TL;DR / Key Takeaways
- Fathom has the most generous free plan: unlimited recordings and transcripts.
- Otter Pro ($8.33) and Fireflies Pro ($10) are the cheapest paid plans per user on annual billing.
- Granola and tl;dv record without a bot joining the call; MeetGeek offers both modes.
- A 5-person team pays roughly $500 to $900 a year depending on the tool.
- Check each vendor's AI-training policy before recording client calls.
Short answer: the best Otter.ai alternatives in 2026 are Fathom (the most generous free plan: unlimited recordings), Fireflies (cheapest paid plan at $10 a user on annual billing), Granola and tl;dv (no bot joins your call), and MeetGeek (bot or bot-free, 100+ languages, deep CRM sync). Otter itself is still good value at $8.33 a month on annual billing, but its free plan caps each conversation at 30 minutes. Updated October 29, 2026.
How we checked: plans, limits and privacy claims come from each vendor's own pricing, help-center and security pages, read October 29, 2026. Compliance claims are the vendors' own; we did not audit them. We did not record the same meeting in every tool, so this guide does not rate transcript accuracy. The team-cost table is our arithmetic on published prices.
AI note takers at a glance
| Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid (annual billing) | Bot joins the call? | Stated compliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, last 25 conversations kept | Pro $8.33/user/month ($16.99 monthly) | Not stated on its pricing page | SOC 2; HIPAA on Enterprise |
| Fathom | Unlimited recordings and transcripts; some AI features limited | Premium $16/month ($20 monthly) | Bot, or bot-free on Mac (beta) | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA BAA |
| Fireflies | 400 storage minutes per seat, 20 AI credits a month | Pro $10/user/month ($18 monthly) | Not stated on the pages we read | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, ISO 42001; HIPAA on Enterprise |
| MeetGeek | 3 hours a month, 2 hours per meeting | Pro: $15.99 on the plan card, $9.99/user in its calculator | Bot or bot-free | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA |
| Granola | Notes kept 30 days | Business $14/user/month | No: captures your device audio | SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA on Enterprise |
| tl;dv | Unlimited meetings and AI notes | Pro EUR 18/seat/month (EUR 29 monthly) | No bot required | SOC 2, GDPR, EU hosting |
| Read.ai | 5 meeting transcripts a month, 1-hour cap | Pro $15/user/month ($19.75 monthly) | Not stated | SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR; HIPAA on Enterprise+ |
What a 5-person team pays per year
| Tool and plan | Per user per month (annual) | 5 users for a year (our math) |
|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai Pro | $8.33 | About $500 |
| Fireflies Pro | $10 | $600 |
| Fathom Team | $15 | $900 |
| Read.ai Pro | $15 | $900 |
| Granola Business | $14 (annual price not listed) | About $840 |
| tl;dv Pro | EUR 18 | EUR 1,080 |
Bot or no bot
Most note takers join your call as a visible participant. Some guests dislike that, and some companies block it. Granola records your device audio instead, so nothing joins the call; tl;dv advertises "no bot required"; MeetGeek offers both modes; and Fathom has a bot-free option on Mac in beta. If your calls are with clients who may object to a recorder joining, start with these.
Which one to choose
- You want it free: Fathom, with unlimited recordings on the free plan; or tl;dv, if you want no bot.
- Cheapest paid plan for a team: Otter Pro or Fireflies Pro, both around $8 to $10 a user on annual billing.
- Sales team that lives in the CRM: MeetGeek, which syncs to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho and Attio, or Fathom Team for HubSpot and Salesforce.
- Nobody should see a bot: Granola.
- Already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: check the built-in option first. Microsoft's Copilot Business add-on recaps Teams meetings ($18 a user a month on annual billing during a 2026 promotion, $21 list), and Gemini note-taking in Meet comes with Workspace Business Standard and up.
Training on your data: Fireflies, MeetGeek and tl;dv say they do not use your meetings to train AI models; Otter says it trains its own models on de-identified data; Granola and Fyxer offer an opt-out. Check this before recording client calls. For other AI assistants that act on your meetings and email, see our Fyxer listing.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Otter.ai?
Fathom: its free plan records and transcribes unlimited meetings, while Otter's free plan stops each conversation at 30 minutes and keeps only the 25 most recent. tl;dv's free plan is also unlimited and needs no bot.
Which AI note taker does not join the call as a bot?
Granola records your device audio so nothing joins the call, tl;dv advertises no bot required, MeetGeek offers a bot-free mode, and Fathom has a bot-free option on Mac in beta.
Is Otter.ai still worth it in 2026?
For price, yes: Otter Pro is $8.33 a user a month on annual billing with 1,200 minutes a month and 90-minute conversations. Its free plan is the weak point, with a 30-minute cap per conversation.
Do AI meeting note takers train on my recordings?
It varies. Fireflies, MeetGeek and tl;dv say they do not use your data to train AI models; Otter trains its own models on de-identified data; Granola offers a training opt-out. Read each vendor's privacy page before recording client calls.