# Fathom vs Otter: pricing, features, and which is better > Fathom and Otter.ai compared across pricing, capture, speaker labels, recordings, notes, sharing, automations, integrations, AI-agent access, and administration. - Canonical HTML: https://circleback.ai/compare/fathom-vs-otter-ai - Structured JSON: https://circleback.ai/compare/fathom-vs-otter-ai.json - Comparison directory: https://circleback.ai/compare - Language: en-US - Editorial perspective: Neutral competitor comparison. Circleback appears only as a clearly labeled third option. ## Short answer Fathom offers richer online-call recordings and clips with unlimited base transcription. Otter centers live text and phone-based capture, but applies monthly minute and meeting limits. The useful buying test is to run both products on the same external call, internal planning session, and noisy in-person meeting. Compare the result, the sharing defaults, and the work that still has to happen by hand. ## Fathom at a glance Fathom is easy to love for online calls: unlimited free recordings and transcripts, quick summaries, clips, assigned action items, CRM sync, and a focused interface. Its new Mac experience adds useful bot-free modes, while Windows parity and a generally available in-person app are still arriving. **Best for:** Individuals and sales teams that live in Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams and want a generous free plan, fast summaries, clips, and CRM-friendly workflows. **Less ideal for:** Companies that need proven iOS/Android or in-person capture today, broad cross-platform botless video, a workspace-wide task board, or a cross-channel context graph. **Price:** Free; Premium from $16/user/month annually Free includes unlimited recordings and transcripts but only five advanced AI summaries per month. Paid prices are per user/month: Premium is $16 with annual billing or $20 month-to-month; Team is $15 or $19 with a two-seat minimum; Business is $25 or $34. Enterprise is custom. **Free option:** Yes: unlimited recordings and transcripts, with five advanced summaries per month. ### Fathom strengths - Unlimited free recording and transcription is unusually generous for a solo online-meeting workflow. - Fast, polished summaries, highlights, clips, playlists, assigned action items, and CRM sharing. - Public API and MCP support make the meeting library available to custom tools and agents. - Action items include assignees and transcript evidence, and an Asana integration can synchronize assigned work automatically or on demand. ### Fathom tradeoffs - Fathom’s current pages disagree about iOS availability: the product overview says in-person capture is live, while the help center and launch page still describe the official app as pre-download or coming soon. Treat it as a staged rollout until your account can use it. - Chromebook, Linux, Android, tablet, phone call, webinar, and breakout support remains limited or absent. The current Fathom 3.0 bot-free experience is Mac- and English-only; Windows users remain on the older experience for now. - Bot-free video is currently available for Zoom on Mac. Google Meet support is still described as coming, Teams support depends on how the call is joined, and the bot remains the broadest cross-platform path. - The free plan’s advanced AI summaries are capped even though raw recordings and transcripts are unlimited. - Fathom may use de-identified meeting data to improve its in-house AI models unless the user or Team Edition administrator opts out. Third-party model providers are prohibited from training on it. - All Fathom data is US-hosted. Custom retention is Enterprise-only, applies one policy to the whole team, and is currently configured through support rather than self-service. ### Choose Fathom when - You want a generous free online-meeting recorder and rarely need in-person capture. - Clips, highlights, fast summaries, and simple CRM delivery are the center of the workflow. - You are comfortable keeping the bot for video and named-speaker fidelity. ## Otter.ai at a glance Otter remains one of the easiest names to recognize in live transcription. It now offers meeting agents, automatically assigned action items, workflows, cross-meeting chat, desktop/mobile apps, two-way AI Chat connectors, MCP, and CRM connections, while minute caps and enterprise-only video/API features shape the real value. **Best for:** Students, individuals, and teams that prioritize live text, simple mobile capture, an inexpensive Pro plan, and a familiar transcript-first experience. **Less ideal for:** Teams needing broad multilingual support, video replay on ordinary plans, unlimited usage without caveats, deep operational automations, or mature whole-company context. **Price:** Free; Pro from $8.33/user/month annually Basic includes 300 transcription minutes per month, a 30-minute cap per conversation, three lifetime file imports, and access to the 25 most recent conversations. Paid prices are per user/month: Pro is $8.33 with annual billing or $16.99 month-to-month, with 1,200 in-app minutes, 90-minute meetings, and ten monthly imports; Business is $19.99 or $30 and adds unlimited in-app meetings, four-hour meetings, and more administration. Enterprise is custom and gates API/webhooks, video replay, SSO/SCIM, and some compliance options. **Free option:** Yes: 300 minutes per month, 30 minutes per conversation, three lifetime