Fathom vs Fireflies.ai

Updated October 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Fathom

An AI meeting recorder with a free plan that includes unlimited recordings and instant summaries.

Free plan + paid

Visit Fathom Fathom profile

Fireflies.ai

An AI notetaker that records, transcribes and summarises calls, with search and conversation analytics.

Free plan + paid

Visit Fireflies.ai Fireflies.ai profile

The short answer

Pick Fathom if you mainly want free, unlimited meeting recordings and fast summaries, or if you run a small sales team that wants clips and CRM sync. Pick Fireflies if you need transcription in many languages, more integrations and conversation analytics across a larger team. The biggest difference is the free plan: Fathom does not cap recordings, while Fireflies' free storage fills quickly.

Fathom or Fireflies.ai: our take

Both record, transcribe and summarise calls on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and both do it by sending a bot into the meeting. Fathom's pitch is speed and simplicity: summaries appear seconds after the call ends, and you can make clips, playlists and keyword alerts, ask questions about a call and push notes and action items to a CRM. Fireflies covers more ground: transcription in 100+ languages, real-time notes, search across all past meetings, and conversation intelligence such as talk time and sentiment. It has Android and iOS apps and a Chrome extension; Fathom has web, Windows and Mac apps.

The free plans are the clearest difference. Fathom's includes unlimited recordings and transcription, with a limited number of advanced AI summaries. Fireflies' free-forever plan includes transcription with limited AI summaries and storage that fills up quickly.

Paid plans are similar in price. Fathom Premium is $16/month billed annually or $20 monthly, and Team plans are $15–19 per user/month with a 2-user minimum; every paid plan has a 90-day guarantee. Fireflies Pro starts at $10 per seat/month billed annually and Business is $19 per seat/month billed annually, with AI credits on top of seat pricing. Fireflies' Enterprise tier adds HIPAA compliance, SSO and private storage. Fathom's richest team features, such as coaching metrics and AI scorecards, are aimed at sales and customer success teams.

For individuals who want good meeting notes without paying, Fathom is hard to beat. For sales teams, both work; Fathom is simpler, while Fireflies offers deeper analytics and more integrations. For multilingual or larger organisations that need searchable records across many tools and compliance options, Fireflies is the better fit.

Choose Fathom if…

Individuals who want unlimited free meeting recordings, and sales teams who want CRM sync
You need Windows and macOS, which Fireflies.ai doesn't list
Free plan with unlimited recordings and transcripts
Summaries ready seconds after the call

Choose Fireflies.ai if…

Teams that want searchable meeting transcripts and conversation analytics across many tools
You need iOS, Android and Browser extension, which Fathom doesn't list
Transcription in 100+ languages
Search and analytics across all meetings

What is Fathom?

Fathom records, transcribes and summarises Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls, and became popular because its free plan does not cap the number of recordings. Summaries appear seconds after a call ends, and you can create clips, playlists and keyword alerts, ask questions about a call, and push notes and action items to CRMs and other tools. The free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcription with a limited number of advanced AI summaries; Premium adds unlimited advanced summaries, action items and a custom bot for individuals. Team and Business plans, with a two-user minimum, add shared libraries, coaching metrics, AI scorecards and CRM syncing for sales and customer success teams, and every paid plan comes with a 90-day guarantee. Fathom relies on a bot joining the meeting, which some participants dislike, and its richest features are aimed at revenue teams rather than general note-taking.

What is Fireflies.ai?

Fireflies.ai sends a bot called Fred into Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other platforms to record and transcribe meetings, then generates summaries, action items and topic trackers. Transcripts are searchable across your whole meeting history, and conversation intelligence shows talk time, sentiment and question counts, which sales and recruiting teams use for coaching. It transcribes in over 100 languages, offers real-time notes, has Android and iOS apps and a Chrome extension, connects to CRMs and project tools, and provides an API. The free plan includes transcription with limited AI summaries and storage; Pro, Business and Enterprise add unlimited summaries, video recording, more storage, analytics and, at the top tier, HIPAA compliance, SSO and private storage. Fireflies is a good all-rounder for teams, although the free tier's storage cap fills quickly and the AI credit system on top of seat pricing takes some understanding.

Side by side

Attribute	Fathom	Fireflies.ai
Pricing	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS	Web, iOS, Android, Browser extension
Best for	Individuals who want unlimited free meeting recordings, and sales teams who want CRM sync	Teams that want searchable meeting transcripts and conversation analytics across many tools
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Fathom	Fireflies.ai
Free plan	Yes, unlimited recordings	Yes, free forever