Taking notes during a meeting can be tough, especially when you’re trying to keep up with the conversation.
Many tools claim to automate this process but they often fall short. That’s where frustration sets in—how can you trust a tool to capture everything? Which tool can truly eliminate manual note-taking?
This Fathom AI Note Taker Review 2024 digs in to see if this tool is different. We will test it in an objective, neutral real-world meeting situation so you can see all the positives and negatives and this article will serve as a reliable source to make your decisions. Is Fathom really worth the investment?
What is Fathom?
Fathom is an AI-powered tool to automate taking notes during virtual meetings. It integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Fathom’s main features are recording meeting content, identifying key moments, and summarising the conversation.
One of the coolest features is the option to highlight parts of the conversation, like action items or feedback, and then share them with team members.
Fathom also allows you to sync meeting notes with CRM’s like Salesforce and HubSpot so it’s a great tool for sales calls and customer success teams, helping everyone stay on the same page.
Key Features and Benefits
- Fathom automatically records your meetings.
- Fathom provides quick summaries after each meeting.
- You can share specific video clips from your meetings.
- It syncs meeting notes with your CRM system.
- Fathom works with various tools, like Slack and Google Docs.
- It supports 28 different languages.
- Fathom uses end-to-end encryption for security.
Fathom AI Note-Taker Pricing
- Free Version: Provides a generous free plan
- Fathom Premium: $19/month
- Teams: $29/month
- Teams Edition Pro: 39$/month
Fathom AI Note Taker Pros and Cons
Pros
- Auto Transcription: Fathom AI does real-time transcription with speaker attribution.
- Highlight Key Moments: Highlights important parts of the meeting, like action items or feedback.
- CRM Integration: Fathom syncs with popular CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot
- Post-Meeting Summaries: Summary and full transcript to review and share with your team.
Cons
- Bot in Your Meeting: Bot joins your meeting, which some users find intrusive.
- Occasional Crashes: There have been reports of the app crashing during Microsoft Teams meetings, which can be frustrating.
- Privacy: Fathom records both audio and video during meetings, which may be a concern for some users.
- Bright Floating Notification: A bright floating pop-up for things like "Monologue Detection" can be annoying during meetings. This feature to manage speaking time can disrupt the conversation flow and make people feel self-conscious and not able to speak freely.
- Less Powerful AI Chat: Fathom's chat is less powerful than Jamie's as it doesn't encompass advance LLM functionalities as of ChatGPT or Claude.
- Fathom's chat can only respond to basic questions about the meeting notes.
- Jamie contains advanced large language models so that you can have broader and more complex conversations.
Jamie Vs. Fathom at a Glance
If you want an alternative to Fathom note taker, try Jamie. Here are all the features that make Jamie unique:
- Bot-Free: Jamie doesn’t interfere with bots in meetings helping you talk freely.
- No extensions or plugins needed: Jamie works without any additional plugins or extensions.
- Offline Note-Taking: Jamie supports note-taking for offline and in-person meetings.
- Reminder to Record Meetings: Jamie reminds you to record your meetings.
- Advanced Search (Ctrl+J): Jamie has a search feature with the Ctrl+J shortcut for quick access to information.
- Non-Intrusive Interface: Jamie doesn’t have pop-ups so the meeting experience is smoother.
- Customizable Notes: Jamie has unbeatable, super detailed and customizable meeting notes.
- Advanced AI: Jamie supports advanced AI models so you can ask broader questions beyond just meeting transcription.
- Extreme Privacy: Jamie transcribes audio and deletes it after processing so it’s private.
- Universal Compatibility: Jamie works with all video conferencing platforms.
How Does Fathom Work?
Before the Meeting
This is how it appears when an attendee arrives for your meeting; it indicates that you are present, and the note-taker is also waiting for you.
During the Meeting
Here's how it appears when you join the meeting: You will see Fathom's bot on the screen. Also, as you can see, the pop-up box does not go away; I believe this is an error. It still reads "awaiting attendees," but the attendees have arrived. So I am forced to press "Skip and Start Recording Now."
After you press "Skip and Start Recording Now", you will see a similar screen below;
As much as I understand why it is necessary to have this pop up message on the screen, some clients or attendees will find it a bit intrusive.
