Most Reliable AI Notetaker Across Zoom, Meet, Teams, and Webex (2026)

TL;DR: Circleback's bot joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, and its desktop app records without a bot on every plan. Fireflies' bot also joins all four platforms, Webex included. Fathom doesn't support Webex, and it records without a bot only on a Mac, in beta.

Your notetaker missed the call again. The bot sat in a waiting room nobody checked, or the host's settings kept it out, and now there's no record of the meeting. When a team switches tools over this, it usually asks one thing: which notetaker is the most reliable?

No vendor publishes join or success rates, so this page compares what each one documents instead: platform coverage, what happens when the bot isn't admitted, and the bot-free path. Every fact below comes from each vendor's own pricing page or help docs. We make Circleback, one of the tools on this list.

The short version

Circleback — best for all four platforms, with a desktop fallback

Circleback gives you two ways into every meeting, so one failing doesn't cost you the notes. Its bot joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. Its desktop app records any platform without a bot, on macOS 14.2 or later and Windows, on every plan, including Free. The bot joins from a connected calendar according to your joining preferences (internal or external meetings, meetings organized by someone else, and declined or pending meetings), with a per-meeting toggle. It also joins when you paste a live meeting link.

Strengths: One bot for all four platforms. A documented fallback: with joining preferences on, Circleback first tries to join as a bot, and if the bot's join request is denied while you're on the call, the desktop app prompts you to record. It starts on its own only with Start recording automatically on, and a waiting-room kick or removal from the call is not a trigger. The desktop app detects a meeting when an app starts using your microphone, prompts you, and can start recording automatically after a short countdown. Either way, the meeting gets its recording, a speaker-labeled transcript, notes, and action items. The troubleshooting guide names the settings that keep a bot out, with the Zoom and Google Meet fixes.

Limitations: The fallback only works on a computer where the desktop app is installed and running with Detect meetings on. A bot left in the waiting room, or denied while you're on your phone, is still a missed meeting. There's no Linux app and no browser extension. Free keeps 30 days of meeting history (older meetings are locked, not deleted; recordings are deleted after 1 year on Free and Pro, 2 years on Business) and limits automations to the Slack, Linear, and Share meeting steps.

Who should pick Circleback: Teams whose calls are spread across all four platforms, including calls hosted by other people, and who want the desktop app as the safety net rather than a second tool. See bot vs. desktop recording for the tradeoffs.

Pricing: Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Free includes unlimited meetings, and the desktop app is on every plan. See current pricing.

Fireflies — best for teams already on Fireflies

Fireflies is the other tool here whose bot covers Webex. Its bot joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. Fireflies says it waits up to 10 minutes in a Google Meet lobby, and 15 minutes on other platforms, before it leaves. It joins from the calendar when Auto join calendar meetings is on, when fred@fireflies.ai is added as a guest, or from Add to live meeting with a pasted URL.

Strengths: The supported platforms page lists all four, including "Automatically record, transcribe, and search Webex meetings", and there's a dedicated Webex guide. The desktop app records system audio without a bot on Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, plus WhatsApp, Discord, FaceTime, and phone calls.

Limitations: Bot-free recordings don't save separate audio or video files, and participants appear as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. If the bot isn't admitted, Fireflies' advice is to re-add it through Add to Live Meeting, and no automatic switch to the desktop app is documented. On Google Meet, the host must admit Fireflies. In a Google Workspace, an admin has to allow users not signed in with a Google account, or, per Fireflies' Google Meet guide, "Fred won't be able to join the meeting".

Circleback's bot covers the same four platforms, and when its join request is denied while you're on the call, its desktop app prompts you to record and keeps the recording.

Who should pick Fireflies: Teams already recording with Fireflies that need a bot on Webex as well as the big three.

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

Otter — best for a live transcript during the call

Otter's desktop app can step in when its bot gets kept out. Otter's Notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, but not Webex, and Otter's troubleshooting guide says it keeps trying to get into a waiting room for about 12 minutes before leaving. It auto-joins calendar events with a supported link. For anything else, you paste the meeting URL on the Otter homepage.

Strengths: Otter's pricing page lists live transcription on every plan, including Basic. The desktop app (macOS 12.3 or later, Windows 10 or later) records without the Notetaker and detects Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Slack huddles. Since August 2026, it can be set to Off, Remind me to record, or Record automatically. When the Notetaker can't get into a meeting, the desktop app prompts you to record manually.

