AI Tools for Meeting Notes: 12 Tools That Save You Hours (2026)

AI tools for meeting notes listen to your calls, write down what was said, and turn it into a short summary with action items. You stop typing while people talk, and you still leave the meeting with clear notes. This guide compares 12 of the best options in 2026, with real prices checked on each vendor’s site, so you can pick one that fits your team and your budget.

If you sit in a lot of meetings, you know the problem. You either take notes and miss half the discussion, or you listen well and forget the details by the next day. An AI notetaker fixes that. It joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams call, records it, writes a transcript, and pulls out the key points, decisions, and next steps. Most of them also let you search old meetings and ask questions about what was said.

Quick comparison: 12 AI tools for meeting notes

*Prices checked on each vendor’s site on November 13, 2026. Most prices are for annual billing, which costs less than paying month to month. Prices change, so check the vendor’s site before you buy.

1. Otter.ai

Otter.ai is one of the oldest and best-known AI notetakers, and it shows. It joins Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet on its own, writes a live transcript while people talk, and then builds a summary with action items and an outline.

The free plan gives you 300 transcription minutes a month, with each conversation capped at 30 minutes. That is enough to test it on a few real meetings. The Pro plan costs $16.99 a month when billed monthly, with a lower rate on annual billing, and raises the limit to 1,200 minutes a month and 90 minutes per conversation. It also adds Otter AI Chat, so you can ask questions about your meetings, and syncs notes to Salesforce and HubSpot.

Best for: anyone who wants a safe, well-tested choice that works across all three big meeting platforms.
Watch out for: the free plan’s 30-minute cap is short for long meetings, and transcription covers six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Chinese.

2. Fireflies.ai

Fireflies.ai sends a bot to your meetings, records them, and turns them into searchable notes with summaries, action items, and talk-time stats. It connects to Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, and CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, and it can also record from a Chrome extension without a bot joining the call.

The free plan includes unlimited transcription with limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team. The Pro plan costs $10 a seat a month on annual billing ($18 month to month) and adds unlimited summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, and video recording. Fireflies is SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR compliant, and says it does not use your meeting data to train AI models.

Best for: teams that want strong search and CRM links at a fair price.
Watch out for: the free plan’s AI summaries are limited, so you will hit the ceiling fast if you meet a lot.

3. Fathom

Fathom has the most generous free plan on this list. It is free forever for individuals, with unlimited recordings, transcriptions, and AI summaries. You get call clips, playlists, and search across your meetings at no cost.

Paid plans start at $15 a user a month for teams on annual billing ($19 month to month), or $16 a month for a single Premium user. Team plans add a shared workspace, AI action items, and HIPAA compliance with a standard BAA. Fathom also offers a bot-free capture option in beta on Mac, so no extra guest shows up in your meeting.

Best for: individuals and small teams that want a strong tool without paying at first.
Watch out for: advanced summaries and coaching metrics sit on the higher Business plan.

4. tl;dv

tl;dv records your meetings and turns them into timestamped clips and short highlights, so you can share one key moment instead of a full hour of video. It transcribes in over 100 languages and works with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams.

The free plan includes unlimited video recordings and transcription, with AI notes for up to 10 meetings. The Pro plan costs $18 a seat a month on annual billing and adds unlimited AI notes, custom summary templates, action item assignment, and a follow-up email drafter. tl;dv is GDPR and SOC 2 compliant, and its data is hosted in the EU.

Best for: teams that share meeting clips and want tidy, timestamped highlights.
Watch out for: Teams support is more limited than Zoom and Meet, so check it fits your setup.

5. Granola

Granola works differently from most tools here: no bot joins your call. It runs on your own computer, captures the audio from your device, and writes notes you can edit as the meeting goes on. That makes it a good fit for in-person meetings, where a bot cannot join anyway.

Granola has a free Basic plan with 30 days of meeting history. Paid Business and Enterprise plans add unlimited history, shared folders, admin controls, and integrations with Slack, Notion, and HubSpot. The company is SOC 2 Type II certified, deletes your audio after transcription, and lets you opt out of model training with one click.

Best for: in-person meetings and people who do not want a bot in their calls.
Watch out for: because it records from your device, it works best on desktop, and you need to run the app during the meeting.

6. Read AI

Read AI does more than transcribe. It scores your meetings as they happen, with live notes, speaker talk time, and engagement metrics, then gives you a personal meeting coach report that flags filler words, speaking speed, and how balanced the discussion was.

The free plan covers 5 meeting transcripts a month. The Pro plan costs $15 a user a month on annual billing ($19.75 month to month) and adds unlimited transcripts, video playback, and premium integrations with Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Jira. Enterprise plans add HIPAA compliance, SAML, and custom data retention.

