Best Free AI Meeting Notes App (2026)

TL;DR: Circleback Free has unlimited meetings and members and keeps 30 days of history, and it's free forever, not a trial. Fathom's free plan has unlimited recordings but caps advanced AI summaries at 5 a month. Otter's free Basic plan allows 300 minutes a month, with a 30-minute limit per conversation.

Most AI meeting notes apps now have a free plan. Each one has a catch somewhere: a cap on minutes, a cap on AI summaries, or a history window that closes after 30 days. The best free app is the one whose catch you won't hit.

Every number below comes from each vendor's own pricing page or help center. We make Circleback, one of the tools on this list.

The short version

Circleback — best for unlimited meetings with automations and API access

Circleback's Free plan caps history, not meetings. It's free forever, not a trial, with unlimited meetings and members and 30 days of meeting history. It includes AI notes and action items, speaker-labeled transcripts, automatic tagging, and automatic sharing. You also get Ask Circleback across your meetings and connected email, plus API, MCP, and CLI access.

Strengths: There's no meeting cap and no member cap, and every meeting gets AI notes and action items, speaker-labeled transcripts, automatic tagging, and automatic sharing. Each meeting keeps its recording, so you can play it beside the transcript, link to a moment, or make a clip. Ask Circleback answers across meetings and connected email with cited sources, and it drafts emails once you connect Gmail or Outlook Mail. Automations run on Free with the Slack, Linear, and Share meeting steps. The MCP server, public API, and CLI are included, so Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and your own scripts can read your meetings. The meeting bot joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. The desktop app records audio and, if you choose, video on macOS and Windows without a bot, and the iOS and Android apps record in-person meetings. Transcription covers over 100 languages, and you can import your history from Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, and Read AI.

Limitations: History is the cap. Meetings older than 30 days are locked, not deleted, until you upgrade. Recordings are kept for 1 year on Free, as on Pro. Automations on Free are limited to the Slack, Linear, and Share meeting steps, and Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, webhooks, and custom AI insights need Pro. Free workspaces get 2 teams. There's no Linux app and no browser extension.

Who should pick Circleback: Teams that want no limit on meetings or members, with AI notes on every one of them, delivered to Slack or Linear or reachable from an AI assistant, and that are fine with 30 days of history until they upgrade.

Pricing: Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Pro adds unlimited meeting history, 1 year of recording storage, automations with all integrations, and custom AI insights. See current pricing.

Fathom — best for unlimited storage on a free plan

Fathom's free plan is generous on recording and careful with AI. It records and transcribes unlimited meetings and caps advanced AI summaries at 5 a month. The pricing page calls it free forever, and the help center lists unlimited recordings and storage, with transcription in 38 languages.

Strengths: Unlimited recordings, storage, and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries on every call, and clips, playlists, and search across calls on the free plan. CRM sync to HubSpot, Salesforce, and Close for up to 3 users per email domain, plus personal-use Zapier. A choice of bot-free capture, in beta, or the bot.

Limitations: Advanced summaries stop at 5 a month, after which calls get the general or enhanced template. The pricing page marks AI action items and Ask Fathom as limited use on Free, and the help center lists AI Action Items, AI Follow-Up Emails, custom AI summaries, and Ask Fathom under Premium. Bot-free recording is part of Fathom 3.0+, which is Mac only, with Windows coming soon. Its transcript-only mode saves no recording, and its audio-only mode saves no video. New accounts get a 30-day Premium preview, so your first month isn't the free plan.

Circleback's Free plan has no meeting cap either, and it writes AI notes and action items for every meeting, but it keeps 30 days of history.

Who should pick Fathom: Individuals on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams who want every recording kept for free and only need an advanced summary on a few calls.

Pricing: Free forever, Premium ($16-20/mo), Team ($15/user/mo, billed annually), and Business ($25/user/mo, billed annually). Team and Business each have a 2-user minimum.

Fireflies — best for free connections to 50+ apps

Fireflies' free plan depends on one setting. It starts at 3 meeting transcriptions and becomes unlimited when you turn on Auto-join, so the Fireflies bot joins your meetings automatically. Summaries, transcription, and recap emails are never charged in AI credits, and storage is 400 minutes.

Strengths: Unlimited transcription with Auto-join. Structured summaries with an overview, detailed notes, and action items. Connections to 50+ apps, including CRMs and project management tools. Uploads up to 100 MB and 150 minutes per file, a mobile app for in-person meetings, and a Chrome extension that records without adding a bot.

Limitations: Without Auto-join, you're limited to 3 meeting transcriptions, and the option that only joins when you invite the bot doesn't qualify. Fireflies says these limits apply to users who sign up on or after September 1, 2026. Its pricing page lists AI summaries as limited on Free. Storage is 400 minutes, and once it's full, new meetings are still captured but you must delete older ones to access them. Recording is capped at 2 hours per meeting. The 20 AI credits for features such as AI Skills and Sales Assist are one-time and pooled across the workspace, although Fireflies' free-plan article calls them monthly. The desktop app's bot-free mode saves no audio or video files and labels speakers Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.

