All four main AI meeting assistants here have a free plan. Fathom’s free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, Fireflies lists unlimited transcription with 400 minutes of storage per team, Otter gives 300 minutes a month, and Read.ai gives five meeting transcripts a month. On annual billing, the lowest listed individual paid price is Otter Pro at $8.33 a month, followed by Fireflies Pro at $10, Read.ai Pro at $15 and Fathom Premium at $16. Otter also shows a lower promotional price whose terms are unclear. None of the four offers a clear, unconditional refund.
This is a documentary comparison based on the providers’ official pages. We have not bought, installed or tested any of these tools, so nothing here is a verdict on transcript accuracy or summary quality. Feature and privacy statements below are the providers’ own claims.
What a meeting assistant does, and what it does not fix
These tools join your video calls, or record from your computer, then produce a transcript, a summary and a list of action items. They save note-taking time. They do not decide what is confidential, and they record other people who may not have agreed to it. Before you connect one to your calendar, sort your meetings by sensitivity with our guide to classifying data before using AI tools. Summaries can also be wrong, so someone should check them before they become decisions or tickets.
Individual plans side by side
Prices and plan details were checked on the providers’ official pages on 5 November 2026. Figures are in USD as displayed. Prices vary by country, currency, taxes and promotions, so confirm the final amount at checkout.
| Item | Otter.ai Pro | Fireflies.ai Pro | Fathom Premium | Read.ai Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $16.99/month list ($8.49 shown as a promotion) | $18 per seat/month | $20/month | $19.75/month |
| Annual billing, per month | $8.33 list ($4.17 shown on the plan card) | $10 per seat | $16 | $15 |
| Per year on annual billing | $99.96 at list price (our arithmetic) | $120 (our arithmetic) | $192 (our arithmetic) | $180 (our arithmetic) |
| Transcription | 1,200 meeting minutes/month | Unlimited | Unlimited recordings and transcriptions | Unlimited transcripts |
| Storage | Unlimited conversation history | 8,000 minutes per seat | Not confirmed | Unlimited |
| Length limit | 90 minutes per conversation | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Meetings up to 4 hours |
| Refunds | No refunds | Conditional (see below) | Conflicting statements | No refunds |
Otter’s pricing page showed promotional prices with asterisks that were not explained. Pro monthly appeared as $8.49 instead of $16.99, and the Pro annual card showed $4.17 a month while the comparison table listed $8.33. A footnote says “Offer valid for first-time subscribers only”, but it is not clearly tied to a price. Treat the list prices as the reliable figures and check the promotion at checkout. Fireflies advertises “Save up to 44%” on annual billing, and Fathom says annual billing saves “25%+”. You can check the current offer on Otter.ai.
Free plans and their limits
- Otter Basic: 300 transcription minutes per user per month, a 30-minute cap per conversation, only the 25 most recent conversations kept, three lifetime file imports, 20 AI Chat queries a month, up to five workspace members.
- Fireflies Free: unlimited transcription (with a footnote), limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits.
- Fathom Free: unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, clips and search across calls. Some AI features are marked “Limited use”, and Fathom does not map them clearly to each plan.
- Read.ai Free: five meeting transcripts, five meeting reports and five live notes a month, meetings up to one hour, no audio or video uploads or playback, no credit card required.
tl;dv also has a free plan. Its pricing page lists unlimited video recordings and transcriptions in 30+ languages, 10 meetings with AI notes and 10 Ask AI requests. Its terms cap free recordings at 40 a week. We could not confirm tl;dv’s paid prices in US dollars, so we leave them out of this comparison.
Team plans and minimums
Team prices are per user per month on annual billing unless noted.
- Otter Business: $19.99 on annual billing, or $30 list on monthly billing (shown as $24 with “20% off for 3 months+”). Up to 25 billed users, unlimited meeting transcription, meetings up to 4 hours. Otter Pro itself allows up to five billed users.
- Fireflies Business: $19 per seat on annual billing, $29 monthly. Unlimited storage, 30 AI credits, team analytics and a 3-hour recording limit. Fireflies Enterprise is $39 per seat, annual only. No seat minimum is stated.