Best for: managers and teams that want feedback on how their meetings run, not just a transcript.
Watch out for: the free plan is small at 5 meetings a month, and the coaching scores take some getting used to.

7. MeetGeek

MeetGeek is a strong value pick. It records Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, writes AI summaries with next steps, and can chat with you about any past meeting. It also works without a bot through a Chrome extension or desktop recorder.

The free Basic plan gives you 3 hours of transcription a month. The Pro plan costs $15.99 a month and raises that to 20 hours, with meeting templates and workflow automations. The Business plan costs $27 a month with unlimited transcription and team spaces. MeetGeek is SOC 2, GDPR, and HIPAA compliant, and it does not use your data to train outside models.

Best for: small teams that want a lot of features for little money.
Watch out for: the free plan’s 3 hours a month runs out fast if you meet every day.

8. Notta

Notta is the pick if your meetings cross languages. It transcribes in dozens of languages, and paid add-ons translate transcripts in real time or produce a bilingual transcript. It records Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, and Webex, and it can also transcribe audio and video files you upload.

The free plan gives you 120 transcription minutes a month, with each conversation capped at 3 minutes. The Pro plan costs $8.17 a month on annual billing and raises the limit to 1,800 minutes a month, with 100 AI summaries. The Business plan costs $16.67 a month with unlimited transcription and CRM integrations. Notta is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified.

Best for: multilingual teams and anyone who needs transcripts translated.
Watch out for: the free plan’s 3-minute cap per conversation is only useful for a quick test.

9. Avoma

Avoma is built for sales teams. It records calls, writes AI notes with custom templates for sales methods like MEDDIC and SPICED, and pushes the notes straight into Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, or Pipedrive. Optional add-ons score calls, track deal risks, and coach reps.

There is no free plan, but you get a 14-day free trial of the Organization plan. Paid plans start at $19 a recorder seat a month on annual billing ($29 month to month). People who only watch recordings and read notes are free viewers, so you only pay for the people who record meetings. Avoma supports over 70 languages, and the Enterprise plan adds HIPAA compliance and single sign-on.

Best for: sales and revenue teams that live in their CRM.
Watch out for: it is priced for sales teams, so it is more than a solo user needs.

10. Sembly

Sembly records meetings on Google Meet, Teams, Zoom, and Webex, then turns them into notes, tasks, and branded deliverables like slides and reports. It also tracks risks, issues, and notable moments, and it can chat across many meetings at once.

The free plan covers 1 meeting hour a month. The Basic plan costs $10 a month on annual billing ($14 month to month) with unlimited meetings. The Pro plan costs $20 a user a month and adds custom note templates and multi-meeting chat. Sembly transcribes in over 45 languages, holds SOC 2 Type II certification, and lets you opt out of model training on every plan.

Best for: consultants and client-facing teams that turn meetings into deliverables.
Watch out for: the free plan is very small, and some features, like branded artifacts, need the credit system to make sense for you.

11. Fellow

Fellow pairs AI notes with meeting agendas, so the plan for the meeting and the record of it live in one place. It joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, writes a summary with action items, and lets you ask questions about the meeting after it ends.

The free plan gives you 5 AI notes in total, which is enough for a short trial. The Team plan costs $7 a user a month on annual billing ($11 month to month) and covers 10 AI notes a month, with meeting automations and Notion and Confluence links. The Business plan costs $15 a user a month with unlimited notes, sales recap templates, and advanced CRM integration.

Best for: teams that want agendas, notes, and follow-ups in one tool.
Watch out for: the free plan’s lifetime limit of 5 notes is the smallest here.

12. Jamie

Jamie is another bot-free notetaker, made for people who meet in person or who do not want a bot joining their calls. It listens from your device, writes notes, and lets you ask questions about the meeting with its AI chat.

The free plan covers short meetings with a 30-minute cap and unlimited AI chat. Paid plans start at about €25 a month. Jamie is a simple tool by design: it focuses on clean notes and privacy, not on big team features or CRM links.

Best for: in-person meetings and solo users who want notes without a bot.
Watch out for: it has fewer team and integration features than Otter or Fireflies.

How to choose the right AI tool for meeting notes

Start with how you meet, not with the feature list.

If you meet mostly online on Zoom, Meet, or Teams, any tool on this list works. Pick by price and free plan: Fathom gives you unlimited notes free, Fireflies gives you unlimited transcription free, and Otter is the most tested all-rounder.

If you meet in person, you need a bot-free tool. Granola and Jamie record from your own device, so they work in a room with no video call at all. Read AI also has mobile apps for in-person capture.

