Best AI Meeting Note Takers in 2026

How We Chose

Notes are the easy part now. The differences are in how a tool joins the meeting, who can see the transcript, what it does with it afterward, and what it costs when a whole team uses it. We grouped tools into five types: bot-based recorders, bot-free desktop apps, sales conversation intelligence, built-in platform notes, and tools that push action items onward.

If you are building a wider routine around AI, read how to use AI at work and our list of tasks to automate with AI.

Otter: Best for Searchable Meeting History

Otter's Basic plan is free with 300 monthly transcription minutes and supports Zoom, Teams, and Meet. Pro is $8.33 per user per month billed yearly and adds longer meetings and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier. Business is $19.99 per user per month billed yearly, with custom AI workflows and up to 3 concurrent meetings. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and HIPAA compliance availability.

The limit: the free plan's minute cap runs out quickly for heavy meeting loads, and a bot usually joins the call.

Fireflies: Best for Broad Integrations

Fireflies records and transcribes meetings across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and more, with a Chrome extension, desktop and mobile apps, and a Zapier integration. CRM integrations come on Pro and above, with API access, analytics, and video recording on Business and above. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and audit logs.

The limit: the pricing page we reviewed did not show specific prices or free-tier limits, so check the vendor before you plan a rollout.

Fathom: Best Free Plan

Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recordings, transcriptions, AI summaries, clips, and playlists. Premium is $16 a month billed yearly and adds action items and a custom bot. Team is $15 per user, Business is $25 per user with CRM field sync and coaching metrics, and Enterprise adds SSO and SCIM. It also lists up to 2 years free Team access for qualified startups.

The limit: it is a bot-based recorder, and its strongest sales features sit on the Business tier.

Granola: Best Bot-Free Note Taker

Granola captures meeting audio directly from your device, so no bot joins. The Basic plan is free with 30-day history, Business is $14 per user per month with unlimited history and integrations with Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, and Affinity, and Enterprise is $35 per user per month with SSO, SCIM, and HIPAA compliance. All plans let you opt out of AI model training.

The limit: because it listens on your device, it works for the person running it, not as a shared team record. Capturing audio without a visible bot still raises the consent question below.

Gong: Best for Sales Conversation Intelligence

Gong describes itself as a revenue AI platform that captures customer interactions and analyzes what is working. Its products include forecasting, engagement, and enablement, and its AI agents automate tasks such as follow-ups, pipeline edits, and call prep. See our posts for sales reps and sales leaders.

The limit: it is a revenue platform, not a general note taker, and pricing was not shown on the homepage, so ask sales.

Read AI: Best for Routing Action Items Into Other Tools

Read AI generates meeting reports with action items. Paid plans add integrations including Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence, Zapier, and webhooks. Free gives 5 meeting transcripts a month, Pro is $15 per month billed yearly, and Enterprise is $22.50.

The limit: the pricing page does not detail exactly how action items route into each tool, so test your own workflow. For CRM-specific needs, see AI tools for CRM updates.

Zoom, Teams, and Meet: Best When You Do Not Want a New Vendor

Zoom's AI Companion can create a meeting summary and share it with the host. Microsoft Teams offers intelligent recap and Copilot features that Microsoft says need the Teams Premium add-on or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, and a transcript must be available; third-party coverage puts them at roughly $10 and $30 per user per month, so confirm current prices with Microsoft. Google Meet's Gemini note-taking feature requires an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan, and Google's list of qualifying plans changes, so check it before you rely on it.

The limit: each works only within its own platform, so a team that mixes Zoom, Teams, and Meet ends up with three note systems. Admins can control these features at the tenant level.

OpenAssistant: Best for Acting on What the Meeting Decided

We build OpenAssistant, so weigh this entry accordingly. It is not a recorder. It is an executive assistant with its own name, phone number, and email, built for the work after the meeting: sending the follow-up email, scheduling the next call across many calendars, chasing owners, and tracking shared tasks. You can hand it action items by email, text, or call. See AI meeting prep and the product page.

Pair it with a note taker above. It is in private beta, so you request access.

Consent, Recording Laws, and Data Handling

Recording laws vary. In the United States, federal law and many states need only one party to consent, but a group of states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington, are commonly listed as requiring all-party consent, and the exact list varies by source. Other countries have their own rules, and workplace and privacy law (such as GDPR) can add requirements.

• Tell participants at the start of the call that notes or a recording are being made, and get a clear yes where required.
• A visible bot helps with notice. A bot-free tool needs you to disclose it yourself.
• Ask every vendor about retention, who can view transcripts, and whether your data trains models. Our guide to how to know if an AI tool is safe lists the questions.
• Regulated or privileged conversations (legal, medical, financial) may need extra approval from your compliance team.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check with counsel for your situation.

How to Choose

• Solo and cost-sensitive: Fathom free, or Granola if you dislike bots in calls.
• Small team that wants shared notes: Fathom Team, Otter Pro, or Read AI.
• Sales team: Gong, or Fathom Business if you want something lighter.
• Security-heavy or IT-controlled: the built-in Zoom, Teams, or Meet notes, or an Enterprise tier with SSO and SCIM.
• Notes need to become tasks: Read AI or Granola with Zapier, plus an assistant to do the follow-up.

Common Mistakes and What to Look For

• Recording without telling anyone. Disclose, every time.
• Letting a bot join external calls by default. Some clients object, so set rules by meeting type.
• Trusting the summary blindly. Check names, numbers, and commitments before you forward notes.
• Notes with no owner. An action item without a person and a date is just text.
• Forgetting retention. Decide how long transcripts live and who can search them.