How to get AI to
help me choose an AI note taker.

What you’ll be able to do

By the end of this you should be able to pick an AI note taker without spending a weekend reading reviews. You will know which of four kinds of tool suits your meetings, what you get for nothing, and what the consent rules are in the UK, so you do not end up recording someone who did not know about it.

The honest truth is you are not really choosing a tool, you are choosing how the audio gets captured. Get that right and the rest is easy. Most of these have a free plan, and that is where I would begin.

Every limit below was read off the vendor’s own page on 4 November 2026. Prices are not quoted because they change, so each tool says where to check.

Quick picks: what kind of meetings do you have?

• Need notes inside Teams at work? Microsoft Teams: transcription is built in, AI recap is an add-on.
• Live in Zoom? Zoom: a few free summaries a month, unlimited on paid plans.
• On Google Workspace? Google Meet: “Take notes for me” with Gemini, on eligible plans.
• Need one bot that works on every platform? Otter.ai or Fireflies: both have free plans.
• Want quick call summaries and not much setup? Fathom: free plan with unlimited recordings.
• Do not want a bot in the call? Granola: listens to your computer’s audio.
• Meeting in person, or on the phone? Plaud or iPhone Notes and Phone.
• Want your audio to stay on your machine? Whisper: transcribe locally, then summarise.

Before you start

A tier is just how the tool captures the audio: inside the app you are already in, with a bot that turns up on the call, on your own device, or from a file you process afterwards. That gives a four-step scale.

The note taker scale

• Tier 1: Built into your meeting app: no extra sign-up and no bot. The notes appear in Teams, Zoom or Meet, and what you get depends on your plan or the host’s.
• Tier 2: Bot that joins any call: a bot accepts your calendar invite and sits in on Zoom, Teams or Meet. It works across platforms, but everyone else has to be told.
• Tier 3: Record anywhere: your computer, phone or a small recorder captures the audio, so it suits in-person meetings and phone calls.
• Tier 4: Do it yourself: you record locally, turn the file into text, then paste it into an assistant with a prompt. More effort, most control.

Comparison chart

Get set up

Pick your tier first, then the tool. Every block below runs in the same order.

Microsoft Teams

Tier 1: Built into your meeting app

Best forwork meetingsMicrosoft 365 organisationsa transcript with no extra app

Transcription is built into Teams once your admin allows it. After a recorded or transcribed meeting you get a recap with the recording, transcript, shared files, notes, agenda and follow-up tasks. Intelligent recap, with AI notes, topics and chapters, is part of Teams Premium, an add-on, and Copilot in meetings needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. Everyone sees a notice when recording starts.

Cost: transcription and basic recap come with Teams where allowed; Premium and Copilot are paid, so check microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/premium. Skip it if: your workplace does not use Teams or the admin has switched transcription off.

Zoom

Tier 1: Built into your meeting app

Best forregular Zoom hostsno bot in the callpaid-plan teams

Zoom’s AI is now called ZoomMate, though older pages still say AI Companion. It is built in, so no bot joins. The free Basic plan has 40-minute meetings, summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month and AI note-taking 3 times a month. Paid plans have 30-hour meetings and unlimited summaries and in-meeting questions. Only the host’s plan matters, so as a guest you get what the host’s plan gives.

Cost: free with monthly limits, or paid; check zoom.us/pricing. Skip it if: you are nearly always a guest, not the host.

Google Meet

Tier 1: Built into your meeting app

Best forGoogle Workspace usersGemini notes in a docadmin-controlled consent

“Take notes for me” uses Gemini and needs an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan; the help page lists which. Admins can require every participant’s explicit consent before notes, recording or transcription start, though that is off by default. If Host management is on, only hosts can turn it on or off.

Cost: depends on your plan; check support.google.com/meet/answer/14754931. Skip it if: your edition is not eligible.

Otter.ai

Tier 2: Bot that joins any call

Best forone tool across Zoom, Teams and Meetlive transcriptionspeaker names

Otter’s Basic plan is free, with 300 monthly transcription minutes, live transcription, speaker identification and iOS and Android apps. It works with Zoom, Teams and Google Meet. A desktop app also records Mac or Windows audio with no bot joining, which helps if a bot makes people uncomfortable.

