Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Fathom vs Granola vs Motion (AI calendar)
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: Founders, consultants and managers who sit in back-to-back calls and hate the awkward recording bot.
Pick it if: Busy owners and small teams juggling lots of tasks and meetings who want the planning done for them.
Granola scores highest overall, but Fathom gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. | Takes meeting notes from your computer's audio, so no bot ever joins the call. | AI calendar that plans your day around your tasks and moves things when plans change. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $14/user/mo | $19/seat/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 4.4Winner | 3.6 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 5.0 | 3.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | – | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | – | No | No |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | No | No | Yes |
| Understands images | No | No | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | No | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | No |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 8/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. | Basic Free Trying it, or anyone who only needs the last month of notes. | Pro AIOur pick $19/seat/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly) Professionals and small teams. |
Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | BusinessOur pick $14/user/mo Anyone in regular client or sales calls. | Business AI $29/seat/mo billed yearly ($49 monthly) Teams that plan around capacity. | |
Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | Enterprise $35/user/mo Companies that need admin control over who records what. | ||
Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | |||
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. | Start on Basic and see how it fits your week. If you find yourself wanting a call from six weeks ago, that's your signal to move to Business. Enterprise is only for IT-managed rollouts. | Pro AI covers individuals and small teams. Take the free trial for at least a week of real work before paying, and pay yearly to save about a third. Move to Business AI only if you need capacity planning and Gantt charts. |
Key features
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Motion (AI calendar) |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Fathom, Granola or Motion (AI calendar)?
Granola scores highest overall in our ratings (Fathom 4.2/5, Granola 4.4/5 and Motion (AI calendar) 3.6/5). Fathom is best for recording sales and client calls and sharing call clips with the team. Granola is best for client and sales calls and interviews and one-on-ones. Motion (AI calendar) is best for planning your day around tasks and meetings automatically and replanning when meetings run over.
Which is cheaper, Fathom, Granola or Motion (AI calendar)?
Fathom: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Granola: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $14/user/mo. Motion (AI calendar): There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $19/seat/mo.
Which is easier to use, Fathom, Granola or Motion (AI calendar)?
Granola rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Founders, consultants and managers who sit in back-to-back calls and hate the awkward recording bot.
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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