Limitations: Otter supports Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meeting URLs only, so Webex is a desktop recording. The Notetaker "is not able to join meetings where the host has required the user to sign into the conferencing app". On Zoom, the host must have Record to computer files enabled and click Allow Recording. If the host denies recording, the Notetaker is immediately removed. Basic is capped at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation.

With joining preferences on and the app running, Circleback's desktop app prompts you to record when the bot's join request is denied while you're on the call, and starts on its own only with Start recording automatically on.

Who should pick Otter: Individuals and small teams on Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams who want to follow a live transcript during the call.

Pricing: Free (Basic, 300 minutes a month), Pro ($8.33/user/mo annual or $16.99 monthly), Business ($19.99/user/mo annual or $30 monthly, as of October 2026), and Enterprise (by quote), per Otter's pricing page.

Fathom — best for unlimited free storage on Zoom, Meet, and Teams

Fathom covers the three biggest platforms and skips Webex. It records Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams calls on Mac and Windows, and doesn't mention Webex on its supported systems page. Its bot-free video capture currently covers Zoom on Mac only. Scheduled calls come from the calendar, and impromptu ones are added through Add to Meeting with a pasted URL.

Strengths: The free plan includes unlimited recordings, storage, and transcriptions. The help center is specific about join failures. The recommended Zoom configuration turns the waiting room off, because the Notetaker "can get stuck waiting for admission (or you may forget to admit it)". The Teams guide explains that it joins as an anonymous participant that someone with permission must admit from the lobby.

Limitations: No Webex. Fathom can only record a call if you are also present on it. The Fathom 3.0 bot-free experience is Mac only, with Windows "coming soon" (its upgrade guide's latest note is dated October 1, 2026), and Fathom's pricing page labels bot-free capture "in beta". On Windows, the bot is the only path. Bot-free video capture "is coming to Google Meet in the coming weeks", and Fathom is "expanding bot-free support for Teams". Webinars, breakout rooms, and Linux are unsupported.

Circleback's Free plan also has unlimited meetings, on all four platforms, and its desktop app records without a bot on Mac and Windows, though Free keeps 30 days of history.

Who should pick Fathom: People who live on Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams, attend every call themselves, and want every recording kept for free more than Webex coverage.

Pricing: Free, Premium ($16-20/user/mo), Team ($15-19/user/mo, for two or more users), Business ($25-34/user/mo), and Enterprise (by quote), per Fathom's pricing page.

Read AI — best for Google Meet through a native integration

Read AI has a way into Google Meet that doesn't involve knocking. Its assistant joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, and its support site says that on Webex, GoToMeeting, or RingCentral, "Read cannot join your calls", leaving the desktop app or a file upload. On Google Meet, Read offers two methods. One is a bot, which it no longer recommends "due to recent changes made by Google". The other is a native Google Meet recording integration that doesn't knock.

Strengths: The native Meet path skips the waiting room. Instead, someone in the host's Workspace confirms a consent pop-up at the start. The desktop app (64-bit Windows 10 and 11, macOS 14 or later) records audio from your computer, which Read suggests for Webex meetings and Slack huddles. It notifies you when "the host isn't letting it into the call", so you can record from your computer.

Limitations: No Webex bot, per Read's platform page. The bot gives up after ten minutes, logged as "Read not admitted to the meeting within 10 minutes of scheduled start time", and a recurring meeting that fails three times in a row has Add Read? switched off automatically. Desktop recordings are audio only, and manually added meetings aren't linked to the calendar event. Read can't join Teams calls started from the Chat tab, and it "cannot bypass CAPTCHA verification".

Circleback records Google Meet without a bot through its desktop app, which can keep video as well as audio.

Who should pick Read AI: Google Meet-heavy teams who want its native Meet integration rather than a bot, and Teams or Zoom users who want engagement analytics, as long as Webex isn't on the calendar.

Pricing: Free (5 meeting transcripts a month), Pro ($15-19.75/user/mo), Enterprise ($22.50-29.75/user/mo), and Enterprise+ ($29.75-39.75/user/mo, with a 5-license minimum), per Read's pricing page.

Avoma — best for cloud recording on calls you host

Avoma is most reliable on meetings your own organization hosts. Its assistant joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams as a participant. Zoom and Webex meetings you host can instead be captured through Zoom or Webex cloud recording, with no bot in the call. It schedules from the join details in your calendar invite, and unscheduled calls are added by pasting a conference link.

