Fathom vs Otter.ai

Fathom

• Individuals who want unlimited recording and transcription without paying
• Sales teams that log calls to HubSpot or Salesforce
• Teams that share clips and highlights from customer calls

Otter.ai

• Reading a live transcript while a meeting or lecture is still going
• Students and teachers, who get a discount on Pro with a .edu address
• People who want the same notes on web, desktop and phone

Fathom

• On the Free plan, advanced summaries cover only the first 5 calls each month, and action items and Ask Fathom are limited.
• Team and Business plans have a 2-user minimum.
• Bot-free capture is Mac only for now. There is no Android app, and Linux, Chromebooks and iPads are not supported.
• CRM field sync, deal view and coaching scorecards require the Business plan.

Otter.ai

• Basic is capped at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, and only the 25 most recent conversations stay accessible.
• Pro is still metered: 1,200 minutes a month and 90 minutes per meeting. Unlimited meetings start on Business.
• AI Chat queries are capped on every plan, at most 200 per user per month.
• SSO, SCIM, the API and webhooks are Enterprise only, and HIPAA compliance is an add-on.

Fathom

Bot or bot-free capture

Record with a meeting bot that joins the call, or capture from the desktop app with nothing added to the meeting. Bot-free capture is in beta and currently works on Mac only.

AI summaries and action items

A summary is ready when the call ends. Free accounts get advanced summary templates on their first 5 calls each month; paid plans remove the cap and add AI action items.

Ask Fathom

Ask questions about a single call or across the calls in your account and get answers drawn from the transcripts. Use is limited on the Free plan.

Clips and playlists

Cut highlights out of a recording and group them into playlists to share with people who missed the meeting. Included on every plan.

CRM sync

Sends call notes to HubSpot, Salesforce or Close. The Business plan adds CRM field sync, a deal view, and coaching metrics with AI scorecards.

Team workspace

Team plans add global search across everyone's calls, comments, folders and keyword alerts that flag when chosen terms come up.

Otter.ai

Meeting agent or bot-free recording

The notetaker can auto-join Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings from your calendar. The desktop app for Mac and Windows records without a bot joining the call.

Live transcription with speaker ID

Transcribes as people speak, labels speakers and syncs the text to audio playback. Custom vocabulary covers 5 terms on Basic and up to 800 names and 800 terms on Business.

Automated summaries

Each conversation gets an automated summary on every plan, so the main points are available without reading the full transcript.

AI Chat

Ask questions about your conversations in a chat. Monthly queries are capped per user: 20 on Basic, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business and Enterprise.

File imports and exports

Import audio or video files for transcription and export notes. Basic allows 3 imports in total and mp3 or txt export; paid plans add pdf, docx and srt.

Integrations and MCP server

Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier integrations start on Pro. An MCP server is listed on every plan, while the Otter API and webhooks are Enterprise only.

Fathom

• Free$0

  Unlimited recordings and transcription, instant AI summaries, clips, playlists and search across calls.

• Team$15

  per user / month, billed annually ($19 monthly), 2-user minimum

  Everything in Premium, plus global search across calls, comments, folders and keyword alerts.

• Premium$16

  per user / month, billed annually ($20 monthly)

  For individuals: advanced call summaries, AI action items, the conversational assistant and a custom meeting bot.

• Business$25

  per user / month, billed annually ($34 monthly), 2-user minimum

  Everything in Team, plus CRM field sync, deal view, coaching metrics with AI scorecards and custom summaries.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Everything in Business, plus SSO, SCIM provisioning, custom retention, dedicated support and an onboarding program.

Otter.ai

• Basic$0

  300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime file imports and the 25 most recent conversations.

• Pro$8.33

  per user / month, billed annually ($16.99 billed monthly)

  1,200 minutes a month, 90 minutes per meeting, 10 file imports a month, unlimited history and extra export formats.

• Business$19.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)

  Unlimited meetings and file imports, up to 4 hours per meeting, 3 concurrent meetings, activity logs and usage analytics.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Adds SSO, SCIM, domain capture, the Otter API and webhooks, video replay and a HIPAA compliance add-on.

Fathom

• Annual discount

  Lower per-user price on annual billing

  Fathom labels annual billing "save 25%+". At listed prices Premium drops from $20 to $16, Team from $19 to $15 and Business from $34 to $25 per user per month.

• Nonprofit

  10 free seats for nonprofits

  Fathom's pricing page offers nonprofits 10 free seats. An application is required.

• Startups

  Up to 2 years of Team free for startups

  Under the Qualified Portfolio Program, startups affiliated with select venture firms and accelerators get up to 2 years of Fathom Team free.

Otter.ai

• Annual discount

  Save 51% on Pro and 33% on Business annually

  Otter's pricing page shows Pro at $8.33 per user per month on annual billing against $16.99 monthly (labeled save 51%), and Business at $19.99 against $30 (save 33%).

• Education

  20% off Pro for students and teachers

  Individual students and teachers with an email address ending in .edu get 20% off Otter Pro: $6.67 per month billed annually ($79.99) or $13.59 month to month.