Why I Tried Fathom AI Notetaker
Let’s face it, most meetings are a haze. You’re trying to listen, think ahead, answer questions, and type notes simultaneously. By the time it’s over, your notes are a combination of half-sentences, abbreviations only you understand, and several “???” for which you missed.
That was me every week, and I either went overboard taking notes and missed the conversation, or I was taking it easy and realized I forgot to write down some of the most important action items. The worst part was having to sift through the recordings just to pull out that one quote from a client. It truly was a time-sucking nightmare.
So when I heard about Fathom AI Notetaker, I thought, “Finally, a solution to this headache.” It claimed to be able to record meetings automatically, generate transcripts, create highlights, and even generate a summary. Too good to be true? That is what I wanted to test out.
In this article, I cover everything: setup, features, pros and cons, pricing, comparisons, and where I think it stands out personally.
I tried Fathom because I was desperately looking to be less admin-focused and actually more engaged when I was in meetings. I wanted to see if AI could take over the note-taking process accurately. Turn Every Meeting into Actionable Insights- Explore Fathom AI’s powerful AI notetaker.
Getting Started with Fathom AI
- Download the App: Go to fathom.ai and download the desktop app (Mac or Windows).
- Install and Sign in: Once the app is installed, create your free account.
- Connect Your Calendar: Connect your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calendar so Fathom can auto-join your calls.
- Enable Auto-Recording: Turn on auto-record so Fathom joins your meetings without you needing to approve it manually.
- Using it during meetings: Highlight and tag important notes as they happen in real-time.
- You can even ask Fathom questions like “What was the budget update?” and get the answer in seconds.
- Reviewing After the Meeting: Transcripts, summaries, and action items can all be viewed in the Fathom dashboard.
- You can share notes with teammates through Slack, HubSpot, or Asana.
Using Fathom AI During Meetings
Here’s where I really started to get sold. As soon as the meeting started, Fathom would automatically start recording/transcribing. I didn’t need to push any buttons, and I could never forget to hit record.
While I was on the call, if I wanted to mark an important moment, I could just click my mouse. For example, when a client said, “We’ll get our budget approved next month,” I just clicked highlight, and Fathom saved that snippet immediately. No more rewinding an hour-long call later just to find a five-second quote.
But the real MVP of the Fathom experience was the Ask Fathom feature. After a call, instead of scrolling through the transcript, I could type questions like,
- “When are the said deadlines?”
- “Were there any action items for me?”
And Fathom would show me the exact answers. It felt like using an overpowered Ctrl+F for meetings.
Reviewing Meeting Notes Afterward
Just moments after the conclusion of a meeting, Fathom AI sends an email to the users with a structured summary, clear action items, and a complete transcript.
The summaries are informative and succinct – much more than just generic text. Action items are identified and clearly differentiated, often linked to a user’s name (which makes it easier to conduct follow-ups).
Within the dashboard, all meetings are beautifully organized and contain transcripts, highlights, and recordings. Users can reference or rewatch specific things in a meeting by reviewing their key periods or just what they highlighted. This creates a well-organized, searchable resource instead of a set of uncoordinated notes.
Exploring Advanced Features
After about a week, I started to dig into all of its advanced tools, and it was during that exploration that I learned Fathom was far more than “transcribe and summarize.” Here are just a few of the features that I quickly began to champion within my practice:
- Global Search: If I wanted to know every time a client said “pricing” during the past month, I could search for it and get instant results across all meetings.
- Custom Vocabulary: Years of industry words and acronyms that were once mangled in transcripts were now right!
- Alerts & keyword tracking: I could set it so that Fathom flagged mentions of my competitor’s names or specific project deadlines.
- Templates: This feature is underrated; the summaries adjust based on the type of meeting. Sales calls have one approach, and internal meetings have another; they are distinctly different even if they could have a similar way to summarize.
Global search was extraordinarily helpful for me. No more guessing; I had a searchable record of all calls right at my fingertips!
Pricing and Plans
| Plan | Price (Monthly) | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | High-quality meeting notes, free forever, Unlimited recordings & transcription, Instant call summaries to inbox, Clips, playlists, and search across calls, Integrations: CRM sync, Zapier, and more, Premium features for 5 calls/month |
| Premium | $16/user | All Free features- Advanced call summaries (expert frameworks & custom formats), AI-generated action items, Ask Fathom conversational assistant, Asana action item integrations, Customized meeting bot |
| Team | $14/user (min 2 users) | All Premium features- Global search across team calls, Playlists of highlights from team meetings, Team collaboration with comments, folders, keyword alerts, Custom transcription vocabulary, Single Sign-On (SSO) |
| Business | $20/user (min 2 users) | All Team features- CRM field sync, Deal View summarizing call insights, Coaching metrics & AI scorecards, Advanced security controls & custom data retention policies |
After logging in:
- Invite a friend → 10 points on signup + 1 point for every point they earn in 7 days
- Fathom Mayor → First person in your company to join 3 Zoom calls = 25 points
- Weekly highlights → Week 1: 5 pts, Week 2: 10 pts, Week 3: 15 pts, Week 4: 20 pts
- Integrations → Points for linking Slack, enabling auto-record, and sending highlights
- Feedback → Points for product feedback
- Points are not redeemable for cash
Competitor Comparison
| Tool | Free Plan | Paid Plan (Starting) | Standout Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom AI | Yes | ~$16/month | Unlimited free tier + real-time highlights, AI-generated summaries |
| Otter.ai | Limited minutes | $16.99/month | Live in-call transcription |
| Fireflies.ai | Limited storage | $10/month | Multi-language support and call analytics |
Integrations That Matter
This is where Fathom transitioned from “useful” to “an authentic workflow tool.”
