Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai vs Fathom vs MeetGeek vs tl;dv (2026)
All five of these tools transcribe your meetings and produce a summary. The differences that actually matter: how accurate the transcript is, whether you can make the bot invisible, how the free tier is structured, and whether the summaries are actually useful or just bloated.
At a Glance
| Otter.ai | Fireflies.ai | Fathom | MeetGeek | tl;dv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes (300 min/mo) | Yes (800 min/mo) | Yes (unlimited) | Yes (5 meetings/mo) | Yes (unlimited) |
| Platforms | Zoom, Meet, Teams | Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex | Zoom, Meet, Teams | Zoom, Meet, Teams | Zoom, Meet, Teams |
| Bot joins call | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invisible mode | No | No | No | No | No |
| Speaker ID | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Summary quality | Good | Good | Very good | Good | Good |
| Integrations | Slack, CRM, Notion | Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack | HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack | HubSpot, Slack, Notion | Slack, Notion, HubSpot |
Fathom — Best Free Option
Fathom stands out for one reason: the free tier is genuinely unlimited. Unlimited meetings, unlimited recordings, unlimited transcripts. No credit card required.
The experience is clean and focused. After a meeting, Fathom produces a short AI summary broken into sections (key points, decisions, action items) alongside the full transcript. The summaries are consistently among the best — more signal, less padding than competitors.
Best for: Individuals who want a free, no-friction notetaker with high-quality summaries.
Limitations: Less powerful CRM integration than Fireflies. The team/collaboration features are more limited than Otter at scale. Free tier is for personal use; team features require payment.
Pricing: Free (unlimited personal use); Team plan from $19/user/month.
Fireflies.ai — Best for CRM and Sales Teams
Fireflies is the most integration-heavy option. It connects directly to Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and most major CRMs — automatically logging call summaries, action items, and transcripts to the right contact or deal record.
For sales teams, this is the killer feature. You don’t have to manually enter anything after a call; Fireflies handles the CRM logging.
Best for: Sales teams that need call activity logged to CRM automatically.
Limitations: The free tier is generous in minutes (800/month) but stores transcripts for only 3 months. The bot can be aggressive — it joins calls automatically by default and you have to disable this. Transcript accuracy is good but not the best.
Pricing: Free (800 min/mo, 3-month storage); Pro from $10/user/month; Business from $19/user/month.
Otter.ai — Best for Real-Time Transcription
Otter has been around the longest and has the most polished real-time transcription. The live transcript appears as the meeting progresses, which is useful for following along or catching a missed word without rewinding.
The free tier (300 minutes/month) is more limited than Fathom or Fireflies, but Otter’s OtterPilot feature automatically joins scheduled meetings and produces solid summaries.
Best for: Teams already invested in Otter’s ecosystem; users who want live transcription during meetings.
Limitations: 300 free minutes is tight for heavy users. Some users report the bot joining unwanted meetings before they’ve configured it properly.
Pricing: Free (300 min/mo); Pro from $16.99/user/month; Business from $30/user/month.
MeetGeek — Best for Meeting Analytics
MeetGeek adds a layer of analytics that the others don’t have: tracking meeting frequency, talk-time ratios, topic trends across meetings over time. If you want to understand patterns in how your team meets (not just transcribe individual calls), MeetGeek surfaces this.
Best for: Teams that want meeting analytics alongside transcription — who talks most, which topics come up repeatedly, how often you meet.
Limitations: Free tier is only 5 meetings/month — the most restrictive of the five. The transcript quality is solid but not exceptional.
Pricing: Free (5 meetings/mo); Pro from $15/user/month; Business from $29/user/month.
tl;dv — Best for Video Clips and Highlights
tl;dv (“too long; didn’t view”) focuses on letting you clip and share specific moments from recorded meetings. You can timestamp key points during the call, then share a link directly to that moment rather than the full recording.
The free tier is unlimited for recordings and transcripts. The AI summaries are functional but less polished than Fathom’s.
Best for: Teams that share meeting recordings externally (with clients, stakeholders) and need to surface specific moments quickly.
Limitations: CRM integrations require a paid plan. The summary quality is inconsistent compared to Fathom.
Pricing: Free (unlimited recordings); Pro from $18/user/month; Business from $59/user/month.
The Bot Problem
Every tool on this list sends a bot (“Notetaker,” “Fred,” “MeetGeek,” etc.) that joins your video call as a participant. Your guests see it in the participant list. There’s no way to make it fully invisible — the recording has to be disclosed, and most platforms require notification anyway.
If the bot’s presence is a concern: Fathom and tl;dv are the least intrusive in practice (smaller presence, can be renamed). There’s no fully covert option in this category.
Which One to Use
Start with Fathom if you want a free, no-fuss notetaker with great summaries. The unlimited free tier removes any friction.
Switch to Fireflies if you’re on a sales team and need CRM logging. The Salesforce and HubSpot integrations are worth the price.
Choose Otter if your team already uses it or you specifically want real-time transcription during calls.
Try MeetGeek if meeting analytics matter to you — understanding patterns, not just individual call transcripts.
Use tl;dv if you regularly need to share specific moments from recorded meetings with people outside your team.
More on AI meeting tools: Best AI notetakers · Best AI calendar assistants
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