Best AI Meeting Assistants in 2026: 8 Tools That Actually Save You Time

Best AI Meeting Assistants in 2026: 8 Tools That Actually Save You Time

If you spend more than a few hours a week in virtual meetings, you already know the pain: scribbling notes while trying to stay engaged, forgetting who said what, and spending 20 minutes after every call writing up action items that half the team ignores anyway. One of the most popular options is Otter.ai — read our full Otter.ai review.

AI meeting assistants fix that. They join your calls on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, record everything, transcribe the conversation, and hand you a clean summary with action items — usually before you have finished saying goodbye.

But the market has exploded. There are dozens of options, each promising to be the smartest notetaker in the room. Some are genuinely excellent. Others look great on a landing page and fall apart when your VP starts talking over the sales engineer. We also cover this in our roundup of AI voice generators.

I tested eight of the most popular AI meeting assistants head-to-head in early 2026 to find out which ones actually deliver. Here is what I found.

TL;DR — Quick Picks

• Best overall free option: Fathom — unlimited recordings, generous free tier, fast AI summaries
• Best for sales teams: Avoma — deep CRM integration, conversation intelligence, coaching scorecards
• Best for large teams on a budget: tl;dv — strong free plan, affordable Pro tier at $18/month
• Best for cross-platform intelligence: Read AI — connects meetings, emails, and messages in one place
• Best for meeting management: Fellow — agendas, action items, and feedback loops beyond just notes
• Best for multilingual teams: Fireflies.ai — transcription in 100+ languages
• Best for team collaboration: Grain — clean interface, excellent video highlight clips
• Best proven track record: Otter.ai — the original AI transcription tool, still solid for individuals

What to Look For in an AI Meeting Assistant

Before diving into the individual reviews, here are the criteria I used to evaluate each tool:. We also cover this in our roundup of AI for podcasting.

• Transcription accuracy: Does it handle accents, crosstalk, and technical jargon without producing gibberish?
• Summary quality: Are the AI-generated notes actually useful, or just a wall of bullet points?
• Integration depth: Does it connect with your CRM, project management tools, and communication apps?
• Pricing fairness: Is the free tier usable? Are paid plans worth the upgrade?
• Platform support: Does it work with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams?
• Privacy and security: How does it handle your data, and does it meet compliance standards like SOC 2 and GDPR?

If you are also exploring broader productivity solutions, check out our guide to the best AI productivity tools in 2026.

The 8 Best AI Meeting Assistants Reviewed

1. Otter.ai — The Transcription Pioneer

Best for: Professionals who need high-volume, high-accuracy transcription with a proven track record.

Otter.ai was one of the first AI transcription tools to go mainstream, and it has managed to stay relevant by continuously adding features. It handles real-time transcription during meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and it now supports English, French, and Spanish. If you’re exploring options, check out our guide to Otter AI alternatives.

The standout feature in 2026 is OtterPilot, which joins your meetings automatically when you are double-booked, captures everything, and delivers AI-generated summaries with action items. For anyone juggling overlapping calls, this alone justifies the subscription.

Key Features

• Real-time transcription with speaker identification
• OtterPilot auto-joins meetings and generates notes
• AI chat lets you ask questions about your meetings (20 queries on free plan)
• Shared custom vocabulary for technical terms
• Action item extraction and assignment to teammates

Pricing (2026)

• Basic (Free): 300 minutes/month, 30 min per conversation, 20 AI chat queries
• Pro: $8.33/month (annual) or $16.99/month — 1,200 minutes/month, 90 min per conversation
• Business: $20/month (annual) or $30/month — 6,000 minutes/month, 4-hour limit per conversation
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

What I Liked

Otter has matured into a reliable workhorse. The transcription accuracy consistently lands in the 93-96% range for clear English audio, and the AI chat feature is surprisingly handy for pulling specific details from long meetings. The Pro plan at $8.33/month (annual) is a reasonable price for most professionals. A 20% student and teacher discount is available with a .edu email address.

