Fathom vs Fireflies (2026): Which AI Meeting Assistant Should You Choose?

If you’re choosing between Fathom and Fireflies.ai, you’re basically deciding between two different philosophies:

• Fathom is famous for being excellent on the free plan and super focused on turning meetings into clean summaries and highlights.
• Fireflies is more of a “meeting intelligence hub”—strong search, analytics, and team features as you upgrade.

The right choice depends on how you work:

• Do you want fast notes + action items with minimal setup?
• Or do you need team-wide search, analytics, and scale?

“If you’re exploring more tools in this category, check ourBest AI Meeting Assistants in 2026 (Notes, Summaries & Action Items) guide on PilotryLab for a wider shortlist.”

Quick Verdict (Fast Picks)

• Pick Fathom if you want the best free experience and simple, high-quality summaries + highlights.
• Pick Fireflies if you need conversation intelligence, team analytics, and a stronger “workspace” feel as you scale.

Fathom vs Fireflies Comparison Table (2026)

1) Fathom Review

Overview

Fathom is an AI meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and generates meeting summaries—then lets you create highlights/clips you can share with your team. It’s strongly positioned around “get the notes done automatically” so you can focus in the call.

What Fathom is best at

• Quick, readable summaries
• Highlighting key moments
• A surprisingly useful free plan

Key Features

According to Fathom’s plan details, even the free tier includes unlimited recordings/transcription plus summaries, clips, playlists, and integrations like CRM sync and Zapier (with some limits on premium features).
Premium adds advanced summary formats, AI action items, “Ask Fathom,” and more.

Pros

• Very strong free plan to start with
• Clear summaries + shareable highlights
• Upgrade path for teams (search across shared calls, collaboration, alerts)

Cons

• Team-wide governance features mostly appear on higher tiers
• If you want deep “meeting intelligence” dashboards, Fireflies can feel more analytics-heavy on paid tiers

Pricing (2026)

Fathom lists:

• Free: $0 (free forever)
• Premium: $20/user/month
• Team: $18/user/month (min 2 users)
• Business: $28/user/month (min 2 users)

Best For

• Solo founders, consultants, and creators who want automatic notes
• Teams who want clean meeting summaries + highlights without complexity

“If your next step is automating what happens after meetings (tasks, follow-ups, CRMs), read ourBest AI Workflow Automation Tools (2026): Zapier vs Make vs n8n + Alternatives guide.”

2) Fireflies.ai Review

Overview

Fireflies.ai positions itself as an AI notetaker that transcribes, summarizes, and then helps you search, analyze, and organize meetings at scale.

It’s often a better fit when you want your meetings to become a searchable “knowledge base,”

From Fireflies’ pricing page, the free plan includes unlimited transcription (with limitations), limited AI summaries, and storage per seat.
Business plan highlights include video recording, conversation intelligence, and team analytics for admins.

Pros

• Strong scaling story: team analytics + conversation intelligence
• Clear pricing ladder: Pro → Business → Enterprise
• Great for building a searchable meeting library

Cons

• Some of the best features appear only once you upgrade tiers (AI summaries, storage, intelligence).
• If you want “simple notes and done,” Fireflies

Pricing (2026)

Fireflies lists (annual billing):

• Free: $0
• Pro: $10 per seat/month
• Business: $19 per seat/month
• Enterprise: $39 per seat/month

Best For

• Teams that want meeting notes + analytics and organization
• Companies that want searchable transcripts across teams and better admin visibility

“If your team also needs better customer conversations and QA workflows, our Best Customer Support Software for Small Businesses in 2026 (PartnerStack-Friendly Picks) roundup is a great next read.”

3) Key Differences That Actually Matter

A) Free plan value

If budget is your #1 constraint, Fathom’s free plan is hard to beat for “notes that just work.”
Fireflies free is useful, but the page clearly shows limits (limited AI summaries + storage/seat).

B) Collaboration & scaling

Fireflies becomes more powerful as your team grows because it’s built for team analytics and intelligence on Business.
Fathom also has team collaboration features, but its “Team” and “Business” tiers emphasize search across shared calls, playlists, alerts, and SSO.

C) Highlights & clips

A practical difference mentioned in a Zapier comparison: both allow saving moments, but Fireflies “soundbites” are audio, while Fathom can clip from video recordings.

4) Which One Should You Choose?

Choose Fathom if…

• You want fast summaries + action items without a learning curve
• You’re starting early and want max value at $0
• You share highlights often with clients or a small team

Choose Fireflies if…

• You want meeting content to become a searchable system
• You need admin analytics and conversation intelligence
• You’re building a “meeting knowledge hub” across departments

FAQ ?