Best AI Note Taker

Every AI note taker promises the same thing: to sit in your meetings, capture what happened, and hand you a clean summary afterward. Most of them do that part reasonably well. It’s the other parts that are hit or miss, like if the action items actually land in your CRM as it promised or just sit in a standalone app nobody reopens. Or if a bot visibly joins the call or the tool works silently in the background. Or if there really is a free tier, or just a limited-time trial dressed as one. 

We compared ten of the most-used AI note taker apps across accuracy, speaker identification, summary quality, integrations, and price, specifically considering which tool fits which kind of meeting (sales calls vs recurring team standups vs client work vs a clean transcription without a subscription). 

How We Tested The Best AI Note Takers

We ran each tool across a mix of real meeting types, including a 1:1, a multi-person team standup, and a longer client-style call with some crosstalk and background noise. We also created free accounts wherever available to evaluate what the free tier actually includes rather than relying on marketing pages, and checked each tool’s current pricing against its site as of this writing, since several changed their tiers substantially this year.

Accuracy On Real Meetings, Speaker ID, Summary Quality, Integrations, Price

Accuracy: most tools claim 90-95% transcription accuracy under ideal conditions (single speaker, clear audio, English speaker). That number did hold up reasonably well in quiet 1:1 calls, but drops with overlapping speakers, background noise, strong accents, or non-English audio. Basically, the marketed number is a ceiling, not a guarantee. 

Speaker ID: most tools boast they can reliably label who said what, not just what was said. And that is necessary for a transcript to be usable right after downloading, as opposed to manually reconstructing the transcript. Unfortunately, it’s a real weak point for bot-free tools that capture system audio rather than joining as a participant. 

Summary Quality: most tools can provide a full transcript, but the ability to provide a quality summary that separates discussions, action items, and discussion threads into something scannable is harder to come by. 

Integrations: not all note takers integrate with all tools the team may already use (Slack, Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira). Some require manual copy and paste, which eats up valuable time. 

Price: since several free tiers are basically time-limited trials, the cost listed is what would cover regular, not occasional use.

Best AI note takers at a glance

Tool	Best for	Bot or bot-free	Free tier	Starting price
Otter.ai	Real-time collaborative transcription	Bot	300 min/mo	$16.99/user/mo
Fireflies.ai	Sales teams, CRM automation	Bot	Limited credits	$10/user/mo
Fathom	Individuals, free unlimited use	Bot	Unlimited recording/summaries	$19/user/mo (Team)
tl;dv	Highlight clips, cross-meeting search	Bot	Unlimited (auto-deletes after 3 mo)	$18/user/mo
Granola	Solo users who type during calls	Bot-free (device audio)	Unlimited notes, 30-day history	$14/user/mo
Notion AI	Teams already living in Notion	Bot-free (system audio)	Not on Free/Plus plans	$20/user/mo (Business req’d)
Zoom AI Companion	Zoom-native, no extra app	Native (no visible bot)	Not on free Zoom plan	Included with paid Zoom, or $8.33/user/mo standalone
Plaud Note	In-person meetings, phone calls	Hardware (no software bot)	300 min/mo	$159 device + free plan, or $99.99/yr Pro
Avoma	Revenue teams, conversation intelligence	Bot	No	$19/user/mo
Read.ai	Engagement and sentiment analytics	Bot	5 meetings	$15–20/user/mo

*Pricing and free-tier limits change often in this category — treat this table as a starting point and confirm current numbers before subscribing.

The best AI note takers reviewed

Otter.AI

Otter is one of the original AI note taker apps, and its core strength is real-time visibility. Live captions appear during the meeting itself, not just in a summary afterward, and multiple people can view and edit the same notes collaboratively while the call is still happening. Last year Otter added a voice-bot layer for enterprise customers, though reviewers note it’s the only true real-time feature among the major players. Most competitors only help after the call ends, not during it. Otter also maintains one of the most searchable transcript archives, useful for teams who run a lot of recurring meetings and need to find “what we did about x” months later. 