imports, and a 25-conversation visible history. ### Otter.ai strengths - Polished live transcript, speaker identification, mobile apps, playback, and cross-meeting chat. - The macOS and Windows desktop app can detect Zoom, Teams, Meet, and other browser calls, then either prompt or begin bot-free recording automatically. - A useful free plan and inexpensive Pro entry point for lower-volume users. - Meeting agents and custom workflows broaden it beyond simple transcription, while MCP makes notes available to AI tools. - Otter automatically assigns detected action items and gives each person a cross-meeting list for editing, reassignment, source lookup, and completion. - Conversations can be exported individually in TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT, and MP3; Business adds bulk export and Enterprise adds granular media/transcript retention controls. ### Otter.ai tradeoffs - Basic and Pro have monthly minute, per-meeting, and import limits that matter for meeting-heavy professionals; Basic only exposes the 25 most recent conversations. - Video replay is an Enterprise feature and is limited to supported Zoom and Google Meet recordings. - API/webhooks, SSO/SCIM, and HIPAA options are Enterprise-gated. - Transcription covers six languages; German and Simplified Chinese are beta, and only French can switch automatically with English in the same conversation. - AI Chat connectors work only in Advanced mode and vary by plan. Outlook email actions remain unsupported, the mobile app still uses the older AI Chat experience, and several Enterprise exports or integrations need account-manager setup. - The global action-item view is personal rather than manager-wide: users can see tasks assigned to themselves, but not a workspace-wide board of everyone’s work. - On ordinary plans, Otter says it trains proprietary models on de-identified audio and transcripts. Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default; third-party AI providers are prohibited from training on customer data. ### Choose Otter.ai when - Live transcription and easy mobile capture matter more than retaining video. - Your usage fits comfortably inside the free or Pro minute limits. - You want an established transcript-first product with lightweight workflows and agent access. ## Feature comparison | What matters | Fathom | Otter.ai | | --- | --- | --- | | Capture options | Available with limits — Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. The bot remains the broadest mature path. Eligible Mac users can choose bot-free transcript-only, audio plus transcript, or Zoom video; Google Meet bot-free video is still coming and Teams behavior varies by how the call is joined. Fathom says the bot-free modes preserve speaker attribution and action items. | Broad support — Meeting agent or automatic bot-free desktop capture, plus mobile. Otter can join major meeting platforms, capture from its apps, and show text live. Its desktop app can detect Zoom, Teams, Meet, and other browser calls from microphone activity, then stay off, prompt the user, or start recording automatically for each meeting type. Scheduling and limits depend on the chosen plan. | | Desktop and mobile | Narrow or indirect — Mac for the new bot-free experience; Windows on the older path. Fathom supports major online platforms on computers, but its current 3.0 rollout is limited to Mac and English-language meetings. Windows remains supported through the older bot-based experience. Official pages conflict on whether iOS in-person capture is already live; Android, Chromebook, Linux, phone calls, webinars, and breakout rooms are not normal supported paths. | Broad support — Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. Broad app coverage makes Otter easy to use in virtual or room conversations. The desktop app now supports configurable automatic recording for detected calls. Feature parity and allowances differ between in-app and imported usage. | | In-person capture and speaker labels | Narrow or indirect — iOS is staged; the old room workaround cannot separate speakers. Fathom’s marketing overview says its iOS app captures in-person meetings, but the help center and current launch page still call it coming soon or pre-download. In the older workaround, every room voice is attributed to the Fathom user rather than separated. Verify iOS access and room-speaker labeling in the actual account before rollout. | Broad support — Strong mobile live transcription. iOS and Android are mature room-recording tools with live text. Otter separates voices after processing and can learn previously tagged speakers, but new or uncertain voices remain Speaker 1 or Unknown until tagged. Live platform-name labels are a separate Notetaker behavior, strongest on Zoom. | | Recordings, playback, and clips | Broad support — Unlimited AV, playback, highlights, and clips. Fathom has polished review and sharing for online calls. Video no longer universally requires the bot, but the current bot-free video path is limited to Zoom on Mac rather than equivalent across every supported platform. | Available with limits — Audio playback broadly; video replay on Enterprise. Audio is synchronized to text on ordinary plans. Video replay requires Enterprise and currently applies to supported Zoom and Google Meet recordings rather than every capture path. | | Notes, action items, and search | Broad support — Fast