Circleback's Free plan has no meeting cap whether or not its bot joins, and its desktop app keeps the recording.

Who should pick Fireflies: People who are fine with a bot on every call and want transcripts and summaries flowing into a CRM or project tool for free.

Pricing: Free, Pro ($10-18/user/mo), Business ($19-29/user/mo), and Enterprise ($39/user/mo, billed annually).

Otter — best for a live transcript on a small minute budget

Otter's free plan counts minutes. Its Basic plan includes 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, and 3 lifetime file imports. You can open your 25 most recent conversations, and AI Chat is limited to 20 queries a month per user.

Strengths: Live transcription, plus automated summaries with action items and outlines on every conversation within the allowance, per Otter's pricing page. iOS and Android apps for in-person meetings. The desktop app for macOS 12.3 or later and Windows 10 or later records with your headphones on and no bot in the meeting, and Otter's desktop page lists no plan requirement. Workspaces of up to 5 members.

Limitations: 300 minutes a month is about 10 half-hour meetings, and transcription stops at 30 minutes per conversation. Only the 25 most recent conversations stay accessible. You get 3 file imports for the life of the account, 1 concurrent meeting, and 20 AI Chat queries a month, 3 per conversation.

Who should pick Otter: People with a few short meetings a week who want a live transcript and an inexpensive upgrade path.

Pricing: Free (Basic), Pro ($8.33/user/mo annual or $16.99 monthly, with 1,200 in-app recording minutes), and Business ($19.99/user/mo annual or $30 monthly, as of October 2026, with unlimited meetings and in-app recordings).

tl;dv — best for people already recording with tl;dv

tl;dv lets you record everything and rations the AI. Its free plan records and transcribes unlimited meetings, but full AI notes cover only your first 10 meetings. tl;dv's help center says the free-plan limits are for the lifetime of the account, not monthly.

Strengths: Unlimited recordings and transcripts, which tl;dv promises to always offer. The desktop app for macOS and Windows records Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams from system audio, with no bot joining the call. 10 AI prompts, 10 scheduled AI reports, 4 clips, 5 file uploads, and 20 integration credits for Zapier.

Limitations: After the first 10 meetings, only the first 10 minutes of each meeting gets AI notes. Recordings are stored for 3 months and move to archived storage after 3 days, where unarchiving takes up to an hour and a half. You're notified 4 weeks before the deletion date and can download them then. Meetings max out at 3 hours, overlapping meetings can't be recorded, and Pro customers are prioritized when servers are busy. Bot-free recordings capture audio only, with no video, screen share, or chat.

Circleback's Free plan writes AI notes and action items for every meeting, not just the first 10, though it keeps 30 days of history rather than 3 months.

Who should pick tl;dv: People already recording with tl;dv who need AI notes on only a handful of meetings and don't need recordings older than 3 months.

Pricing: Free, Pro ($18-29/seat/mo), and Business ($29-39/seat/mo), per tl;dv's pricing page.

Read AI — best for a few meetings a month with coaching metrics

Read AI's free plan is small but complete. It covers 5 meeting transcripts a month, with 5 meeting reports and 5 sets of live notes and metrics, and no audio or video playback.

Strengths: Summaries and Ask Read are included, along with unlimited enterprise search, basic integrations, and a personalized meeting coach, per Read's pricing page. Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS apps are included, and the desktop app records and summarizes meetings without a bot on Windows 10+ and macOS 14+.

Limitations: 5 meetings a month is the lowest cap on this list. Audio and video playback needs Enterprise or Enterprise+. Premium integrations (Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence, Zapier, and webhooks) need Pro. The pricing page says 20+ languages in the plan card and 16+ in its comparison table.

Who should pick Read AI: People with a handful of meetings a month who want meeting coaching metrics and search across their work apps.

Pricing: Free, Pro ($15-19.75/user/mo), Enterprise ($22.50-29.75/user/mo, adds playback), and Enterprise+ ($29.75-39.75/user/mo, 5-license minimum).

Granola — best for people who already take notes in Granola

Granola's free plan is built for people who take their own notes. Its Basic plan is free, with AI meeting notes, no daily transcription limit, and access to only the last 30 days of notes in the app.

Strengths: Granola uses your computer audio, so it doesn't invite a bot, and it's available for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. The Basic plan includes AI chat within and across meetings, shared folders, customized note templates, multi-language support, and the option to opt out of model training at any time.

Limitations: Notes older than 30 days are stored, not deleted, but aren't accessible in the app until you upgrade. Integrations on Basic are Slack only, and Zapier, Notion, and Attio need Business. Chat model selection is Auto only on Basic.

Circleback's Free plan records without a bot too, through its desktop app, and keeps the recording along with a speaker-labeled transcript, notes, and action items. You can type private notes during the call there as well, and they enhance its AI notes.

Who should pick Granola: People already taking notes in Granola who type a few notes during meetings and want AI to fill in the rest.