If you sell, pick a tool that talks to your CRM. Avoma and Fireflies push notes into Salesforce and HubSpot on their own, and Fathom’s Business plan syncs CRM fields after each call. Avoma adds call scoring and deal tracking if your team needs coaching.

If privacy matters, check three things before you sign up: whether the vendor trains its AI on your meetings, whether it holds SOC 2 or ISO certification, and whether it offers HIPAA compliance if you handle health data. Fireflies, MeetGeek, and Granola all state that they do not train on your data or let you opt out. Fathom, Read AI, Avoma, and Sembly offer HIPAA support on their higher plans.

If you meet in another language, check the language list. Fireflies and tl;dv cover over 100 languages, MeetGeek too, Avoma over 70, Sembly over 45, and Notta adds live translation.

What free plans actually give you

Free plans differ a lot, and the limit that matters is usually minutes, not features. Fathom is the clear winner here: unlimited recordings and summaries free. Fireflies gives you unlimited transcription but limits AI summaries. Otter gives you 300 minutes a month, MeetGeek 3 hours, Notta 120 minutes, and Fellow just 5 notes in total.

Before you pick a free plan, count your meeting hours. If you sit in 10 hours of meetings a week, a 300-minute free plan lasts about a week. In that case, a paid plan that starts near $8 to $16 a month will save you more time than it costs.

Privacy and consent: what to check before you record

Recording a meeting means recording other people, so tell them first. Most tools show a bot joining the call, which is a clear signal, but bot-free tools are less obvious, so say it out loud or put it in the invite. In some US states, including California, everyone in the meeting must agree to be recorded, and the rules change by state.

Also check where your data goes. Look for SOC 2 certification, a clear data retention policy, and a setting that stops the vendor from training AI models on your calls. If you work in health care or with kids, you need HIPAA or FERPA support, which only the higher plans of Fathom, Fireflies, Read AI, Avoma, and Sembly offer.

How to use AI to take meeting notes

Most tools follow the same steps. Connect your calendar, and the tool joins your calls on its own. After the call, you get a transcript, a short summary, and a list of action items. Read the summary before you share it. AI still gets names wrong and can mix up who said what, so fix the action items and owners, then send the notes to the team.

For in-person meetings, open a bot-free app like Granola or Jamie on your laptop or phone, press record, and check the notes when the meeting ends. And if you only need notes from one call, you can also upload a recording to Otter, Fireflies, or Notta and get a transcript without any live setup.

Can ChatGPT take meeting notes?

Yes, but not on its own. ChatGPT cannot join a live call and listen. What you can do is record the meeting, get a transcript from a tool like Otter or Notta, and paste it into ChatGPT to turn it into minutes, a summary, or a follow-up email. That works well for one-off meetings, but it is extra manual work. If you take notes every day, a dedicated notetaker that joins calls by itself saves much more time.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI is best for taking meeting notes?

For most people, Otter.ai or Fathom. Otter is the most tested all-rounder, and Fathom has the best free plan, with unlimited recordings and summaries. If you sell, Avoma fits better. If you meet in person, Granola or Jamie is the better pick.

How do I make AI take meeting notes?

Sign up for a notetaker, connect your calendar, and let it join your calls. It records, transcribes, and writes a summary with action items. For in-person meetings, use a bot-free app on your laptop or phone and press record.

Are free AI meeting notes tools good enough?

Yes, for light use. Fathom’s free plan is genuinely useful, with unlimited recordings and summaries. But if you meet for many hours a week, you will hit the minute limits on Otter, MeetGeek, and Notta fast, and a paid plan from about $8 to $16 a month is worth it.

Do AI note takers work for in-person meetings?

Yes, but only bot-free tools. Granola and Jamie record from your device, so they work in a room with no video call. Read AI also has mobile apps for live capture. Bot-based tools need a video call link to join.

Is it legal to record meetings with AI?

It depends on where you are. Some US states need only one person to agree, while others, like California, need everyone to agree. Always tell the people in the meeting that you are recording, and check your local rules and your company policy first.

The bottom line

AI tools for meeting notes have moved past simple transcription. The best ones now write summaries, pull out action items, search your past meetings, and push notes into the tools your team already uses. Start with a free plan, test it on real meetings for a week, and check the summary for mistakes before you share it. Fathom is the best free start, Otter is the safest all-round pick, Fireflies is the best value for teams, and Granola is the pick for in-person meetings.

Prices in this guide were checked on each vendor’s website on November 13, 2026. Vendors change prices often, so confirm the current price on the vendor’s site before you pay.