- HubSpot & Salesforce: Connect Fathom to your CRM and automatically sync client notes, call summaries, and action items. Navigate to Settings → Integrations → CRM and follow the prompts to connect your account.
- Slack: Get highlights and summaries from your meetings automatically posted to your team channels. Simply go to Settings → Highlight Options → Slack, choose the channel you want to post to, and the updates will automatically post from Fathom going forward.
- Asana + Zapier: Take AI-generated action items and quickly turn them into tasks. Connect Fathom in Settings → Integrations → Asana/Zapier, map the fields, and your action items will flow straight into your project boards.
Pros and Cons of Fathom AI
Pros
- Unlimited free plan (rare in this space)
- Accurate transcriptions, even with jargon
- Structured summaries and action items
- Strong integrations with CRMs and productivity tools
- Easy to use, almost no learning curve.
Cons
- The visible bot in meetings can feel awkward at first
- Limited analytics compared to Fireflies
- No sentiment analysis or tone insights yet.
Fathom AI Notetaker vs Fireflies.ai
Fathom AI Notetaker
Free Plan: Unlimited recordings, transcripts, and summaries.
Integrations: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams.
Key Features:
- Real-time highlights and tagging
- Instant summaries and action items
- Global search across all calls
Pros: Easy to use with a generous free plan and great meeting notes.
Cons: Less analytics and limited language (does not support multiple languages like Fireflies).
Fireflies.ai
Free Plan: It provides transcription and core features but limits each seat to 800 audio minutes and transcription credits.
Paid Plans:
- Pro (~$10/user/month): Unlimited transcription with 8,000 audio minutes of storage and advanced searches.
- Business (~$19/user/month): Unlimited storage with CRM integrations, analytics, and team insights.
Key Features:
- Multi-language support (60+ languages)
- Advanced analytics and conversation intelligence
- The AI assistant “AskFred” supports questions across calls.
Pros: Decent analytics capabilities, language support, and CRM integration.
Cons: The free plan offers limited features.
When to Choose Which
- Fathom AI Notetaker: Best for individuals or small teams that want a simple, effective, and free solution to managing meeting notes without restriction.
- Fireflies.ai: Better for global teams, enterprises, or organizations that need multi-language transcription, detailed analytics, and connectivity to CRM systems.
Best Use Cases for Fathom AI
In my experience, Fathom is amazing in these experiences:
- Sales calls: You never miss client objections or promises.
- Team meetings: You couldn’t have a more perfect solution for asynchronously getting distributed teams aligned.
- Recruitment interviews: You can focus on the candidate instead of typing everything out.
- Remote/hybrid work: Fathom abstracts and provides summaries, so other teammates who aren’t present won’t miss anything.
I have most heavily leaned on the Fathom app in my sales and client meetings. It easily allows me to have clear action items and send summaries to participants within hours without thinking of the follow-up. This has created time savings of hours in my follow-up.
My Verdict on Fathom AI Notetaker
Now, I have been using Fathom for weeks, and it is going to have a permanent home in my toolkit. It solved my biggest pain point: always worrying about missing the details while simultaneously taking notes.
Would I use it again? Heck yes. For me personally, I find it to be especially useful in external meetings (with clients, partners, etc.) where accuracy and recollection are vital. Even internally, it helps to combat the frantic chaos of endless meeting notes.
It might not be perfect, but with its blend of accuracy, usability, and a decent free offering, it is one of the best AI notetakers I have tried.
And if you’re curious about other free AI tools that boost productivity in different ways, don’t miss our review of Voila AI, a powerful free writing assistant that makes content creation faster and easier.
Is Fathom AI Worth It?
If you are still undecided about trying Fathom, my answer is clear: yes.
It lightens meetings, gives you instant summaries, and helps you focus on people rather than your keyboard. The free plan is strong enough that you will lose nothing by testing it, and the paid plan is still reasonably priced if your organization needs additional integrations.
For salespersons, project managers, recruiters, and remote teams, this is a productivity tool. In a space crowded with AI note takers, Fathom shines by executing the basics well and providing enough advanced features to grow with you.
Try it in your next few meetings, and like me, you might find you never want to return to messy, manual notes. Save Time on Post-Meeting Work- Let Fathom AI handle summaries and highlights.
If you’re interested in AI tools beyond meeting aids, check out our breakdown of the best AI chat platforms for young adults, perfect for conversational AI that’s both smart and relatable.
