You’ve just finished a meeting and are trying to write down the key points from memory. Who was supposed to pick up that task again? And what was that appointment for next week exactly? Fellow wants to solve that chaos by gathering agendas, notes, and action items in one place. The tool uses AI to automatically record, transcribe, and summarize meetings.
Who is behind Fellow?
Fellow Insights Inc. was founded in 2017 by three entrepreneurs from Ottawa: Aydin Mirzaee, Amin Mirzaee, and Samuel Cormier-Iijima. The three had already had a successful exit before – their previous company Fluidware was sold to SurveyMonkey. But that experience also taught them something important: as soon as an organization grows, the agility of a small startup disappears.
Managers in large companies lacked effective tools for 1-on-1 conversations and team meetings. The founders saw that meetings often ran unstructured, action items got lost, and teams kept repeating the same discussions. That was the starting point for Fellow – a platform that brings structure to meeting management without it becoming an administrative burden.
Since then, Fellow has raised $ 30.5 million in funding from investors such as Craft Ventures, Inovia Capital, and Felicis Ventures. The company grew into a tool used by thousands of organizations, including big names like Shopify, HubSpot, and Lemonade. The AI Copilot that automatically records and summarizes meetings became one of the most valued features.
Who is Fellow for?
Fellow primarily targets managers and teams who spend a lot of time in meetings. Think of remote teams that need to capture everything digitally, agile teams planning sprints, and HR leaders who regularly conduct 1-on-1 conversations. The tool works best if you have regular recurring meetings where you want to maintain structure and continuity.
For frontline workers who mainly do physical work or freelancers who have few team meetings, Fellow is probably overkill. Unless you’re self-employed with many client meetings and want to keep professional notes – then the Solo plan can be interesting. But for someone who has an occasional Zoom call, there are simpler and cheaper alternatives.
What can Fellow do?
The free version offers basic functionality for small teams, but for features like unlimited note history, extensive AI credits, and advanced analytics, you need a paid plan. Here are the main capabilities:
- Collaborative agendas: You create shared agendas that automatically link to your Google Calendar or Outlook. Everyone can add agenda items in advance, so you don’t waste the first ten minutes on “What are we going to discuss?”
- AI Meeting Copilot: This is Fellow’s flagship feature. The AI records your meeting, transcribes the conversation in one of 99 supported languages, and automatically generates a summary with action items. You no longer have to frantically type during the conversation.
- Assign and track action items: During or after the meeting, you assign tasks to team members. They automatically appear in their task list and you can track progress. No more loose to-do lists that get forgotten.
- 1-on-1 Meeting Templates: Fellow has a library of templates for different types of conversations. From performance reviews to onboarding conversations – you don’t have to constantly rethink the structure.
- Feedback and Guest Users: You can invite external people to specific meetings without them needing a full account. Convenient for client conversations or interviews with candidates.
- Integrations: Fellow works with Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. You can also forward action items to project management tools like Jira, Asana, and Linear. Everything stays synchronized.
- Analytics and reporting: You get insight into how much time your team spends in meetings, which action items often remain pending, and how the meeting culture evolves. This helps break inefficient patterns.
- Library of recordings: All recorded meetings are stored in a searchable library. You can replay specific moments or search transcripts for keywords.
The desktop experience is the strongest according to users. The mobile apps also exist, but we’ll get to that shortly in the drawbacks.
What does Fellow cost?
Fellow has a free plan for teams up to 10 people. You get access to basic features, but your note history is limited to the last 14 days. You also only get 10 AI credits for your entire account (not per user per month, but lifetime). For small teams that occasionally want to structure a meeting, this may be sufficient, but as soon as you want to use Fellow seriously, you quickly run into limitations.
The Team plan costs $ 1 per user per month with monthly billing, or $ 1 per user per month if you pay a year in advance (total $ 1 per year). This plan gives you unlimited note history, more AI credits, and access to integrations with project management tools.
For larger organizations, there’s the Business plan: $ 1 per month or $ 1 per month with annual billing ($ 1 per year). Here you get advanced analytics, priority support, and additional security options like SSO. This plan is especially interesting if you want to roll out Fellow broadly within your organization.
Notably, there’s also a Solo plan for $ 1 per month or $ 1 per month with annual billing ($ 1 per year). This is intended for freelancers or consultants who don’t have a team but do want professional meeting functionality. It is pricey for an individual user though.
All paid plans have a 14-day free trial. So you can first test whether Fellow fits your workflow before spending money.
What should you watch out for?
The Android app receives a lot of criticism. Users report that the app is slow, crashes regularly, and lacks features that the desktop version does have. If you work a lot from your phone, that can be frustrating. The iOS app performs better, but even there the capabilities are more limited than on desktop.
The free version is very limited. You only get 10 AI credits for your entire account – not per user, not per month, but lifetime. That means you can really only try out the AI features, not use them structurally. The limitation to 14 days of note history also makes it difficult to use Fellow as a central knowledge base.
For small teams or individual users, Fellow is on the expensive side. If you have a team of five people, you’ll quickly pay $ 1 per year for the Team plan. That’s a significant investment, especially if meetings aren’t your biggest productivity problem.
Fellow has a lot of functionality, and that can be overwhelming. New users need to invest time to learn and set up the tool. If you’re just looking for a simple way to take notes, Fellow overshoots in complexity.
Setting up integrations sometimes takes more time than you’d expect. Especially the connection with project management tools requires some configuration before everything runs smoothly. Not insurmountable, but not plug-and-play either.
Fellow alternatives
Fellow isn’t the only player in the meeting management space. Here are three alternatives you might consider:
- Hypercontext: Choose this if you want to strongly link meetings to OKRs and goals. Hypercontext places more emphasis on objectives and less on AI transcription. The recording functionality is less advanced than Fellow’s.
- Lattice: Choose this if you’re looking for a complete HR suite. Lattice is a full performance management platform with features for reviews, salary conversations, and development paths. Fellow focuses purely on meetings, Lattice on the entire employee lifecycle.
- Otter.ai: Choose this if you only need transcription. Otter does one thing very well – transcribing conversations – but lacks Fellow’s extensive agenda and action item features. It is cheaper and simpler though.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about Fellow:
Is Fellow free to use?
Yes, Fellow has a free plan for teams up to 10 people. You can take notes and use basic features, but your note history is limited to the last 14 days. You also only get 10 AI credits for your entire account, so you can only try out the AI features and not use them structurally.
Does Fellow work with my current calendar?
Yes, Fellow integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook (Office 365). Your meetings automatically appear in Fellow and you can add notes and action items directly from your calendar. The synchronization works in both directions.
What does the AI Copilot do exactly?
The AI Copilot records your meeting, transcribes the audio in one of 99 supported languages, and automatically generates a summary with action items. You no longer have to type during the conversation – the AI picks out the key points and creates a structured summary from them.
Conclusion
Fellow is a powerful tool for teams that spend a lot of time in meetings and want to bring structure to them. The AI transcription works well, the integrations are extensive, and the templates save preparation time. For managers who regularly conduct 1-on-1 conversations or teams that plan sprints, Fellow can really save time.
But the tool isn’t for everyone. The free version is too limited for serious use, the paid plans are pricey for small teams, and the learning curve is steeper than with simpler alternatives. The Android app is a weak point, and for freelancers or small teams, there are cheaper options that achieve the same goal.
If you’re part of a growing team struggling with meeting chaos and you’re willing to invest in a professional solution, then Fellow is worth trying. Use the 14-day trial to test whether the tool fits your workflow. For occasional users or very small teams, Otter.ai or just Google Docs are probably sufficient.
