Fathom vs Otter.ai for meeting automation

Here's what you should look for in an AI meeting automation tool:

• Transcripts that create a word-for-word record of the meeting. For example, a one-hour product development meeting generates a searchable document containing every feature discussion, technical requirement, and team decision.

• Action items are pulled directly from the conversation. When someone says "John will update the wireframes by Friday," the AI automatically creates a tracked task with the assignee and deadline.

• Meeting summaries distill hour-long conversations into 2-3 paragraphs. A 45-minute sprint planning meeting becomes a concise overview of sprint goals, resource allocation, and key decisions.

• Topic segmentation breaks discussions into labeled sections. A client call covering multiple projects is automatically divided into sections like "Website Redesign," "Q1 Marketing Campaign," and "Budget Review."

Other key features

In addition to the quality of these deliverables, we'll want to look at a number of other key factors:

• Ease-of-use: does it have a simple, intuitive setup that works for non-technical users?

• In-person meeting support: can it transcribe audio from live recordings or uploaded files, not just virtual calls?

• Security and privacy: how is customer data handled on the platform?

• Integrations: can it connect with your existing stack, like HubSpot, Notion, or Slack?

• Functionality: does it go beyond transcriptions and actually help you take action?

• Languages: can it transcribe and summarize meetings in different languages?

• Desktop and mobile apps: can you access it on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android for on-the-go meetings?

Understanding Fathom and Otter.ai

Fathom is an AI meeting notetaker that integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams. It records meetings, provides real-time transcription in over 25 languages, and generates various AI summaries including bullet lists, action items, and detailed chronological overviews. The system identifies speakers, allows manual highlighting during calls, and offers post-meeting features like meeting overviews and follow-up email drafts. Users can query meeting content afterward through an "Ask Fathom" feature. The tool is commonly used by sales representatives and others who need to focus on conversations rather than note-taking.

Fathom offers a free plan with unlimited recordings but AI summaries limited to 5 meetings monthly. Paid plans range from $15/month for individuals to $29/user/month for teams with advanced features. It requires a desktop application and doesn't support uploading external audio files or in-person meetings. The platform integrates with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce, plus Slack and Notion. While it lacks a mobile app, users highlight its accurate transcription capabilities and the quick generation of meeting summaries.

Otter.ai is an AI note-taking tool that transcribes audio from meetings, interviews, and classes in real-time. It works with uploaded files or live meetings through Zoom and Teams integration, identifies different speakers, captures screen content, and generates automatic summaries of key points. The service offers searchable and shareable transcripts, with features allowing users to highlight or comment during meetings.

The platform operates on a tiered pricing model starting with a free plan offering 600 minutes monthly, advancing to paid plans with increased minutes and features. While it supports in-person transcription through its mobile apps (available for iOS and Android) and integrates with services like Slack, Zoom, HubSpot and Notion, Otter primarily works through web browsers rather than a desktop application. It handles English transcription well, with limited support for Spanish and French.

Comparing Fathom and Otter.ai

Fathom

• Fathom provides real-time transcription and AI summaries for virtual meetings on Zoom, Google Meet and Teams. It lacks support for in-person conversations or audio uploads, limiting its use to scheduled online meetings only.

• While Fathom offers strong transcription accuracy and various summary formats, its integration ecosystem remains relatively narrow and basic. The lack of a mobile app and limited ability to actually turn meeting content into actionable workflows hampers its utility for teams seeking comprehensive meeting management.

Otter.ai

• Otter.ai transcribes both online meetings and in-person conversations, supporting audio uploads with automatic summaries. The transcripts can be verbose and sometimes lack structure, making it difficult to extract the most important information quickly.

• Despite integrations with platforms like Zoom and Slack, Otter's ecosystem falls short of deep workflow automations that would help users efficiently act on meeting outcomes. The tool struggles with complex audio environments and can have accuracy issues with speaker identification.

Fathom better serves professionals who primarily conduct virtual meetings and value accurate transcription with clean summaries. Its interface simplicity and free tier generosity make it attractive for individual contributors and small teams who need basic meeting capture without complexity. However, its lack of mobile access and in-person recording capability limits its utility in hybrid work environments.

Otter.ai works best for users with varied meeting formats, including in-person conversations and impromptu discussions. Its mobile app and audio upload capabilities provide flexibility for journalists, researchers, and teams with diverse recording needs. However, users requiring highly structured outputs or working in multilingual environments may find its verbosity and limited language support frustrating.

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