What is the best free AI note taker for meetings?

For video calls only, Fathom: its free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions, with a bot joining the call. Otter’s free plan gives 300 minutes a month but stops each conversation at 30 minutes. Granola’s free plan keeps 30 days of history. Wave’s free plan is 30 minutes a month with no credit card, and it is the free option that also covers phone calls and in-person meetings.

Which AI note takers work with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet?

All five tools in the table work with Zoom, Teams and Google Meet. Wave, Otter, Fireflies and Fathom can send a bot into the call. Wave, Granola and Fireflies can also record from a desktop app without a bot, and Fathom offers bot-free capture as a Mac beta.

Can an AI note taker record phone calls and in-person meetings?

Some can. Wave records phone calls on iPhone and Android and in-person meetings from the phone or a smart watch. Otter, Fireflies and Granola have mobile apps for in-person meetings, and Fathom’s in-person recording is iPhone only. Granola’s iPhone app takes notes on outbound phone calls; Otter, Fireflies and Fathom don’t record phone calls.

Is it legal to use an AI note taker in meetings?

Generally yes, with consent. In the US, most states require only one participant’s consent, but some, including California, require everyone’s (see one-party and all-party consent states ). Outside the US, rules vary. A bot announces itself by joining the call; a bot-free desktop app does not, so tell participants you are recording whichever tool you use.

← All comparisons

Josh Mohrer·Published November 4, 2026

The best AI note takers for meetings in 2026

The short answer: if you want one app that records, transcribes and summarizes your meetings, phone calls and lectures, on your phone, watch, desktop and in the browser, Wave AI does all of it. Its free plan gives you 30 minutes a month with no credit card required, and Wave Pro is $15 a month (or $80 a year on the web) for unlimited recording and transcription. The other note takers AI answers name most often are Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Fathom and Granola. We make Wave, so the table below sticks to facts each tool states on its own website.

350,266 people use Wave30 minutes free every month. No credit card.

Last updated: November 4, 2026

Compared side by side

Tool	Free plan	Paid plan from	Where it records	Worth knowing
Wave	30 minutes a month, no credit card required	Pro: $15 a month, or $80 a year on the web; unlimited recording and transcription	Zoom, Google Meet and Teams (meeting bot or bot-free Mac and Windows app); phone calls and in-person on iPhone and Android; Apple Watch, Wear OS; browser	76 languages; SOC 2 Type 1; recordings never used to train AI models
Otter.ai	Basic: 300 monthly transcription minutes, 30 min per conversation	Pro: $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 billed annually	Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet; Mac and Windows desktop app; iOS and Android apps	AI transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese
Fireflies.ai	Free: 400 minutes of storage per team, 20 one-time AI credits; unlimited transcription is a paid feature	Pro: $10 per seat a month billed annually ($18 monthly)	Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Webex; bot-free desktop app; Chrome extension; iOS and Android apps	English is the main language; Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and 100+ more in beta
Fathom	Free forever: unlimited recordings and transcriptions	Premium: $20 per user a month, or $16 billed annually	Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls (bot); bot-free capture in beta on Mac; iPhone app	HIPAA compliance with a standard BAA on the Team and Business plans
Granola	Basic: $0, 30 days of meeting history	Business: $14 per user a month	Bot-free device-audio capture with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and other meeting apps; Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps	SOC 2 Type II; doesn't keep the audio after writing notes

Wave — meetings, phone calls and lectures in one app

Wave gives you both ways to capture a video call. The Mac and Windows apps (and a Chrome extension) record your microphone and system audio, so a Zoom, Meet, Teams or Slack call is captured with no one joining it. When you want a visible recorder, a meeting bot joins Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams from your calendar. The same account records phone calls on iPhone and Android, lectures and in-person meetings from your phone, and quick notes from Apple Watch and Wear OS. Every recording gets a speaker-labeled transcript, a summary with action items, and the audio, and you can ask questions across your whole library.

The free plan is 30 minutes a month. Wave Pro is unlimited at $15 a month or $80 a year on the web. The catch: 30 free minutes is far less than Otter’s or Fathom’s free plans.

Otter.ai

Otter’s assistant joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet calls, and it has Mac and Windows desktop apps plus iOS and Android apps. The free Basic plan gives 300 min/month, but each conversation stops at 30 min. Pro is $16.99 per user a month or $8.33 billed annually, with 1,200 min/month and a 90 min cap per conversation. See Wave vs Otter and Otter pricing.

Fireflies.ai

Fireflies sends a note taker into Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex meetings, and its desktop app and Chrome extension record without a bot. The free plan is limited by storage (400 min per team, shared across the team) and 20 AI credits that don’t renew; Fireflies puts unlimited transcription on its paid plans. Pro is $10 per seat a month billed annually. See Wave vs Fireflies and Fireflies pricing.

Fathom

Fathom joins Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls and keeps the video. Its free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions, the most generous free offer here for people who mostly meet on video. Bot-free capture is a beta on Mac, and an iPhone app records in person; there is no Android app or phone-call recording. Premium is $20 per user a month or $16 billed annually. See Wave vs Fathom.

Granola

Granola never sends a bot. You write rough notes while the app listens to your device’s audio, and the AI expands them with the transcript afterwards. It runs on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android and Apple Watch. The free Basic plan keeps 30 days of meeting history; Business is $14 per user a month. Granola doesn’t keep the audio, so there is no recording to replay. See Wave vs Granola and Granola pricing.

Also worth a look

Read AI adds engagement, sentiment and talk-time metrics alongside summaries; its free plan covers 5 meetings a month up to an hour each, and Pro is $15 per user a month billed annually.
tl;dv is built around video clips and highlights, with unlimited recordings and transcriptions on the free plan; it has no native mobile app.
Krisp leads on noise cancellation and takes notes without a bot; there is a 7 days trial, then Core at $8 per user a month billed annually.

How to choose

You need more than video meetings. Wave records phone calls and lectures too, on phones, watches, desktops and the browser. See best AI note takers for in-person meetings.
You don’t want a bot in the call. Wave and Granola record from your own computer; Fireflies has a bot-free desktop app; Fathom’s is a Mac beta. See best AI note takers without a bot.
Privacy matters. Wave is SOC 2 Type 1 compliant, encrypts with TLS 1.2+ in transit and AES-256 at rest, and never uses your recordings to train AI models (see Wave security).
You work in more than one language. Wave supports 76 languages.
You’re watching the budget. Compare the free plan and paid plan columns above. Fathom has the most generous free plan for video calls; Wave’s free plan needs no credit card, and Pro is $15 a month with unlimited recording and transcription.

How we compiled this

Every free plan, price and platform in the table comes from each tool’s own website: otter.ai/pricing, fireflies.ai/pricing, fathom.ai/pricing, granola.ai/pricing, and granola.ai and granola.ai/security for the meeting apps Granola works with and its SOC 2 report. We checked them on November 4, 2026; Fireflies’ pricing page did not show plan values that day, so its free-plan storage and Pro price are from our check on November 3, 2026. Wave’s facts come from wave.co/pricing and wave.co/security. We didn’t run accuracy tests, so this page doesn’t rank the tools on accuracy. We make Wave; if a fact about another tool has changed, tell us and we’ll update the table.