# Fathom vs Read AI: pricing, features, and which is better > Fathom and Read 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-read-ai - Structured JSON: https://circleback.ai/compare/fathom-vs-read-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 is the simpler recorder with a strong free tier. Read AI asks more of the buyer but adds live engagement analytics, coaching signals, and cross-tool search. 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. ## Read AI at a glance Read AI goes beyond notes with live engagement, sentiment, speaker metrics, Search Copilot, and access across meetings and other work sources. Its pricing looks approachable until recording playback and governance requirements push a team into Enterprise tiers. **Best for:** Teams that value live engagement/sentiment signals, speaker analytics, coaching, and a search assistant spanning multiple workplace content sources. **Less ideal for:** Teams that want recordings on ordinary plans, dislike behavioral scoring in meetings, need free viewer economics, or want simple transparent governance below Enterprise+. **Price:** Free for 5 meetings/month; Pro from $15/user/month annually Prices are per user/month: Pro is $15 with annual billing or $19.75 month-to-month; Enterprise is $22.50 or $29.75 and adds playback; Enterprise+ is $29.75 or $39.75 and adds advanced retention, domain, SAML, and HIPAA-related options, with a five-license minimum. **Free option:** Yes: five meetings per month. ### Read AI strengths - Distinctive live engagement, sentiment, speaker, and meeting-quality analytics. - Search Copilot reaches beyond meetings into connected email, messaging, and document sources. - Automatic recaps and recurring-meeting pre-reads can carry action items and open questions into email, Slack, or Teams. - Current macOS/Windows desktop plus iOS and Android in-person capture broaden the product beyond a meeting bot. - Its open-beta REST API and MCP expose full speaker-labeled transcripts, summaries, actions, metrics, and recording download URLs for meetings the user can access. ### Read AI tradeoffs - Audio/video playback requires Enterprise or Enterprise+, while lower-tier source media is deleted after the documented grace period. - Advanced retention, SAML, domain controls, and HIPAA support require Enterprise+ and its license minimum. - Engagement and sentiment scoring can be useful for coaching but uncomfortable or noisy for some company cultures. - Workspace licensing does not offer the same free-viewer model as some competitors. - The API and MCP are open beta: OAuth tokens are short-lived, static keys/client credentials are not supported, and several app features and file upload are not exposed. - Read says meeting data is not used for AI training without explicit opt-in, but its Customer Experience Improvement Program is enabled on an opt-out basis for product evaluation. - Simply removing a person from a workspace does not revoke their account access or transfer their reports. Admins must deactivate the account and transfer workspace-owned reports as separate offboarding steps. ### Choose Read AI when - Live engagement and speaker analytics are genuinely useful to your managers or facilitators. - You want AI search across meetings plus connected workplace sources. - You are comfortable with Enterprise pricing for playback and Enterprise+ for stronger governance. ## Feature comparison | What matters | Fathom | Read 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 bot, macOS/Windows desktop, and mobile. The assistant can join scheduled calls, while desktop records device audio without relying solely on a bot. Disclosure and opt-out flows remain part of the participant experience. | | 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. Desktop captures device audio for online meetings. The iPhone and Android apps record in-person conversations and put their reports beside Zoom, Meet, and Teams meetings; neither mobile app can record another app or phone call using the same microphone. | | 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 — iOS and Android real-time transcript and summary. Both mobile apps record room conversations with a live transcript and summary. They do not capture phone calls, FaceTime, or a virtual-meeting app on the same device. In shared-room audio, distinct voices may begin as Conference Room — Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and so on; owners and editors can rename or reassign them afterward. | | 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. | Narrow or indirect — Playback only on Enterprise and Enterprise+. Pro and free users can receive notes and transcripts, but source media is not a durable playback library. Read documents a 30-day grace period before lower-tier media deletion. | | 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 — Summaries, action items, Search Copilot, and coaching analytics. Read’s differentiated layer is live and post-meeting intelligence: engagement, sentiment, speaker stats, action items, and search across connected content. Recommendations can resurface recent work assigned to the user, but Read does not document a full workspace-wide task board with assignee and completion management comparable to dedicated action trackers. | | 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. | Broad support — Cross-source Search Copilot. Search can span meetings, email, messages, and documents, which is broader than a transcript library. The experience is a search layer rather than explicit relationship timelines and upcoming-event pages. | | 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. | Broad support — Workspace-wide participant and team report access. Workspace admins can set automatic report access for internal or external participants and give teams role-based access to matching reports, including retroactive access. Owners can send recaps and recurring-meeting pre-reads through email, Slack, or Teams. Participant rules use calendar invitees, including no-shows, and the owner’s settings govern each report, so teams should configure workspace controls deliberately. | | 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 — Recaps, pre-reads, scheduled updates, and agent actions. Read can send post-meeting recaps, recurring-meeting pre-reads, and scheduled topic updates, while Ask Read actions can draft and send email, create calendar events, and update HubSpot after user approval. It is more opinionated around its own agents and intelligence outputs than a general meeting trigger/condition/action canvas. | | 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 — Calendar, conferencing, email, messaging, documents, and premium connectors. Search Copilot’s cross-source coverage is a strength, although connector eligibility varies by paid 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 — Open-beta REST API and MCP with full