You’re in another endless meeting. Someone mentions an important number, a deadline flies by, and you’re trying to write everything down while also needing to participate in the conversation. Fathom is an AI meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and automatically summarizes conversations. You get action items, key moments, and a searchable archive without having to type a single letter yourself.
Who’s behind Fathom?
There’s limited public information available about the exact founders and founding year of Fathom, but what is clear: the company has gained significant trust from investors. Fathom has raised a total of $1 million, with the latest round being a Series A. Among the investors are well-known names like Telescope Partners, Maven Ventures, and Y Combinator, but notably: Zoom itself has invested. That says something about how seriously the platform is taken in the video calling world.
The company now has more than 500,000 users, which is an impressive number for a relatively new player in the AI meeting market. Fathom primarily targets sales teams, recruiters, and customer success managers – people who conduct dozens of conversations daily and can’t afford to miss important details. The tool is built with the idea that taking notes distracts you from the real conversation, and that AI can do that work better.
What sets Fathom apart from many competitors is the choice to offer an extremely generous free version. Where other tools limit you in minutes or recordings, Fathom largely throws those limits out the window. That strategy seems to be working: the user base is growing rapidly and investors keep knocking.
Who is Fathom for?
Fathom is primarily built for people who have many online conversations and need to do something with them later. Sales teams use it to track deals and automatically send notes to their CRM. Customer success managers extract action items for follow-up. Recruiters can focus on the candidate instead of their notepad. And freelancers use it to capture meetings with clients without having to guess afterwards what was actually said.
The tool works best if you use Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams frequently. The integration with these platforms is well-developed, and the automatic sync with CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce makes it extra attractive for sales teams. Even if you regularly need to search through old conversations – for example, to check what a customer specifically asked – Fathom is useful.
But there are also scenarios where Fathom is less suitable. If your company has strict requirements for data storage within the EU, you’ll run into a problem: Fathom stores data in the United States by default. There’s no automatic DPA (Data Processing Agreement) for European users, which is a dealbreaker for some organizations. Also, if you primarily work on mobile and want to make recordings on the go, you’ll come up short: there are no full-featured iOS or Android apps.
What can Fathom do?
Fathom offers unlimited recording, transcribing, and storage of your meetings in the free version. That’s pretty unique compared to competitors who show you the door after a few hundred minutes. For advanced AI summaries, extensive search features, and full CRM integrations, you do need a paid plan. Below are the key features at a glance.
- Automatic recording and transcription: Fathom joins your meeting as a bot and records everything. The transcription is surprisingly accurate, even with multiple speakers and accents. You can search the text later or download it.
- AI summaries and action items: After the meeting, you get a structured summary with the key points and actions. The free version gives you a chronological summary, but for advanced AI summaries there’s a limit of 5 per month. In the paid plans, this is unlimited.
- Ask Fathom: This is like ChatGPT for your meetings. You can ask questions like “What objections did the customer mention?” and Fathom searches for the answer in your recordings. Handy when you want to quickly find something without watching an entire conversation back.
- CRM synchronization: Fathom can automatically send notes, summaries, and action items to HubSpot, Salesforce, or Close. This eliminates manual copying and pasting after every conversation. This feature works best in the paid plans.
- Share clips and highlights: You can cut specific moments from a meeting and share them with colleagues. For example, a segment where a customer reacts enthusiastically to a demo, or a passage where a candidate explains their experience.
- Keyword alerts: Set up keywords and Fathom automatically highlights moments when those words are mentioned. Useful when you’re specifically looking for pricing objections, competitor names, or certain features that come up.
- Multilingual support: Fathom works with 38 languages, so Dutch-language meetings are also transcribed well. Quality does vary by language – English is the most tested and accurate.
- Integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams: The tool works via a desktop app or browser extension and directly integrates with your video conferencing software. You don’t need to start a separate recording tool.
What’s notable is that Fathom primarily focuses on text and analysis, not so much on video. You can watch recordings, but the strength lies in the transcripts and summaries. If video content is particularly important to you, there are tools that are stronger in that area.
How much does Fathom cost?
Fathom has a free plan that offers a surprising amount. You can record, transcribe, and store unlimited meetings. Chronological summaries are also available without limits. The limitation is in the advanced AI summaries: you only get 5 per month. For many users, that’s enough to thoroughly test the tool, and light users can get by just fine with this.
