Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Fathom vs Linear vs Slack
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: Startups and product teams who build software and want a fast, clean place to plan and track the work.
Pick it if: Teams that want one place to talk, and that lose time catching up on channels and hunting for old decisions.
Linear 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 | Linear | Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. | Fast project tracker for product teams, with an AI agent that can code your issues. | Team chat with AI built in: catch-up summaries, answers from your chats and Slackbot. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $0 | $0 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Fathom | Linear | Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 4.5Winner | 4.0 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, 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 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Fathom | Linear | Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | 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 | Yes | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | – | Yes |
| Works in many languages | Yes | No | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 11/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Fathom | Linear | Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. | Free $0 Small teams getting started. | Free $0 Small teams trying Slack. |
Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | BasicOur pick $10/user/mo billed yearly Small product teams. | Pro $7.25/user/mo billed yearly ($8.75 monthly) Small teams that want basic AI. | |
Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | Business $16/user/mo billed yearly Growing teams with support requests and private work. | Business+Our pick $15/user/mo billed yearly ($18 monthly) Teams that want the full AI set. | |
Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | Enterprise Custom Large companies with security needs. | Enterprise+ $45/user/mo billed yearly Large companies with many tools. | |
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 free, then move to Basic when you pass 250 issues. Go to Business when you want AI triage, support-tool integrations or private teams. Add AI credits only if you plan to have Linear Agent write code; top-ups start at $10. | If your team already pays for Pro, try the basic AI first. Move to Business+ when you want AI search, the Slackbot agent and daily recaps, which is where the real time saving is. New teams get 50% off Pro or Business+ for 3 months if they upgrade in the first week. |
Key features
| Attribute | Fathom | Linear | Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Fathom | Linear | Slack |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Fathom | Linear | Slack |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Fathom, Linear or Slack?
Linear scores highest overall in our ratings (Fathom 4.2/5, Linear 4.5/5 and Slack 4.0/5). Fathom is best for recording sales and client calls and sharing call clips with the team. Linear is best for tracking bugs and feature requests and planning product roadmaps and sprints. Slack is best for catching up on busy channels after time off and finding past decisions in your team's messages.
Which is cheaper, Fathom, Linear or Slack?
Fathom: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Linear: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $0. Slack: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $0.
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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