Best AI meeting notetakers for Solo & Free (2026)
For solo & free, Fathom is our pick (from $20/mo): Fathom's free plan gives unlimited transcription minutes with no per meeting cap and unlimited recording, capping only advanced summaries at 5 per month. Individuals and tiny teams who want the most capable free plan, and the cheapest single paid seat when they outgrow it. Below is the full ranking and the tradeoffs, or read how we score.
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Reviewed by vsref Editorialfacts verified Aug 24, 2026Methodology →
What matters for solo & free
Weight ×5 = decisive, ×1 = relevant| Fact | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Granola | Otter.ai | Laxis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What the free tier caps×5 | 5 advanced summaries/mo; unlimited recordingJul 20 | 400 min storage/team, 20 AI creditsJul 20 | Last 30 days of notes viewableJul 20 | 300 min/mo, 30 min/meeting, 25 recent convosJul 20 | 300 min/mo, 30-day historyJul 20 |
| Price per seat (billed monthly)×4 | 20 $/seat/moJul 20 | 18 $/seat/moJul 20 | 14 $/seat/moJul 20 | 16.99 $/seat/moJul 20 | 15.99 $/seat/moJul 20 |
| Free tier transcription quota×4 | unlimitedJul 20 | unlimitedJul 20 | n/a | 300 min/moJul 20 | 300 min/moJul 20 |
| AI meeting summary×3 | ✓ YesJul 20 | ✓ YesJul 20 | ✓ YesJul 20 | ✓ YesJul 20 | ✓ YesJul 20 |
| Capture method×2 | hybridJul 20 | hybridJul 20 | bot_freeJul 20 | hybridJul 20 | hybridJul 20 |
The ranking, tool by tool
Fathom's free plan gives unlimited transcription minutes with no per meeting cap and unlimited recording, capping only advanced summaries at 5 per month. Full Fathom vs tl;dv verdict →
Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recording and unlimited transcription minutes, capping only at 5 advanced summaries per month, while Zoom AI Companion has no free tier at all and requires a paid Zoom plan just to get started. Full Fathom vs Zoom AI Companion verdict →
Avoma has no free tier at all, while Fathom offers 5 advanced summaries per month with unlimited recording on its free plan, plus unlimited free-tier transcription minutes. Full Fathom vs Avoma verdict →
Fathom's free plan caps only advanced summaries at 5 per month, with unlimited recording and unlimited transcription minutes otherwise. Full Fathom vs Granola verdict →
Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recording, with only advanced AI summaries capped at 5 per month. Full Fathom vs Grain verdict →
Fathom's free plan gives unlimited transcription minutes and unlimited recording, capping only advanced summaries at 5 per month. Full Fathom vs Otter.ai verdict →
Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recording, with only advanced AI summaries capped at 5 per month. Full Fathom vs Fireflies.ai verdict →
Fireflies.ai's starter plan includes unlimited transcription minutes, while Colibri.ai limits its starter plan to 300 minutes a month with a 40 minute cap per recording and only one user. Full Fireflies.ai vs Colibri.ai verdict →
Fireflies.ai's free tier includes unlimited transcription minutes, capped only by 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits, while Laxis caps the free tier at 300 minutes per month with 30 day history. Full Fireflies.ai vs Laxis verdict →
Fireflies.ai's free tier caps only storage and AI credits, at 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits, while transcription itself is unlimited. Full Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai verdict →
Fireflies.ai's free tier includes unlimited transcription minutes, capped only by 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits, while Read AI's free tier caps usage at 5 meetings per month with a 1 hour limit each, a much tighter ceiling for regular use. Full Fireflies.ai vs Read AI verdict →
For individuals watching the free tier, transcription quota is what decides it. Full Fireflies.ai vs Grain verdict →
Fireflies.ai's free plan includes unlimited transcription minutes, capped only at 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits. Full Fireflies.ai vs Gong verdict →
Jump has no free tier at all, while Fireflies.ai's free plan includes unlimited transcription minutes, capped by 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits, giving solo users and tiny teams somewhere to start at no cost. Full Fireflies.ai vs Jump verdict →
For an individual who wants a capable free plan, the transcription quota decides it: Fireflies.ai offers unlimited free tier transcription, while Wudpecker limits its free tier to only a handful of notetaker bot meetings each month. Full Fireflies.ai vs Wudpecker verdict →
