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Fathom vs Otter.ai for agencies: meeting notes priced per seat

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30 October 2026 · Agency Brief

Disclosure: we applied to Fathom's affiliate program and were not accepted. We have no affiliate link for Fathom, and we aren't in Otter.ai's affiliate program. There are no affiliate links on this page, and none of this affected these verdicts.

A meeting recorder sits in your client calls, so price isn't the only question. An agency owner usually asks:

1. What does it cost for the whole team, at 3 people and at 8?
2. Can we send the recording and summary to the client without them signing up?
3. What happens to client conversations: where they're stored, and whether they're used to train AI?

We compared two meeting recorders: Fathom, which has a free plan with unlimited recordings (Fathom pricing), and Otter.ai, which has lower seat prices with monthly minute limits (Otter.ai pricing).

How we judged them. All prices are USD, taken from each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-10-19. They're regular prices and exclude tax. The verdicts are based on published plans, limits and terms. We haven't run client calls through either tool for this post, and we'll update it when we have. More verdicts are in our AI tools directory, and the full stack is in our pillar list.

Fathom: KEEP (the free plan covers most solo use; Team when you share calls)

Price: Team is $15 per user per month billed annually, or $19 monthly, with a 2-user minimum. Business is $25 annually or $34 monthly per user, also with a 2-user minimum. The individual Premium plan is $16 annually or $20 monthly. Free is "Free forever" (Fathom pricing).

What matters for agencies:

• Free tier. Fathom lists "Unlimited recordings + transcriptions" and "Instant AI call summaries" on Free. The comparison table lists recordings, call storage and transcription as unlimited (Fathom pricing). AI action items start on Premium.
• Platforms. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams (Fathom help). Fathom records live meetings only. It says "we do not support uploaded calls" (Fathom help).
• Sharing with clients. A share link lets "Anyone with the link", only your domain, or only people you add view the recording and transcript. Fathom says clients don't need an account (Fathom help).
• Team features. The comparison table puts team members, team folders and a team recordings view on Team and above (Fathom pricing). On Team plans, admins can set default visibility and share-link access (Fathom help).
• CRM and Slack. Fathom has HubSpot and Salesforce integrations. Its CRM page says team-level HubSpot connection covers "up to 3 users on Team; more on Business" (Fathom CRM integrations). The pricing table lists Slack integration on every plan (Fathom pricing).
• Privacy. Per Fathom's privacy policy (last updated August 16, 2026) and its security FAQ, both checked Oct 19, 2026, Fathom may use de-identified data from your meetings to train its in-house AI models "based on how you configure your account settings". You can opt out in your account settings (My Settings), and on Team Edition an admin can opt out every user from Organization Settings. Fathom says it doesn't let its AI sub-processors (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) train on your data. We couldn't confirm whether the setting starts on or off for a new account. All data is stored in the United States, and Fathom offers EU/UK users a DPA (Fathom help). Custom data retention is Enterprise only (Fathom pricing).

The catch: HubSpot and Salesforce sync for more than 3 users means Business, at $25–34 a seat. Fathom may train its own models on de-identified call data unless you opt out, and it doesn't say which way the setting starts, so check it before the first client call. There's no import for in-person or uploaded recordings.

Otter.ai: TRY (if you also transcribe in-person or uploaded recordings)

Price: Pro is $8.33 per user per month billed annually, or $16.99 monthly. Business is $19.99 per user per month billed annually, or $30 monthly. Basic is free (Otter.ai pricing). The page also showed time-limited offers (20% off Business monthly "for 3 months+", and a first-time-subscriber price on Pro). We ignored both.

