AI notetakers for client calls: a $36 price gap, and a much bigger privacy one

That question got sharper this summer. On 13 August, a US federal judge let the core of a proposed class action against Otter.ai go ahead, including federal and California wiretap claims and Illinois claims over voiceprints. These are allegations, not findings, and it's US law. But it's the question your client's data person will ask you next.

“On the worst week, the price gap between these tools is lunch money.”

Otter argued its bot was an invited participant in the meeting. On the California wiretap claim, the court said that wasn't enough at this stage, because the plaintiffs allege Otter kept and used their conversations for its own purposes.

On one plaintiff's consent, the judge put it plainly: "Even if the Otter Notetaker appeared in the meeting as another participant, the Court cannot infer" that he knew Otter was recording him. That claim fell for other reasons, but the point stands. A name in the sidebar isn't the same as telling people.

The options

Otter first. Pro is $8.33 per user a month billed annually ($16.99 monthly), with 1,200 transcription minutes a month and a 90-minute cap per meeting. Business is $19.99 annually ($30 monthly), with unlimited meetings and a four-hour cap. The catch: Pro allows five billed users, so a team of six is already on Business.

Otter's privacy policy says it trains its own AI on de-identified audio and on transcripts, "which may contain Personal Information". The policy doesn't point to a settings toggle for that. To object, you email privacy@otter.ai or use its web form. And it's the defendant in the case above.

Fireflies charges per seat. Pro is $10 a seat annually ($18 monthly), and Business is $19 ($29 monthly). There's no monthly limit on the meeting bot, but Pro gives each seat 8,000 minutes of storage. The catch: that's a stock, not a monthly allowance, so a busy team fills it. Business storage is unlimited. Its security page says "We don't train on it by default". Fireflies also faces its own suits, including an Illinois voiceprint claim filed in December 2025.

Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions. Team is $15 a user annually ($19 monthly), with a two-user minimum and unlimited meetings. Business, at $25 ($34 monthly), adds CRM sync and a view of every call on a deal. The catch: its privacy policy says it may use de-identified meeting data to train its in-house models, depending on your settings. You can opt out in account settings. Do it on day one.

Granola is the note-pad-first option. Business is $14 a user a month with unlimited meeting history. The page shows no annual discount. The free plan keeps only 30 days of history. Granola says it doesn't keep meeting audio, only the transcript and your notes, which is good for privacy and bad if you ever need to replay what a client actually said. The catch: it trains on anonymised data unless each user opts out in Settings. Only Enterprise, at $35, has training off by default.

What it costs on your worst week

Take a six-person client-facing team. In its worst week (a pitch, two workshops, the usual status calls) say each person spends 15 hours on calls. That's our assumption, not a benchmark. Swap in your own number.

Fifteen hours is 900 minutes. Here's how each cheap tier copes (FER calculations from the list prices above):

• Otter Pro: 900 minutes is 75 per cent of a month's 1,200 in one week, and a two-hour workshop breaks the 90-minute cap. Not an option for six people anyway.
• Fireflies Pro: 8,000 minutes of storage lasts about nine weeks like that. After that you're deleting old client calls or upgrading.
• Fathom Team and Granola Business: no minute or storage limits on their pricing pages, so the worst week costs the same as a quiet one.

So the fair comparison is six seats on a plan that survives the week:

• Granola Business: $84 a month, or $1,008 a year.
• Fathom Team: $90 a month, or $1,080 a year.
• Fireflies Business: $114 a month, or $1,368 a year.
• Otter Business: $119.94 a month, or about $1,439 a year.

On monthly billing it's $84, $114, $174 and $180. On the worst week, the price gap between these tools is lunch money. The training defaults aren't.

What we'd pick

• Solo consultant or coach: Fathom's free plan, with training switched off in settings. Pay when you need the team features, not before.
• Agency of two to 20 that records client calls: Fathom Team, with the opt-out set for every user. It's the cheapest plan here with recordings, no usage cap and a team workspace.
• You want notes, not recordings: Granola Business, with every user opted out of training. Check that they actually did it.
• You need CRM sync on sales calls: Fathom Business at $25 a user. Trial it on a real week of calls before you commit the team.
• Whichever you pick: tell clients before the call, not in the sidebar. One line in the calendar invite does it: "We use an AI notetaker to take notes on this call. Tell us if you'd rather we didn't, and we'll switch it off."

What we'd skip: Otter Pro for any team bigger than five, and any free plan that trains on client calls while you're too busy to find the toggle.

We haven't run these tools head to head for accuracy. This is a pricing and terms comparison from vendors' own pages. Disclosure: this publication's research agent runs on Claude.