Avoma functions as an all-in-one AI meeting assistant that excels in recording, transcribing, and organizing meetings with approximately 95% accuracy even with accents and jargon. It offers strong CRM integration with platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot, making it particularly valuable for sales and customer success teams who need to automatically log calls and follow-ups. However, its comprehensive feature set can feel overwhelming for individual users or simple transcription needs, and the premium pricing tiers may strain smaller team budgets.

Read.ai positions itself as an AI meeting copilot that goes beyond basic transcription to analyze engagement, sentiment, and meeting effectiveness through metrics like speaker balance and attention scores. The platform offers real-time translation across 16+ languages and provides searchable meeting archives, making it appealing for global teams and organizations seeking meeting analytics. The interface can be complex and cluttered due to its extensive feature set, while the restrictive free tier (only 5 meetings per month) and higher-end pricing for full functionality may deter cost-conscious users.

Avoma suits sales-focused organizations and customer success teams that need reliable CRM integration and detailed meeting documentation, though individual users might find it excessive for basic note-taking needs. Read.ai appeals more to management teams and global organizations that want to optimize meeting performance and maintain searchable knowledge bases, particularly those already invested in the Zoom ecosystem.

Both tools provide solid transcription and basic integrations, but neither offers the depth of workflow automation or comprehensive integration ecosystem that would truly streamline post-meeting productivity. Users often find themselves still manually processing meeting outputs and struggling to seamlessly incorporate insights into their existing work systems, limiting the tools' ability to meaningfully reduce administrative overhead.

Comparison table

What users say about Avoma and Read.ai

User reviews for Avoma are overwhelmingly positive, with customers praising its ease of use and practical benefits for meeting management. According to reviews on HubSpot Ecosystem, users love how it handles client calls and significantly outperforms manual note-taking, with one reviewer noting they "can't remember enough, and can't write" to capture everything manually. The platform receives high marks for its simple setup process with video calling systems like Zoom, and users appreciate that it not only records conversations but also provides recaps and additional functionality, as highlighted in G2 reviews.

Read.ai receives more mixed feedback from users, with several concerning issues highlighted across review platforms. The platform has earned a low 1.8 rating according to Trustpilot reviews, where users report intrusive practices including forced account creation and calendar access requirements. While some users find the tool useful and acknowledge its speed and general accuracy, others describe it as feeling "vague" with unnecessary complexity, as noted in a detailed review that characterizes it as "a strong tool, but it feels a bit vague."

Users switch away from Avoma primarily due to its overwhelming complexity for simple use cases. The platform is designed as a comprehensive meeting assistant with extensive features, but many users find it to be overkill for their basic transcription needs. Individual users or small teams who simply want to record and transcribe meetings without the additional layers of analytics, CRM integration, and advanced note organization often find Avoma's "hefty platform" unnecessarily complicated for their straightforward requirements.

Technical reliability issues also drive users to seek alternatives. Some users experience frustrating delays when Avoma's bot joins meetings late, disrupting the flow of important conversations. Additionally, the platform occasionally struggles with speaker identification, leading to confusion in transcripts where it's unclear who said what. These technical hiccups can be particularly problematic for users who rely on accurate, real-time meeting capture for critical business discussions.

Cost considerations become a significant factor as teams grow and require higher-tier features. While Avoma offers a free plan, the pricing for advanced tiers reaches premium levels, with plans scaling up to $129 per user monthly for Enterprise features. Small teams and budget-conscious organizations often find these costs prohibitive, especially when they don't need all the advanced CRM integrations and analytics features that justify the higher price points. The dense nature of Avoma's detailed transcripts, while comprehensive, can also be difficult to skim quickly, making it less practical for users who need to rapidly review meeting content.

Users may switch away from Read.ai due to its severely limited free tier, which only allows 5 meetings per month with full notes. This restriction is particularly constraining compared to competitors who offer more generous free plans, making Read.ai less accessible for individuals or small teams who want to test the platform thoroughly before committing to a paid subscription. The limited free access creates a barrier that prevents users from fully experiencing the platform's capabilities.

The complex and cluttered user interface presents another significant challenge for users. With numerous features including notes, analytics, search capabilities, and engagement metrics all packed into one platform, the learning curve becomes steep and overwhelming. Some users have specifically described the interface as "confusing" and found that rather than saving time as expected, the complexity actually hindered their productivity. This complexity makes the platform feel less intuitive and user-friendly compared to simpler alternatives.

Privacy concerns and technical inconsistencies also drive users away from Read.ai. Privacy-conscious users have raised issues about joining others' meetings without proper consent, which can create boundary problems in professional settings. Additionally, the live coach metrics and engagement analytics can be unreliable when participants join meetings late or experience microphone issues, leading to inaccurate insights. These technical limitations, combined with pricing that's on the high end for full functionality, make users question whether the platform delivers sufficient value for its cost.

Using Avoma

Does Avoma work for in-person meetings?

Yes, Avoma works for in-person meetings through its mobile app that can record offline/in-person meetings for later transcription.

What do users say about the quality of Avoma transcriptions?

Users highly rate Avoma's transcription quality, with transcriptions being approximately 95% accurate even with jargon or accents. However, some users note that while transcripts are detailed, they can be dense to skim quickly, and there are occasional speaker identification misses.

How does Avoma help users follow up on action items?

Avoma helps with follow-ups through its automation engine that automates follow-up emails and generates organized notes broken into topics including next steps. It also provides actionable insights from meetings.

Does Avoma integrate with software like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Linear?

Yes, Avoma integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce for CRM sync, capturing meeting information directly into these platforms. It also connects with other tools like Zoom and Slack, and can integrate with Notion via Zapier. However, Linear is not specifically mentioned in the available integrations.

Using Read.ai

Does Read.ai work for in-person meetings?

Yes, Read.ai works for in-person meetings. It has an iOS app that can capture in-person/offline meetings with one tap.

Does Read.ai require a meeting bot to join the meeting?

No, Read.ai does not require meeting bots. It records virtual meetings via cloud or extension, and offline audio via mobile app without needing a bot to join.

What do users say about the quality of Read.ai transcriptions?

Users appreciate Read.ai's rich feature set that goes beyond transcription to provide insights into meeting quality. The summaries are considered "smart," effectively capturing questions asked and topics discussed. It supports 16+ languages and even offers real-time translation, which appeals to global teams.

How does Read.ai help users follow up on action items?

Read.ai generates reports after meetings that include key points and action items. It also has an AI "Copilot" that provides summaries and auto-syncs notes to CRM systems, helping users track and follow up on action items.

Does Read.ai integrate with software like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Linear?

Yes, Read.ai has robust integrations including HubSpot, Salesforce, Confluence, Jira, Notion, and Slack among others.

If you're looking for alternatives to Avoma or alternatives to Read.ai, there are several options available in the market. For those interested in meeting automation, modern solutions offer various approaches to streamline your meeting workflow. Teams evaluating different options should consider their specific needs for the best AI meeting notes tool and getting started with meeting automation.

Another alternative: Circleback

Circleback provides best-in-class AI-powered meeting notes and automations. We support over 100 languages and automatic participant identification in both in-person and online meetings.

• Automatically-identified and assigned action items

• AI-enabled search across all meetings

• Automations with 100+ app integrations

• Industry-leading security with SOC 2 Type II, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and HIPAA compliance

• Ability to capture both online and in-person meetings with desktop and mobile apps