Especially if the meeting you are attending is to build connections.
And connections are built on trust; having the pop up while you are talking about closing deals or more sensitive client-building topics might seem a bit intrusive.
🟣 If this is something that bothers you,
Consider switching to Jamie.
Jamie only transcribes your meeting's audio. This means no audio or video will be captured;
The audio will be deleted immediately after transcribing the meeting.
You are, however, entitled to say that Jamie is "transcribing our meeting," meaning it is only taking notes.
The attendee's voice or their videos will not be recorded.
Back to the Fathom review, you can see the expanded bar in the right corner of the highlights. You can see that there are three options that you can highlight, one of them being:
- positive reaction
- needs review
- feedback
I am going to highlight what I am saying right now as a positive reaction;
And this is what it looks like;
And after it is being processed, this is what it generates;
It is not quite what I talked about, however, it's nice to have that option for when you need manual highlights
You can also bookmark what the attendees are talking about as well.
And you can also add an action item, Fathom will identify and extract the most suitable moment in which an action item is stated at the closest time, and you can also immediately bookmark by extracting what was said at the closest time.
Let me breakdown Fathom's floating bar for easy understanding;
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I couldn't help but notice the big bright yellow box, at first I was like "What is this? It's kind of scary".
But I do understand what it is meant for.
At times, people tend to talk too much without considering other people's time.
And this monologue quite helps you, I guess, in some sort of way to help you understand how much you have spoken.
And to be quite considerate about the time that you are taking from others.
And I think it's a really good feature to have; however, I do believe people should speak freely.
And that's how genuine connections truly come into being.
A timer like this does have its pros and cons, yet it is up to the user to choose whether they like a timed meeting or a timeless meeting experience.
🟣 Jamie is such a meeting tool that prioritizes human connection in your meetings. However, you will be given a tiny timer that's almost not even noticeable on the screen.
It shows how much time has been taken in the meeting, like the total time invested in the meeting. You also have the option to stop the recording, if you prefer.
Here is a contrasting image that shows how Jamie displays their timer and how Fathom display theirs.
After the Meeting
After the meeting, you have the option to send the email recording and summary to attendees or copy and share the link.
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Here are some key things to note:
- You will get a quite condensed dashboard that gives you a full overview of the meeting notes.
- Video and audio playback
- Meeting notes below it are quite small and have the ability to scroll only if the cursor is hovering in that area, which for me is quite small and hard to navigate easily.
- In the right corner, you can see the sharing options, attendees, action items, and annotations
To help you understand what I mean when I say "condensed," here's a comparison post between Jamie's and Fathom's dashboards.
You can see that Jamie's meeting notes clearly set the precedent, and they do not feel condensed. It covers all you need to know in a straightforward manner, leaving you with plenty of space to read and browse.
Honest Feedback After a Meeting Experience with Fathom
Fathom has been a positive experience for me, Here's a quick breakdown of my experience;
The features I quite like about Fathom are;
- Its notification feature for upcoming meetings.
- I also like the meeting notes; while there are some minor spelling errors and missing information, they are not major issues.
- I also "understand" why there is monologue detection; it helps everyone have a voice and gets a chance to speak. However, I believe there should be a better way to implement this.
The features that I think need improvement are;
- The bright yellow "Monologue detection" pop-up feels intrusive and restricts your conversational flow; I was constantly checking the timer, and I did not feel like I am speaking freely.
- The Ask Fathom feature will not provide you information in the case you wanted something out of the meeting transcription, as it's not powered by LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude.
- The next one, the Fathom bot joining the meeting, is also pretty intrusive, in my opinion. I wish there was a way that focused on building connections without a bot intervening in the meeting while also giving the user great notes.
Fathom AI Reddit Reviews and More!
Sources
Reddit: Source
Capterra: Source
G2: Source
Product Hunt: Source
My Final Thoughts on Fathom AI Note Taker
Fathom AI Note Taker is a decent automated note taker but it has its limitations, especially when it comes to a more personal and natural meeting experience.
