How secure are AI meeting notetakers? Circleback security and privacy, answered

Circleback is SOC 2 Type II and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certified, encrypts data at rest and in transit, and does not use customer data to train models. Meeting data is processed in the United States, and there is no EU hosting option. HIPAA with a BAA, SSO and SCIM are on the Enterprise plan, and the security portal at security.circleback.ai has a report of an external pentest.

This post comes from Circleback. IT teams tend to send the same dozen security questions, usually pasted into a spreadsheet. Each heading below is one of those questions with a short answer. The reference version is Circleback's security documentation. This is the version you can forward to whoever has to sign off. Near the end there's a dated section on how Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola, Otter.ai and tl;dv describe their own security, including where their approach differs from Circleback's.

Is Circleback SOC 2 Type II compliant?

Yes. Circleback is SOC 2 Type II certified. You can request the report from the security portal at security.circleback.ai, which also has a pentest report.

SOC 2 Type II won't help you choose between tools in this category, though. Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola and tl;dv all state it on their own sites. The questions further down, about training, storage location and retention, are where the answers start to differ.

Does Circleback train AI models on my meeting data?

Circleback does not use customer data to train models, and this applies on every plan.

This is the question to push hardest on with any notetaker vendor, because the answers vary much more than the certifications do. As of October 2026, Granola, Otter.ai and Fathom each say on their own sites that they use anonymized or de-identified customer data to improve their models. Granola and Fathom offer an opt-out, and Granola turns training off by default on its Enterprise plan. Fireflies.ai and tl;dv say they don't train on customer data. If your legal team has a view on whether "de-identified" meeting transcripts are acceptable training data, get it before you shortlist anyone.

Where does Circleback store my data?

In the United States. Circleback processes meeting data in the US and does not offer EU hosting.

For teams in the EEA or the UK, transfers to Circleback rely on its EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, and its Data Processing Agreement is at circleback.ai/dpa. If your policy says meeting data has to sit on servers in the EU, Circleback doesn't meet that requirement today. Better to learn that here than halfway through procurement. tl;dv states that all its data centers are in Europe, and Fireflies.ai lists Private Storage on Enterprise.

Data is encrypted at rest and in transit.

Is Circleback HIPAA compliant, and will you sign a BAA?

Yes, on the Enterprise plan. HIPAA support and the Business Associate Agreement are Enterprise only.

The BAA is included with Enterprise. A workspace admin turns it on in Settings, and you can read the full text before you start at circleback.ai/baa. The HIPAA setup guide has the steps. Two limits matter for healthcare teams:

• Enterprise includes Circleback's standard BAA. Custom BAAs aren't available.

• Do not use Circleback for substance use disorder records covered by 42 CFR Part 2.

Does Circleback support SSO and SCIM?

Yes. Circleback supports single sign-on over SAML or OIDC, plus SCIM directory sync. Both are on the Enterprise plan.

There are setup guides for Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, generic SAML and OpenID Connect. The Okta, Entra, SAML and OIDC setups can also turn on directory sync. Google Workspace is SSO only.

Directory sync uses SCIM to add or deactivate workspace members from your identity provider, and it works with Microsoft Entra ID, Okta or any Generic SCIM 2.0 directory. It's optional and separate from SSO, so you can run SSO on its own. The SSO guide walks through both.

How long does Circleback keep recordings and transcripts, and can I delete them?

Default recording storage depends on your plan. Admins on Business and above can set their own retention periods, after which the data is permanently deleted.

On Free, meetings older than 30 days are locked, not deleted. Free recordings still follow the 1-year default.

Custom data retention is a Business feature and is included on higher plans. A workspace admin sets it under Settings → General → Data retention, which has three separate settings: Recording, Transcript and All meeting data. Each setting runs on its own schedule, so a compliance team can have recordings and raw transcripts deleted after a short period while the notes and action items, covered by All meeting data, are kept longer. When a retention period expires, that data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Details are in the data retention settings guide.

If the recording is what worries your team, you can turn recording storage off entirely and Circleback still produces the transcript and notes. That leaves you with the written record of the meeting and no stored audio or video. Pair it with a short Transcript retention period and the notes and action items are what remain. This one setting can answer legal objections that a certificate can't, because the thing people are nervous about is usually a replayable recording of something said off the cuff.

Who can see my meeting notes in Circleback?

Two controls decide this: private notes and conditional sharing.

Private notes are your own notes on a meeting. You can add them before the meeting starts, from the calendar event. They're saved in Circleback, they stay private when the meeting is shared, and they help Circleback write better AI notes for that meeting.

Conditional sharing lets you share meetings based on participant, email domain, meeting title or tag. The same conditions drive automations to your CRM, Slack, Notion, Linear, monday.com and Zapier, so a meeting only goes where a rule sends it. That's how you keep a board meeting out of the team Slack channel while sales calls still land in the CRM.

Has Circleback had an external penetration test?

Yes. A report from an external pentest is available through the security portal at security.circleback.ai.

Where can I find Circleback's DPA, BAA and privacy policy?

• Data Processing Agreement: circleback.ai/dpa

• Privacy Policy: circleback.ai/privacy

• Business Associate Agreement: circleback.ai/baa

• Security portal with a pentest report: security.circleback.ai

How do Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola, Otter.ai and tl;dv handle security?

