Quick disclosure: I make MeetingCoach, which competes with both of these tools sideways — it coaches you live instead of taking notes. I don't win by trashing either one, so this is the comparison I'd want if I were choosing.
What each tool is
Otter is the veteran: OtterPilot joins your Zoom, Teams, or Meet call, transcribes in real time, and files everything into a searchable cloud workspace. The archive is the product — months later you can search "pricing discussion with Acme" and land on the sentence.
Fathom is the newer favorite: same bot-joins-and-records model, but the free plan is genuinely generous — unlimited recordings and AI summaries for individuals — and the summaries are cleaner out of the box.
Head to head
| Otter | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 300 minutes/month | Unlimited recordings + summaries |
| Paid | Pro $16.99/mo; Business $30/user/mo | Team plans from $19/user/mo |
| Bot joins the call | Yes — visible | Yes — visible |
| Where meetings live | Their cloud | Their cloud |
| Killer feature | Search across months of transcripts | Free that's actually free |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome | Mac, Windows, web |
Where Otter wins
- The archive. Cross-meeting search is deeper and the workspace is built for going back months. Researchers, journalists, and PMs who live in old calls pick Otter.
- Mobile. Real iOS/Android apps for in-person recording; Fathom is desktop-first.
Where Fathom wins
- Price. The free plan covers what most individuals need forever. Otter free (300 min/month) is roughly a week of real meetings, then $204/year.
- Summaries. Cleaner action-item and summary output with less fiddling.
The part neither fixes
Both put a named bot in your meeting — and some conversations visibly change when it appears. Both store every word in their cloud. And both are rear-view mirrors: perfect documentation of the meeting you already had. If what you want is meeting notes, take Fathom (or Otter if search is your job). If the bot, the cloud, or the rear-view-mirror part is your actual complaint, that's a different product category: MeetingCoach runs 100% on your Mac, sends no bot, stores nothing in any cloud, and coaches you during the call — $20 once. Full comparisons: vs Otter · vs Fathom.
Related: Otter alternatives · Fathom alternatives · Private AI meeting notes guide
Frequently asked questions
Is Fathom better than Otter?
For most individuals, yes — Fathom's free plan has unlimited recordings while Otter's caps at 300 minutes a month. Otter is better when deep search across months of transcripts is your daily workflow.
Do Otter and Fathom both join meetings as bots?
Yes — both join as a visible participant and record to their own cloud. If you want notes without a bot, Granola does that; if you want nothing uploaded at all, MeetingCoach runs 100% on-device.
Is Otter or Fathom cheaper?
Fathom, decisively: its individual plan is free with no minute cap. Otter Pro is $16.99/month ($204/year). Fathom's paid team plans start at $19/user/month, comparable to Otter Business.
What's an alternative to both Otter and Fathom?
Granola for bot-free notes, or MeetingCoach if the goal is improving your meetings rather than archiving them — it coaches live, on-device, for $20 one time.