For an individual who wants a capable free plan, this is not close. Full Fireflies.ai vs Zoom AI Companion verdict →
Solo users and tiny teams want a strong free plan and a low-cost first seat. Full Fireflies.ai vs tl;dv verdict →
Fireflies.ai's free plan includes unlimited transcription minutes, capped only at 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits, a recurring monthly allowance. Full Fireflies.ai vs Fellow verdict →
Avoma has no free tier at all, while Fireflies.ai offers a free plan with 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits, plus unlimited free transcription minutes, a real starting point for an individual before paying anything. Full Fireflies.ai vs Avoma verdict →
Fireflies.ai's free tier includes unlimited transcription minutes, limited only by 400 minutes of team storage and 20 AI credits, while Sembly AI's free tier caps recording and uploads at just 60 minutes per month. Full Fireflies.ai vs Sembly AI verdict →
For solo users and tiny teams outgrowing a free plan, Fireflies.ai publishes concrete numbers: its free tier includes unlimited transcription minutes, capped at 400 minutes of storage per team, and its cheapest paid seat runs $18/seat/mo billed monthly. Full Fireflies.ai vs Spinach verdict →
Solo users and tiny teams care about what a free plan allows and what the first paid seat costs. Full Fireflies.ai vs Sybill verdict →
Granola's included tier is capped by a 30 day notes history rather than a monthly minutes quota, so a solo user can keep recording without hitting a usage ceiling. Full Granola vs Otter.ai verdict →
Granola's free tier keeps the last 30 days of notes viewable with no fixed meeting count, while Jamie's free tier hard-caps at 10 meetings per month and 30 minutes per meeting, a real restriction for anyone recording more or longer sessions. Full Granola vs Jamie verdict →
Granola offers solo users an actual free plan: view the last 30 days of notes at no cost. Full Granola vs Circleback verdict →
For solo users and tiny teams, Granola's free plan does not cap total recording volume, it simply limits visibility to the last 30 days of notes, while Fireflies.ai's free plan hard caps stored recordings at 400 minutes for the whole team plus 20 AI credits, a ceiling a busy solo user can hit quickly. Full Granola vs Fireflies.ai verdict →
Granola's free tier keeps the last 30 days of notes viewable on a rolling basis with no stated cap on meeting length, so a solo user can keep using it indefinitely. Full Granola vs Bluedot verdict →
Granola's included tier is capped by a 30 day notes history rather than a monthly count, so a solo user can keep taking notes without running into a hard ceiling. Full Granola vs Superpowered verdict →
For individuals and tiny teams testing before they pay, having a free tier at all is what matters most, and Otter.ai has one: 300 minutes per month, capped at 30 minutes per meeting, with 25 recent conversations kept. Full Otter.ai vs Zoom AI Companion verdict →
Otter.ai's free tier includes 300 minutes per month, a 30 minute per meeting cap, and access to 25 recent conversations, while Microsoft Copilot in Teams has no free tier at all. Full Otter.ai vs Microsoft Copilot in Teams verdict →
Otter.ai's free tier gives a solo user 300 minutes per month across meetings up to 30 minutes each, with 25 recent conversations kept, a steady monthly allowance. Full Otter.ai vs Tactiq verdict →
For a solo user evaluating entry-level access, Otter.ai's starting tier includes 300 minutes of transcription per month with 25 recent conversations kept, a straightforward no-cost allowance. Full Otter.ai vs Sybill verdict →
Otter.ai's free tier caps at 300 minutes per month, 30 minutes per meeting, with 25 stored conversations, while Supernormal's free tier runs on a credit system capped at 15 credits per month and 5 credits per day. Full Otter.ai vs Supernormal verdict →
Otter.ai's free tier caps at 300 minutes per month, 30 minutes per meeting, with 25 stored conversations, while Sembly AI's free tier caps at 60 minutes per month of recording and uploads combined. Full Otter.ai vs Sembly AI verdict →
Otter.ai's free tier includes 300 minutes per month with a 30 minute per meeting cap, plus room to keep a batch of recent conversations on hand. Full Otter.ai vs Read AI verdict →
Solo users judge a no-cost plan by whether it covers real meetings. Full Otter.ai vs Notta verdict →
For an individual who wants a capable free plan, this is not close. Full Otter.ai vs Gemini in Google Meet (Take notes for me) verdict →
Solo users judge a no-cost plan by whether it covers real meetings. Full Otter.ai vs Metaview verdict →
