Fathom

Fathom is an AI meeting notetaker that built a reputation on unlimited free recording and transcription — a feature that genuinely dunked on Otter's free tier when it launched. As of 2026, the free tier still covers unlimited recording, transcription, and storage across Zoom, Meet, and Teams, but AI summaries are now capped at 5 per month.

Premium is $19/month ($15 annual), Team Edition $29/month ($19 annual), Team Edition Pro $39/month ($29 annual). The Premium tier price climbed from $15 to $19 monthly in March 2026. For solo podcasters running pre-interview calls, prep conversations, and team meetings, Fathom still captures and transcribes everything for free — the 5-summary cap on AI summaries is the only meaningful constraint, and most podcasters won't need more than that on free.

Team Edition adds shared libraries, comment threads, keyword alerts, and Zapier sync. Where it shines is the Zoom and Meet experience, which is among the cleanest in category, and the price-to-features ratio at the free and Premium tiers.

Where it falls short is uploaded-audio workflows (the free tier only handles calls Fathom joins, not files you upload) and live transcription, which Otter still does better. For podcasters running pre-interviews on Zoom and wanting summaries plus searchable transcripts without paying, Fathom remains the right default. For mixed workflows with uploaded recordings, Descript or Otter fits better.