AI meeting notetakers compared: Circleback, Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Granola, Otter.ai and tl;dv
Circleback, Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Granola, Otter.ai and tl;dv side by side.
At a glance
| Dimension | Circleback | Fathom | Fireflies.ai | Granola | Otter.ai | tl;dv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capture method | Bot or bot-free desktop app; in-person on mobile | Bot or bot-free (bot-free is beta, Mac) | Bot; bot-free Chrome extension; desktop app saves no audio or video | Bot-free device audio (no bot) | Bot or bot-free on desktop and Chrome; mobile | Bot or bot-free desktop app |
| Recording saved | Video and audio on every plan; mobile saves audio only | Unlimited recordings on Free | Desktop mode saves no audio or video | No audio kept | Keeps audio; option to remove it | Recordings kept 3 months on Free |
| Platforms | macOS 14.2+, Windows, web, iOS, Android, Apple Watch | macOS, iPhone; no Android | Web, Windows 10+, macOS 12+, iOS, Android, Chrome extension | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Apple Watch; web for notes only | Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension | Mac and Windows; mobile app unclear (tl;dv's pages conflict) |
| Meeting apps | Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, any app on desktop; Slack huddles from Business | Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack huddles; not phone calls | Zoom, Meet, Teams and 10+ others | Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack huddles, "every other meeting app" | Zoom, Teams, Meet | Meet, Zoom, Teams |
| Free plan | Unlimited meetings; older than 30 days locked; API, MCP, CLI | Unlimited recordings; limited advanced summaries and Ask Fathom | Unlimited transcription (asterisked); 400 storage minutes per team | 30-day history; MCP: last 30 days of personal notes, no transcripts | 300 minutes a month; 3 lifetime imports; 20 AI Chat queries | Unlimited recordings kept 3 months; full AI notes for 10 meetings |
| Integrations | Slack, Notion, Linear, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier and more | Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, Zapier, ChatGPT and more | App and CRM integrations on paid plans; Zapier from Pro | Slack; HubSpot, Notion and more on Business; Salesforce on Enterprise | Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier (Pro and up); Slack, Google Drive | HubSpot, Salesforce, "Zapier & API" |
| CRM sync | HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, Zoho CRM; Pro and up; no field updates | Paid plans; pricing lists Free (3 users per domain); field sync from Business | Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive (premium plans) | HubSpot, Attio, Affinity (Business); Salesforce (Enterprise) | Notes to Salesforce or HubSpot (Pro and up, asterisked) | HubSpot (adds notes to contacts), Salesforce |
| API and MCP | API, MCP and CLI on every plan; Free MCP covers 30 days | Public API and MCP | API (rate limits by plan); MCP server | MCP on all plans (transcripts from Business); API from Business | MCP on Basic; API and webhooks on Enterprise | API; read-only MCP on Pro and up, per tl;dv's blog |
| Languages | 100+ languages; choose the output language | 7 languages ("Premium and Team plans"); Ask Fathom translates 29 more | English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian; 100+ in beta | 31 languages on desktop, 17 on mobile | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese | 30+ languages |
| File import | Any plan, up to 2 GB; importers for Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Read AI | No: "we do not support uploaded calls" | Audio and video uploads, including Free; bulk rate-limited | No: live transcription only | Free: 3 lifetime; Pro: 10 a month; Business: unlimited | Uploads in beta; videos up to 3 hours |
| Security | SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA BAA, SSO and SCIM on Enterprise | SOC 2 Type II; blanket BAA; signed BAA, SSO, SCIM on Enterprise | SOC 2 Type II; GDPR; HIPAA on Enterprise only; SSO and SCIM | SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA, SSO and SCIM on Enterprise; no audio kept | SOC 2 Type 2; HIPAA Enterprise add-on; SSO and SCIM (100-user minimum) | SOC 2; GDPR; EU hosting |
Frequently asked questions
Granola captures device audio and never uses a bot. Circleback, Fathom, Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai offer both a bot and a bot-free option (Fathom's bot-free capture is a Mac beta). tl;dv offers both a meeting bot and a bot-free desktop app. Granola keeps no recording and Fireflies.ai desktop mode stores no audio or video, while Circleback saves the full video, the full audio and the full transcript of your meetings, on every plan (the mobile app saves audio only).
All six have a free plan. Circleback Free has unlimited meetings, and meetings older than 30 days are locked, not deleted. Granola Basic keeps 30 days of history. Otter.ai Basic allows 300 transcription minutes a month. Fireflies.ai Free stores 400 minutes per team. Fathom Free has unlimited recordings with limited advanced summaries. tl;dv Free keeps recordings for 3 months and writes full AI notes for the first 10 meetings.
All six list a Salesforce or HubSpot integration. Circleback logs a meeting record and tasks in HubSpot and an Event in Salesforce, and does not update record fields. Fathom syncs to the CRM on paid plans per its CRM page (its pricing table also lists CRM sync on Free, max 3 users per domain), with field sync from Business. Granola puts HubSpot on Business and Salesforce on Enterprise. Otter.ai syncs notes on Pro and up. tl;dv says its HubSpot integration updates contacts with notes. Fireflies.ai lists Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive on premium plans.
Circleback includes its API, MCP and CLI on every plan, including Free, with Free MCP reaching the last 30 days. Granola has MCP on all plans and its API on Business and up. Otter.ai has an MCP server on Basic and its API and webhooks on Enterprise. tl;dv's blog says its read-only MCP server is on Pro and up. Fireflies.ai has an API with rate limits by plan and an MCP server. Fathom lists a public API and MCP.
Circleback offers HIPAA with a BAA on Enterprise. Fireflies.ai offers HIPAA on Enterprise only. Granola offers HIPAA-compliant workspaces on Enterprise. Otter.ai offers HIPAA as an Enterprise add-on. Fathom publishes a blanket BAA at fathom.ai/baa, and its pricing page lists a signed BAA under Enterprise. tl;dv's pages do not document HIPAA.
Circleback imports audio or video files up to 2 GB on any plan and has importers for Fathom, Fireflies, Granola and Read AI, but not Otter. Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai also accept uploads, and tl;dv accepts uploads in beta for videos up to 3 hours. Fathom and Granola do not accept uploaded recordings.