- Fathom Team: $15 on annual billing, $19 monthly, minimum two users. Fathom Business: $25 annual, $34 monthly, minimum two users. Enterprise shows $35, annual only, but the label on the page was unclear.
- Read.ai Enterprise: $22.50 on annual billing, $29.75 monthly, for five or more licenses. Enterprise+ is $29.75 annual, $39.75 monthly. All licenses in a Read workspace must be on the same plan. Read lists annual volume discounts of 10% from 100 licenses.
For a five-person team on annual billing, that works out at $1,199.40 a year for Otter Business, $1,140 for Fireflies Business, $900 for Fathom Team and $1,350 for Read.ai Enterprise (all our arithmetic). These plans include different features, so compare what you need, not just the total. If you plan to roll out a shared assistant, our guide to deploying a team AI assistant with human review covers ownership and review steps.
Refunds and renewals
Otter’s help centre says it does not offer refunds, and its terms say fees are non-refundable. Subscriptions renew automatically; Otter advises cancelling at least 24 hours before the next billing date. App store subscriptions must be cancelled through Apple or Google.
Fireflies’ refund policy in its help centre gives a full refund on monthly plans if you have been active seven days or less and recorded three meetings or fewer, otherwise a pro-rated refund. On annual plans, the limit is seven days and 20 meetings, with no pro-rated refunds. AI credits are non-refundable. Another Fireflies help article says it does not refund subscriptions, so its own sources conflict.
Fathom’s pricing page shows a “90 day guarantee”, but its terms of service say “All fees are non-refundable” and do not mention the guarantee. Read.ai’s pricing FAQ says it does not offer refunds; you keep access until the end of the billing period. With these conflicts, confirm the refund terms at checkout and keep a copy. You can review Fathom and Read.ai before you pay.
Recording consent: what each provider says
- Otter: its notetaker joins as a named participant and posts a chat announcement. Enterprise admins can enforce pre-meeting notification emails. For botless desktop recording, Otter says the user is responsible for notifying participants and getting consent.
- Fireflies: offers an audio consent message, a meeting chat post and an “AI Taking Notes” video watermark for bot-free capture. If these are off, Fireflies says the user is responsible. Participants can opt out, and the bot will not join.
- Fathom: its terms require you to have every participant’s consent before the call starts, and forbid using the service if anyone does not consent.
- Read.ai: admins can send advance notice and opt-out emails to external invitees. An “Opt Out” command deletes captured data, and hosts can remove the bot. For desktop or mobile capture, you are responsible for consent.
- tl;dv: an optional consent screen for external invitees, off by default.
Whatever the tool, you are responsible for telling participants and following the recording-consent laws that apply where you and they are. Rules differ between countries and states. This is not legal advice; check with someone qualified if you are unsure.
How to decide
Start with the free plans: Fathom if you want unlimited recordings at no cost, Otter or Read.ai if your meetings are short and few. Choose Otter Pro or Fireflies Pro if the lowest listed annual individual price matters most, keeping in mind that Otter caps Pro at 1,200 minutes a month and Fireflies caps Pro storage at 8,000 minutes. Among the dedicated team plans, Fathom Team has the lowest listed annual price, with a two-user minimum. Small groups can also share Otter Pro, which allows up to five billed users. Read.ai’s paid plans list unlimited storage and longer meetings, with a five-license minimum for Enterprise. For a closer look at two of them, read Otter vs Fireflies. You can also check the current offer on Fireflies.ai.
If summaries will feed tasks, tickets or client emails, decide who approves them first. Our guide to human approval gates for AI workflows shows how.
- Count your meetings and their typical length against each free plan’s caps.
- Decide which meetings must never be recorded.
- Compare annual and monthly billing, and note any team minimum.
- Treat promotional prices as unconfirmed until you see them at checkout.
- Read the refund terms before paying; most say no refunds.
- Turn on the consent features and tell participants before recording.
- Confirm the final price, taxes and currency at checkout.
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