Cost: free tier, paid plans above; check otter.ai/pricing. Skip it if: your workplace blocks third-party bots.

Fireflies

Tier 2: Bot that joins any call

Best forheavy free transcriptionuploading audio or video filessearching past meetings

Fireflies works with Zoom, Google Meet and Teams. The free plan has unlimited transcription (with a fair-use limit), limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team. Pro adds unlimited AI summaries. You can also upload audio or video files.

Cost: free tier, Pro above; check fireflies.ai/pricing. Skip it if: you need unlimited AI summaries from day one.

Fathom

Tier 2: Bot that joins any call

Best forquick call summarieslow setuptrying a free plan properly

Fathom’s free plan has unlimited recordings and transcriptions and instant AI call summaries. You can use bot capture or bot-free capture, which the site marks as beta. Its site now says Fathom is part of Superhuman.

Cost: free plan, paid plans add advanced summaries and team features; check fathom.ai/pricing. Skip it if: you need shared team features straight away.

Granola

Tier 3: Record anywhere

Best forcalls with no botMac and Windows laptopsin-person and phone calls on mobile

Granola uses your computer’s audio, so nobody is invited. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and other meeting apps, and on mobile it handles in-person meetings and phone calls. Basic is free with limited meeting history, and Business is paid. People on the call may not notice it, so tell them yourself.

Cost: free Basic, paid Business; check granola.ai/pricing. Skip it if: you need a long searchable history without paying.

Plaud

Tier 3: Record anywhere

Best forin-person meetingsphone callspeople who want a separate device

Plaud makes small recorders and wearables, the Plaud Note and the NotePin, that you bring along instead of relying on your phone. The device costs money to buy. The free Starter plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, with Unlimited and Pro plans above it.

Cost: a device purchase plus a free or paid plan; check plaud.ai. Skip it if: you will not buy hardware, or you are mostly on video calls.

iPhone Notes and Phone

Tier 3: Record anywhere

Best forone-to-onesquick in-person chatsApple users who want nothing extra

On a recent iOS, Notes can record and transcribe audio and Phone can record and transcribe a call. Apple’s iPhone User Guide has the steps for your version.

Cost: included with the iPhone; check support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/welcome/ios. Skip it if: you are not on an iPhone or your iOS is too old.

Whisper

Tier 4: Do it yourself

Best foraudio that stays on your machinerecorded callsa transcript you can feed any assistant

Whisper is free, open source software that runs on your own computer. You record locally, it turns the file into text, then you paste the text into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot with a prompt. MacWhisper is a Mac app built on it. It works on files, not live calls.

Cost: free; check github.com/openai/whisper. Skip it if: you want notes the moment the meeting ends.

Try it yourself

Run a real, low-stakes meeting through one tool from the right tier. A team catch-up is plenty. You are testing whether the setup works and whether the notes make sense.

With a transcript from any tool, or from Whisper, paste it into an assistant:

Here is a meeting transcript. Give me: 1) a three-sentence summary, 2) decisions made, 3) actions as a table of owner, task, deadline (write 'not stated' if missing), 4) open questions. Do not invent anything that is not in the transcript: [paste]

Once you have a shortlist of two, run the same short meeting through both and compare:

Here are two sets of AI notes from the same meeting. Notes A: [paste]. Notes B: [paste]. List the differences: actions one missed, names spelled differently, and anything that appears in only one set, so I can check it against the recording.

Still stuck on the tier? Ask an assistant, giving it details but nothing confidential:

I want AI to take notes in my meetings. My meetings are mostly [video calls on Zoom / Teams / Meet, in person, phone calls]. I am [the host / usually a guest]. I want to start on a free plan. Which of these four tiers fits best: built into the meeting app, a bot that joins the call, record anywhere, or do it yourself from a recording? Give me one pick and one backup, and tell me what to check on the vendor's pricing page before I rely on it.