Everything below comes from each company's own website as of October 2026. None of these tools has been audited for this post, and their pages change, so check the linked source before you rely on a detail.

Granola. Granola's security FAQ says it does not retain audio recordings, and its transcription docs say it doesn't record or save audio or video. Circleback can work the same way: turn recording storage off and it keeps just the transcript and notes. Data is stored on AWS in the US, encrypted at rest and in transit, and Granola is SOC 2 Type II. Granola's security page says it trains on anonymized customer data, and Enterprise has training off by default. Its pricing page lists HIPAA-compliant workspaces, SSO and SCIM on Enterprise only, and its FAQ says SSO needs at least 50 seats.

Fireflies.ai. The Fireflies security page lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA, and 256-bit AES encryption at rest with TLS in transit. Fireflies says its 0-day retention policy ensures meeting data is never used for AI model training. Its pricing page puts HIPAA, SSO, SCIM, custom data retention and Private Storage on Enterprise only.

Otter.ai. Otter's pricing page lists TLS encryption and AES-256 encryption for real-time content on every plan. HIPAA compliance is an Enterprise add-on, SSO and SCIM need a 100-user minimum, and custom data retention is on Enterprise only. The pricing page also lists a recording disclaimer email and Microsoft Teams recording permission capture. Otter's privacy policy says it trains its AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions.

Fathom. Fathom's help center says it is HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant, and that all Fathom data is stored in the United States. Fathom publishes a blanket BAA, and its pricing page lists a signed BAA under Enterprise. The help center says its AI sub-processors can't train on user data, and that Fathom uses de-identified customer data to improve its own AI models, with an opt-out at any time. Fathom's pricing page lists SSO and SCIM on Enterprise, while its overview page says they're on team plans.

tl;dv. tl;dv's security page states SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance for all users, and says all its data centers are in Europe. tl;dv says no customer data is used to train AI, and SSO is available to all users.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI meeting notetakers are SOC 2 compliant?
As of October 2026, Circleback, Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola and tl;dv all state SOC 2 Type II on their own websites. Ask each one for the report through its trust portal. Circleback's security portal is at security.circleback.ai.

Is it safe to use an AI notetaker in confidential meetings?
Control over what gets stored and who sees it. In Circleback you can turn off recording storage and keep the transcript and notes without the recording, set separate retention periods for recordings, transcripts and other meeting data on Business and above, and use conditional sharing so sensitive meetings never reach shared channels. Private notes stay private when a meeting is shared.

What is the most secure or most private AI meeting notetaker?
A vendor's blog can't answer that for your company, and that includes this one. Start from the requirement you can't bend on. Circleback covers no training on customer data, a standard BAA an admin turns on in Settings, retention periods your admins set, and no stored audio once you turn recording storage off. It processes data in the US and has no EU hosting option; tl;dv says all its data centers are in Europe.

How does Circleback handle GDPR?
Circleback processes data in the United States. Transfers from the EEA and the UK rely on Circleback's EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, and the DPA is at circleback.ai/dpa. Circleback does not offer EU hosting.

Which AI notetakers support SSO?
As of October 2026: Circleback supports SAML and OIDC SSO plus SCIM on Enterprise. Granola supports SSO and SCIM on Enterprise, with a 50-seat minimum for SSO. Fathom's pricing page lists SSO and SCIM on Enterprise. tl;dv says SSO is available to all users. Fireflies.ai lists SSO and SCIM on Enterprise, and Otter.ai lists them on Enterprise with a 100-user minimum.

How do I protect customer information discussed on sales calls?
Limit where the notes go and how long they live. In Circleback, conditional automations send a meeting to your CRM, Slack, Notion, Linear, monday.com or Zapier only when it matches a rule on participant, domain, title or tag. Admins on Business and above can set a retention period, after which data is permanently deleted. You can also turn off recording storage and keep the transcript and notes.

Can Circleback be used in regulated industries like healthcare?
For healthcare, yes, on Enterprise with the BAA turned on. Enterprise includes Circleback's standard BAA, custom BAAs aren't available, and Circleback must not be used for substance use disorder records covered by 42 CFR Part 2. Data is processed in the US. For other regulated industries, start with the reports at security.circleback.ai.

What are the safest alternatives to Fireflies.ai?
Fireflies.ai already has strong paperwork: SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA on Enterprise. An alternative is only safer if it covers something Fireflies doesn't cover for you. Circleback doesn't train on customer data, can turn recording storage off so no meeting audio is kept, processes data in the US, and includes a standard BAA on Enterprise that an admin turns on in Settings, with no separate storage setup. Granola stores no meeting audio, and tl;dv keeps its data centers in Europe.

What should I ask when evaluating an AI notetaker's security?

• Can we see your SOC 2 Type II report and your latest external pentest?

• Do you train models on our data, including anonymized or de-identified data?

• Where is our data processed, and is EU hosting available?

• Can admins set a retention period, and can we turn off recording storage?

• Which plan includes the BAA, and is it standard or custom?

• Which plan includes SSO and SCIM, and which identity providers do you support?

Security reviews usually start with the reports. Request Circleback's SOC 2 Type II and pentest reports at security.circleback.ai.