Compare Fathom and Fireflies for meeting notes by capture method, plan limits, collaboration features, language coverage, exports, consent, and data controls. This guidance is based on company pages linked from the profiles below.
Fathom:Company sources only · oldest collected Fireflies.ai:Company sources only · oldest collected
Which tool fits your work?
Start with Fathom if
You are an individual who wants unlimited recording and transcription on the free plan for standard Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls, or eligible English-language Slack Huddles in Fathom's new Mac experience.
Look elsewhere if: You need a listed unsupported device or meeting type, no-link capture beyond the documented Slack Huddles exception, Slack Huddle capture before the new-experience rollout reaches your account, uploaded-recording analysis, bot-free capture without checking current device and language eligibility, or transcripts as downloadable files rather than clipboard copies.
You need several capture paths across common meeting services, bot-free desktop or Google Meet capture, mobile recording, imported recordings, or team integrations and conversation analytics.
Look elsewhere if: You need settled Free transcription, summary, storage, or credit rules, named speaker labels or saved audio and video from bot-free desktop capture, or cannot review the default auto-join, recap-email, and link-access settings before sensitive calls.
Free is $0 and lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions. Premium is $20 per user monthly or $16 per user monthly when billed annually. Team is $19 per user monthly or $15 per user monthly annually, with a two-user minimum. Business is $34 per user monthly or $25 per user monthly annually, also with a two-user minimum.
Free is $0. Pro is $18 per seat monthly or $10 per seat monthly when billed annually. Business is $29 per seat monthly or $19 per seat monthly annually. Enterprise is $39 per seat monthly, billed annually.
Ways to use it
macOS, Windows, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack
Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex
Access
Desktop app on macOS and Windows for standard Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meeting links. Slack Huddles are a documented no-link exception in the new bot-free experience, which is currently rolling out to eligible Mac users with English-language meetings.
A calendar-connected bot can join supported meeting services. Fireflies also documents bot-free system-audio capture in its macOS and Windows desktop app, bot-free Google Meet capture in its Chrome extension, and mobile apps for in-person or live-call recording, uploads, and meeting follow-up.
Where it runs
Online service from Fathom; its security page says all Fathom data is stored in the United States.
Online service from Fireflies.ai with bot, browser-extension, and desktop capture paths.
Which meetings can each product capture without a bot?
Start with Fathom when calls use standard Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams links on a Mac or Windows computer. Its new bot-free experience is still rolling out to eligible Mac users with English-language meetings; Slack Huddles are a documented no-link exception, while Windows remains on the previous experience. Start with Fireflies when you need a bot across a broader documented service list, bot-free system-audio capture on macOS or Windows, bot-free Google Meet capture in Chrome, iOS or Android recording for in-person meetings and live calls, or imported recordings. Fireflies' bot-free desktop mode works across conferencing apps, phone calls, and in-person meetings, but it does not save audio or video files or assign named speaker labels.
Fathom Free lists unlimited recordings, storage, and transcription, with five advanced summaries per month before the General/Enhanced template remains. Fireflies' pricing page lists unlimited transcription and AI summaries on Free. Its transcription-credit guide instead says Free accounts start with 3, 5, or 10 credits depending on signup surface and spend one per meeting; its Unlimited Free Transcription guide says that toggle requires Auto-join and Share-all and that summaries depend on credit balance. The pages do not reconcile those rules. They also disagree on Free storage: pricing lists 400 minutes per team, the usage guide lists 400 minutes per user, and the Free guide lists 800 minutes per seat. Current pages describe 20 included AI credits as one-time and team-shared, while the older Free guide calls them monthly. Confirm the enforced Free workflow and allowances in an account. Fathom Premium starts at $16 per user per month annually; Fireflies Pro starts at $10 per seat per month annually and adds 8,000 storage minutes per seat, video recording, downloads, and unlimited integrations. Use the price row above for current figures; these allowances do not establish output quality.
Is this mainly for personal notes or a shared team workflow?
Fathom Free is the simpler starting point when one person wants unlimited capture and transcription, clips, playlists, and search across calls. Its paid Team and Business plans add collaboration and administration. Fireflies is the stronger candidate to investigate when integrations and cross-call team analysis drive the purchase: Pro lists unlimited integrations, and Business adds conversation intelligence and team analytics. Those product pages document availability, not whether either workflow will fit your team; trial the exact handoff into the CRM, chat, document, and task systems people actually use.
Which languages and transcript quality requirements must it meet?
Fathom lists transcription in 38 languages, but its new bot-free rollout is currently limited to English-language meetings. Fireflies lists more than 100 languages, Auto-Detect for one dominant language, and a beta Multi-Language Mode for more than 60 languages in one conversation. These company pages do not establish which tool has better transcription, speaker labels, summaries, or action items. If quality decides the choice, run both on the same consented representative meeting and check names, domain terms, speaker attribution, decisions, owners, due dates, and omissions against the recording and transcript. One meeting can reject a bad fit; it cannot prove universal accuracy.
Do you need uploads, transcript files, or saved recordings?
Fathom's upload guide says it does not accept external recordings. Transcripts can be copied but not downloaded directly; its pricing page separately lists unlimited call downloads and clips. On Free, Fireflies accepts MP3, MP4, WAV, and M4A uploads up to 100 MB and 150 minutes and charges one transcription credit per file. Paid plans list unlimited transcription credits, but external-source imports still have monthly source-based limits and a listed $0.01-per-minute overage. Fireflies downloads require Pro or higher and include several transcript and summary formats plus MP3 audio or MP4 video when that recording exists. Its bot-free desktop path deliberately saves no audio or video and has no named speaker labels, so choose the capture mode as well as the plan.
Which consent, sharing, training, and retention controls fit?
Fathom says the recording owner remains responsible for consent, and its automatic consent emails do not cover every meeting, including same-day and impromptu calls. It says all data is stored in the United States, AI subprocessors cannot train on user data, and de-identified customer data may improve its own models unless the user opts out; automatic retention requires Business. Fireflies says consent behavior depends on the meeting platform, with opt-in prompts on some surfaces and opt-out controls on others. Its desktop system-audio chat notice is documented only for Microsoft Teams Business accounts. A connected calendar defaults to auto-joining every meeting with a conference link; recap emails default to everyone on the invite, and meeting privacy defaults to teammates and anyone with the link. Fireflies says it does not use meeting content or personal data to train internal or external AI models and prohibits AI vendors from doing so; its policy update says Business and Enterprise data is processed under customer instructions and the DPA. Vendor zero retention is not a workspace-retention period. Automatic deletion from one week to one year is documented only for Enterprise; the public pages do not state the default workspace-retention period for other plans. Review the live settings and applicable consent requirements before recording sensitive calls.