Strengths: The connection page covers Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, plus Blue Jeans, GoToMeeting, Lifesize, and UberConference. Cloud-recording paths exist for all four big platforms: Zoom and Webex cloud recording, Google Meet native recording that Avoma says eliminates the need for a bot, and Microsoft Teams cloud recording once an admin turns on meeting recording.

Limitations: The cloud-recording paths only work on meetings your organization hosts with recording enabled, so on a customer's Webex there's no bot and nothing to fall back on. If the waiting room keeps the bot out, "the call will not be recorded and Avoma will not have the transcripts or accompanying AI notes". On Zoom, Avoma "can only record a Zoom meeting when Zoom is connected, and you, or a teammate who has connected Zoom, are in the meeting". No system-audio desktop recorder for virtual meetings is documented, though the mobile app records in-person meetings.

Who should pick Avoma: Sales and customer teams that host most of their calls on Zoom or Webex with cloud recording on, and want CRM workflows more than a fallback for calls they don't control.

Pricing: Startup ($19-29/recorder seat/mo), Organization ($29-39/recorder seat/mo), and Enterprise ($39/recorder seat/mo, with a 10-seat minimum). Conversation Intelligence and Revenue Intelligence add $29-35/seat/mo, and viewers are free, per Avoma's pricing page.

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

tl;dv splits the world in two: a bot for the big three, and desktop audio for everything else. Its bot joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and waits 10 minutes in a waiting room before giving up. Every other platform, Webex included, is a bot-free desktop recording. It auto-records from the calendar you signed in with, and it sends a bot to a pasted link from the Record now page. On Google Meet, a Chrome extension adds a tl;dv button to the call.

Strengths: The desktop app article is explicit: "For Zoom, Google Meet, and MS Teams, you can use tl;dv with or without a bot. For any other platform — Slack huddles, Discord calls, or whatever tool your team uses — you can record directly from your system audio, no bot needed." Bot-free recording runs on Mac and Windows. The free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcripts.

Limitations: "After entering the waiting room, the tl;dv bot will wait for 10 minutes. If it's not allowed to enter the meeting in that time, the meeting will not be recorded." It only joins at the scheduled time and leaves if no other participant arrives within 10 minutes. And "If the meeting requires a login to prevent anonymous guests, tl;dv will not be able to join the meeting." Bot-free recording captures audio only, with no video, screen sharing, or chat, and you start it by hand.

Circleback's Free plan sends its bot to Webex as well, and its desktop app can keep video, where tl;dv's bot-free recordings are audio only.

Who should pick tl;dv: Individuals and small teams already recording with tl;dv's free bot on the big three, who will record Webex from the desktop app themselves.

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

Granola — best for people who already take notes in Granola

Granola sidesteps the reliability question by never sending a bot. It runs on your computer and transcribes your microphone and system audio, so nothing has to be admitted on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Webex. Its transcription docs put it plainly: "There is no meeting bot — Granola runs only on your computer and uses your system audio and microphone."

Strengths: It works with "any call where the audio plays through your computer", and Granola's integrations guide lists Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Slack huddles, and any platform that produces audio on your device. Host settings, waiting rooms, and sign-in requirements don't apply, because no extra participant joins. A notification one minute before each calendar meeting opens the call and the note, and starts transcribing when you click it.

Limitations: Nothing starts without a note open. Transcription begins when you open the meeting's note (or have it open at the scheduled start) or click the notification, and automatic starting for all meetings is "under consideration". Speaker tags cover Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams on macOS and Windows, and elsewhere the transcript shows "Me" and "Them". Audio is deleted after transcription, so there's no recording to go back to.

Circleback's desktop app records without a bot too, with joining preferences turned off, and it can start recording on its own after a short countdown. It also keeps the recording, along with a speaker-labeled transcript, notes, and action items.

Who should pick Granola: People who already take notes in Granola, don't need a recording to go back to, and will click to start every meeting. See AI notetakers without a bot for more of this category.

Pricing: Basic ($0), Business ($14 per user per month), and Enterprise ($35 per user per month), per Granola's pricing page.

Reliability is a backup plan

No notetaker is admitted to every meeting. Hosts leave waiting rooms unattended, admins block external guests, and platforms tighten their rules for bots. So the reliable choice isn't the bot that never fails. It's the setup that still captures the meeting when the bot does.

