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Fathom AI review (2026): the free plan is real, and the recordings live on Fathom
Fathom's free plan for individuals includes unlimited recordings and transcription, with a bot in the call and storage on Fathom's servers. A sourced review of the price, the Enterprise BAA, and when a local app fits better.
Ben Claybrook 5 min read
Fathom’s free plan is one of the best offers in this category, and it is worth saying that before anything else. Unlimited recordings and transcription for an individual, with instant summaries, is why Fathom shows up in every “best free AI notetaker” list. The product is good. The price of free is that the meetings live on Fathom’s infrastructure, and a Fathom bot joins the call.
Free and private answer different questions. If your meetings are ordinary and a bot is fine, Fathom is an easy recommendation. If the conversation should not exist as a recording on someone else’s servers, the free plan does not change that.
Figures below are from Fathom’s pricing page and its own Fathom-vs-Granola comparison, as checked 16 September 2026 for Granola AI vs Fathom. Plans change.
Who Fathom is for
Fathom is for an individual who wants recordings and summaries and does not want a bill, and for teams that want the same system with admin structure once they outgrow the personal plan. It is a strong default when you need to replay the meeting, including video and screen capture on the plans that include them.
It is a weak fit for confidential conversations, for calls where a bot changes how people talk, and for protected health information on anything short of Enterprise.
What Fathom does well
The free tier is actually generous. Unlimited recordings and transcription with instant AI summaries, for individuals, is not a 300-minute teaser. Otter’s free plan is capped. Fathom’s personal plan is the one people mean when they say a cloud notetaker can be free. We say the same thing in AI note takers without a subscription.
You can go back to the tape. Fathom keeps recordings on its servers and lists transcript-only, audio-only, or full video and screen capture. Speaker diarization is on the feature list. If “what did they mean by that tone” matters, a transcript-only tool cannot answer it. Granola states it does not store audio. Fathom keeps the recording on purpose.
Integrations on the free plan. Fathom’s comparison page claims ChatGPT and Claude integrations and public API access on every plan, including free. Treat that as Fathom’s claim, checked 16 September 2026, and confirm it if an integration is why you would switch.
Visible recording. A bot is notice. Fathom’s comparison page also says it respects the mute button, so muted audio is not captured. That is a concrete product choice, and it is better than tools that are vague about mute.
How it works
By default a Fathom bot joins the call as a participant. Fathom’s own comparison page says “bot or bot-free options,” so a bot is not the only capture mode they advertise. The mode people encounter first is the bot. Either way, Fathom processes and stores the meeting on Fathom’s servers. Recordings and transcripts live there. There is no offline mode. The free plan uses the same infrastructure as the paid ones.
Bot-free capture, where you turn it on, is still cloud processing. The same distinction we draw for Granola applies: nothing in the participant list can still mean the audio left the machine. On Fathom the recording is stored as well.
Pricing
As checked 16 September 2026:
| Plan | What was published |
|---|---|
| Free, individuals | Unlimited recordings and transcription, instant summaries |
| Premium | $20 a month, or $16 billed annually |
| Team | $19 per user a month, or $15 annually, with a 2-user minimum |
| Business | $34 per user a month, or $25 annually |
| Enterprise | Signed HIPAA BAA listed here, not on the plans above |
Our shorter comparison line is “free for individuals, teams from $19 per user per month,” which matches the Team row. Confirm Fathom’s pricing page. The free plan is the headline. The paid plans are for teams and for features beyond it.
Privacy and compliance
Fathom publishes SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA programs. The recordings are still on Fathom’s servers. A certification describes how a vendor handles data it holds. It does not relocate the data onto your laptop.
The BAA is Enterprise. Fathom’s pricing page lists “HIPAA: signed BAA” as an Enterprise feature. Free, Premium, Team, and Business do not include it. The generous free plan is exactly why people assume they are covered. They are not, if what they needed was the contract. See which AI notetakers are HIPAA compliant.
We did not find a plain-language training statement on the Fathom pages we checked, and we are not going to invent one. If training policy decides the purchase, read Fathom’s current docs, or compare the vendors who do state it, which we do for Fireflies and Granola in Granola AI vs Fathom.
Private Notetaker does not claim HIPAA certification. Audio processed on your device is not a compliance badge.
Who should skip Fathom
Skip it if a bot in the room is the problem you are trying to solve. Granola is the usual next look, and it is still cloud. Skip it if you do not want a recording stored on a vendor’s servers. Skip it for PHI unless you are on Enterprise with a signed BAA in hand.
Stay if free, the recording, and a bot you can explain to the room are what you wanted. For everyday standups, that is a coherent choice.
When Private Notetaker is the better fit
Private Notetaker fits when the free cloud plan is the wrong price, because the price was the recording. You get a transcript, a summary, and action items on the device. No bot. No upload. Offline works. Mac (Apple Silicon) and Windows.
Pricing is $15 a month or a $149 lifetime license, with a 7-day trial and no card required. Fathom’s personal plan is free. Team plans are where Fathom’s bill starts. The lifetime license is how you avoid an ongoing subscription if you choose our app.
What you give up is the tape, the video, the team plans, and the languages and accuracy of a server model. Private Notetaker is English only and has no shared workspace. If you wanted free, use Fathom.
Private Notetaker vs Fathom, Fathom alternatives, AI note takers that don’t join your meeting, and the Granola comparison linked above are the cluster around this review.
Fathom pricing, free-tier scope, capture options, and the Enterprise BAA from fathom.ai’s pricing page and its Fathom-vs-Granola comparison, checked 16 September 2026. Plans change.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Fathom AI free?
- Fathom's plan for individuals is free and, on the pricing page we checked 16 September 2026, includes unlimited recordings and transcription with instant summaries. Paid team plans start above that. The free plan still puts a bot in the call and stores recordings on Fathom's servers.
- Is Fathom a good AI note taker?
- Yes, especially if you want recordings, summaries, and a price of zero for personal use. The limits are architectural. A Fathom bot joins by default, the recording is kept on Fathom's servers, and a signed HIPAA BAA is an Enterprise feature.
- Does Fathom work without a bot?
- Fathom's own comparison page says it offers bot or bot-free options. The default people meet is a bot that joins the call. Bot-free, where a vendor offers it, still has to be checked against where the audio is processed. On Fathom, processing and storage are on Fathom's servers.
- Is Fathom HIPAA compliant?
- Fathom publishes a HIPAA program. Its pricing page lists a signed HIPAA BAA as an Enterprise feature. The free, Premium, Team, and Business plans do not include it. Private Notetaker does not claim HIPAA certification.
- What is a Fathom alternative that keeps notes on my computer?
- Private Notetaker transcribes and writes the summary and action items on your Mac or Windows PC, with no bot and no upload. It works offline. Pricing is $15 a month or a $149 lifetime license, with a 7-day trial and no card. It has no team workspace and no video library.