Transcription accuracy is solid, but isn’t the best in the category. And Otter’s bot visibly joins meetings as a named participant by default, which some users can find intrusive on client calls. The free tier caps at 300 minutes per month, which is generous but less than others on this list. 

Pros: live collaborative transcription, strong searchable archive, established platform

Cons: capped free tier, visible bot by default, accuracy not category-leading

Verdict: the best choice if you need live visibility into notes during the meeting itself, not just after

Fireflies.AI

Fireflies is built for teams that need meeting data to flow directly into their existing sales and support stack. It integrates with over 6,000 tools, supports 60+ languages (the widest range in this list), and layers conversation-intelligence features on top of transcription like topic tracking across calls, sentiment analysis, and team talk-time metrics that other tools don’t offer at a comparable price. For revenue teams analyzing patterns across dozens of calls rather than just reviewing one at a time, that depth is the selling point. 

The free tier doesn’t offer as much as Fathom, capping transcription credits and storage so that it’s really more of a free trial than a truly free option. Summary quality is functional but slightly less polished than Fathom’s. 

Pros: broadest language support and integration count in this list, strong CRM automation, useful cross-meeting analytics

Cons: free tier is closer to a trial than a real free plan, summaries less polished than Fathom’s 

Verdict: the strongest pick for sales teams that need broad CRM and multilingual coverage

Fathom

Fathom has become the default recommendation for individuals in this category thanks to a free tier that offers unlimited recording, unlimited storage, and AI summaries with no time limit and no credit card required. Summaries are consistently rated among the cleanest in this category, with key points, decisions, and action items broken into clear sections with less padding than competitors. Best of all, processing takes about 30 seconds after the call ends. It also holds the highest G2 rating in the category with more than 5,000 reviews. 

It’s not perfect, though, especially at the team level. Collaboration and CRM integration fall behind Fireflies, and language support (38 languages with accuracy dropping with heavy accents) is narrower than Fireflies 60+. Team features also require a paid plan. 

Pros: best free tier in the category by a wide margin, clean and fast summaries, strong reputation

Cons: weaker CRM depth than Fireflies, narrower language support, team features require payment

Verdict: the best all-around pick for individuals, and the free tier alone makes it worth trying first

Tl;dv

This platform is all about moments, not full transcripts. Of course, it does offer full transcripts, but the feature is really being able to clip specific parts of a meeting and create shareable highlight reels. These are perfect for stakeholders who couldn’t attend the meeting and won’t sit through a full recording. Its AI chat and search features are built for analyzing patterns across many meetings at once and creating action item summaries, sales-performance analysis, and even team-misalignment detection, plus it has a coaching dashboard with speaker analytics aimed at sales teams. The free plan is generous, offering unlimited recordings and transcripts across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. 

But don’t count on those recordings after three months on the free plan, as tl;dv auto-deletes content after that time. You’ll also need the Pro plan at $18/user/month if you want unlimited AI notes. Reviewers rate its post-meeting transcript quality ahead of Otter’s, especially in a multi-speaker conversation, though summary polish falls behind Fathom. 

Pros: strong highlight-clip and cross-meeting search tools, generous (if time-limited) free tier, solid multi-speaker transcription

Cons: free tier content auto-deletes after 3 months, summary polish behind Fathom

Verdict: a strong pick for teams that need to share specific meeting moments, not just full recaps

Granola

Granola takes a totally different approach to notetaking. Instead of generating notes automatically from a transcript, it enhances notes you’re already typing during the call, filling gaps, fixing formatting, and pulling in detail from the audio you didn’t write down yourself. It’s bot-free, so no visible participant joins the call. Instead, it captures audio directly from your device, making it a solid choice for meetings when a visible recording would feel intrusive. The company raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation earlier this year, and is expanding beyond note-taking into broader workspace AI. 

But because it doesn’t keep audio or video, you can’t go back and relisten. So if the transcript made an error, you just have to deal with it. And errors do happen, especially when three or more people are on the call. The free Basic plan caps at 25 notes and limits history to 30 days – and Granola will use your meeting data to train its AI models. You’ll need the $35/user/month Enterprise tier if you want to opt out of that. 

