The 5 Best Fathom Alternatives in 2026
Fathom earned its following with a genuinely free video-call recorder and clean summaries. Its edges: it joins calls with a bot by default (bot-free is a Mac-only beta), its in-person recording is iPhone-only, and it can't record a phone call. If your conversations spill past those edges, these are the alternatives to consider.
Windows
ChromeThe best Fathom alternative for most people is Wave AI: it records Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams with or without a bot on Mac and Windows, records phone calls on iPhone and Android, and records in person from any phone or an Apple Watch or Wear OS watch. Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai are the established bot-based options, Granola is the best pick for typed notes without a bot, and tl;dv is best for highlight clips.
Most people hunting for a Fathom alternative aren’t unhappy with Fathom; they’ve hit its edges. Fathom sends a note taker into the call unless you are on a Mac and use its bot-free beta, its in-person recording needs an iPhone, and it has no way to record a phone call.
1. Wave — best overall Fathom alternative
Wave keeps what people like about Fathom (automatic capture of Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams calls with summaries and action items) and removes the edges:
- In-person capture on any phone or watch. Record the room from iPhone, Android, Apple Watch, or Wear OS: lectures, interviews, client meetings, site visits.
- Phone calls. The Phone Bridge records incoming and outgoing calls on iPhone and Android, transcribed with both sides labeled. It works on every plan: on Free, calls count toward the 30 minutes a month, and Wave Pro is unlimited.
- Two ways to capture video calls. Send the calendar bot, or use the Wave desktop app on Mac and Windows to record mic and system audio with no bot in the call.
- Import anything. Drop in existing audio or video files and get the same transcript, summary, and searchable archive.
Wave’s free plan includes 30 minutes of recording a month; paid plans start at $80 a year or $15 a month. When the Wave bot joins a Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams call it records the video (MP4) as well as the audio; recordings from the Wave desktop and mobile apps are audio only. For the direct matchup, read Wave vs Fathom.
2. Otter.ai — most established alternative
Otter offers a meeting bot for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, real-time transcription, and iPhone, Android, and web apps that record in person. The free plan gives 300 min/month but caps each conversation at 30 min. Like Fathom, it has no phone-call recording and no watch app.
3. Fireflies.ai — best for team pipelines
Fireflies records with a bot, or without one from its desktop app and Chrome extension, and its mobile app records in person. It is aimed at teams: CRM syncing, shared channels, and conversation analytics. Pro is $10 a seat per month billed yearly. No phone-call recording of its own.
4. Granola — best for typed notes without a bot
Granola records your computer’s audio with no bot while you type rough notes, then expands them with the transcript. It runs on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android and has an Apple Watch app, but it does not keep audio to replay, and the free plan keeps 30 days of meeting history. See Wave vs Granola.
5. tl;dv — best for highlight clips
tl;dv records Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams with a bot, has a free plan with unlimited recordings and transcriptions, and shines at timestamps, highlight clips, and async sharing. Its desktop app has a bot-free mode that records audio only. There is no native mobile app, so it stays inside the video call.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Wave | Video calls plus phone, in-person, and watch | Free plan capped at 30 min/month; video only via the meeting bot |
| Otter.ai | Real-time transcription, known quantity | 30-min free conversation cap; no phone calls |
| Fireflies.ai | CRM and team analytics | Team-priced; no phone calls |
| Granola | Typed notes, no bot | No saved audio |
| tl;dv | Clips and async sharing | No mobile app; bot-free mode is audio only |
The bottom line
If everything you record has a Zoom link, Fathom is honestly hard to beat on price. The moment your conversations leave the video call (a phone call with a client, an interview across a table, a lecture hall) or you need bot-free capture on Windows, Wave is the alternative built to capture all of it under one account. For every bot-free option side by side, see the best AI note takers without a bot.