Pricing: Free (Basic), Business ($14 per user per month), and Enterprise ($35 per user per month).

Jamie — best for EU-hosted notes on a few short meetings

Jamie's free plan is small, private, and bot-free. It includes 10 AI notes a month with a 30-minute meeting duration limit, and no bot joins the call because Jamie runs on your device.

Strengths: No bot: Jamie works across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or any other online platform, and captures in-person meetings from your laptop or phone. The free plan includes Ask Jamie chat, speaker recognition and memory, task detection, notes and transcripts in 99+ languages, and Google Docs, Notion, and OneNote. It's hosted in the EU, with no model training on your data.

Limitations: 10 AI notes a month and a 30-minute limit per meeting are the tightest caps here after Read AI's 5 meetings. Free includes one custom template and 50 custom vocabulary terms. The pricing page doesn't say how long notes are kept, and SOC 2 Type II is listed as pending.

Who should pick Jamie: Solo users in Europe with a few short calls a week who want their data hosted in the EU.

Pricing: Free, Plus ($24/mo, billed annually, with 20 AI notes a month and a 2-hour meeting limit), and Pro ($46/mo, billed annually).

Pick the limit you won't hit

Free plans aren't ranked by how generous they look. They're ranked by how you'll use them. If you're on calls all day, a minute cap will run out fast. If you mostly need the transcript, a cap on AI summaries won't matter. If you search old meetings, a 30-day history window will.

So count your meetings for a typical week, and note how far back you look for things. Then compare that with the limits above.

Better yet, run two free plans side by side on the same meetings for a week. You'll see which one runs out first, and which notes you actually use. That's a more honest test than any comparison post, including this one.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free AI meeting notes app?
It depends on which limit you can live with. For unlimited meetings with AI notes, action items, and API, MCP, and CLI access, Circleback's Free plan, which keeps 30 days of history. For unlimited storage, Fathom: unlimited recordings and transcriptions with instant summaries, and advanced summaries capped at 5 a month. tl;dv records without limit but gives full AI notes for only your first 10 meetings. Otter's Basic plan is capped at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation.

Which free AI notetaker has no limit on meetings or minutes?
Circleback (unlimited meetings and members), Fathom (unlimited recordings and transcriptions), and tl;dv (unlimited recordings and transcripts) have no meeting or minute cap. Fireflies is unlimited only with Auto-join turned on, otherwise 3 transcriptions. Granola's Basic plan has no daily transcription limit but shows only the last 30 days. Otter (300 minutes a month), Read AI (5 meetings a month), and Jamie (10 notes a month) are capped.

Do free plans include AI summaries, or only transcripts?
All eight include some AI notes. Circleback and Granola write AI notes for every meeting. Fathom writes an instant summary for every call but limits advanced summaries to 5 a month. tl;dv writes full notes for the first 10 meetings, then covers only the first 10 minutes. Fireflies includes summaries without spending AI credits. Otter includes automated summaries with action items within its 300 minutes. Read AI and Jamie include notes within their 5 and 10 meeting caps.

Can I record without a bot on a free plan?
Yes, on most of them. Circleback's desktop app for macOS and Windows is included on Free and keeps the recording, with video if you choose. Granola and Jamie never use a bot. Otter's and Read AI's desktop apps record from your computer, and tl;dv's desktop app records audio only. Fireflies' Chrome extension records without a bot, and its desktop app saves no audio or video in bot-free mode. Fathom's bot-free capture is in beta and Mac only. See bot vs. desktop recording for the tradeoffs.

How long do free plans keep my meetings?
Circleback keeps 30 days of meeting history on Free, and older meetings are locked, not deleted. Recordings are kept for 1 year on Free, as on Pro. Granola shows the last 30 days of notes and stores older ones until you upgrade. tl;dv stores free recordings for 3 months and archives them after 3 days. Otter shows the 25 most recent conversations. Fireflies gives 400 minutes of storage, after which you delete old meetings to access new ones. Fathom offers unlimited storage, and Read AI has no audio or video playback on Free.

What does the first paid plan cost when I outgrow free?
Circleback Pro adds unlimited history and all integrations, so see current pricing. Fathom Premium is $16 a month, billed annually ($20 monthly). Fireflies Pro is $10 per user a month, billed annually ($18 monthly). Otter Pro is $8.33 per user a month, billed annually ($16.99 monthly). tl;dv Pro is $18 per seat a month, billed annually ($29 monthly). Read AI Pro is $15 per user a month, billed annually ($19.75 monthly). Granola Business is $14 per user per month, and its pricing page gives no billing period. Jamie Plus is $24 a month, billed annually. Krisp, which appears on some free-tool lists, shows a 7-day free trial and Core at $8 per user a month, billed annually, on its pricing page, rather than a free plan.

Circleback's Free plan includes unlimited meetings and members, AI notes and action items, and API, MCP, and CLI access. Start on the Free plan.

Last updated October 2026. Pricing and features change frequently — check each tool's website for current information.