Otter.ai offers an included tier with 300 minutes of transcription a month, up to 30 minutes per meeting; Krisp offers no equivalent included tier, only a 7 day trial before a paid plan is required. Full Otter.ai vs Krisp verdict →
Laxis publishes an actual free tier: 300 min/mo with 30-day history, and a paid seat starting at $15.99/seat/mo. Full Laxis vs Gong verdict →
For solo users, meeting-level usability on the no-cost plan matters most. Full MeetGeek vs Otter.ai verdict →
Neither tool has a genuine free tier: Chorus by ZoomInfo has none at all, and Jiminny offers only a 14 day trial before billing starts. Full Jiminny vs Chorus by ZoomInfo verdict →
Grain's free plan allows 20 recorded meetings per month with a hard cap, while tl;dv's free plan caps full AI notes at 10 meetings with three month storage and 10 AI prompts, so Grain's free tier covers double the meetings before hitting a wall. Full Grain vs tl;dv verdict →
Sybill publishes a free tier that caps at 20 AI summaries per month and 500 credits per week, with unlimited recordings and transcripts, plus a paid seat starting at $36/seat/mo billed monthly. Full Sybill vs Gong verdict →
Neither Avoma nor Clari Copilot offers a free tier, so solo users start on a paid plan with either tool, and both ship an AI meeting summary out of the box. Full Avoma vs Clari Copilot verdict →
Neither tool is a great fit for someone hoping to stay free forever: Avoma states plainly it has no free tier, and Gong does not publish a free tier policy at all. Full Avoma vs Gong verdict →
Neither tool actually has a free plan: Chorus by ZoomInfo and Clari Copilot both report no free tier and no free transcription minutes, so solo users and tiny teams cannot start free with either. Full Chorus by ZoomInfo vs Clari Copilot verdict →
Neither tool offers a genuine free tier: Gemini in Google Meet has no free tier, and Zoom AI Companion also has no free tier and needs a paid Zoom plan, so that is a wash. Full Gemini in Google Meet (Take notes for me) vs Zoom AI Companion verdict →
Jamie's free tier renews every month, 10 meetings at 30 minutes each, so a solo user gets a fresh allowance indefinitely. Full Jamie vs Bluedot verdict →
For individuals who want a capable free plan, Metaview actually has one: its free tier includes the first 100 profiles sourced. Full Metaview vs BrightHire verdict →
tl;dv's starting tier carries no overall minute cap, just a 3 hour limit per meeting, against Otter.ai's starting tier of 300 minutes per month, giving tl;dv more room for a solo user with a handful of longer sessions. Full tl;dv vs Otter.ai verdict →
Revenue intelligence platform. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Sales conversation intelligence (ex-Wingman). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Bot-free AI meeting notetaker. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Interview intelligence for recruiting teams; now part of Zoom. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
AI meeting notes + automations. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Real-time conversation intelligence for sales. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Native AI meeting recap for Microsoft Teams. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Privacy-first AI meeting assistant. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Vertical AI notetaker/co-pilot for wealth management: CRM-synced notes, pre-meeting prep, and follow-ups; SOC 2 Type II, 35,000+ advisors. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Noise cancellation + AI meeting notes. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Multilingual AI meeting notetaker & transcription. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
AI meeting + email copilot. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
AI meeting notetaker & intelligence. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
AI meeting notes / AI scrum master. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Bot-free AI notetaker + agentic work. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Privacy-first, bot-free meeting notes: no bots join calls, meetings are not recorded, audio is transcribed live and deleted immediately. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Bot-free AI meeting notetaker. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Positions on customizable, template-driven meeting notes with both a joining bot and a botless desktop recorder, EU-hosted (GDPR). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Built-in meeting AI bundled with Zoom Workplace. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.