Where It Falls Short

The free tier is quite limited with only 300 minutes and 30-minute conversation caps. There is no overage pricing — once you hit your limit, you wait until next month. Language support is narrow compared to newer competitors (only 3 languages vs. 100+ for Fireflies), and subscriptions are non-refundable even if you cancel mid-cycle.

Verdict: Otter is a dependable choice for transcription-heavy workflows. If your primary need is accurate meeting records at scale, the Business plan delivers strong value at 6,000 minutes per month. Just keep an eye on that minute counter.

2. Fireflies.ai — The Multilingual Powerhouse

Best for: International teams and multilingual organizations that need broad language support and deep integrations.

Fireflies.ai has carved out a strong position by supporting transcription in over 100 languages and rolling out aggressive AI features. The 2026 updates include real-time note generation during calls and a Perplexity AI-powered search assistant called “Talk to Fireflies” that lets you ask questions and get web search results during meetings.

Key Features

• Transcription in 100+ languages
• Real-time bullet-point notes generated during calls
• AskFred AI assistant for querying past meetings
• Speaker talk-time analytics
• Integrations with CRM, project management, and communication tools

Pricing (2026)

• Free: 800 minutes of storage, limited AI credits
• Pro: $10/month (annual) or $18/month — unlimited transcriptions, 8,000 min storage, 20 AI credits/month
• Business: $19/month (annual) or $29/month — video recording, conversation intelligence, unlimited storage, 30 AI credits/month
• Enterprise: $39/user/month — SSO, HIPAA compliance, custom retention

What I Liked

The language coverage is unmatched. If your team operates across multiple countries or regularly meets with international clients, Fireflies handles the multilingual challenge better than anyone else in this list. The Pro plan at $10/month (annual) is also the cheapest paid entry point here. Annual plans offer roughly 40% savings over monthly billing.

Where It Falls Short

The AI credit system is confusing and can be expensive. Even on the Pro plan, you only get 20 AI credits per month. If you rely heavily on AI summaries and the AskFred assistant, you will burn through credits fast and face $5 add-on charges for 50 extra credits. The 3-hour cap per meeting recording on the Business plan may be tight for longer strategy sessions.

Verdict: Fireflies is the right choice when multilingual support and integration breadth are your top priorities. The Business plan unlocks video recording and conversation intelligence that competes with tools costing much more. Just budget for those extra AI credits if your team asks a lot of questions.

3. Fathom — The Best Free Meeting Assistant, No Contest

Best for: Individual professionals who want high-quality meeting notes without paying anything.

Fathom has built a reputation as the most generous free AI meeting assistant available. Unlimited recordings with no monthly minute caps, unlimited transcripts, and a clean user experience that just works. It supports Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and delivers AI summaries within 30 seconds of a meeting ending.

Key Features

• Unlimited free recordings and transcripts (no time caps)
• AI-generated summaries with action items (5/month free)
• Highlight clips for sharing key moments
• Basic CRM integration (HubSpot, Salesforce) on the free plan
• Ask Fathom conversational AI assistant (paid plans)
• ~95% transcription accuracy

Pricing (2026)

• Free: Unlimited recordings and transcripts, 5 AI summaries/month, basic CRM sync
• Premium: $19/month or ~$15/month (annual) — unlimited AI summaries, advanced action items
• Team Edition: $29/month or ~$19/month (annual) — shared libraries, SSO, keyword alerts, custom vocabulary
• Team Edition Pro: $39/month or ~$29/month (annual) — CRM field sync, deal views, coaching metrics, AI scorecards

What I Liked

The free tier is genuinely usable. Unlimited recordings with no time caps is remarkable. The transcription accuracy consistently hit around 95% in my testing, and the interface is clean and distraction-free. For individuals who just want their meetings recorded and searchable, Fathom nails it without asking for a credit card.

Where It Falls Short

Five AI summaries per month on the free plan goes fast if you have a busy meeting schedule. The assistant joins as a visible participant, which occasionally raises eyebrows in client calls. It is strictly online meetings only — no in-person recording or phone call support. Managing multiple client domain accounts can also get price-prohibitive.

Verdict: If you are an individual professional looking for the best AI meeting assistant you can use right now without opening your wallet, Fathom is the answer. The free tier is genuinely useful, not a crippled demo. Team features require paid plans, but for personal meeting management, nothing else comes close at zero cost.

