Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Fathom vs PLAUD vs Raycast
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: People who spend their day in face-to-face meetings, site visits and phone calls rather than on video calls.
Pick it if: Anyone on a Mac or Windows PC who wants to do more from the keyboard and less with the mouse.
Overview
| Attribute | Fathom | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. | A pocket-sized recorder that turns in-person conversations into transcripts and notes. | A launcher that puts AI, clipboard history and shortcuts one keystroke away. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $17.99/mo | $10/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No | 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 | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2Winner | 3.5 | 4.1 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| 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 | 2.5 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 5.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Fathom | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | – | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | – | No | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | – | Yes |
| 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Makes images | No | No | Yes |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | No | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 8/ 17 | 14/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Fathom | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. | Starter Free with a device ($159 to $189) Light users who record a few meetings a week. | FreeOur pick Free Everyone. The launcher, clipboard history and all extensions. |
Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | ProOur pick $17.99/mo, or $99.99/yr Anyone recording most working days. | Pro $10/mo, or $8/mo billed yearly People who want AI one keystroke away. | |
Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | Unlimited $29.99/mo, or $239.99/yr People who record all day, every day. | Plus $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly Daily AI users who want the top models. | |
Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | Max $50/mo, or $40/mo billed yearly Heavy AI users who want it all inside Raycast. | ||
Enterprise Custom Larger organisations needing SSO and rollout help. | Teams Pro $15/user/mo, or $12/user/mo billed yearly Teams sharing snippets, links and commands. | ||
Enterprise Custom IT-managed rollouts. | |||
| 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. | Buy the device and live on the free 300 minutes for a month to see how much you really record. If you run out, Pro on yearly billing at about $100 is the better deal; Unlimited only pays off if you record several hours a day. Avoid monthly billing, which costs more than double. | Use Free until you catch yourself wishing the AI was there. Then Pro. Plus and Max only make sense if Raycast becomes your main way of talking to AI, and most people already pay for Claude or ChatGPT separately. |
Key features
| Attribute | Fathom | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standout features |
|
|
|
Pros and cons
| Attribute | Fathom | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros |
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|
Who each one is for
| Attribute | Fathom | PLAUD | Raycast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for |
|
|
|
| You'll find it used by |
|
|
|
Questions people ask
Which is better, Fathom, PLAUD or Raycast?
Fathom scores highest overall in our ratings (Fathom 4.2/5, PLAUD 3.5/5 and Raycast 4.1/5). Fathom is best for recording sales and client calls and sharing call clips with the team. PLAUD is best for in-person meetings and site visits and recording phone calls. Raycast is best for launching apps and files and clipboard history.
Which is cheaper, Fathom, PLAUD or Raycast?
Fathom: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. PLAUD: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $17.99/mo. Raycast: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $10/mo.
Which is easier to use, Fathom, PLAUD or Raycast?
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.
Swap in another tool
More tools from Productivity & Notes in the library.