Pros: genuinely bot-free, strong for solo operators who like typing some notes themselves, clean and familiar interface

Cons: weak speaker ID in group calls, no audio/video to fall back on, can’t analyze across multiple meetings

Verdict: the best bot-free option for solo users and 1:1 calls, not built for larger team meetings

Notion AI

This notetaking app lives in Notion, so it’s perfect for teams already on the platform. The AI meeting notes keep everything in once place. It captures the system audio without a separate bot or app then outputs the transcript, AI summary, and action items directly onto a native Notion page alongside whatever else you’re already tracking there. It added speaker identification this summer and supports 16 languages. 

It’s still closer to a feature bolted onto a broader workspace tool than a dedicated meeting assistant, as there is no calendar-driven autojoin, no native CRM integration, and it’s audio only (no video or screen capture). It also requires a Business plan at $20/user/month annually now that Notion discontinued its standalone $10/month AI add-on for new users earlier this year. So if you want meeting notes, you’ll have to pay for a full workspace upgrade. 

Pros: notes land directly in your existing Notion workspace, no separate app needed, speaker ID now included

Cons: requires the Business plan (a real cost jump if you’re not already there), no CRM integrations, audio-only

Verdict: worth it only if you’re already paying for Notion Business; not a reason to switch workspace tools on its own

Zoom AI Companion

If your meetings live entirely on Zoom, its AI companion is a no-brainer. There’s nothing extra to install, ande there’s not third-party bot showing up as a visible participant. It’s included at no additional cost no paid Zoom plans Pro and above, and it covers the basics well: post-meeting summaries, action item detection, transcripts, and an in-meeting “Catch Me Up” feature that lets latecomers get summarized on what they missed without interrupting the call.

But this one is only good if you use Zoom, as it only works natively inside that platform. It doesn’t push action items into project management tools like Jira or Linear automatically, so an employee will still have to manually create those tickets after a call. And in-meeting Q&A has been reported as inconsistent by some users, sometimes returning irrelevant answers. And a free Zoom basic plan doens’t include the AI companion at all. 

Pros: included free with paid Zoom plans, no separate app or visible bot, decent “catch me up” live feature

Cons: locked to Zoom without an add-on, no downstream automation into task tools, in-meeting Q&A can be unreliable

Verdict: the easiest choice if you’re already paying for Zoom and don’t need cross-platform or CRM features

Plaud Note

Plaud is one of the hardware options in this list, and it solves a problem that software tools don’t: meetings that don’t happen inside a live video call. Instead, it’s a device that clips to a phone or sits in a pock to record in-person conversations, phone calls, or just a passing conversation where pulling up your laptop to record would be impractica. It syncs recordings to the Plaud app and returns a transcript and AI summary within minutes. The Pro version’s larger microphone array holds up meaningfully better in noisy rooms and on phone calls than the base Note. 

The cost structure is layered and requires $159-$189 upfront for the device itself. The free Starter plan caps at 300 transcription minutes a month, which is enough for occasional use but not enough for daily recordings. Sustained business use requires a paid plan on top of the hardware cost running roughly $99.99-$239.99/year depending on volume. There’s no display on the base Note model, so you’ve got to rely on the app to confirm recording status. 

Pros: the only option here that works for in-person and phone conversations, not just video calls; genuinely portable; strong audio hardware on the Pro model

Cons: real upfront hardware cost plus an ongoing subscription for regular use, base model has no display

Verdict: the right pick specifically if a meaningful share of your meetings happen away from a screen

Avoma

Avoma is built for revenue and customer-success teams that need more than a transcript. It’s positioned around conversation and revenue intelligence, with AI scorecards for sales methodologies like MEDDIC, SPICED, and BANT, talk-pattern analysis, automatic CRM field updates, and a live answer-assistant that surfaces relevant information during the call itself. It also handles meeting scheduling as part of the same workflow, which several competitors leave to a separate tool. Real-time transcription covers 32 languages. 