4. tl;dv — Affordable AI With Serious Sales Intelligence

Best for: Small to mid-size sales teams that want conversation intelligence without Gong-level pricing.

tl;dv (short for “too long; didn’t view”) started as a simple meeting recorder and has grown into a legitimate conversation intelligence platform. The gap between the $18 Pro plan and the $59 Business plan tells the story: Pro is a productivity tool, Business is a full sales platform that competes with Gong at a fraction of the price.

Key Features

• Transcription in 30+ languages
• Multi-meeting AI reports that pull insights across calls
• Clip and embed shareable meeting moments
• 5,000+ integrations on Pro plan
• Sales coaching, deal intelligence, and conversation analytics on Business plan

Pricing (2026)

• Free: Unlimited meetings and transcription, 10 AI meeting notes (lifetime limit)
• Pro: $18/month (annual) — unlimited AI notes, multi-meeting reports, global search, 5,000+ integrations
• Business: $59/month (annual) — conversation intelligence, deal insights, coaching at scale
• Enterprise: Custom pricing — private AI hosting, advanced admin controls

What I Liked

The Pro plan hits a sweet spot. At $18/month you get unlimited everything on the recording and transcription side, plus most AI features and thousands of integrations. The Business plan, while expensive by comparison, is dramatically cheaper than Gong ($100-130/user/month) while covering about 80% of the same functionality. Currently offering 40% off annual plans.

Where It Falls Short

The free plan is misleading. Ten AI meeting notes for the lifetime of your account is not a sustainable free plan — it is a trial. The jump from $18 to $59 is steep, and teams that need just a few sales features without the full intelligence suite do not have a middle-ground option.

Verdict: tl;dv offers the best price-to-feature ratio for sales-oriented teams that have outgrown basic note-takers but cannot justify Gong-level spending. The Pro plan is a standout value for general productivity users too.

5. Avoma — The All-in-One for Revenue Teams

Best for: Revenue teams that need meeting intelligence deeply integrated with their sales process and methodology.

Avoma positions itself as a full revenue intelligence platform, not just a meeting assistant. It combines meeting recording, transcription, and AI notes with scheduling, coaching, deal tracking, and CRM automation. If your team uses a sales methodology like MEDDIC or SPICED, Avoma can score calls against it automatically.

Key Features

• Live transcription in 75+ languages
• Custom AI note templates that extract exactly what you need per meeting type
• Automated CRM field updates for Salesforce and HubSpot
• AI coaching with call scoring and smart trackers
• Revenue intelligence with deal risk analysis, win/loss analysis, and forecasting
• Built-in scheduler (1:1 and group scheduling)
• AI-generated follow-up email drafts

Pricing (2026)

• Free: Limited transcription features
• Starter: $19/user/month (annual) — unlimited AI meeting assistant, 1:1 scheduler
• Business: Custom pricing — advanced analytics, conversation intelligence, CRM integrations
• Enterprise: Custom pricing — strict compliance, advanced access controls

Add-ons available: AI Coaching (recommendations, call scoring, smart trackers), Revenue Intelligence (deal risks, forecasting, win/loss analysis), Lead Routing (advanced rules, inbound qualification). Only users who record meetings need paid seats — listeners and collaborators use Avoma free.

What I Liked

Avoma is the most comprehensive tool in this list for sales and customer success teams. The custom AI note templates are a standout — you can configure exactly what the AI extracts from each meeting type. The CRM automation saves significant manual data entry time. The 14-day unrestricted free trial (no credit card required) with all add-ons enabled makes it easy to evaluate. If your team also uses other AI tools for small business, Avoma fits well into that stack.

Where It Falls Short

The add-on pricing structure can get complicated. The core Starter plan is reasonable at $19/month, but adding coaching, revenue intelligence, and lead routing pushes the total cost significantly higher. Smaller teams that only need basic transcription are paying for capabilities they may never use.

