings up to 2 hours on the free plan. Fathom, tl;dv, Granola and meetergo state no per-meeting cap on their free plans. Otter (30 minutes), jamie (30 minutes), Notta (3 minutes) and Read AI (1 hour) cut longer meetings. In depth on: Free plans

By the vendors' statements, tl;dv hosts and stores data in the EU, and jamie keeps storage and processing within the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. meetergo's free plan runs on your device, so audio and transcripts stay on your computer. In depth on: Free plans

Mostly not. Granola lists HubSpot and other integrations from the Business plan, Read AI keeps premium integrations such as Salesforce and HubSpot for paid tiers, and Fireflies lists app and CRM integrations on its premium tiers. In depth on: Free plans

It depends on the vendor. Notta, for example, keeps your transcripts after you cancel but shows Free users only the first 3 minutes of each, and suggests exporting before you downgrade. Check the vendor's FAQ before you switch plans. In depth on: Free plans

Yes, if it has a mobile or desktop app that records from the microphone. Fireflies, Fathom, Granola, Read AI, Notta and jamie describe this on their official pages. In depth on: In-person meetings

Among the tools that name in-person meetings, jamie states storage and processing within the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Read AI offers EU hosting on its Enterprise+ plan. Fireflies, Fathom, Granola and Notta state other regions or none. In depth on: In-person meetings

Fathom's overview page names only the iOS app for in-person meetings. Android is not mentioned. In depth on: In-person meetings

Separating voices (speaker diarization) can be harder with one microphone and several people at a distance. Ask people to say their name at the start, keep the device central and check the speaker labels after the first meeting. In depth on: In-person meetings

In many countries, yes. In Germany, recording privately spoken words without authorisation is an offence under section 201 of the Criminal Code. Announce the recording and stop if someone objects. This is not legal advice. In depth on: In-person meetings

It can be, if the transfer has a lawful basis under Chapter V GDPR, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for listed organisations or standard contractual clauses, and you meet your other obligations. Check the vendor's DPA and sub-processors. This is not legal advice. In depth on: GDPR and EU hosting

On the pages we checked: meetergo (Mistral, melious), Otter (Anthropic, OpenAI), Fathom (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google), Granola (Deepgram, Assembly, OpenAI, Anthropic) and tl;dv (Anthropic). In depth on: GDPR and EU hosting

When the vendor processes personal data on your behalf, Article 28(3) GDPR requires a contract or other legal act with the content set out there. Vendors usually call this a DPA. In depth on: GDPR and EU hosting

No. Keeping audio on your own device removes the vendor as a recipient of the recording, but you still process personal data and need a legal basis, must inform participants and must store the files securely. In depth on: GDPR and EU hosting

Fathom and Granola state that you can opt out of their own model training in settings. jamie, tl;dv and Otter state they do not train on customer data; meetergo states no training on your data for its AI assistant and its EU AI providers. In depth on: GDPR and EU hosting

Usually not from the participant list, because no bot joins. That is why you have to announce it yourself. In depth on: Without a bot

By their official pages: Granola, jamie, tl;dv, Otter, Notta and meetergo's desktop app. Fathom says Windows support for bot-free capture is on the way. In depth on: Without a bot

In principle, a desktop app that records system audio works with any meeting app that plays sound on your computer; check the vendor's own list. tl;dv names Google Meet, Zoom and Teams; Fireflies' bot-free Chrome extension is for Google Meet. In depth on: Without a bot

No. It records from your device, so your device has to be in the meeting. For meetings you skip, you need a tool with a bot, such as meetergo's cloud notetaker, Otter, Fathom, Fireflies or Read AI. In depth on: Without a bot

It removes the visible bot, not the vendor. Where the audio and transcript go still depends on the tool: on your device (meetergo local mode), streamed and not stored (jamie), or stored by the vendor. Check the hosting region and sub-processors. In depth on: Without a bot

By listed annual price: Notta Pro $8.17 (one seat), Otter Pro $8.33, meetergo Light €9.90 excl. VAT and Fireflies Pro $10. The cheapest for you depends on the limits you hit. In depth on: Pricing

Per year from list prices: Otter Pro $499.80, meetergo Light €594.00, Fireflies Pro $600, Granola Business $840, Fathom Team and Read AI Pro $900 each, tl;dv Pro €1,080, jamie Team €1,980. In depth on: Pricing

On Suite and Premium the lower price applies for 12 months to the users you start with. After that, and for users added later, Suite costs €34.90 and Premium €59.90 per user per month, excl. VAT. In depth on: Pricing

Usually not. Fireflies lets you share recap links for free, and meetergo never counts customers. Read AI needs a license for each person in a workspace. In depth on: Pricing

Where recordings may be stored and whether a bot may join your calls. These two answers remove most tools before you look at features. In depth on: How to choose

Fireflies and tl;dv state 100+, jamie 99+, Notta 58, meetergo 40+ and Fathom 38 for transcripts. Otter lists six languages. A list says nothing about accuracy, so test your own languages. In depth on: How to choose

Otter, Fathom (Mac), tl;dv, Notta and meetergo offer both. Granola and jamie never join with a bot. Fireflies uses a bot and offers a Chrome extension that records without it. In depth on: How to choose

meetergo states neither. It states GDPR compliance, a DPA and ISO 27001 for EU data storage. If your buyers require SOC 2 or HIPAA, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Read AI and Granola state them in some form. In depth on: How to choose

Two or three that meet every must requirement on paper. Then test them with our two-week pilot plan. In depth on: How to choose

Two or three. With more, scoring takes longer than the pilot is worth. In depth on: Two-week pilot

Often yes, for example one bot and one bot-free app. Tell participants that two tools are recording. In depth on: Two-week pilot

Two weeks cover a typical meeting mix and show whether people keep using the tool. Week 2 matters most: novelty is gone and you see real habits. In depth on: Two-week pilot

From the official pages: meetergo (7 days of Light, Suite and Premium, no credit card), Notta (7-day Business trial) and Fathom (free trial of Premium, Team and Business, length not stated). Otter, Fireflies, tl;dv, Granola, Read AI and jamie describe free plans but no trial on their pricing pages. In depth on: Two-week pilot

meetergo says every new account starts with all Premium features for 7 days. After that it continues as Free, or you pick a plan, and nothing is charged automatically. In depth on: Two-week pilot

Transcription is the full text of what was said. A summary is a short version written by a language model from that transcript, usually with decisions and action items. In depth on: Glossary

The DPA is your contract with the vendor. The sub-processor list names the other companies the vendor uses to process your data, such as hosting, transcription and LLM providers. In depth on: Glossary

No. SOC 2 is a US audit report on security controls. It can support a vendor's security claims but says nothing about whether your recording has a legal basis under the GDPR. In depth on: Glossary

Every wrong word in the transcript can end up in the summary, especially names and numbers. Vendors rarely publish comparable figures, so test with your own meetings. In depth on: Glossary