That means two things to check. First, does the bot cover every platform your team actually uses, including the one customers send invites on? Second, what happens when it's kept out? Some tools retry, some prompt you to record locally, and some switch to the desktop on their own.

Track your missed meetings for two weeks, and note which platform each one was on. Then test your shortlist on exactly those meetings. That will tell you more than any comparison post can, including this one.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI notetaker is the most reliable across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex?
No vendor publishes join or success rates, so no list can rank them on reliability honestly. What you can compare is coverage and fallbacks. Circleback and Fireflies send a bot to all four platforms, Otter, Fathom, Read AI, and tl;dv have no Webex bot, and Granola uses no bot anywhere. Circleback's docs also describe a desktop fallback: if the bot's join request is denied while you're on the call, the desktop app prompts you to record, as long as it's running with Detect meetings on.

Why does my notetaker keep missing calls on Google Meet?
Usually because the meeting's access settings never let the bot in. Google Meet's Meeting access setting, under Host controls in Google Calendar or inside the call, has three types: Open ("Anyone with a meeting link can join your meetings. No one has to knock."), Trusted ("Everybody else must knock"), and Restricted. Google's help page adds: "Anonymous users or third-party bots, like note takers, that try to use 'Ask to join' are automatically denied access without any action from the host." Our troubleshooting guide calls this control "Anyone with the meeting link can ask to join". In a Google Workspace, there's a second gate. The admin's Meet safety settings (Admin console → Apps → Google Workspace → Google Meet → Meet safety settings) include a Domain setting for who can join meetings created by the organization. Both our guide and Fireflies' point to "All users (including users not signed in with a Google account)". If you can't change the host's settings, record from your own computer instead: the Circleback, Fireflies, Otter, Read AI, tl;dv, and Granola desktop apps capture a Meet call from system audio without anyone admitting anything.

What happens when the bot isn't admitted?
It waits, then leaves, and most vendors publish the timer. Fireflies waits "up to 10 minutes for google meet and 15 minutes for other platforms", and Otter "will continue to attempt to join the meeting for about 12 minutes". tl;dv waits 10 minutes, after which "the meeting will not be recorded", and Read AI logs "Read not admitted to the meeting within 10 minutes of scheduled start time". What happens next is the real difference. Circleback's desktop app, installed and running with Detect meetings on, prompts you to record if the bot's join request is denied while you're on the call; a bot left in the waiting room is not a trigger. Otter's desktop app prompts you to "Record manually", Read AI's desktop app notifies you so you can record from your computer, and Fireflies says to re-add the bot through Add to Live Meeting.

Which AI notetakers support Webex?
With a bot, Circleback and Fireflies. Avoma captures Webex meetings you host through Webex cloud recording. Otter, Fathom, Read AI, and tl;dv have no Webex bot: Read AI's support site says "Read cannot join your calls" on Webex, and the other three list only Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. On Otter, Read AI, and tl;dv, Webex is a desktop recording from system audio. Fathom doesn't list Webex at all, and Granola works the same way on every platform.

Why does the bot sit in the Microsoft Teams lobby or get blocked on Zoom?
Because both platforms treat notetaker bots as unverified guests. Microsoft Teams' default meeting policy, "When detected, require approval before joining", places detected bots "in the meeting lobby irrespective of the lobby configuration for the meeting", and an organizer or presenter must explicitly admit them. Teams also holds anonymous participants in the lobby unless "Who can bypass the lobby" is set to Everyone. On Zoom, "Only authenticated users can join meetings" means "If a participant does not have a Zoom account, they will not be able to join the meeting or webinar if this setting is enabled". That keeps out notetakers that join as guests, and Circleback's, Otter's, and tl;dv's troubleshooting pages all say to turn it off.

Can an AI notetaker join a meeting I'm not hosting?
Yes, but the host decides. A bot joins as a guest and knocks like anyone else. Otter's Notetaker "cannot sign in to an account belonging to your organization to bypass guest restrictions", and Fireflies says its bot "may request permission if you're not the host". Circleback joins meetings organized by someone else when that joining preference is on. There are two exceptions: Fathom "can only record a Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet call if you are also present on the call", and Avoma can only record a Zoom meeting when "you, or a teammate who has connected Zoom, are in the meeting". If the host won't admit a bot, the desktop apps in the table need no permission from them. You're still responsible for recording consent either way.

Circleback joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, and its desktop app prompts you to record when the bot's join request is denied. See how recording works.

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