Treat the answer as a starting point and check it on the official pages. Assistants can be out of date on plans.

Check the result

Read the notes against your memory, in this order.

• Names. Wrong names are the usual failure.
• Decisions versus discussion. A decision is something the group agreed to do. Tools often blur it with things people merely talked about.
• Actions. Each one needs an owner, a task and a date. If a deadline is missing, add it yourself and do not trust a date the AI filled in without checking.
• The first ten minutes. Read the start of the transcript against what you remember. If it is mangled there, expect the same further in.
• The two-tool test. Run the same short meeting through two note takers and list what differs. Invented content is the worst kind.

If it doesn’t work

Wrong names or people talking over each other is the usual cause. Bad audio makes it worse, and a quieter spot helps more than switching tools.

No AI button. That is down to your plan or the host’s settings. If you are a guest, ask the host.

Free limits ran out. That is the free plan doing what it said. Change tier, or pay once you can name the wall you hit.

When not to use one. Do not use AI notes on HR, medical or legally privileged meetings without your organisation’s approval. Regulated work in legal, healthcare or financial services can need explicit consent.

Recording and telling people. This is not legal advice. In the UK you may record a call you are part of for your own use, but telling people is the norm and workplaces expect it. Recordings and transcripts of identifiable people are personal data under UK GDPR, so have a reason, tell people, and keep them no longer than needed. Send a line before the meeting, such as “I’ll have AI taking notes, shout if you’d rather I didn’t.”

Bots that auto-join. A bot connected to your calendar can turn up in meetings you never meant to record. Switch auto-join off for sensitive calendars, and ask the host before inviting one. tl;dv and Read.ai are other bots with free plans, but the same rules apply.

Privacy. Do not paste confidential material into a consumer chatbot. Check each vendor’s own privacy page, because what happens to your recordings differs between tools.

Questions people ask

Can I get an AI note taker for free?

Most of these have a free plan, and that is where I would begin. Zoom Basic gives 3 summaries a month, Otter gives 300 monthly minutes, Fireflies has unlimited transcription with a fair-use limit, Fathom's free plan has unlimited recordings, and Whisper is free, open source software.

Which AI note taker should I choose for my meetings?

Pick your tier first, then the tool. Teams, Zoom and Meet are built into the meeting app; Otter, Fireflies and Fathom send a bot to any call; Granola, Plaud and the iPhone record anywhere; Whisper is do it yourself from a recording.

Do I have to tell people an AI is taking notes in the UK?

This is not legal advice, but in the UK you may record a call you are part of for your own use, and telling people is the norm. Recordings of identifiable people are personal data under UK GDPR, so have a reason, tell people, and keep them no longer than needed.

How do I check if the AI meeting notes are accurate?

Read the notes against your memory: check names first, separate decisions from discussion, make sure each action has an owner, task and date, and read the first ten minutes of the transcript. If it is mangled there, expect the same further in.

Why is there no AI notes button in my meeting?

That is down to your plan or the host's settings. In Teams the admin must allow transcription, in Zoom only the host's plan matters, and Google Meet needs an eligible edition. If you are a guest, ask the host.

Keep exploring

If your meetings are all on one platform, the single-tool guides go further: “How to get AI to take meeting notes”, “How to get AI to take meeting notes in Teams”, “How to get AI to take meeting notes in Zoom” and “How to get AI to take meeting notes in Google Meet”. If you already have a recording, “How to get AI to transcribe an audio recording” covers turning it into text.

Not sure a tool exists for your exact setup, such as a note taker for a phone system or a language your meetings are in? Our site isthereathing.com answers one “is there a thing that…” question per page, with the real tools (mostly not ours), what they cost and the catch.

Sources and review notes

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/premium https://zoom.us/pricing https://support.google.com/meet/answer/14754931 https://otter.ai/pricing https://fireflies.ai/pricing https://www.fathom.ai/pricing https://www.granola.ai/pricing https://www.plaud.ai/ https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/welcome/ios https://github.com/openai/whisper https://tldv.io/ https://www.read.ai/plans-pricing https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/

Review date: 4 November 2026