Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Fathom vs Fireflies.ai vs Otter.ai
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Sales and customer-facing teams who want every call recorded and summarised without paying per seat to start.
Pick it if: Sales, recruiting and client teams who want every call recorded, searchable and pushed into their other tools.
Pick it if: Journalists, students, researchers and anyone who records conversations outside of video calls.
Overview
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. | A meeting bot that records, transcribes and summarises your calls in 100+ languages. | Live transcripts for meetings, lectures and in-person conversations on your phone. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $18/seat/mo | $16.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2Winner | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers the job it's built for, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | – | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | – |
| Browser extension | – | Yes | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | No | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | No | No | No |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | – |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 11/ 17 | 9/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. | Free Free Trying it on a handful of meetings. | Basic Free Occasional in-person recording. |
Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | ProOur pick $18/seat/mo, or $10/seat/mo billed yearly Individuals and small teams recording most of their calls. | ProOur pick $16.99/mo, or $8.33/mo billed yearly Anyone who records a few conversations a week. | |
Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | Business $29/seat/mo, or $19/seat/mo billed yearly Teams that want video recordings and team analytics. | Business $30/user/mo, or $19.99/user/mo billed yearly Teams who record all day. | |
Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | Enterprise $39/seat/mo billed yearly Larger companies with IT and compliance needs. | Enterprise Custom Organisations needing SSO, API and compliance. | |
Enterprise Custom Larger organisations needing SSO and rollout help. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Most people should simply use Free; it covers more than the paid tiers of its rivals. Only move to Team or Business when several people need to search each other's calls or you want notes landing in HubSpot or Salesforce without lifting a finger. | Pro on yearly billing is the sweet spot: $10 a seat removes the storage cap and turns on integrations. Only step up to Business if you need video recordings or want to see team talk-time and coaching stats. Monthly billing costs nearly twice as much, so commit for a year once you know you'll use it. | Pro on the yearly plan is the sensible choice, and the monthly price is more than double it, so commit for a year or don't bother. Business is only worth it for teams recording several hours a day. |
Key features
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Otter.ai |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Fathom, Fireflies.ai or Otter.ai?
Fathom scores highest overall in our ratings (Fathom 4.2/5, Fireflies.ai 3.8/5 and Otter.ai 3.6/5). Fathom is best for recording sales and client calls and sharing call clips with the team. Fireflies.ai is best for recording and summarising client calls and searching across months of meetings. Otter.ai is best for in-person meeting transcripts and interviews and research.
Which is cheaper, Fathom, Fireflies.ai or Otter.ai?
Fathom: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Fireflies.ai: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $18/seat/mo. Otter.ai: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $16.99/mo.
Which is easier to use, Fathom, Fireflies.ai or Otter.ai?
Fathom rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Sales and customer-facing teams who want every call recorded and summarised without paying per seat to start.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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