Screenshots: Fathom, Otter, Fireflies and Read AI official pages
I have worked in IT for about twenty years, and every few weeks someone asks me for a free AI note taker that will not cut off in the middle of a meeting. The honest answer is that "free" means something different on every plan. One tool limits your minutes, another limits how long a meeting can run, and a third quietly stops recording after a handful of meetings. This guide follows the searches people run next on Google (students, iPhone, Android, Reddit, Bluedot, Fathom) and compares the limits that each vendor lists on its own pricing page, all checked on October 28, 2026.
Quick answer- Most free meeting time: Fathom, whose Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions and instant AI summaries.
- Short calls, good app: Otter, which lists 300 free transcription minutes a month, capped at 30 minutes per conversation.
- Transcripts without a minute cap: Fireflies lists unlimited transcription on Free, but only limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team.
- The trade-off: free plans rarely cap the recording itself. They cap summaries, history, storage or meeting length, so pick the limit that matters least to you.
Jump to: Students | iPhone | Android | Reddit and forums | Bluedot | Fathom | Note taking apps | How many hours | Compare | Privacy and consent | Final pick | FAQ
Best Free AI Meeting Note Taker for Students
A student needs something different from a sales team. Lectures are long, group projects meet on Zoom or Google Meet, and the budget is close to zero. That rules out any plan with a lifetime trial and favors tools with no minute cap, or a short cap that fits a study group call.
Image: Otter (official page)
Otter is the one that talks to students directly. Its pricing page says it offers a 20% discount on Otter Pro for individual students and teachers who sign up with an email address ending in .edu, listing Pro Annual at $6.67 a month (billed $79.99 a year) and Pro Monthly at $13.59. The free Basic plan is still the starting point, but it caps each conversation at 30 minutes, so a 50 minute lecture would be cut short.
Read AI also has a page for education, which says students and teachers get automated transcription, meeting notes and integrations. I did not find a student price on the main pricing page, so check the education page before you rely on it. Fathom lists a program that gives 10 free seats to nonprofits, which is not aimed at students but is useful for student organizations that qualify.
Who should pick what StudentsFor group calls, Fathom's Free plan lists no minute cap, so a long project meeting still gets a transcript. For short office hours, Otter's 300 minute monthly allowance goes a long way. Skip it if your class forbids recording. Ask first, then record.
My take (20 years in IT): Before you compare tools, check your own rules. Many classes and workplaces ban recording or require a written yes. A free plan that records every call is no help if it puts you in a conversation with the dean. Get consent in writing for anything you plan to keep.
Best Free AI Meeting Note Taker for iPhone
On an iPhone you may not need a separate app at all. Apple's support page for Notes says you can record audio in a note and have the spoken words transcribed, then search the transcript, add it to the note or copy it elsewhere. Apple lists audio transcription for iPhone 12 and later, with the device language set to a supported language such as English, Spanish, French or German. The page also describes a Summary option for a recording and says you can record a call in the Phone or FaceTime app and view the transcript in Notes with iOS 18.1 or later.
That is a good fit for an in-person lecture or a one-to-one conversation, and it costs nothing. It does not join your Zoom or Teams call and write notes for you. For that you need one of the third-party tools. Bluedot lists desktop and mobile apps on its Free plan, Fireflies lists a mobile app for Android and iOS, and Read AI lists Android and iOS apps that capture in-person meetings.
Image: Read AI (official page)
If your meetings happen mostly on a laptop and you only want a mobile app for the occasional in-person chat, check how each tool counts a meeting. A conversation you record on the phone still uses up a meeting on a plan that counts meetings, such as Bluedot's 5 lifetime meetings or Read AI's 5 reports a month.
Best Free AI Meeting Note Taker for Android
Android depends on the phone. Google's Pixel help page for Recorder says you can create transcriptions of your recordings, edit them, and set the language Recorder recognizes. It also lists a summary feature for Pixel 8 and later, in English, Hindi, Italian, French, German and Japanese, which uses a large language model and supports recordings from 5 minutes up to a maximum of 1 hour of speech.
Image: Google (official Help page)
If you do not own a Pixel, the Recorder app is not an option, and the vendors' own apps are the way to go. Otter, Fireflies and Read AI all list Android and iOS apps on their pricing pages, and Bluedot lists mobile apps on the Free plan. Whichever you pick, test one real call before an important meeting. Phone microphones pick up a lot of room noise, which is where transcripts fall apart.
Image: Google (official Help page)
Best Free AI Meeting Note Taker on Reddit? How to Use Forum Advice
Google shows Reddit threads for this search, and they are worth reading with some care. Look for posts that say how many people were on the call, how long the meetings ran and which platform they used. A tool that works for a weekly 20 minute call may fail on a two hour workshop. Prefer recent posts, because free limits change often, and check any plan limit you read against the vendor's pricing page before you rely on it.
Treat enthusiastic recommendations as a lead, not a verdict. If someone says a tool is free forever, compare it with the pricing pages summarized in the table later in this guide. The limits are listed there in the vendors' own words.
