Short answer: Fathom's free plan prints no numeric cap on its pricing page, with unlimited recordings and transcription and AI call summaries included. Otter.ai is the pick when you need a meeting bot and a monthly minute budget, since its free Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month and caps each conversation at 30 minutes. The cheapest dollar-priced paid step among these is Notta Pro at $8.17 a month billed annually. Notta, MeetGeek, Read.ai and Tactiq give tighter counts, and Granola's free plan keeps meeting history for 30 days.
Eight free AI note takers compared on transcription caps, meeting history and the cheapest paid step-up, with vendor pricing pages checked in October 2026.
Free AI note takers differ on three limits: how many minutes they transcribe, how long they keep your meetings, and whether a bot can join the call at all. Those limits decide how far a free plan stretches across a real month, and the first paid step decides whether an upgrade is worth it. This guide compares eight tools, read from each vendor's own pricing page, and gives the cheapest paid plan in dollars wherever a vendor publishes one. Fathom and Notta sit at opposite ends of that trade-off. For the wider transcription field, see the free transcription tools guide.
Toolradar data: of the 212 note-taking tools we track, 82% can be opened on a free or freemium plan (39 free, 135 freemium). 38 of them are paid only, which is 18% of the set. A free row is a weak test on its own, so this guide reads the caps behind each one.
Methodology: we shortlisted eight tools from the note-taking category that publish a free plan with AI notes or summaries. We read each vendor's pricing page on October 10, 2026, for transcription caps, history, export and paid prices, and we quote a figure only when the page states it. Krisp and Avoma are out: Krisp's free option is a 7-day trial, and Avoma offers a 14-day trial with no free plan.
Top Picks
Picked by editorial review, informed by G2 and Capterra review volume and rating and by media mentions, the signals behind our category rankings. How we rate
Unlimited recordings and transcription on Free, with instant AI call summaries included and no number printed for them.
Starting price
From $19 /mo
4.9 (7,187 reviews)
Best for
Solo users and small teams who want no printed numeric caps and can live with limited action items on Free.
300 transcription minutes a month on Basic, with a bot that joins the call and the largest minute figure on this list.
Starting price
From $16.99 /mo
4.4 (608 reviews)
Best for
Small teams with short calls who need a bot in Zoom, Teams or Meet and a monthly minute budget.
Unlimited meetings, recordings and transcripts on its homepage, but its own pages disagree on the AI-note cap.
Starting price
From $18 /mo
4.7 (537 reviews)
Best for
Teams on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams that want unlimited recording and accept an unclear AI-note cap.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom | From $19/mo | 4.9 7,187 reviews | Solo users and small teams who want no printed numeric caps and can live with limited action items on Free. |
| Otter.ai | From $16.99/mo | 4.4 608 reviews | Small teams with short calls who need a bot in Zoom, Teams or Meet and a monthly minute budget. |
| tl;dv | From $18/mo | 4.7 537 reviews | Teams on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams that want unlimited recording and accept an unclear AI-note cap. |
| MeetGeek | From $15.99/mo | 4.6 223 reviews | Sales and client teams with calls under two hours who want AI summaries and a bot on a free plan. |
| Read.ai | From $15/mo | 4.3 137 reviews | Individuals who record only a handful of meetings a month and want a bot on Zoom, Teams or Meet. |
| Notta | Free plan | 4.4 229 reviews | Solo users transcribing short recordings who do not need to export transcripts. |
| Tactiq | From $8/mo | 4.4 18 reviews | People with about ten recorded meetings a month who want every transcript they have kept available. |
| Granola | From $14/mo | n/a | Individuals who can live with a short meeting history and a capped number of notes on Basic. |
Fathom
Unlimited recordings and transcription on Free, with instant AI call summaries included and no number printed for them.
- 5.0 on G2 (6,990 reviews)
- 4.8 on Trustpilot (197 reviews)
- Starting price
- From $19/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.9 (7,187 reviews)
Best for: Solo users and small teams who want no printed numeric caps and can live with limited action items on Free.
- Pro: Recordings, transcription, call downloads and call storage are listed as unlimited on Free.
- Pro: Instant AI call summaries are included on the free plan.
- Pro: The Free plan is described as free forever on its pricing page.
- Con: AI action items and Ask Fathom are 'limited use' on Free, with no number on the page.
- Con: The paid Premium plan is listed at $16 to $20 a user a month, depending on billing.
Fathom's pricing is very generous, especially with its robust Free tier offering unlimited recordings and transcription.
Watch out
Team tier requires 2+ users minimum.
