--- title: "Free AI notetakers compared (October 2026): what each free plan actually includes" description: "What the free plans of Circleback, Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola and tl;dv include in October 2026: minutes, history, bot-free capture, AI summaries and integrations." canonical: "https://comparenotetakers.com/free-ai-notetakers-compared" last_updated: "2026-10-16" --- # Free AI notetakers compared (October 2026): what each free plan actually includes Every tool here has a free plan, and the limit you hit first is different on each one: minutes on one, storage on another, AI summaries on a third. ## The short answer - Pick Circleback free if your whole team needs unlimited meetings and bot-free desktop recording, with notes sent to Slack or Linear. - Pick Otter.ai Basic free if most of your meetings end inside 30 minutes. - Pick Fireflies.ai free if you want API access without paying and your team can keep stored recordings under 400 minutes. - Pick Fathom free if you want unlimited recordings and a choice between a bot and bot-free capture. - Pick Granola Basic free if you want notes from device audio with no bot, and 30 days of history is enough. - Pick tl;dv free if you want unlimited video recordings and only need AI notes on a handful of meetings. ## How this was checked Each competitor limit comes from that vendor's pricing page, fetched October 15, 2026; if a page does not state a limit, the cell says "not listed on its pricing page." Paid prices are left out. ## Free plan limits, October 2026 | Tool (free plan) | Minutes / meeting limits | History / storage | Bot vs bot-free | AI summary limits | Integrations on free | Source | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Circleback Free | Unlimited meetings and members | 30-day history; older meetings locked, not deleted; recordings kept 1 year | Bot-free desktop recording on macOS 14.2+ and Windows 11+ | Notes and action items on unlimited meetings | Slack, Linear, Share meeting; API, MCP, CLI; no CRM or webhooks | [Circleback pricing](https://circleback.ai/pricing) | | Otter.ai Basic | 300 transcription minutes per user per month; 30 minutes max per conversation | 25 most recent conversations | Bot-free on Basic: not listed on its pricing page | AI Chat within and across meetings | Otter MCP server; Zapier, Salesforce and HubSpot start on Pro |[Pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing) | | Fireflies.ai Free | Unlimited transcription (asterisked); 2-hour recording limit | 400 minutes of storage per team | Bot-free on Free: not listed on its pricing page | Limited AI summaries; 20 AI credits | API at 30 requests/min and 500/day; "unlimited integrations" listed on Pro |[Pricing](https://fireflies.ai/pricing) | | Fathom Free | Unlimited recordings and transcriptions | No history limit listed on its pricing page | Bot or bot-free (bot-free is a Mac beta) | Instant AI call summaries; limited use of advanced summaries and Ask Fathom; AI action items on Premium | Integrations with LLMs |[Pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing) | | Granola Basic | Not listed on its pricing page | 30 days of meeting history | Bot-free, device-audio capture | AI chat across meetings | Slack; MCP for last 30 days of personal notes; no Notion, Zapier, HubSpot or API |[Pricing](https://www.granola.ai/pricing) | | tl;dv Free | Unlimited video recordings and transcription | Not listed on its pricing page | Not listed on its pricing page | AI notes on up to 10 meetings | Email and calendar integrations; MCP server, API and webhooks listed on Pro |[Pricing](https://tldv.io/app/pricing/) | ## Circleback Free Circleback turns conversations into speaker-labeled transcripts, notes, assigned action items, automations and searchable context. The Free plan is billed as free forever and is not a trial. It covers unlimited meetings and members, limited automations, 30 days of history (older meetings are locked, not deleted), and API, MCP and CLI access. Free automation steps include Slack, Linear and Share meeting; CRM and webhooks are not on Free. The desktop app records on macOS 14.2+ and Windows 11+ with no bot joining the call, on every plan including Free. Where it gives less: 30 days of history (older meetings are locked, not deleted) is shorter than Fathom Free, whose pricing page lists no history limit. Plan details: [Circleback free plan explainer](https://thenotetakers.com/circleback-free-plan) and [Circleback's guide to free AI meeting notes apps](https://circleback.ai/blog/best-free-ai-meeting-notes-app). ## Otter.ai Basic Otter.ai Basic gives each user 300 transcription minutes a month, with no rollover, and caps any single conversation at 30 minutes. That cap means an hour-long weekly sync gets transcribed only for its first half. History keeps your 25 most recent conversations. The Basic card lists live transcription and an Otter MCP server; Zapier, Salesforce and HubSpot start on Pro. ## Fireflies.ai Free Fireflies.ai Free lists unlimited transcription (with an asterisk), limited AI summaries, 20 AI credits and 400 minutes of storage per team. 400 minutes is about six and a half hour-long meetings for the whole team. Each recording can run 2 hours, four times Otter Basic's per-conversation cap. Fireflies publishes its free API limits, 30 requests a minute and 500 a day, useful if you script against your notes. ## Fathom Free Fathom Free lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, and clips, playlists and search across calls. You choose bot or bot-free capture, and bot-free is a beta feature for Mac. Free gives limited use of advanced summaries and Ask Fathom, with no number stated; AI action items sit on the Premium card. No history limit is listed for Free, more room than any 30-day plan here. ## Granola Basic Granola Basic captures device audio with no bot, keeps 30 days of meeting history, and includes AI chat across meetings. Slack is included; Notion, Zapier, HubSpot and API access are not. MCP on Basic reaches your personal notes from the last 30 days. ## tl;dv Free tl;dv Free lists unlimited video recordings, unlimited transcription and email and calendar integrations. AI notes cover up to 10 meetings, so the recordings outlast the summaries. ## FAQ ### What happens when you hit the free limit? On Otter Basic, monthly transcription minutes do not roll over. On Circleback Free, meetings older than 30 days are locked, not deleted, and upgrading to Pro unlocks them. Recordings are kept for 1 year on Free, as on Pro. Fireflies, Fathom, Granola and tl;dv do not say on their pricing pages what happens to older items once a free limit is reached. ### Which free plans record without a bot? Circleback records bot-free through its desktop app on macOS and Windows. Granola Basic captures device audio with no bot. Fathom Free offers bot-free capture as a Mac beta. For Otter Basic, Fireflies Free and tl;dv Free, bot-free recording on the free plan is not listed on their pricing pages. ### Is a free plan the same as a free trial? Not here. Circleback Free is not a trial. Otter, Fireflies and Fathom each label their free plan "free forever." Granola lists Basic at $0 per user per month, and tl;dv lists Free at $0 with no credit card required. ## Pricing pages cited - [Circleback pricing](https://circleback.ai/pricing) - [Otter.ai pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing), fetched 2026-10-15 - [Fireflies.ai pricing](https://fireflies.ai/pricing), fetched 2026-10-15 - [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), fetched 2026-10-15 - [Granola pricing](https://www.granola.ai/pricing), fetched 2026-10-15 - [tl;dv pricing](https://tldv.io/app/pricing/), fetched 2026-10-15