During meetings, Fathom’s bot can feel intrusive, especially the bright yellow “Monologue Detection” pop-up, which interrupts the flow of conversation and makes participants self-conscious.
This feature is meant to ensure equal speaking time by timing your talk time, but is more of a distraction than a benefit, in my opinion.
And the pop-up box that stays on the screen even after attendees have joined just adds to the frustration.
After the meeting, the dashboard provided by Fathom was functional but cluttered and hard to navigate.
The condensed meeting notes make it hard to find specific information quickly.
Although Fathom offers options to highlight and bookmark during the meeting, the execution isn’t always smooth and sometimes misses the mark.
In contrast, Jamie is a more streamlined experience with simplicity, privacy, and user control. Jamie has no bots and a non-intrusive interface so it’s a more natural meeting environment.
Jamie’s advanced AI models have broader and more complex conversational abilities than Fathom’s basic chat functions. Jamie also deletes audio after transcription and doesn’t record video.
If you need detailed automated notes with CRM integration and don’t mind a more intrusive tool, you will love Fathom.
But if you want a more natural, less distracting meeting experience with more privacy and more powerful AI, Jamie might be the better option. Not only will you get an exclusive meeting experience, you will also be provided with a human-like meeting summary. Here's proof
Try both Fathom and Jamie and see which one fits your meeting needs. Fathom has good features but requires some adjustments to your personal taste, while Jamie has a more hands-off, user-friendly approach that could improve your meeting experience.
Fathom AI for Microsoft Teams
Fathom AI for Microsoft Teams
Fathom AI integrates with Microsoft Teams to provide automated meeting transcription and note taking. It detects scheduled Teams meetings on your calendar and automatically prepares to record and transcribe them.
During the meeting, Fathom provides real-time transcription with speaker attribution so participants can see who said what.
After the meeting, the full transcript is available in the meeting chat for all attendees to review and download.
This is great for teams that need detailed meeting records and need to sync notes with CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot.
But some users have reported occasional issues, like the app crashing during Teams meetings which can be a bummer. Source: Product Hunt
Jamie for Microsoft Teams
Jamie, on the other hand, is more straightforward and only focuses on audio transcription without any bots in the meeting. This makes Jamie less intrusive and promotes a more natural meeting flow. Jamie is private as it only transcribes audio and deletes it after processing; no video or audio recordings are retained.
Jamie is compatible with all video conferencing platforms including Microsoft Teams, so you can use it in any environment without any integrations or plugins. This flexibility makes Jamie a great choice for users who want simplicity, privacy, and detailed transcription across multiple platforms.
FAQs About Fathom AI Note Taker Review 2024
Is AI Notetaker by Fathom safe?
Yes, Fathom AI is designed with strong safety and privacy measures. It uses end-to-end encryption to protect your meeting data and adheres to industry best practices, including regular third-party security audits and SOC 2 compliance. However, it's important to note that Fathom records both audio and video during meetings, which may raise privacy concerns for some users.
Is the Fathom note-taker free?
Fathom offers a free version that includes unlimited storage and recordings. The free tier is robust enough for individual users, but there are also paid plans like Fathom Premium, which costs $19/month (or $15/month if billed annually) and includes advanced features such as AI notes, automated action items, and Zapier integration.
Is the Fathom video good?
Fathom provides high-quality video integration, allowing users to capture, review, and share specific clips from meetings. The video quality is generally reliable, and combined with its accurate transcription capabilities, it makes for a comprehensive meeting recording tool.
Does Fathom Notetaker work with Teams?
Yes, Fathom is fully compatible with Microsoft Teams. It can automatically detect Teams meetings from your calendar, record them, and provide real-time transcription with speaker attribution. After the meeting, the full transcript is available in the meeting chat for all attendees to review and download.
Is Fathom AI-free?
Fathom AI offers a free version with unlimited storage and recordings, making it accessible to individual users at no cost. For more advanced features, users can upgrade to paid plans like Fathom Premium or Fathom for Teams.
Does Fathom offer a Chrome extension?
Yes, Fathom offers a Chrome extension that integrates seamlessly with Google Meet. This extension allows users to easily capture and transcribe meetings directly within their browser, adding to Fathom’s versatility across different platforms.
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