- Starting price
- From $16.99/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.4 (608 reviews)
Best for: Small teams with short calls who need a bot in Zoom, Teams or Meet and a monthly minute budget.
- Pro: Basic's monthly minute allowance is shared across transcription types.
- Pro: Basic lists a meeting bot for Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
- Pro: Basic is free forever, according to its pricing page.
- Con: Each conversation is capped at 30 minutes on Basic, so an hour-long meeting falls outside the free limit.
- Con: Basic allows 3 imports in total and keeps only the 25 most recent conversations.
Otter.ai offers a free tier with 300 monthly transcription minutes.
- Starting price
- From $18/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.7 (537 reviews)
Best for: Teams on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams that want unlimited recording and accept an unclear AI-note cap.
- Pro: The homepage lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions on the free plan.
- Pro: The free plan has no time limit, and its FAQ says no credit card is required.
- Pro: AI notes are included on Free, per the same homepage.
- Con: Its free-plan blog lists 10 AI meeting notes a month and archiving after 3 days, which conflicts with the homepage.
- Con: It is priced in euros only: Pro is EUR 29 a month, or EUR 18 a seat billed annually.
The pricing for tl;dv is quite generous, especially with its robust Free tier offering unlimited meetings and AI transcription.
- Starting price
- From $15.99/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.6 (223 reviews)
Best for: Sales and client teams with calls under two hours who want AI summaries and a bot on a free plan.
- Pro: Basic includes 3 hours of transcription a month, with AI summaries and AI Chat across meetings.
- Pro: Bot and bot-free recording both work with Zoom, Google Meet and Teams on Basic.
- Pro: Basic is free forever, according to its pricing page.
- Con: The 2-hour limit per recording and the 3-month transcript storage cap long or older calls.
- Con: Its Pro price is shown without a billing basis, so the monthly cost is unclear.
MeetGeek's pricing is fair, offering a generous free tier for basic users.
Watch out
Annual billing required for 20% savings
- Starting price
- From $15/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.3 (137 reviews)
Best for: Individuals who record only a handful of meetings a month and want a bot on Zoom, Teams or Meet.
- Pro: The bot joins Zoom, Teams and Meet meetings on Free, according to its pricing page.
- Pro: Free is always free and needs no credit card.
- Pro: Free also covers 30 meetings measured a month, per its pricing page.
- Con: Five meeting transcripts a month is the lowest transcript count on this list.
- Con: Free caps meeting length at one hour and includes no audio or video playback, and Pro costs $15 to $19.75 a user a month.
Read.ai's pricing is fair, offering a generous free tier for basic needs.
- Starting price
- Free plan
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.4 (229 reviews)
Best for: Solo users transcribing short recordings who do not need to export transcripts.
- Pro: Free allows 120 transcription minutes a month and 50 file uploads.
- Pro: Free needs no credit card, and it includes 1,000 Notta Brain AI credits a month.
- Pro: Pro is $8.17 a month billed annually ($97.99 a year), the lowest dollar-priced paid plan on this list.
- Con: Free users can view only the first 3 minutes of a transcript, per its FAQ.
- Con: The page does not say whether the bot joins calls on the free plan.
Notta's pricing is fair, offering a generous free tier and competitive paid options.
Tactiq
Ten transcripts and five AI credits a month on Free, and existing transcripts stay accessible after you hit the limit.
- 4.2 on G2 (17 reviews)
- 5.0 on SourceForge (1 reviews)
- Starting price
- From $8/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.4 (18 reviews)
Best for: People with about ten recorded meetings a month who want every transcript they have kept available.
- Pro: The Free plan is listed as free forever, with no credit card needed.
- Pro: Free users can share and export transcripts.
- Pro: Existing transcripts stay accessible after the monthly limit is reached.
- Con: One AI credit covers one action, such as a summary, action items or a question, so five credits go quickly.
- Con: Paid plans are priced in euros.
Tactiq's pricing is fair, especially with the generous Free tier offering 5 AI credits and 10 transcripts monthly.
Watch out
No mention of storage limits for transcripts
Granola
A free Basic plan with 30 days of meeting history and capped meeting notes, with unlimited notes on Business.
- Starting price
- From $14/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
Best for: Individuals who can live with a short meeting history and a capped number of notes on Basic.
- Pro: Basic is free, and Business adds unlimited meeting notes and history at $14 a user a month.
- Pro: Business lifts the history cap on Basic, so older meetings stay available.
- Pro: Enterprise is listed at $35 a user a month, above the Business price.