meeting reports. Read’s API and remote MCP can return meeting metadata, participants, summaries, chapters, action items, topics, metrics, full speaker-labeled transcripts, and recording-download URLs. They are open beta, use browser OAuth with short-lived rotating tokens, lack service credentials and file upload, and only reach reports the user can access unless an admin enables global report access. | | 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. | Broad support — Core admin on Enterprise; advanced governance on Enterprise+. Retention, domain controls, SAML, and HIPAA-related capabilities are concentrated in Enterprise+. That plan currently carries a five-license minimum. | | 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. | Available with limits — Read’s pricing page says 20+; its detail table says 16+. Read’s current pricing page uses “20+ languages” in the Free plan card but “16+ languages” in the detailed comparison table. The coverage is useful but materially narrower on paper than competitors advertising 75 or 100+; verify the language you need rather than relying on the headline count. | 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 **Read AI 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). **Read AI:** Meeting bot, macOS/Windows desktop, and mobile. The assistant can join scheduled calls, while desktop records device audio without relying solely on a bot. Disclosure and opt-out flows remain part of the participant experience. Evidence: [Read AI desktop app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/45911611006995-How-to-Use-Read-s-Desktop-App-for-Windows-and-Mac). ### Desktop and mobile **Read AI 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). **Read AI:** Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. Desktop captures device audio for online meetings. The iPhone and Android apps record in-person conversations and put their reports beside Zoom, Meet, and Teams meetings; neither mobile app can record another app or phone call using the same microphone. Evidence: [Read AI desktop app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/45911611006995-How-to-Use-Read-s-Desktop-App-for-Windows-and-Mac), [Read AI iPhone app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/34467337929107-Read-AI-App-for-iPhone), [Read AI Android app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/51863250182291-Read-AI-App-for-Android). ### In-person capture and speaker labels **Read AI 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). **Read AI:** iOS and Android real-time transcript and summary. Both mobile apps record room conversations with a live transcript and summary. They do not capture phone calls, FaceTime, or a virtual-meeting app on the same device. In shared-room audio, distinct voices may begin as Conference Room — Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and so on; owners and editors can rename or reassign them afterward. Evidence: [Read AI iPhone app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/34467337929107-Read-AI-App-for-iPhone), [Read AI Android app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/51863250182291-Read-AI-App-for-Android), [Read AI mobile capture limits](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/51863422605203-Can-I-use-Read-s-mobile-app-to-record-calls-from-my-phone), [Read AI speaker editing](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/36169538719379-Can-I-edit-text-and-speaker-names-in-my-meeting-report). ### 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). **Read AI:** Playback only on Enterprise and Enterprise+. Pro and free users can receive notes and transcripts, but source media is not a durable playback library. Read documents a 30-day grace period before lower-tier media deletion. Evidence: [Read AI recording availability](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/15107171454739-Why-can-t-I-see-recordings-in-my-report-when-I-received-a-recording-notification-in-my-meeting), [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing). ### 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). **Read AI:** Summaries, action items, Search Copilot, and coaching analytics. Read’s differentiated layer is live and post-meeting intelligence: engagement, sentiment, speaker stats, action items, and search across connected content. Recommendations can resurface recent work assigned to the user, but Read does not document a full workspace-wide task board with assignee and completion management comparable to dedicated action trackers. Evidence: [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing), [Read AI report distribution](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/23219401248019-How-do-I-control-meeting-report-sharing-and-distribution). ### People, companies, and context **Read AI has broader documented support for people, companies, and context.** **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). **Read AI:** Cross-source Search Copilot. Search can span meetings, email, messages, and documents, which is broader than a transcript library. The experience is a search layer rather than explicit relationship timelines and upcoming-event pages. Evidence: [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing). ### Automatic sharing and workspace defaults **Both products document broad support for automatic sharing and workspace defaults, with different scope and plan limits.** **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). **Read AI:** Workspace-wide participant and team report access. Workspace admins can set automatic report access for internal or external participants and give teams role-based access to matching reports, including retroactive access. Owners can send recaps and recurring-meeting pre-reads through email, Slack, or Teams. Participant rules use calendar invitees, including no-shows, and the owner’s settings govern each report, so teams should configure workspace controls deliberately. Evidence: [Read AI workspace sharing settings](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/7962819152659-What-are-all-of-the-settings-and-permissions-available-with-Workspaces), [Read AI report distribution](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/23219401248019-How-do-I-control-meeting-report-sharing-and-distribution). ### 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). **Read AI:** Recaps, pre-reads, scheduled updates, and agent actions. Read can send post-meeting recaps, recurring-meeting pre-reads, and scheduled topic updates, while Ask Read actions can draft and send email, create calendar events, and update HubSpot after user approval. It is more opinionated around its own agents and intelligence outputs than a general meeting trigger/condition/action canvas. Evidence: [Read AI report distribution](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/23219401248019-How-do-I-control-meeting-report-sharing-and-distribution), [Read