Fathom vs Otter for recording and summarizing meetings
Choose between Fathom and Otter for meeting capture by checking where the meeting happens, plan limits, live access and answer traceability across meetings, the artifacts you need afterward, transcript verification, and consent and data controls. This guidance is based on company pages linked from the profiles below.
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.
Look elsewhere if: You need a listed unsupported device or meeting type, reliable no-link capture without resolving Fathom's conflicting Slack Huddles guidance, uploaded-recording analysis, bot-free capture without checking current device and language eligibility, or transcripts as downloadable files rather than clipboard copies.
You need searchable transcripts, summaries, and actions from regular calls or imported recordings.
Look elsewhere if: Recording or captured slides and shared screens are not acceptable, you cannot review Otter’s automatic-capture setting before sensitive calls, you need centrally locked capture defaults without Enterprise, or the main need is broad workspace search.
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.
Basic is free. Pro is listed at $16.99 per user monthly or $8.33 per user monthly when billed annually. Business is $30 per user monthly or $19.99 per user monthly when billed annually.
Ways to use it
macOS, Windows, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams
Desktop app on macOS and Windows for standard Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meeting links. Fathom's current help pages conflict about other no-link capture: its general device guide says it is unsupported, while a newer guide says the new experience supports Slack Huddles.
Web, desktop, and mobile apps with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet integrations.
Where it runs
Online service from Fathom; its security page says all Fathom data is stored in the United States.
Start with Fathom when calls use standard Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams links on a Mac or Windows computer. Its general device guide says phone and other no-link calls are unsupported, but a newer guide says the new experience supports Slack Huddles; confirm that exception. The new bot-free experience is rolling out in phases for Mac users with English meetings, while Windows remains on the previous experience. Start with Otter when you need its web, desktop, or mobile apps, device recording, imported files, or a notetaker for Zoom, Meet, or Teams.
Fathom Free includes unlimited recording, storage, and transcription in 38 languages. It includes five advanced summaries per month; after that, the General/Enhanced template remains available. Otter Basic includes 300 transcription minutes per month, 30 minutes per conversation, three lifetime imports, and only the 25 most recent conversations. Otter Pro's current annual US list price is lower than Fathom Premium's, but it remains capped at 1,200 minutes, 90 minutes per conversation, and 10 imports per month; Fathom Premium retains unlimited capture and adds unlimited advanced summaries. Use the price row above for current figures. These allowances are not evidence of output quality.
Do you need a shared live transcript, or answers you can reopen and trace later?
For a meeting you host in Zoom, Otter Live Notes lets participants open a live transcript from a shared link. Otter AI Chat works during and after meetings and across conversations. On web and desktop, AI Chat 2.0 can add selected conversations, channels, or folders as context, preserve chat sessions, and link answers to source conversations; mobile still uses AI Chat 1.0 without unified cross-conversation context or session history. Otter Basic lists 20 AI Chat queries per user each month and three per conversation. Fathom's eligible new Mac and English experience provides a live summary, while its previous bot-based experience produces the transcript and summary after processing. Ask Fathom can search personal, team, or organization calls using titles, summaries, transcripts, and attendees, but Fathom says Ask history is not saved. Fathom's pricing page maps some Ask access by plan, but the reviewed Fathom pages do not establish source-link behavior or state exact Ask usage and Team Calls lookback limits, so confirm the account. These company pages document access, not answer quality; verify a decision-changing answer against the source transcript.
Do you need file imports, transcript downloads, or captured visuals?
Fathom's upload guide says it does not accept external recordings. Its transcript guide says transcripts can be copied but not downloaded directly; its pricing page lists unlimited call downloads and clips. In the new capture experience, Transcript Only saves no recording, Audio Only captures audio locally without video, and Audio & Video uses a bot. Otter imports supported audio and video files up to 5 GB. Basic exports transcripts as TXT; paid plans add DOCX, PDF, and SRT, while audio exports as MP3. Bulk export requires Business or Enterprise. Otter can add shared slides or screens as images to a conversation; its public guide does not state whether automatic capture is enabled by default.
Which language and quality requirements must the result meet?
Fathom says Free and Premium include unlimited transcription in 38 languages, but its new bot-free rollout is currently limited to English meetings. Otter lists English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese; German and Simplified Chinese are beta, and only French can switch automatically to English. The 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. Check names and 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.
Which consent, training, storage, and retention controls fit?
Both companies say the user remains responsible for required recording permission. Fathom's automatic consent emails do not cover every meeting, including same-day and impromptu calls; its new experience can instead post a recording notice or ask the user to confirm consent. Otter offers configurable pre-meeting email and in-meeting chat notices. Fathom says all data is stored in the United States, its AI subprocessors cannot train on user data, and it uses de-identified customer data for its own models unless the user opts out; automatic retention requires Business and applies one policy to all team calls. Otter says it may train its own AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions that may contain personal information; users can select “Don't allow sharing,” Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default, and custom automatic retention is an Enterprise control arranged through an account manager. Confirm the exact plan settings and applicable consent requirements before recording.