Verdict: Avoma is a strategic investment for revenue teams that want their meeting data working harder across the entire sales pipeline. The Starter plan is competitively priced for basic meeting assistance. The higher tiers and add-ons justify their cost only if your team will actively use the conversation and revenue intelligence features.

6. Grain — Clean, Simple, and Built for Sharing

Best for: Product and sales teams that need to share specific meeting moments across the organization.

Grain stands out for its focus on shareable video highlights. Instead of sending colleagues a full hour-long recording, you clip the 90 seconds that matter, add it to a shared workspace, and move on. It is especially popular with product teams running user research calls and sales teams reviewing deal conversations.

Key Features

• AI-generated meeting notes and transcription
• Video highlight clips with one-click sharing
• CRM sync with HubSpot and Salesforce
• Deal insights and buying signal detection
• MCP integration for connecting meeting data to AI tools like Claude and Cursor
• Competitor mention tracking across conversations

Pricing (2026)

• Free: Basic features for your whole team
• Starter: ~$15/user/month (annual) — unlimited meetings, AI notes
• Business: ~$29/user/month (annual) or ~$48-60/month monthly — CRM enrichment, deal insights, coaching
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

What I Liked

The highlight clip feature is genuinely useful and something most competitors do not handle as elegantly. When a customer drops critical feedback in minute 37 of a 60-minute call, being able to clip that moment and share it with the product team in seconds is powerful. The interface is one of the cleanest in this category. The MCP server integration for connecting meeting data to AI development tools is forward-thinking.

Where It Falls Short

Grain is more focused on sales and customer-facing use cases. If you are looking for a general-purpose meeting notetaker for internal standups and project meetings, some of the sales-oriented features feel unnecessary. The Business plan at $48+/month (monthly billing) is pricey compared to alternatives with similar feature sets.

Verdict: Grain is ideal for teams where meeting highlights need to move quickly into conversations and workflows. The clip-sharing experience is best-in-class. Teams needing heavy analytics should look elsewhere, but for collaboration-driven organizations, Grain is a natural fit.

7. Read AI — Cross-Channel Meeting Intelligence

Best for: Professionals and teams who want unified intelligence across all their communication channels, not just meetings.

Read AI takes a broader approach than most tools on this list. Instead of just transcribing meetings, it aims to connect intelligence across meetings, emails, and messages to give you a unified view of your work communication. It supports 20+ languages and delivers AI-generated reports within minutes of each call.

Key Features

• Meeting summaries with topics, action items, and key questions
• Cross-platform search across meetings, emails, and messages
• Personalized meeting coach with engagement and participation scores
• Upload audio/video files for AI analysis (100 files/month on Pro)
• Integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, Jira, Confluence
• Reports available in 16+ languages

Pricing (2026)

• Free: 5 meetings/month, summaries, transcription, enterprise search in 20+ languages
• Pro: $15/month (annual) or ~$19.75/month — unlimited meetings, premium integrations, 100 file uploads/month
• Enterprise: $22.50/month (annual) — video playback, highlights, premium support
• Enterprise+: $29.75/month — HIPAA compliance, SSO/SAML, data retention controls

What I Liked

The cross-channel approach sets Read AI apart. Being able to search across meetings and emails from one interface is genuinely time-saving for anyone drowning in communication overload. The meeting coach feature — which analyzes your engagement, talk time, and participation patterns — is unique and valuable for people who want to improve how they show up in meetings. The Pro plan at $15/month is competitively priced.

Where It Falls Short

The free tier at 5 meetings per month is tight for most professionals. The cross-channel features, while impressive, create a broader surface area that can feel overwhelming if you just want simple meeting notes. Transcription accuracy varies with audio quality, which is true of all tools but worth noting.

Verdict: Read AI is the most innovative tool on this list in terms of scope. If your work life is a blur of meetings, emails, and Slack messages, the ability to search and analyze across all of them from one place is genuinely compelling. For teams only needing meeting transcription, simpler tools may be a better fit.

8. Fellow — Meeting Management, Not Just Meeting Notes

Best for: Managers and team leads who want to improve their entire meeting workflow, from agenda prep through action item completion.