summaries, assigned action items, Ask Fathom, and team search. Summary quality and speed are core strengths. Paid AI action items identify assignees and link to the source moment; the API also returns completion state and assignee metadata. Fathom presents action items inside each meeting rather than documenting a workspace-wide task dashboard. Advanced summary types and some AI capabilities are plan-limited even while base transcription is free. | Broad support — Live transcript, search, and automatically assigned action items. Otter’s transcript experience is mature. It automatically detects and assigns action items, links generated work back to transcript evidence, and gives each user a cross-meeting list with edit, reassign, and completion controls. That list only shows work assigned to the signed-in person, rather than a workspace-wide manager view. Allowances and advanced custom workflows vary by plan. | | People, companies, and context | Available with limits — Meeting and customer-call library. Fathom organizes team calls and customer context well, but does not center a broader email/calendar/person/company knowledge layer for all departments. | Available with limits — Cross-meeting search and chat. Otter can answer across conversations, but does not emphasize full relationship pages combining meetings, email, calendar, people, companies, and future events. | | Automatic sharing and workspace defaults | Broad support — Organization and team visibility defaults, plus attendee auto-share. Admins can set auto-capture and visibility separately for external, internal, and unscheduled meetings at organization or team level, including whether users may override the default. Individuals can also send a summary, a recording, or both automatically—but the audience is every calendar invitee, including people who did not attend. | Available with limits — User auto-share and Enterprise workspace defaults. Individuals can auto-share by calendar audience and use channels. Enterprise admins can choose the options members see and set a default, but ordinary audience defaults are not fully locked; admins can only force privacy by leaving “Don’t share” as the sole option. External auto-share channels are also Enterprise-only. | | Automations | Available with limits — CRM, webhook, Zapier, and Asana follow-through. Fathom handles common customer-facing follow-through well. Assigned action items can sync automatically or manually to Asana, webhooks can deliver action-item payloads, and Zapier or CRM integrations extend delivery. It does not document the same broad native trigger/condition/action builder for arbitrary work systems. | Available with limits — Meeting agents and custom workflows, with plan differences. Otter automatically detects and assigns action items, tracks each person’s work across meetings, can create Jira issues with assignees and due dates, and uses custom workflows, Zapier, and AI Chat actions for role-specific output and downstream work. The personal action view does not give a manager one board for every assignee, and connector or workflow eligibility varies by plan. | | Integrations | Available with limits — Strong CRM, Asana, Zapier, and common work-tool connections. CRM delivery and collaboration integrations cover the common sales workflow, while Asana turns assigned meeting actions into trackable tasks. Broader issue-tracker coverage and custom operational actions are less central. | Broad support — Meeting platforms, CRM, Zapier, Slack, Jira, work-app connectors, and Enterprise exports. Paid plans connect Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier. AI Chat’s Advanced mode can read and act in Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, and Jira, with Salesforce context available separately. Slack can post summaries and action notifications, while Enterprise supports account-manager-enabled SharePoint and automatic Drive exports. Availability and setup vary substantially by plan. | | API, MCP, CLI, and data portability | Broad support — Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. The REST API can return speaker-attributed transcripts, summaries, action items with assignees and completion state, attendees, CRM matches, playback metadata, and recording downloads. Its official MCP connects authorized meeting data to ChatGPT, Claude, and other clients. Both follow what the authenticated user owns or can see through team sharing; an administrator key does not automatically reach private meetings across the organization. | Available with limits — MCP broadly; API and webhooks on Enterprise. MCP is listed even on Basic and can access meetings captured by or shared with the authenticated user. It currently has no public API-key setup for arbitrary AI applications. The public API and webhooks require Enterprise and account-manager enablement. | | Security, privacy, and admin | Available with limits — Strong upper-tier controls, with US-only hosting. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and custom retention. Fathom currently supports one retention policy per team and asks customers to configure it through support. All data is US-hosted; de-identified data may improve Fathom’s in-house models unless users or a Team Edition admin opt out. | Available with limits — Business administration; advanced security on Enterprise. Business adds centralized features and bulk export. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, API access, video replay, granular retention, no-training by default, and HIPAA options. Several advanced controls—including retention and automatic Drive export—require account-manager setup. | | Languages | Available with limits — 38 languages on the free plan. Fathom documents 38 supported languages. Bot-free rollout is currently narrower, so language support should be checked per capture mode. | Narrow or indirect — Six transcription languages, two still in beta. Otter transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and spoken Mandarin with Simplified Chinese output. German and Chinese are beta. It normally handles one language per conversation; French can auto-switch with English, and other mixed-language pairs are not supported. | Ratings describe documented breadth rather than overall product quality: - **Broad support:** Broad native support across the product or relevant paid plans. - **Available with limits:** Documented support with meaningful scope, mode, or plan limits. - **Narrow or indirect:** Narrow, indirect, beta, or substantially plan-gated support. - **Not documented:** No current first-party documentation for a native option. ## Detailed analysis ### Capture options **Otter has broader documented support for capture options.** **Fathom:** Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. The bot remains the broadest mature path. Eligible Mac users can choose bot-free transcript-only, audio plus transcript, or Zoom video; Google Meet bot-free video is still coming and Teams behavior varies by how the call is joined. Fathom says the bot-free modes preserve speaker attribution and action items. Evidence: [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview), [Fathom 3.0 rollout](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11577345), [Fathom release notes](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6220097). **Otter.ai:** Meeting agent or automatic bot-free desktop capture, plus mobile. Otter can join major meeting platforms, capture from its apps, and show text live. Its desktop app can detect Zoom, Teams, Meet, and other browser calls from microphone activity, then stay off, prompt the user, or start recording automatically for each meeting type. Scheduling and limits depend on the chosen plan. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter desktop automatic recording](https://otter.ai/blog/never-miss-the-conversation-introducing-automatic-recording-in-otter-desktop). ### Desktop and mobile **Otter has broader documented support for desktop and mobile.** **Fathom:** Mac for the new bot-free experience; Windows on the older path. Fathom supports major online platforms on computers, but its current 3.0 rollout is limited to Mac and English-language meetings. Windows remains supported through the older bot-based experience. Official pages conflict on whether iOS in-person capture is already live; Android, Chromebook, Linux, phone calls, webinars, and breakout rooms are not normal supported paths. Evidence: [Fathom supported systems](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296576), [Fathom 3.0 rollout](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11577345). **Otter.ai:** Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. Broad app coverage makes Otter easy to use in virtual or room conversations. The desktop app now supports configurable automatic recording for detected calls. Feature parity and allowances differ between in-app and imported usage. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter desktop automatic recording](https://otter.ai/blog/never-miss-the-conversation-introducing-automatic-recording-in-otter-desktop). ### In-person capture and speaker labels **Otter has broader documented support for in-person capture and speaker labels.** **Fathom:** iOS is staged; the old room workaround cannot separate speakers. Fathom’s marketing overview says its iOS app captures in-person meetings, but the help center and current launch page still call it coming soon or pre-download. In the older workaround, every room voice is attributed to the Fathom user rather than separated. Verify iOS access and room-speaker labeling in the actual account before rollout. Evidence: [Fathom in-person meetings](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/5500225), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview). **Otter.ai:** Strong mobile live transcription. iOS and Android are mature room-recording tools with live text. Otter separates voices after processing and can learn previously tagged speakers, but new or uncertain voices remain Speaker 1 or Unknown until tagged. Live platform-name labels are a separate Notetaker behavior, strongest on Zoom. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter speaker identification](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/21665587209367-Speaker-Identification-Overview). ### Recordings, playback, and clips **Fathom has broader documented support for recordings, playback, and clips.** **Fathom:** Unlimited AV, playback, highlights, and clips. Fathom has polished review and sharing for online calls. Video no longer universally requires the bot, but the current bot-free video path is limited to Zoom on Mac rather than equivalent across every supported platform. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview). **Otter.ai:** Audio playback broadly; video replay on Enterprise. Audio is synchronized to text on ordinary plans. Video replay requires Enterprise and currently applies to supported Zoom and Google Meet recordings rather than every capture path. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter conversation export](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360047733634-Export-conversations). ### Notes, action items, and search **Both products document broad support for notes, action items, and search, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Fast summaries, assigned action items, Ask Fathom, and team search. Summary quality and speed are core strengths. Paid AI action items identify assignees and link to the source moment; the API also returns completion state and assignee metadata. Fathom presents action items inside each meeting rather than documenting a workspace-wide task dashboard. Advanced summary types and some AI capabilities are plan-limited even while base transcription is free. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview), [Fathom AI action items](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/640768). **Otter.ai:** Live transcript, search, and automatically assigned action items. Otter’s transcript experience is mature. It automatically detects and assigns action items, links generated work back to transcript evidence, and gives each user a cross-meeting list with edit, reassign, and completion controls. That list only shows work assigned to the signed-in person, rather than a workspace-wide manager view. Allowances and advanced custom workflows vary by plan. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter action items](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/25983095114519-Action-Items-Overview), [Otter automatic action-item assignment](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/5093228433687-Conversation-Page-Overview). ### People, companies, and context **Both products support people, companies, and context, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Meeting and customer-call library. Fathom organizes team calls and customer context well, but does not center a broader email/calendar/person/company knowledge layer for all departments. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing). **Otter.ai:** Cross-meeting search and chat. Otter can answer across conversations, but does not emphasize full relationship pages combining meetings, email, calendar, people, companies, and future events. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing). ### Automatic sharing and workspace defaults **Fathom has broader documented support for automatic sharing and workspace defaults.** **Fathom:** Organization and team visibility defaults, plus attendee auto-share. Admins can set auto-capture and visibility separately for external, internal, and unscheduled meetings at organization or team level, including whether users may override the default. Individuals can also send a summary, a recording, or both automatically—but the audience is every calendar invitee, including people who did not attend. Evidence: [Fathom auto-capture and visibility controls](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13729025), [Fathom attendee auto-share](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7574785). **Otter.ai:** User auto-share and Enterprise workspace defaults. Individuals can auto-share by calendar audience and use channels. Enterprise admins can choose the options members see and set a default, but ordinary audience defaults are not fully locked; admins can only force privacy by leaving “Don’t share” as the sole option. External auto-share channels are also Enterprise-only. Evidence: [Otter automatic sharing](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/20424842990999-Manage-auto-share-settings), [Otter workspace auto-share controls](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/32589333117591-Manage-Workspace-auto-share-settings). ### Automations **Both products support automations, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** CRM, webhook, Zapier, and Asana follow-through. Fathom handles common customer-facing follow-through well. Assigned action items can sync automatically or manually to Asana, webhooks can deliver action-item payloads, and Zapier or CRM integrations extend delivery. It does not document the same broad native trigger/condition/action builder for arbitrary work systems. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom Asana integration](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7639617), [Fathom public API](https://developers.fathom.ai/quickstart). **Otter.ai:** Meeting agents and custom workflows, with plan differences. Otter automatically detects and assigns action items, tracks each person’s work across meetings, can create Jira issues with assignees and due dates, and uses custom workflows, Zapier, and AI Chat actions for role-specific output and downstream work. The personal action view does not give a manager one board for every assignee, and connector or workflow eligibility varies by plan. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter action items](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/25983095114519-Action-Items-Overview), [Otter automatic action-item assignment](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/5093228433687-Conversation-Page-Overview), [Otter Jira integration](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/40485786582551-Connect-Jira-to-Otter-ai), [Otter AI Chat connectors](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/19682180167575-Otter-AI-Chat-Overview). ### Integrations **Otter has broader documented support for integrations.** **Fathom:** Strong CRM, Asana, Zapier, and common work-tool connections. CRM delivery and collaboration integrations cover the common sales workflow, while Asana turns assigned meeting actions into trackable tasks. Broader issue-tracker coverage and custom operational actions are less central. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom Asana integration](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7639617). **Otter.ai:** Meeting platforms, CRM, Zapier, Slack, Jira, work-app connectors, and Enterprise exports. Paid plans connect Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier. AI Chat’s Advanced mode can read and act in Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, and Jira, with Salesforce context available separately. Slack can post summaries and action notifications, while Enterprise supports account-manager-enabled SharePoint and automatic Drive exports. Availability and setup vary substantially by plan. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter AI Chat connectors](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/19682180167575-Otter-AI-Chat-Overview), [Otter Jira integration](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/40485786582551-Connect-Jira-to-Otter-ai), [Otter Slack integration](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/13627121851799-Connect-Slack-to-Otter-ai), [Otter SharePoint export](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/38533740881175-Connect-Microsoft-SharePoint-to-Otter-ai). ### API, MCP, CLI, and data portability **Fathom has broader documented support for API, MCP, CLI, and data portability.** **Fathom:** Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. The REST API can return speaker-attributed transcripts, summaries, action items with assignees and completion state, attendees, CRM matches, playback metadata, and recording downloads. Its official MCP connects authorized meeting data to ChatGPT, Claude, and other clients. Both follow what the authenticated user owns or can see through team sharing; an administrator key does not automatically reach private meetings across the organization. Evidence: [Fathom public API](https://developers.fathom.ai/quickstart), [Fathom MCP](https://developers.fathom.ai/mcp-docs), [Fathom release notes](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6220097). **Otter.ai:** MCP broadly; API and webhooks on Enterprise. MCP is listed even on Basic and can access meetings captured by or shared with the authenticated user. It currently has no public API-key setup for arbitrary AI applications. The public API and webhooks require Enterprise and account-manager enablement. Evidence: [Otter MCP server](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/35287607569687-Otter-MCP-Server), [Otter public API](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/4412365535895-Does-Otter-offer-an-open-API). ### Security, privacy, and admin **Both products support security, privacy, and admin, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Strong upper-tier controls, with US-only hosting. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and custom retention. Fathom currently supports one retention policy per team and asks customers to configure it through support. All data is US-hosted; de-identified data may improve Fathom’s in-house models unless users or a Team Edition admin opt out. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom auto-capture and visibility controls](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13729025), [Fathom security and AI training](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296512), [Fathom retention policies](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6057089). **Otter.ai:** Business administration; advanced security on Enterprise. Business adds centralized features and bulk export. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, API access, video replay, granular retention, no-training by default, and HIPAA options. Several advanced controls—including retention and automatic Drive export—require account-manager setup. Evidence: [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), [Otter workspace auto-share controls](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/32589333117591-Manage-Workspace-auto-share-settings), [Otter privacy and model training](https://otter.ai/privacy-security), [Otter Enterprise controls](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/13352505516695-Enterprise-Admin-Controls-Overview), [Otter retention policy](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/19500988656279-Set-a-custom-Data-Retention-policy), [Otter conversation export](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360047733634-Export-conversations). ### Languages **Fathom has broader documented support for languages.** **Fathom:** 38 languages on the free plan. Fathom documents 38 supported languages. Bot-free rollout is currently narrower, so language support should be checked per capture mode. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049). **Otter.ai:** Six transcription languages, two still in beta. Otter transcribes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and spoken Mandarin with Simplified Chinese output. German and Chinese are beta. It normally handles one language per conversation; French can auto-switch with English, and other mixed-language pairs are not supported. Evidence: [Otter supported languages](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/26660468516631-Transcribe-conversations-in-English-Spanish-French-German-Japanese-or-Chinese-Simplified). ## A third option to consider: Circleback Circleback turns online meetings, in-person conversations, and imported calls into one shared company memory. Record with a bot, with the botless desktop app, from an iPhone or Android phone, or on Apple Watch. Every route produces the same speaker-labeled record, detailed notes designed to stand alone, and automatically assigned action items. Sharing rules and automations carry the useful parts into the teams and tools that need them. Circleback is built for people and AI agents: the complete meeting record available to a person is also available programmatically through its API, MCP, and CLI. Circleback can also search connected apps and take action in them. It is built for people and AI agents: the same complete meeting data available to a person is available programmatically to ChatGPT, Claude, other agents, and internal tools through the API, MCP, and CLI. Free; Pro from $15/user/month annually; Business from $25/user/month annually; Enterprise $35/user/month, billed annually. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which is better: Fathom or Otter.ai? Fathom offers richer online-call recordings and clips with unlimited base transcription. Otter centers live text and phone-based capture, but applies monthly minute and meeting limits. ### Which is less expensive, Fathom or Otter.ai? Fathom: Free; Premium from $16/user/month annually. Otter.ai: Free; Pro from $8.33/user/month annually. Compare the paid seats, included usage, recording access, and admin features you actually need. ### Can Fathom and Otter.ai record without a bot? Fathom: Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. Otter.ai: Meeting agent or automatic bot-free desktop capture, plus mobile. The useful check is whether your required capture mode keeps video, a recording, and speaker names. ### Which is better for a whole company? First ask who gets each note automatically; otherwise useful context stays with the recorder. Then compare permissions, retention, and enforced defaults. Fathom: Organization and team visibility defaults, plus attendee auto-share. Otter: User auto-share and Enterprise workspace defaults. ### Can I access and move the full meeting data? Fathom: Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. Otter: MCP broadly; API and webhooks on Enterprise. Check the selected plan, authentication model, transcript scope, export format, and retention window for the workflow you need. ### How was this comparison researched? We use first-party pricing pages, product pages, help docs, and release notes for both products. The sources are linked below. ## Methodology Circleback reviews first-party pricing pages, product pages, help docs, and release notes. Prices and capabilities move, so check the linked sources when a detail is important to your decision. Every feature dimension links to the exact first-party documents used for that claim. Ratings describe documented breadth, not an overall score or winner. This page is a neutral competitor-to-competitor comparison. There are no paid placements or affiliate rankings. ## First-party sources ### Fathom sources - [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing): Free, Premium, Team, Business, and Enterprise prices and feature gates. - [Fathom supported systems](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296576): Computer, platform, mobile, phone call, webinar, and breakout limitations. - [Fathom in-person meetings](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/5500225): Current workaround, speaker limitation, and upcoming iOS path. - [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049): Current Zoom-on-Mac bot-free video and Google Meet/Teams rollout status. - [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview): Current bot-free capture modes, speaker attribution, action items, Ask Fathom, programmatic access, and the marketing claim that iOS capture is available. - [Fathom 3.0 rollout](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11577345): Current Mac-only, English-only eligibility and staged rollout behavior for the new bot-free experience. - [Fathom auto-capture and visibility controls](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13729025): Organization and team defaults for capture and visibility across external, internal, and unscheduled meetings. - [Fathom attendee auto-share](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7574785): Automatic delivery of summaries, recordings, or both to every calendar invitee, including no-shows. - [Fathom public API](https://developers.fathom.ai/quickstart): User-scoped API keys plus meeting metadata, speaker-attributed transcripts, summaries, assigned action items, CRM matches, pagination, and administrator visibility limits. - [Fathom MCP](https://developers.fathom.ai/mcp-docs): Official