- Con: Basic keeps meeting history for 30 days, and its note cap is not printed.
- Con: The page shows no annual price for Business, only the monthly figure.
Granola's pricing is fair, offering a generous free Basic tier.
Other Note-Taking tools worth considering
More published tools from our Note-Taking category, ordered by our category ranking. They are not part of the editorial picks above.
What a free AI note taker includes
An AI note taker transcribes a call and writes a summary with action items. The free tier is where each vendor sets its limits: transcription minutes, the number of meetings, how long the history stays, and how many AI summaries you get before the paywall.
Two designs share the category. Some tools send a bot into the meeting as a visible participant, as Otter.ai does on Basic, and others record from your device. The free-plan pages do not always say which design the free tier uses. That matters on client calls, where the other people in the meeting see whatever joins, so this guide notes the bot question only where the vendor page answers it.
Why the first cap decides the free plan
A free plan is only as useful as its first cap. A plan that runs out in the third week of the month leaves the rest of the month without notes, and most buyers only find that out after the meetings have happened. Set the caps against your own calendar before you pick. Ten 25-minute calls a month is a different load from three one-hour client meetings, and the two load profiles hit different limits. For the summary side of the category, see the AI meeting summary tools guide.
Vendors do not state their caps the same way. Notta prints a number for nearly every limit. Fathom says "unlimited" for recordings but "limited use" for AI action items, with no figure at all. tl;dv describes unlimited meetings and AI notes on its homepage, while its free-plan blog lists 10 AI meeting notes a month. Where a vendor's own pages disagree, the card says so instead of picking one figure.
Key Features to Look For
Transcription allowance (Essential)
The monthly minutes or transcripts a free plan covers. Otter.ai's Basic allowance is the largest minute figure printed on the list. MeetGeek counts its allowance in hours, Tactiq in transcripts and Read.ai in meeting transcripts. Fathom and tl;dv describe their recordings as unlimited on Free, with no minute cap on the pages checked.
Length cap per conversation (Essential)
History and storage (Important)
How long your notes stay available on Free. MeetGeek keeps transcripts for 3 months and audio for 1 month, Otter.ai keeps the 25 most recent conversations, and Granola's Basic plan keeps meeting history for 30 days.
Bot joins the call (Important)
Whether the free plan sends a bot into Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. Otter.ai, Read.ai and MeetGeek state this on their free-plan pages. The pages for Notta, Tactiq, Fathom, tl;dv and Granola do not state it for Free.
Export on Free (Important)
Whether you can take a transcript out of the tool. Tactiq lets Free users share and export transcripts. Notta lists export as a Pro addition, and Fathom lists call downloads and clips as unlimited on Free.
AI summaries and action items (Essential)
The AI layer most buyers come for. Fathom includes instant call summaries on Free, but action items and Ask Fathom are 'limited use' with no number. Notta gives 10 AI summaries a month, Tactiq 5 AI credits, and tl;dv's homepage lists AI notes with no quantity limit.
What to check before you rely on a free plan
-
Multiply your real call volume by the cap that applies. Ten 25-minute calls a month use 250 minutes of Otter.ai's Basic allowance, which fits. A one-hour call does not fit Otter.ai's conversation cap at all.
-
Decide whether you need to export. A free plan that keeps your notes but blocks export works for personal recall and fails at a handoff to a colleague or a CRM.
-
Compare paid prices in one currency. Tactiq and tl;dv publish euros on their pricing pages, so their figures need a currency check before they sit next to the dollar prices.
-
Price the team before you pick. Five people on Granola Business at $14 a user a month come to $70 a month, or $840 a year, if billed monthly.
Evaluation Checklist
Count the minutes and calls in your three busiest weeks before you read a single cap.
Run one real call through the free plan and check that the summary arrived, the bot appeared and the transcript was complete.
Find the AI-summary cap inside the product, since the number may appear only after sign-up.
Copy anything you need to keep before the history window closes.
