Read.ai has received mixed reviews from users, with security concerns being a prominent issue mentioned in feedback. Many users report that Read AI continues to join calls without approval even after account deletion, raising privacy and access control questions. The platform has accumulated 61 reviews on Trustpilot with a low rating of 1.7 stars, suggesting widespread user dissatisfaction.

Zoom AI Companion receives more positive feedback from reviewers, with users highlighting its real-time assistance capabilities and integrated features. The platform includes tools like Zoom Whiteboard and sentiment analysis to monitor participant engagement during meetings. Reviews indicate that users appreciate the comprehensive feature set and the seamless integration within the existing Zoom ecosystem.

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Read.ai offers comprehensive meeting analysis beyond basic transcription, including engagement metrics, sentiment analysis, and speaker balance insights. The platform provides robust integrations with popular productivity tools like HubSpot, Notion, and Slack, making it suitable for teams wanting detailed meeting analytics. However, the interface can be complex for new users, and the limited free tier restricts casual use.

Read.ai works best for data-driven teams and organizations that need detailed meeting insights and cross-platform compatibility. The tool appeals to managers focused on meeting effectiveness and teams requiring searchable meeting archives. While integrations exist, they primarily handle basic data syncing rather than enabling sophisticated workflow automation that transforms insights into actionable next steps.

Zoom AI provides seamless meeting summaries and real-time Q&A features directly within the Zoom platform at no additional cost for paid subscribers. The tool excels in simplicity and ease of use, requiring no setup or separate applications for existing Zoom users. However, it's limited to the Zoom ecosystem and lacks the advanced analytics and cross-platform functionality found in dedicated solutions.

Zoom AI suits organizations heavily invested in Zoom's ecosystem who want basic meeting documentation without additional complexity or cost. It's ideal for teams seeking simple, integrated functionality rather than comprehensive meeting analysis. Both tools ultimately fall short in providing deep workflow integrations and sophisticated automation that would help users effectively act on meeting insights rather than just collecting them.

Why users switch away from Read.ai or Zoom AI

Users switch away from Read.ai due to the restrictive limitations of the free tier, which only allows 5 meetings per month with full notes. This constraint is considered too limiting compared to competitors, forcing users to upgrade to paid plans or seek alternatives that offer more generous free usage allowances.

The user interface presents a significant barrier, with multiple users finding it complex and cluttered due to the numerous features including notes, analytics, and search functions. The learning curve is notably higher than expected, with some reviews describing the interface as "confusing" and not delivering the anticipated time-saving benefits, making the tool less accessible for users seeking straightforward functionality.

Pricing concerns drive users to explore other options, particularly the high cost of full functionality and Enterprise features like video playback at $29.75 per user per month annually. Small teams find these pricing tiers prohibitive, especially when combined with the complex interface and technical inconsistencies such as unreliable live coach metrics when participants join meetings late or experience microphone issues.

Users switch away from Zoom AI due to its platform limitations. Zoom AI only functions within Zoom meetings and cannot capture content from other platforms like Teams or Google Meet. It also lacks capability for in-person meetings, only working for virtual Zoom calls, which restricts its utility for hybrid work environments.

The integration capabilities present another switching factor. Zoom AI has limited native integrations and lacks direct syncing with popular productivity tools like HubSpot, Notion, or Salesforce. Users experience difficulty retrieving or sharing AI notes outside the Zoom ecosystem, forcing them to manually export content to other systems they use for documentation and workflow management.

Feature maturity and functionality gaps drive users to seek alternatives. Zoom AI provides limited control over which meetings to record or summarize compared to dedicated AI meeting tools. The automation engine remains basic with no external workflow automation capabilities, and some users report poor chat integration within Zoom itself, making the overall AI meeting management less comprehensive than specialized solutions.

FAQs

Would Read.ai work for in-person meetings? What about Zoom AI?

Yes, Read.ai works for in-person meetings through its iOS app that can capture in-person/offline meetings with one tap. Zoom AI does not work for in-person meetings - it only works for virtual Zoom calls and cannot independently capture in-person audio.

Do these tools help a user follow up with action items from the meeting? How so?

Yes, both tools help with action items. Read.ai generates reports after meetings that include key points and action items, along with metrics like speaking time, sentiment, and attention scores. Zoom AI automatically generates meeting summaries and next-action items at the end of Zoom calls, with summaries and highlighted action items generated almost instantly after the meeting.

Do these tools integrate with software like Hubspot, Salesforce, or Linear?

Read.ai has robust integrations including HubSpot, Salesforce, Confluence, Jira, Notion, and Slack. Zoom AI has limited integrations and stays within Zoom's ecosystem with few native integrations - it lacks direct HubSpot or Notion sync capabilities.

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