Bluedot AI Note Taker, What the Free Plan Gives You
Image: Bluedot (official page)
Bluedot's pricing page lists a Free plan at $0 with 5 meetings for your lifetime, the Chrome extension, desktop and mobile apps and links to Slack, Notion, Zapier and Make. That makes it a trial rather than a free plan you can live on. Paid plans start with Basic at $14 per user per month on annual billing ($18 monthly), which is audio only with a maximum of 1 hour per recording. Pro is listed at $20 ($25 monthly) with video and unlimited recording duration.
The appeal is that it does not send a bot into the call. It captures from your own device, so nobody sees an extra participant. That also means other people may not know they are being recorded, which is why you should tell them. For a head-to-head with two similar tools, see Bluedot vs Jamie vs Otter Meeting Notes in 2026.
Who should pick Bluedot Bot-free trialYou want to try a no-bot recorder on a few important calls before paying. Skip it if you need ongoing free recording. After 5 meetings, the Free plan is done.
Fathom AI Note Taker, the Most Generous Free Plan
Image: Fathom (official page)
Image: Fathom (official page)
Fathom's pricing page describes its Free plan as free forever. The listed features are unlimited recordings and transcriptions, a choice of bot-free capture (marked as a beta feature for Mac) or bot capture, instant AI call summaries, and clips, playlists and search across your calls. On the Individuals tab the paid Premium plan is listed at $16 per month on annual billing ($20 monthly) and adds advanced call summaries, AI-generated action items, a conversational meeting assistant and a custom meeting bot.
Image: Fathom (official page)
Image: Fathom (official page)
For teams, the page lists Team at $15 per user per month on annual billing with a two-user minimum, and Business at $25. It also lists a way to get 10 free seats for nonprofits. The details I would check before relying on the Free plan are the limits on "Ask Fathom", the AI assistant. The feature table shows account-wide Ask Fathom as a beta feature and limits it by plan, so do not expect the full assistant for free.
Image: Fathom (official page)
Who should pick Fathom Most free recordingYou have many meetings, you want a transcript and summary for each one, and you do not want a minute cap. Skip it if you need advanced summaries or action items, which sit on the paid plans.
Best AI Meeting Note Taking App, Free Plan by Free Plan
Otter, the shortest cap and the best app
Image: Otter (official page)
Image: Otter (official page)
Otter's table lists, for the free Basic plan, 300 minutes of meeting and recording transcription per user each month, 30 minutes maximum per conversation, 3 lifetime imports of pre-recorded files and the 25 most recent conversations in history. It lists 20 Otter AI Chat queries per user a month, with 3 per conversation, and exports in mp3 and txt. Playback is at 1x only on Basic, while the paid plans add speeds up to 3x and skipping silence.
Image: Otter (official page)
Fireflies, unlimited transcripts with thin summaries
Image: Fireflies (official page)
Fireflies lists its Free plan with unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits. The usage table lists a recording limit of 2 hours on Free. Video recording starts on the Pro plan, which is listed at $10 per seat per month on annual billing ($18 monthly). The feature table also lists recording for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and more than ten other platforms, plus mobile and desktop apps.
Image: Fireflies (official page)
Image: Fireflies (official page)
Read AI, five reports a month
Image: Read AI (official page)
Read AI's comparison table lists the Free plan with live notes and metrics for 5 meetings a month, meeting reports for 5 a month, transcription for 5 a month and a maximum meeting length of 1 hour. Support for Zoom, Teams and Meet is listed, along with Android, iOS, Windows and macOS apps. Uploading your own audio or video files is not included on Free, and Pro lists 100 minutes a month of uploads. Pro is listed at $15 per user per month on annual billing ($19.75 monthly). Read also says its premium features are available at no cost through Zoom's Essential Apps in Zoom One Pro, Business or Business Plus subscriptions.
Image: Read AI (official page)
Image: Read AI (official page)
Image: Read AI (official page)
Image: Read AI (official page)
Built into Google Meet, but not free
Google Meet's "Take notes for me" feature can capture notes into Google Docs, but Google's help page says it requires an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan, so it is not a free option for a personal account. It is recommended for meetings of 15 minutes up to 8 hours, and it supports one spoken language at a time.
Image: Google (official Help page)
Image: Google (official Help page)
How Many Hours or Meetings Do You Record in a Typical Month?
This is the question that decides the winner, so count before you choose. Add up the meetings you would want transcribed in a typical month and the length of the longest one. Then compare with the limits below, which come from the vendors' pricing pages. The right-hand column is my own arithmetic from those limits.
| Tool | Free plan limit as listed | What that means in practice |
|---|
| Fathom | Unlimited recordings and transcriptions | No minute cap listed, advanced summaries are paid |
| Otter | 300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation | At most 5 hours a month, or ten 30 minute calls |
| Fireflies | Unlimited transcription, 400 minutes of storage per team, 2 hour recording limit | Roughly 6 hours 40 minutes of stored meetings per team |
| Read AI | 5 meetings and reports a month, 1 hour maximum | At most 5 hours a month |
| Bluedot | 5 meetings for your lifetime | A short trial, not a monthly plan |
If you record fewer than five meetings a month and none longer than 30 minutes, almost any of them works. If you run a weekly two hour workshop, Otter's cap rules it out on the free plan, and Fathom is the one to test first.