What matters for agencies:

• Free tier. Basic includes 300 transcription minutes per user per month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, the 25 most recent conversations, 3 lifetime file imports and 20 AI Chat queries per user (Otter.ai pricing).
• Limits on paid plans. Pro has 1,200 minutes per user per month (no rollover) and 90 minutes per conversation. Business has unlimited meeting minutes and 4 hours per conversation (Otter.ai pricing).
• Seats. The table lists maximum workspace members as 5 billed users on Pro and 25 on Business (Otter.ai pricing). A team of 6 or more needs Business.
• Platforms and imports. Otter joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet on every plan. It also imports audio and video files (10 a month on Pro, unlimited on Business) and records in its iOS and Android apps (Otter.ai pricing).
• Sharing. Sharing via private channels and public links is ticked on every plan (Otter.ai pricing).
• CRM and Slack. Salesforce and HubSpot note sync covers 1 user on Pro and 5 on Business. Zapier starts on Pro (Otter.ai pricing). Otter says its Slack app "is available for all Otter plans" (Otter help).
• Privacy. Per Otter's privacy policy (effective June 16, 2026) and its Privacy & Security page, both checked Oct 19, 2026, Otter trains "our proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions". It says its AI service providers don't train on customer data and imported files aren't used for training. Otter's help article on feedback settings, checked the same day, describes an account setting at Account Settings > Meetings > Feedback and Training > "Help improve Otter". Choosing "Don't allow sharing" there revokes Otter's access to your conversations "for training and product improvement". The article doesn't limit the setting to any plan, and an account that hasn't chosen yet shows "Select an option". We couldn't confirm whether "Don't allow sharing" also stops the de-identified training the privacy policy describes, or whether workspace admins control it for Pro and Business members. Deleted conversations stay in Trash for 30 days (Otter.ai privacy & security). Custom data retention is Enterprise only (Otter.ai pricing).

The catch: the cheap Pro seat caps the workspace at 5 people and each person at 1,200 minutes a month. Otter's privacy policy lists training on de-identified recordings and transcripts as a use of your data. Its "Don't allow sharing" setting revokes access for training, but Otter doesn't say whether that covers the de-identified training too.

Side by side

See all Meetings & notes tools we track

Worked example: a 3-person and an 8-person agency

Assumptions: everyone records client calls. You want a shared team library, so Fathom means Team, not Free. Prices are per-seat list prices times headcount. No tax, promos or add-ons. "Yearly" is the per-month price billed annually.

At 3 people, Otter Pro is the cheapest paid option if 1,200 minutes per person a month is enough. At 8 people, Fathom Team is cheaper than Otter Business. If only the owner records calls, Fathom Free costs nothing (Fathom pricing), and the team can view recordings through share links (Fathom help).

Prices and sources

How to test before you switch

1. Run both on the same client call for a week. Get the client's consent to record first. Compare the summaries against your own notes: what each missed and what it got wrong.
2. Send one share link to a friendly client. Check what they see and whether they hit a sign-up wall.
3. Count minutes before you pick Otter Pro. Add up last month's call time per person and compare it with the 1,200-minute cap.
4. Set the training switch on day one. On Fathom, decide on the opt-out in My Settings (or Organization Settings on Team) before the first client call. On Otter, set "Help improve Otter" to "Don't allow sharing", and ask support in writing whether that also covers de-identified training on your plan.

Verdict

Keep Fathom (KEEP) if you live on Zoom, Meet or Teams. The free plan covers solo use, and Team is the cheaper paid option at 8 people. Try Otter.ai (TRY) if you're 5 people or fewer and also need to transcribe in-person meetings or uploaded files, which Fathom doesn't do. Either way, settle the AI-training question before the first client call.

What we couldn't verify

• Fathom's free-plan limits on summaries. The page says "Unlimited recordings + transcriptions" but doesn't say whether advanced summaries or Ask Fathom have caps on Free.
• Fathom's CRM limits. The pricing table lists CRM syncs as "Max 3 users/ domain" on Free, Premium and Team, while the CRM page says core CRM sync starts on paid individual plans. We've used the 3-user limit for Team.
• Plan ticks read from icons. Some of the plan-by-plan feature ticks we cite (team features, Slack, custom data retention, Zapier) come from icons in the comparison tables, not text.
• Otter's training setting: whether "Don't allow sharing" also stops the de-identified training in Otter's privacy policy, and whether workspace admins control it for Pro and Business members. Neither the help article nor the policy says.
• Fathom's training default: whether the training setting starts on or off for a new account. The privacy policy and security FAQ describe the opt-out but not the default.
• Annual totals. Neither page we read showed a yearly total, so we've shown per-month figures only.
• Vendor claims such as Fathom's "90 day guarantee" and both vendors' compliance statements. We haven't tested them.

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