authenticated MCP access from ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, and other compatible clients. - [Fathom AI action items](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/640768): AI detection of action items and their assignees plus follow-up email generation. - [Fathom Asana integration](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7639617): Automatic or manual synchronization of assigned meeting actions into Asana with source links. - [Fathom release notes](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6220097): July 2026 API recording-download support and current product changes. - [Fathom security and AI training](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296512): US data hosting, de-identified in-house model training and opt-out controls, plus third-party no-training terms. - [Fathom retention policies](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6057089): Enterprise-only, support-managed retention with one policy per team. ### Otter.ai sources - [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing): Current free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise allowances and feature gates. - [Otter Basic-plan limits](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360047538094-Conversation-import-and-app-limits-on-the-Basic-free-plan): Monthly minutes, per-conversation duration, lifetime imports, and 25-conversation history. - [Otter desktop automatic recording](https://otter.ai/blog/never-miss-the-conversation-introducing-automatic-recording-in-otter-desktop): August 2026 automatic detection, reminders, and bot-free recording behavior for Zoom, Teams, Meet, and other browser calls. - [Otter automatic sharing](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/20424842990999-Manage-auto-share-settings): Workspace defaults for automatic audience, collaborator permissions, and meeting-level overrides. - [Otter supported languages](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/26660468516631-Transcribe-conversations-in-English-Spanish-French-German-Japanese-or-Chinese-Simplified): Six-language scope, beta languages, one-language behavior, French/English switching, and reprocessing limits. - [Otter speaker identification](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/21665587209367-Speaker-Identification-Overview): Post-processing diarization, learned speaker names, generic labels for new voices, and live Zoom behavior. - [Otter action items](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/25983095114519-Action-Items-Overview): Cross-meeting personal action-item view, transcript links, editing, reassignment, completion, and the lack of a workspace-wide all-assignees view. - [Otter automatic action-item assignment](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/5093228433687-Conversation-Page-Overview): Automatic detection and assignment of meeting action items to relevant workspace members. - [Otter AI Chat connectors](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/19682180167575-Otter-AI-Chat-Overview): Advanced-mode Gmail, Google Drive, Jira, Notion, and Salesforce connector capabilities plus plan and mobile-version caveats. - [Otter Jira integration](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/40485786582551-Connect-Jira-to-Otter-ai): Automatic Jira issue creation from meeting actions with assignees, due dates, projects, source links, and AI Chat access. - [Otter Slack integration](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/13627121851799-Connect-Slack-to-Otter-ai): Summary posting, recurring-meeting delivery, rich previews, access handling, and action-item notifications. - [Otter SharePoint export](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/38533740881175-Connect-Microsoft-SharePoint-to-Otter-ai): Enterprise automatic transcript, summary, and metadata export plus administrator and account-manager setup. - [Otter workspace auto-share controls](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/32589333117591-Manage-Workspace-auto-share-settings): Enterprise eligibility, selectable defaults, user overrides, and the privacy-lock exception. - [Otter MCP server](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/35287607569687-Otter-MCP-Server): Authenticated meeting scope, shared meetings, supported clients, and lack of a public MCP API key. - [Otter public API](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/4412365535895-Does-Otter-offer-an-open-API): Enterprise-only public API availability and account-manager enablement. - [Otter privacy and model training](https://otter.ai/privacy-security): Proprietary-model training on de-identified recordings and transcripts, plus third-party provider no-training and zero-storage commitments. - [Otter Enterprise controls](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/13352505516695-Enterprise-Admin-Controls-Overview): Enterprise no-training default, 2FA, export controls, audio removal, and advanced governance. - [Otter retention policy](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/19500988656279-Set-a-custom-Data-Retention-policy): Account-manager configured retention for full conversations, recordings, or transcripts. - [Otter conversation export](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360047733634-Export-conversations): Individual and Business bulk exports across text, subtitle, and audio formats.