Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Fathom vs Heidi vs Smartsheet
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: GPs, specialists, psychologists and allied health practitioners who spend their evenings writing up notes.
Pick it if: Operations, PMO and project teams who think in spreadsheets and need Gantt charts, reports and approvals.
Overview
| Attribute | Fathom | Heidi | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. | AI medical scribe that listens to a consult and writes the notes and letters. | Spreadsheet-style project tracking with AI for formulas, summaries and dashboards. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | $20/mo | Free | $9/member/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | No | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Fathom | Heidi | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.7 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 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 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 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 | Heidi | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | – | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | – | Yes | – |
| API access | 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 | – | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | – |
| Runs agents or automations | No | – | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | Yes | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 8/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Fathom | Heidi | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. | Free Free A single clinician trying it on real consults. | Pro $9/member/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) Individuals and small teams of up to 10. |
Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | ClinicianOur pick See website (14-day free trial) A clinician who uses it every day. | BusinessOur pick $19/member/mo billed yearly ($24 monthly) Teams running several projects together. | |
Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | Practice Custom Clinics with several practitioners. | Enterprise Custom Larger organisations needing admin and security controls. | |
Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | Enterprise Custom Health services and large groups. | Advanced Work Management Custom PMOs managing large portfolios. | |
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 Free for a couple of weeks of real consults. If it saves you time every day, trial the Clinician plan; if you need notes to flow into your practice software or want one bill for the clinic, ask about Practice. | Business is where Smartsheet's reporting and approvals pay off for a team. Pro suits one person or a very small team. Use the 30-day trial on a real project before you commit to a yearly plan. |
Key features
| Attribute | Fathom | Heidi | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Fathom | Heidi | Smartsheet |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Fathom | Heidi | Smartsheet |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Fathom, Heidi or Smartsheet?
They tie on our overall rating (Fathom 4.2/5, Heidi 4.2/5 and Smartsheet 3.7/5). Fathom is best for recording sales and client calls and sharing call clips with the team. Heidi is best for writing up consult notes and drafting referral and specialist letters. Smartsheet is best for Replacing Excel project trackers and gantt charts with dependencies.
Which is cheaper, Fathom, Heidi or Smartsheet?
Fathom: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Heidi: It's free to use. Smartsheet: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $9/member/mo.
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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