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | Free transcription allowance | Free history or storage | Cheapest paid plan | Free-plan trap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fathom | Unlimited recordings and transcription; no numeric cap printed | Unlimited call storage; no history window printed | Premium $16 to $20 a user a month, by billing | Action items and Ask Fathom are 'limited use' with no number |
300 transcription minutes a month, shared across types | The 25 most recent conversations | Pro and Business per user; the page shows conditional offers, so no price is quoted | 30-minute cap per conversation; 3 imports in total | |
Unlimited recordings and transcripts on the homepage | Homepage gives no history window; its blog says recordings archive after 3 days | Pro EUR 29 a month, or EUR 18 a seat billed annually (priced in euros) | Its blog lists 10 AI notes a month, which conflicts with the homepage | |
3 hours of transcription a month | Transcripts kept 3 months, audio 1 month | Pro $15.99 (billing basis not labelled on the page) | 2-hour limit per recording; 3 hours a month is about four 45-minute calls | |
5 meeting transcripts a month, plus 30 meetings measured | Not stated on its pricing page | Pro $15 to $19.75 a user a month, by billing | 1-hour maximum meeting length; no audio or video playback on Free | |
Notta | 120 transcription minutes a month, 3 minutes per conversation | Free users see only the first 3 minutes of a transcript | Pro $8.17 a month billed annually ($97.99 a year) | Export transcripts is a Pro addition, so Free cannot export |
Tactiq | 10 transcripts a month and 5 AI credits | Existing transcripts stay accessible after the limit | Pro EUR 6.67 a user a month billed annually (priced in euros) | One AI credit covers one action, such as a summary or a question |
Granola | Meeting notes capped on Basic; the count is not printed | 30 days of meeting history on Basic | Business $14 a user a month; no annual Business price shown | Unlimited meeting notes and history are Business features |
Prices and free-plan limits checked on October 10, 2026, on vendor pages: Fathom pricing, Otter.ai pricing, tl;dv homepage, tl;dv app pricing, MeetGeek pricing, Read.ai pricing, Notta pricing, Tactiq pricing, Granola pricing and Krisp pricing. Tactiq and tl;dv are priced in euros.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
- ×
Counting only the monthly minutes and forgetting the per-call cap. Otter.ai's 30-minute limit per conversation pushes a long meeting outside the free allowance however many minutes remain.
- ×
Comparing euro and dollar prices as if they were the same currency. Tactiq and tl;dv are priced in euros.
Expert Tips
- →
Track your real monthly usage for two weeks before you choose, then pick the tool whose cap you would hit last.
- →
Run one call with a colleague before you rely on the bot for a client meeting.
- →
Keep an export of anything you need to keep. Granola's history window and Otter.ai's 25-conversation window can drop older meetings from view.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
An 'unlimited' label next to AI notes with no number anywhere on the pricing page. Check the real cap in week one.
-
A free plan whose per-conversation cap is below your typical call length. The monthly total can look generous while every long meeting falls outside it.
-
Export listed only on paid plans, which keeps your notes locked in the tool.
The Bottom Line
For a free plan with no printed numeric caps, start with Fathom, and check how quickly its action items run out in your first month. Pick Otter.ai when a bot in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet and a monthly minute budget matter most, and keep its per-conversation cap in mind. Use MeetGeek when AI summaries matter more than minutes and your calls fit its per-recording limit. Check every AI-note cap at sign-up, because the vendor pages do not all agree. Once a cap bites, compare the paid options through Otter.ai alternatives or tl;dv alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free AI note taker in 2026?
Fathom is the best pick if you want a free plan with no printed numeric caps. Its free plan lists unlimited recordings, transcription and call storage, with instant AI call summaries included. Otter.ai is the better pick if you need a bot in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet and a monthly minute budget, since its Basic plan has the largest minute figure on this list.
How many minutes does a free AI note taker transcribe?
Is there a free AI note taker with no time limit?
Yes, on the plans this guide checked. tl;dv's homepage says its free plan has no time limit and needs no credit card. Otter.ai, MeetGeek, Tactiq and Fathom describe their free plans as free forever, and Read.ai says its plan is always free. Those labels describe duration, not the monthly caps, which still apply.
Does Krisp have a free AI note taker plan?
No. Krisp's pricing page lists a 7-day free trial that includes unlimited transcription and AI notes, and then paid plans. Its Core plan is $8 a month billed annually, or $16 a month billed monthly. Because there is no permanent free plan, this guide does not rank Krisp.
Can I export transcripts on a free AI note taker?
On Tactiq's free plan, you can share and export transcripts. On Notta's free plan, you cannot, because export transcripts is listed as a Pro addition. Fathom lists call downloads and clips as unlimited on its Free plan.
How much does the cheapest paid upgrade cost in USD?
Notta Pro costs $8.17 a month billed annually, which is $97.99 a year, the lowest dollar-priced paid plan on this list. Granola Business costs $14 a user a month, and Read.ai Pro costs $15 to $19.75 a user a month depending on billing. Tactiq and tl;dv are priced in euros only.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "Best Free AI Note Takers in 2026", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/best-free-ai-note-takers
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