You’re in your umpteenth video meeting of the day trying to keep up with typing. What did that client say about the deadline again? And that action item you needed to follow up on? Read.ai steps in as a digital assistant: it automatically records your meetings, transcribes everything, and creates a readable summary. Including analysis of how engaged everyone was and what the mood was like.
Who is behind Read.ai?
Read AI, Inc. was founded in 2021 by David Shim, Rob Williams, and Elliott Waldron in Seattle. The original idea came from a relatable problem: how do you measure engagement and sentiment in virtual meetings? The founders saw how ‘Zoom fatigue’ became a real phenomenon during the pandemic. Meetings got longer, less effective, and nobody really knew if people were actually still listening.
The company grew explosively. In October 2024, 100,000 new accounts were added per week. Today, 75% of the Fortune 500 uses the tool. With more than 1 million weekly active users, Read.ai has grown into a serious player in the meeting intelligence market.
The company has raised $1 million to date, with a Series B funding round. Investors like Smash Capital, Madrona Venture Group, and Goodwater Capital saw potential in the combination of transcription and behavioral analysis. This focus on sentiment and engagement sets Read.ai apart from pure transcription tools.
Who is Read.ai for?
Read.ai primarily targets teams that have lots of online meetings and want to extract value from them. Sales teams use it to review customer conversations and discover patterns. Recruiters can analyze interviews without constantly taking notes. Managers gain insights into team dynamics and engagement during standups.
Knowledge workers who have many meetings also find value in it. You no longer have to remember everything or take notes. The tool automatically extracts action items and you can search for specific topics later.
Read.ai is less suitable for people who have privacy-sensitive conversations. The tool works with a visible bot that joins your meeting. This can be awkward during confidential conversations or therapy sessions. Also, if you rarely have meetings or prefer to take notes manually, this tool is probably overkill.
What can Read.ai do?
The free version already offers transcription and summaries, but with a limit of 5 reports per month and a maximum of 1 hour per meeting. For video playback, unlimited reports, and advanced analytics, you need a paid plan. These are the main features:
- Automatic transcription: Read.ai transcribes your meetings in multiple languages, including Dutch. According to users, the accuracy is good, even with different accents. Speakers are automatically recognized and labeled.
- AI summaries: Afterwards, you get a structured summary with the key points. Handy if you want to quickly know what a meeting was about without reading through the entire transcript.
- Sentiment analysis: The tool analyzes the tone of conversations and indicates whether the atmosphere was positive, neutral, or negative. This works particularly well in English. Some users find this feature somewhat superficial, but for sales teams it can provide insight into how a pitch was received.
- Engagement metrics: Read.ai measures who spoke when and how active participants were. You can see, for example, if one person dominated the conversation or if everyone had equal input.
- Search Copilot: You can search across all your meetings for specific topics or keywords. Looking for that comment about budget in a meeting from two weeks ago? You’ll find it within seconds.
- Video playback and highlights: Jump to specific moments in the recording. The tool automatically marks important passages, so you don’t have to scroll through hours of video.
- Smart Scheduler: Analyzes your calendar and provides recommendations about your meeting load. Useful if you feel like your entire day consists of calls.
- CRM integrations: Connect Read.ai to HubSpot or Salesforce to automatically add meeting notes to contacts. For sales teams, this saves a lot of manual copying and pasting.
- Extract action items: The AI automatically pulls to-dos and follow-up actions from conversations. This works reasonably well, although you sometimes need to manually adjust.
The tool works on all major platforms: web, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. Linux is not supported. You can use Read.ai in Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other popular video platforms.
What does Read.ai cost?
Read.ai has a free plan you can start with. You’ll get a maximum of 5 reports per month and meetings can’t be longer than 1 hour. Video playback is not included in the free plan. For most people who meet regularly, this is too limited.
The Pro plan costs $1.75 per month or $1 per month with annual billing ($1 per year). This gives you unlimited reports, longer meetings, and video playback. A 7-day free trial is also available.
For teams, there are Enterprise plans. Enterprise costs $1.75 per month (or $1.50 with annual billing, $1 per year). Enterprise+ costs $1.75 per month (or $1.75 with annual billing, $1 per year). These plans offer additional features like advanced analytics, admin controls, and priority support.
Prices are in dollars. Read.ai is an American company, so you pay in foreign currency. This means the exact costs may fluctuate due to exchange rates.
What should you watch out for?
The biggest annoyance users mention: Read.ai sometimes adds itself to calls uninvited. The bot shows up in meetings where you don’t expect it, which can be embarrassing during external conversations. You can adjust this in the settings, but the default setting is aggressive.
Privacy is a recurring point of criticism. The tool requests broad access to your calendar and meeting data. Everything is stored on American servers (AWS). The company is SOC 2 Type 2 certified, but if you’re discussing sensitive information, you need to consider whether you want it recorded and analyzed by a third party.
Multiple users complain that it’s difficult to delete your account and data. Some even describe the tool’s behavior as malware-like because it’s hard to completely remove from your system. Customer service also receives regular criticism: slow responses and little help with problems.
The sentiment analysis works inconsistently. With nuance or sarcasm, the AI sometimes misses the mark. A meeting you experienced as productive can be labeled as negative, and vice versa. So take these metrics with a grain of salt.
Finally: the email summaries that Read.ai sends contain a lot of promotional content according to reviewers. You don’t just get your meeting notes, but also ads for features and upgrades. That feels pushy when you’re already paying for the service.
Read.ai alternatives
Read.ai isn’t the only player in this market. Depending on what you’re looking for, these alternatives might be a better fit:
- Otter.ai: Choose this if you primarily need English transcriptions without in-depth analytics. Otter focuses more on pure transcription and real-time collaboration, with less focus on sentiment and engagement.
- Fireflies.ai: Offers very extensive integrations and workflow automation. If you want to trigger advanced workflows after meetings, such as automatically creating tasks in your project management tool, Fireflies is stronger.
- Fathom: Completely free for individual use without monthly limits. If you’re looking for a free tool and don’t need Read.ai’s engagement analytics, Fathom is a good alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Below we answer the most frequently asked questions about Read.ai:
Can I remove the Read.ai bot from my meeting?
Yes, you can manually remove the bot during the call or use the settings to determine which meetings it can join. Note that the default settings are quite aggressive, so check this during initial setup.
Is my data safe with Read.ai?
Read.ai uses encryption and is SOC 2 Type 2 certified. Your data is stored on American servers (AWS). Whether this is secure enough depends on your privacy requirements and the type of conversations you have.
Conclusion
Read.ai is a powerful tool for teams that meet frequently and want to systematically extract value from those meetings. The transcriptions are accurate, the search function works well, and it genuinely saves time. Especially for sales teams and recruiters who want to analyze conversations, it offers added value.
At the same time, there are legitimate concerns about privacy and the bot’s intrusive behavior. If you’re discussing sensitive information or working with clients who are hesitant about recordings, you need to think carefully about whether this tool is right for you. The free version is too limited for regular use, so expect to pay at least $1 per month.
For those who have many internal meetings and want to work in a data-driven way on meeting effectiveness, Read.ai is worth trying. For occasional users or privacy-conscious organizations, there are better alternatives.