Fellow approaches the AI meeting assistant space differently. While most tools focus primarily on recording and transcription, Fellow is a full meeting management platform that includes collaborative agendas, action item tracking, feedback mechanisms, and AI-powered notes. It is especially popular with engineering teams and managers who run structured recurring meetings.

Key Features

• Collaborative meeting agendas with customizable templates
• AI Note Taker with transcription and summarization
• Action item tracking with assignees, due dates, and version history
• One-on-one meeting templates and feedback tools
• Integrations with Slack, Teams, Jira, Asana, Salesforce, HubSpot
• Bot and botless recording options (botless is less intrusive for client calls)
• SOC 2, GDPR compliant with no AI training on customer data

Pricing (2026)

• Free: Up to 10 users, basic meeting notes and agendas
• Team: $7/user/month — shared notes, action item due dates, version history (up to 20 users)
• Business: $15/user/month — AI transcription credits, CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot)
• Solo: $19/user/month — designed for individual power users
• Enterprise: $25/user/month — SSO (Okta, OneLogin), workspace analytics, HRIS syncing

AI Note Taker add-on: Available as unlimited or pay-as-you-go, added to any paid plan. Startups can apply for 25% off the first year. Non-profit and .edu discounts available.

What I Liked

Fellow shines when meetings are part of a larger workflow. The ability to build collaborative agendas before a call, have AI take notes during the call, and then track action items after the call — all in one tool — creates a tight loop that reduces dropped tasks. The privacy-first architecture is reassuring. The option to record without a visible bot is a nice touch for client-facing calls. For teams already using other AI tools for business, Fellow integrates smoothly.

Where It Falls Short

The AI Note Taker is an add-on, not included by default in the base plans. If you just want a simple meeting recorder, Fellow requires more setup and configuration than simpler tools like Fathom or Otter. The pricing structure with separate plan tiers plus AI add-ons can be confusing to navigate.

Verdict: Fellow is the most complete meeting management platform on this list. It goes beyond recording and transcription to cover the entire meeting lifecycle. Strong choice for engineering and product teams running structured ceremonies, and for any manager who wants better meeting hygiene across their organization.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Tool	Free Plan	Starting Paid Price	Languages	Best Feature	Platforms
Otter.ai	300 min/month	$8.33/mo (annual)	3	OtterPilot auto-join	Zoom, Meet, Teams
Fireflies.ai	800 min storage	$10/mo (annual)	100+	Multilingual transcription	Zoom, Meet, Teams
Fathom	Unlimited recordings	$15/mo (annual)	Multi	Unlimited free recordings	Zoom, Meet, Teams
tl;dv	Unlimited meetings*	$18/mo (annual)	30+	Affordable sales intelligence	Zoom, Meet, Teams
Avoma	Limited	$19/mo (annual)	75+	Revenue intelligence & coaching	Zoom, Meet, Teams
Grain	Basic features	~$15/mo (annual)	Multi	Video highlight clips	Zoom, Meet, Teams
Read AI	5 meetings/month	$15/mo (annual)	20+	Cross-channel intelligence	Zoom, Meet, Teams
Fellow	Up to 10 users	$7/mo	Multi	Full meeting management	Zoom, Meet, Teams

*tl;dv free plan includes unlimited meetings but only 10 AI notes for the lifetime of the account.

How I Tested These Tools

To give each tool a fair evaluation, I used them across a mix of real meeting scenarios over several weeks:

• One-on-one calls: 30-minute meetings with one other participant to test basic transcription accuracy
• Group meetings: 4-6 person team calls with multiple speakers to test speaker identification
• Long sessions: 60-90 minute strategy meetings to test how well the AI handles extended conversations
• Accented speech: Meetings with non-native English speakers to evaluate transcription robustness
• Technical discussions: Calls involving technical jargon, product names, and acronyms

Each tool was evaluated on the same set of meetings where possible, and I compared the outputs side by side for accuracy, summary quality, and speed of delivery.

How to Choose the Right AI Meeting Assistant

With eight solid options on the table, the decision comes down to your specific situation:

If you are an individual professional who attends a moderate number of meetings and wants free, high-quality notes, start with Fathom. The free tier is genuinely useful, and you can always upgrade later.

