Best AI transcription and meeting-note tools in 2026

Free plans at a glance

Fathom: unlimited recordings and instant summaries for individuals. Fireflies: free transcription and summaries, with storage and advanced-AI credit limits. Otter: 300 transcription minutes per month, a 30-minute conversation limit and three lifetime file imports. Descript: one media hour per month for transcription and editing. Plaud: 300 transcription minutes per month, but requires compatible Plaud hardware for its central workflow.

How to choose

Choose Fathom when you mainly need automatic online-meeting notes at minimal cost. Choose Fireflies when languages, integrations and team workflows matter. Choose Otter when live notes, search and meeting follow-up are central. Choose Descript when the transcript is the starting point for a podcast, video or social clip. Choose Plaud when you need a physical recorder for in-person work.

Where Gemini 3.5 Transcribe fits

Google's new transcription model is important technology, with speaker identification, timestamps, language detection, custom vocabulary and polished formatting. It is currently better understood as a model and developer capability than a complete small-business meeting-note service, so we have not ranked it as a direct replacement for the five finished products above.

Privacy and consent

Do not invite a recording bot or use a wearable recorder without considering consent, confidentiality and local law. For customer calls, employment discussions, health information, legal matters or commercially sensitive meetings, check the provider's current retention, training, deletion, access-control and data-location terms before recording.

Pricing warning

Published prices, transcription allowances and AI-credit rules change frequently. Annual billing can look substantially cheaper than monthly billing, so compare the total commitment and confirm current limits before subscribing.