AI actions](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/48863788829971-Using-Ask-Read-actions). ### Integrations **Read AI 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). **Read AI:** Calendar, conferencing, email, messaging, documents, and premium connectors. Search Copilot’s cross-source coverage is a strength, although connector eligibility varies by paid plan. Evidence: [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing). ### 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). **Read AI:** Open-beta REST API and MCP with full meeting reports. Read’s API and remote MCP can return meeting metadata, participants, summaries, chapters, action items, topics, metrics, full speaker-labeled transcripts, and recording-download URLs. They are open beta, use browser OAuth with short-lived rotating tokens, lack service credentials and file upload, and only reach reports the user can access unless an admin enables global report access. Evidence: [Read AI API and MCP overview](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/49379985941523-Read-AI-API-and-MCP-Overview), [Read AI MCP tools](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/49381158409491-MCP-Server). ### Security, privacy, and admin **Read AI has broader documented support for security, privacy, and admin.** **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). **Read AI:** Core admin on Enterprise; advanced governance on Enterprise+. Retention, domain controls, SAML, and HIPAA-related capabilities are concentrated in Enterprise+. That plan currently carries a five-license minimum. Evidence: [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing), [Read AI workspace sharing settings](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/7962819152659-What-are-all-of-the-settings-and-permissions-available-with-Workspaces), [Read AI workspace offboarding](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/27433066427283-How-do-I-offboard-someone-from-my-Read-workspace), [Read AI data handling](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/52055801266579-What-Does-Read-AI-Do-With-My-Data-Read-AI). ### Languages **Both products support languages, with different scope and plan limits.** **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). **Read AI:** Read’s pricing page says 20+; its detail table says 16+. Read’s current pricing page uses “20+ languages” in the Free plan card but “16+ languages” in the detailed comparison table. The coverage is useful but materially narrower on paper than competitors advertising 75 or 100+; verify the language you need rather than relying on the headline count. Evidence: [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing). ## 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 Read AI? Fathom is the simpler recorder with a strong free tier. Read AI asks more of the buyer but adds live engagement analytics, coaching signals, and cross-tool search. ### Which is less expensive, Fathom or Read AI? Fathom: Free; Premium from $16/user/month annually. Read AI: Free for 5 meetings/month; Pro from $15/user/month annually. Compare the paid seats, included usage, recording access, and admin features you actually need. ### Can Fathom and Read AI record without a bot? Fathom: Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. Read AI: Meeting bot, macOS/Windows desktop, and 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. Read AI: Workspace-wide participant and team report access. ### Can I access and move the full meeting data? Fathom: Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. Read AI: Open-beta REST API and MCP with full meeting reports. 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. ### Read AI sources - [Read AI pricing](https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing): Current meeting limits, prices, languages, playback gate, governance, and Enterprise+ minimum. - [Read AI desktop app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/45911611006995-How-to-Use-Read-s-Desktop-App-for-Windows-and-Mac): Device-audio recording and participant disclosure behavior. - [Read AI iPhone app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/34467337929107-Read-AI-App-for-iPhone): In-person real-time transcript and summary. - [Read AI Android app](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/51863250182291-Read-AI-App-for-Android): Android in-person capture, live transcript and summary, and report access. - [Read AI mobile capture limits](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/51863422605203-Can-I-use-Read-s-mobile-app-to-record-calls-from-my-phone): Phone-call and same-device virtual-meeting limitations across iOS and Android. - [Read AI speaker editing](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/36169538719379-Can-I-edit-text-and-speaker-names-in-my-meeting-report): Generic same-room labels plus transcript-wide speaker renaming and turn reassignment. - [Read AI recording availability](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/15107171454739-Why-can-t-I-see-recordings-in-my-report-when-I-received-a-recording-notification-in-my-meeting): Enterprise playback requirement and lower-plan source-media deletion. - [Read AI workspace sharing settings](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/7962819152659-What-are-all-of-the-settings-and-permissions-available-with-Workspaces): Participant auto-sharing, team report access, and workspace distribution controls. - [Read AI report distribution](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/23219401248019-How-do-I-control-meeting-report-sharing-and-distribution): Owner-level participant sharing, invitee behavior, email/Slack/Teams recaps, recurring-meeting pre-reads, and workspace controls. - [Read AI actions](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/48863788829971-Using-Ask-Read-actions): Agent actions for HubSpot updates, approved email sending, calendar creation, and scheduled reports. - [Read AI API and MCP overview](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/49379985941523-Read-AI-API-and-MCP-Overview): Open-beta scope, prerequisites, OAuth and rate-limit constraints, permissions, and current feature gaps. - [Read AI MCP tools](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/49381158409491-MCP-Server): Full transcript, summary, action, metric, recording-download, agent-dispatch, and sharing tools. - [Read AI data handling](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/52055801266579-What-Does-Read-AI-Do-With-My-Data-Read-AI): Storage, access, AI-training consent, and the opt-out Customer Experience Improvement Program. - [Read AI workspace offboarding](https://support.read.ai/hc/en-us/articles/27433066427283-How-do-I-offboard-someone-from-my-Read-workspace): Account deactivation, report transfer, and the limits of simply removing a workspace member.