While it has tons of features, they come with a bit of a learning curve and a steeper price tag than most on this list so this tool is better suited for larger teams. Entry pricing starts at $19/user/molnth, with additional tiers running $49-$129/user/month, and the top tiers have a minimum user requirement that puts them out of reach for small teams. 

Pros: deep sales-methodology scorecards and CRM automation, combines scheduling and note-taking, strong for structured revenue analysis

Cons: built for revenue teams specifically, not general use; higher tiers require minimum seat counts; real learning curve to configure well

Verdict: the best fit for revenue and customer-success teams that want structured outputs tied to CRM workflows, not casual users

Read.AI

Read.AI’s signature feature is its Engagement Score, a proprietary 0-100 metric combining talk-time distribution, sentiment, question-asking frequence, and (when video is enabled) body-langauge cues like eye contact, aimed at helping managers spot disengaged meetings or evaluate how a sales pitch landed in a room. It also generates video highlights, topic timelines, and a “Read Copilot” daily briefing that combines email, calendar, and meeting data. 

The sentiment and engagement analysis make this tool stand out from others on the list, but it’s also the most consistent source of criticism with several reviewers noting it sometimes lacks cultural sensitivity in how it reads tone which can produce misleading scores. Its security and compliance documentation is vaguer than its competitors, which could be a real consideration for regulated industries. The free tier caps at 5 meetings so it’s really just a free trial. You’ll have to pay to use this one. 

Pros: genuinely distinctive engagement and sentiment analytics, useful for managers and sales-pitch review, integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, and Slack

Cons: sentiment scoring can misread tone across cultural contexts, thin free tier, less transparent security documentation than competitors

Verdict: worth it specifically for managers and sales teams who want engagement data, not just a transcript

Best AI note taker for Zoom

Obviously, the Zoom AI Companion is the default choice if all your meetings take place on Zoom already. It’s included with a paid plan and doesn’t require anything to install. But if you want deeper features than what this native tool offers like better summaries, cross-platform support, or CRM sync, then try Fathom or Fireflies which both integrate cleanly with Zoom.

Best AI note taker for Google Meet

Otter and Fathom both support Google Meet natively with strong transcription and summary quality. Otter is the stronger pick if you want live, collaborative notes visible during the call, but Fathom wins if you care more about price thanks to its free tier.

Best AI note taker for Microsoft Teams

Fireflies and tl;dv both handle Teams meetings well, but Fireflies is the better choice if you need deep CRM sync on top of the transcript. Tl’dv is better if highlight clips and cross-meeting search matter more.

Best AI note taker for sales calls

Avoma and Fireflies are built specifically around revenue workflows. Unlike general purpose notetakers, they offer CRM autofill, sales-methodology scorecards, and talk-pattern analysis. And Read.ai is best if you are looking for engagement scoring on pitch calls so you can see which part of a presentation landed.

Best free AI note taker

Fathom is truly the best in this category thanks to its unlimited recording, storage, and summaries with no time limit, so it’s the best place to start before committing to a subscription anywhere. If you’re not a Fathom fan, try tl;dv that offers a solid free tier that’s only limit is a three-month autodelete feature.

FAQ

What is the best AI note taker?

It depends what you’re looking for, but Fathom is the best all-around pick for individuals due to its free tier and clean summaries. Fireflies and Avoma lead for sales and revenue teams, while Otter is the best choice for real-time collaborative note visibility during the call.

What is the best AI note taker for Zoom?

The Zoom AI Companion is the simplest option if you’re already on a paid Zoom plan since it is included at no extra cost. For more advanced summaries or cross platform support, try Fathom or Fireflies.

What is the best free AI note taker?

Fathom offers an unlimited free tier that covers recording, storage, and AI summaries with no credit card required. Tl;dv is a close second.

What is the best AI note taker for sales calls?

Avoma and Fireflies.ai are the strongest picks, both built around CRM automation and sales-specific analysis rather than general meeting notes. Read.ai is a strong add for pitch calls specifically, given its engagement and sentiment scoring.