The Premium plan costs $1 per month, or $1 per month if you pay annually (total $1 per year). This gives you unlimited advanced AI summaries, full access to the Ask Fathom search feature, and better CRM integrations. This plan is suitable for individuals or freelancers who use the tool intensively.
For teams, there’s the Team Edition for $1 per month, or $1 per month with annual billing (total $1 per year). This plan adds features like shared workspaces, team analytics, and more control over who can see what. If you’re working with multiple people and want to share recordings within your organization, this is the logical choice.
New users get 30 days to try out the paid features. That’s plenty of time to test whether the advanced summaries and CRM sync actually add value for your situation. There are no lifetime deals available, so you’ll always pay a recurring amount.
What should you watch out for?
While Fathom does a lot of things well, there are also points where users run into issues. A common complaint is that the bot is visible in your meeting. Some participants find it awkward or distracting that there’s a “Fathom Notetaker” in the participant list. You can warn people in advance, but it remains an extra thing to explain.
Another pain point is the lack of full-featured mobile apps. There’s no iOS or Android app that lets you make or listen to recordings on the go. You’re dependent on the desktop app or web version, which is inconvenient if you work mobile a lot. For people who regularly join meetings from their phone, this is a shortcoming.
The summaries that Fathom generates are sometimes too formal or generic. They provide a good overview, but lack nuance or context that you as a participant did pick up on. This means you often have to manually supplement or refine the summary before sharing it with colleagues or forwarding it to a CRM.
Finally, there’s the issue of data storage. Fathom stores your recordings and transcripts in the United States. For companies with strict GDPR requirements or internal rules about data location, this can be a problem. There’s no standard option to store data within the EU, and a Data Processing Agreement is not automatically available. This makes the tool less suitable for organizations that take this seriously.
Fathom alternatives
Fathom isn’t the only AI meeting assistant on the market. Depending on your specific needs, other tools might be a better fit. Here are the main alternatives and when you’d choose them.
- Fireflies.ai: Choose this if you need more integrations than just the standard CRM systems. Fireflies works with dozens of tools and offers more export formats. The free version is more limited than Fathom’s though, so for light users Fathom is more generous.
- Otter.ai: This is an established name with good mobile apps for iOS and Android. If you frequently make or listen to recordings on the go, Otter is a better choice. Do note: the free plan has a limit of 300 minutes per month, while Fathom is unlimited.
- tl;dv: If video recordings and sharing video clips are more important to you than text transcripts, tl;dv is a strong alternative. The interface is different from Fathom and the focus is more on visual content. The free version is also well-equipped.
Each of these tools has its own strengths. Fathom particularly excels with its generous free version and ease of use, but if you need specific integrations or mobile access, the alternatives are worth considering.
Frequently asked questions
Below are the most frequently asked questions about Fathom, with brief and clear answers.
Is Fathom really free?
Yes, the basic version is free and offers unlimited recording, transcription, and storage of your meetings. Chronological summaries are also unlimited. Only the advanced AI summaries are limited to 5 per month in the free version. For most users, that’s enough to seriously use the tool.
Does Fathom work with my video calling software?
Fathom works with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. The integration happens through a desktop app or browser extension and works well. If you use other video conferencing software, you probably can’t automatically record through Fathom.
Is my data secure?
Fathom is SOC2 Type II compliant and encrypts your data. However, storage takes place in the United States, not by default in the EU. For companies with strict GDPR requirements or internal rules about data location, this can be a problem, as there’s no automatic EU storage or DPA available.
Conclusion
Fathom is a solid AI meeting assistant with a remarkably generous free version. If you regularly hold online meetings and don’t want to guess afterward what was said, it solves a real problem. The transcriptions are accurate, the summaries save time, and the CRM integrations work well for sales and customer success teams. For individual users and small teams that don’t want to spend much, the free plan is already surprisingly complete.
But there are caveats. The lack of mobile apps is a downside for those who work on the go a lot. The visible bot in meetings can be awkward. And if your company has strict requirements for data storage within the EU, you’ll hit a wall. The summaries are also sometimes too generic and require manual adjustments.
Choose Fathom if you hold a lot of online meetings via Zoom, Teams, or Meet, and you want to automate your notes without paying right away. For sales teams with CRM integrations, it’s especially attractive. But if mobile access is crucial or you need strict EU data storage, look at alternatives like Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai.