If you lead a sales team and need conversation intelligence, deal tracking, or coaching analytics, your real decision is between tl;dv (affordable, covers most needs) and Avoma (comprehensive, built for revenue operations at scale).

If your team operates globally and needs meeting data in multiple languages, Fireflies.ai with 100+ language support is the clear winner.

If you want intelligence across all communication channels, not just meetings, Read AI offers a unique cross-channel approach that nobody else matches.

If your team needs better meeting culture overall — not just recordings but agendas, accountability, and follow-through — Fellow is the most complete meeting management platform.

If your team shares meeting moments constantly and values clips over comprehensive analytics, Grain was designed specifically for that workflow.

If you need maximum transcription minutes at a predictable cost, Otter.ai’s Business plan at 6,000 minutes/month remains a dependable choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free AI meeting assistant in 2026?

Fathom offers the most generous free plan in 2026, with unlimited meeting recordings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams and no monthly minute caps. tl;dv and Fellow also offer usable free tiers. Fathom limits AI summaries to 5 per month on the free plan, but the unlimited recording alone makes it the top free pick.

Are AI meeting assistants safe to use with confidential meetings?

Most reputable AI meeting assistants comply with SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and offer end-to-end encryption. For teams in healthcare or finance, look for HIPAA compliance (offered by Fireflies Enterprise and Read AI Enterprise+). Fellow uses a privacy-first architecture with no AI training on customer data. Always review each vendor’s security documentation before recording confidential discussions.

Do AI meeting assistants work with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams?

Yes. All eight tools reviewed here support Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Some tools like Fireflies also support additional platforms such as Webex and GoToMeeting. Integration depth varies by plan, so check each tool’s feature list for your specific conferencing platform.

Can AI meeting assistants replace a human note-taker?

For most standard business meetings, yes. Modern AI meeting assistants achieve 90-95% transcription accuracy and generate structured summaries with action items, key decisions, and follow-ups. Complex negotiations, highly technical discussions, or meetings with poor audio quality may still benefit from a human note-taker reviewing the AI-generated notes.

How much do AI meeting assistants cost per month in 2026?

Prices range from completely free (Fathom, tl;dv, and Fellow all offer free tiers) to around $39/month for full-featured paid plans. Most tools offer significant discounts (30-40%) when billed annually. Enterprise plans with compliance features typically run $25-40/month per user. Every tool on this list offers a free tier or free trial.

Which AI meeting assistant has the best transcription accuracy?

In my testing, Fathom and Otter.ai consistently produced the most accurate transcriptions for clear English audio, both landing around 93-96% accuracy. For multilingual meetings, Fireflies.ai handled language switching more gracefully than others. All tools struggle with very poor audio quality, heavy background noise, or extreme accents.

Do these tools work with in-person meetings?

Most AI meeting assistants are designed for virtual meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. For in-person meetings, you would typically need a separate recording device and then upload the audio file to a service that supports file uploads, such as Otter.ai or Read AI.

Will meeting participants know they are being recorded?

In most cases, yes. Most tools join the meeting as a visible bot participant, and many display a notification that recording has started. Fellow offers a botless recording option that is less obtrusive. Always check your local laws about recording consent, especially in two-party consent jurisdictions.

The Bottom Line

The best AI meeting assistant is the one your team will actually use consistently. A tool packed with conversation intelligence features delivers zero value if your team just needs clean transcripts and shareable notes.

My recommendation: start with a free tier. Fathom, tl;dv, and Fellow all offer enough on their free plans to genuinely evaluate the experience across several weeks of real meetings. Once you understand how AI meeting notes change your workflow, you will have a much clearer picture of which paid features justify the upgrade.

The meeting assistant category has matured significantly in 2026. Competition has driven prices down while pushing quality up. Regardless of which tool you choose from this list, you will end up with better meeting records, fewer missed action items, and more mental bandwidth to actually participate in the conversation instead of frantically typing notes.

Looking for more ways to bring AI into your workflow? Browse our guides on the best AI productivity tools and best AI tools for business in 2026 for recommendations across every category.