Fathom vs Otter

What the free plan actually records

Fathom Free is $0. The pricing page lists unlimited recordings, unlimited transcription, and a summary on each call. The help center is more specific about the summary: advanced summaries cover the first 5 calls each month, and after that you get the general summary. A new account previews Premium features for 30 days. fathom.video redirects to fathom.ai.

Otter.ai Basic, from the October 20 listing, is also $0: 300 transcription minutes a month, 3 lifetime file imports, and 30 minutes per conversation. Those minutes do not roll over. A guest call that runs past half an hour does not fit in one free Otter conversation. It does fit in a free Fathom recording, and the summary you get after the fifth call that month is the shorter one.

Fireflies.ai Free is $0. The card lists unlimited transcription with an asterisk, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage for the team, and 20 AI credits. The FAQ on that page does not define the asterisk. Four hundred minutes of storage is a handful of long interviews for everyone on the team, not a per-person pool.

What the first paid plan is selling

Fathom Premium is $16/month billed annually, or $20 month-to-month, for one person. That plan is the unlimited advanced summaries, the action items, and Ask Fathom. Team is $15 per user per month billed annually, or $19 month-to-month, and it requires two users. Business is $25 per user per month billed annually, or $34 month-to-month, also with a two-user minimum.

Otter Pro, from the October 20 listing, is $16.99 per user per month, or $8.33 per user per month on the annual toggle, with 1,200 minutes and 90 minutes per meeting. The cheaper annual Otter seat still stops a meeting at 90 minutes. Fathom's paid plans do not print a per-call minute cap on the pricing page.

Fireflies Pro is $18 per seat per month, or $10 per seat per month billed annually, with unlimited AI summaries and 8,000 minutes of storage per seat. Business is $29 per seat per month, or $19 billed annually, with unlimited storage. The billing guide says the AI credits on the card are a one-time grant. AskFred spends credits after that. The Notta vs Otter page is the other meeting-tool comparison, with Notta's per-conversation caps.

Which call should open which app

A weekly remote interview, and you want the free plan to hold the whole call: Fathom. Read the summary before it goes anywhere public. It is a meeting recap. A show description still has to be written. The Best AI tools for podcast show notes page is that next job.

A team that wants video of the call and a $10 annual seat: Fireflies Pro, and watch the credit balance if you use AskFred. A host who already lives in Otter and stays under 30 minutes: the free Otter plan is enough for the test. The Transcription and show notes list is the rest of the shelf, including the file transcribers.