My take (20 years in IT): Pick the tool by your longest meeting, not your average one. A 45 minute call that gets cut at 30 minutes loses the part where decisions are made. Run one real meeting through the free plan and check the end of the transcript before you commit your team.
Free AI Meeting Note Takers Compared
| Tool | Capture method | Paid plan starts at | Link |
|---|
| Fathom | Bot or bot-free (beta, Mac) | Premium $16 a month annual, $20 monthly | Visit site |
| Otter | App recording and live notes for meetings | Pro student annual price $6.67 a month with .edu, see page for standard | Visit site |
| Fireflies | Bot, with a Chrome extension option listed | Pro $10 a month annual, $18 monthly | Visit site |
| Read AI | Read Assistant joins Zoom, Teams and Meet | Pro $15 a month annual, $19.75 monthly | Visit site |
| Bluedot | Chrome extension and apps, no bot | Basic $14 a month annual, $18 monthly | Visit site |
Prices are the ones the vendors list on October 28, 2026, and they change. Fathom also lists a 90 day guarantee on its paid plans, which matters if you plan to upgrade after a trial.
Privacy and Consent Before You Hit Record
Free tools still handle your meetings, which often include client names and internal plans. Fireflies lists on its pricing page that your data is never used for AI training, which is the vendor's own statement, and it also lists SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance. Read the privacy page of whichever tool you choose and look for where recordings are stored and how to delete them.
Consent is the other half. Google's help page says an administrator can require every participant to give explicit consent before "Take notes for me", Record or Transcribe starts, and that Meet shows all participants a pencil icon when notes are being taken. Bot-free tools do not announce themselves that way, so say it out loud: "I'm using an AI note taker, is that okay?" This guide is general information, not legal advice, and the rules differ by country, state and employer.
Final Recommendation
For most people searching for a free AI meeting note taker, start with Fathom: its Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, so your longest meeting is not cut off. If your calls are short and you want a polished app, Otter is a reasonable second choice at 300 minutes a month. Choose Fireflies if you mainly want transcripts and can live with limited summaries, and use Read AI or Bluedot only when you expect fewer than five meetings. Students can begin with the notes app on their phone, then add a tool for online classes.
My take (20 years in IT): Whichever you choose, set one rule for yourself. Review the summary within a day, fix the names and numbers, and delete the recording if nobody needs it. AI notes are a draft, and the person who ran the meeting still owns the record.
FAQ
Which AI is best for making notes for free?
For recording a lot of meetings at no cost, Fathom is the one whose Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions. Otter lists 300 transcription minutes a month with a 30 minute cap per conversation, Fireflies lists unlimited transcription with limited AI summaries, and Read AI lists 5 meeting reports a month. If you only need your own voice and lectures, the notes app already on your phone may be enough.
Is Otter AI completely free?
No. Otter has a free Basic plan, but its pricing page lists limits on it: 300 minutes of transcription per user each month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime imports of pre-recorded files and the 25 most recent conversations in your history. Longer meetings, more imports and unlimited history need a paid plan.
Is Fathom really free?
Fathom lists a Free plan described as free forever, with unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI summaries, clips and search across your calls. The paid Premium plan adds advanced summaries, AI action items and a conversational meeting assistant. Fathom does not list a minute cap on the Free plan, so check its page for current terms.
Is there a free AI note taker without a bot joining the call?
Fathom lists a choice of bot-free capture, marked as a beta feature for Mac, or bot capture on its Free plan. Bluedot uses a Chrome extension and apps instead of a bot, but its Free plan covers only 5 meetings in total.
What is the best free option for students?
Start with what you have. A phone notes app or the Recorder app can record and transcribe a lecture. For online classes, Otter lists a 20% student and teacher discount on its Pro plan for individual .edu addresses, and Read AI has an education pricing page. Ask your instructor before you record, because many schools have rules about it.
Do these free plans keep my meetings forever?
Not always. Otter keeps your 25 most recent conversations on Basic, and Fireflies lists 400 minutes of storage per team on Free. Fathom and Read AI list unlimited storage on paid plans, and Fathom lists unlimited recordings on Free. Export what you need to keep.
Do I need to tell people I am recording?
Yes, as a matter of courtesy everywhere and by law in many places. Tools that join as a visible participant announce themselves, and tools that capture audio from your own device may not. Google also lets an administrator require consent before "Take notes for me" starts. This guide is general information, not legal advice, so check the rules where your participants live.
Try These Tools
Links go to each vendor's official pricing or product page.
Sources
All pages were checked on October 28, 2026 in their English versions.
This guide is general information. Plan limits and prices change often, so check the vendor's page before you decide.
Last updated: October 28, 2026.
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