Fathom vs. Fireflies: Which One is Better?
Fathom has real-time transcription and great CRM integration, making it a great choice for sales teams that want to keep everything organized and on the record. However, the need for bots to join meetings can be intrusive, especially when privacy is important during sensitive discussions.
Fireflies have great team collaboration, with good multi-platform support and affordable pricing per user. However, it lacks offline capabilities and advanced privacy features.
Jamie addresses all of these shortcomings with its bot-free design, offline transcription, and advanced AI models, providing a natural, private, and complete solution for professionals and teams.
We know that each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, so we’ve written a well-researched article that covers its key features, pricing, and even user reviews to help you figure out which tool is right for you.
So, without further ado, let’s get started and find the right tool for you!
TL;DR
- Jamie: Offline transcription, works with any video conferencing platform. Private by design and bot free so meetings are always secure. Advanced LLM models and includes real-time assistance, that doesn't disrupt your workflow.
- Fathom: Great for real-time transcription and CRM integration. Good for sales teams who need detailed and organized records. But bots, bright pop-ups like 'Monologue Detection', and intrusive meeting features might be a tick-off for users who don’t want bots in meetings or disrupt meeting flow.
- Fireflies: Cheap and collaboration-focused with strong integrations including the Tasks feature for project management and Feed for meeting updates. No offline functionality and bots enter to the meetings.
Fireflies, Fathom, and Jamie Transcribe, But Only Jamie Keeps It Human...No Bots, Just You.
Fathom and Fireflies are two AI transcription tools that help you automatically transcribe meetings and create summaries. They integrate with popular video conferencing and collaboration tools to create automated workflows for your virtual meetings.
But here’s the thing: both tools require bots to join your calls, which may make some users uncomfortable with the privacy implications. (Because bots can make the conversation a little bit awkward).
And neither tool can work offline, which makes them a poor choice for in-person meetings or when connectivity is poor.
Jamie, an AI meeting assistant, doesn’t require bots to join your calls, which makes for a more human-focused and private meeting experience, that doesn't feel intrusive to the attendees.
And because Jamie can work offline, it’s the best choice for any kind of meeting scenario.
But to really understand which tool is the best for you, we have to dig much deeper into their features.
Features - Fathom vs Fireflies vs Jamie
TL;DR
- Fathom: Best for sales-focused users with built-in CRM integrations and call highlights.
- Fireflies: Ideal for team collaboration with rich integrations and multi-platform support.
- Jamie: Perfect for those needing offline transcription, custom AI models, and GDPR-compliant privacy.
Jamie Features
Meeting Transcription & Notes
Meeting transcription is all about accuracy and detail. Jamie is the best at it. I’ve seen people who used to use Otter.ai, and they rave about Jamie’s notes.
Jamie’s notes are more detailed, and the summaries are so much better. Jamie’s high-quality notes and intelligent topic detection make it easy to find the information you need. Jamie never misses a beat.
But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s a former Otter.ai user who recently tried Jamie.
Hello, Team Jamie.
It’s not often that I drop a resource I use daily like a hot potato for something else. Congrats to your entire team on your Jamie platform. I found it today, reviewed a few videos, read a bit, and decided to try the Free subscription.
I listened to a webinar and decided to test Jamie against my Otter account. They both ran on my Mac desktop, recorded at the exact same time (for only 5 minutes) to see how they performed on the same video at the same time.
These screenshots speak for themselves. Now, to decide which subscription of Jamie to switch to. 😊
Interested in those screenshots? Here they are!
Otter's Transcription
Here’s the full meeting summary that Otter.ai provided for that same 5-minute meeting.
Now, let’s take a look at Jamie!
Jamie's Transcription
This screenshot proves that we are dedicated to providing the best meeting notes. With our topic detection, your meeting notes are organized so you can scan, skim, and find what you need in seconds without missing a thing.
And if you ever need information at an amazing speed, you’re going to love our next feature.
Executive Assistant Sidebar (CTRL + J)
Meet Jamie’s Sidebar, an AI chat function that lets you access past meeting data with a single shortcut. It combines multiple AI models, including ChatGPT 4 and Claude 3 Opus, to help you with everything from brainstorming to drafting emails.
How Can The Sidebar Help You?
- Get past meeting info, just ask Jamie.
- Doesn’t disrupt your workflow, so you don’t have to open up Google or ChatGPT to get the info you need. Just hit CTRL + J and it will pop up on the right side of the screen, as you can see below. You can be in a meeting or just sitting at your desktop/laptop. Open up the sidebar and you can use the Sidebar like you would use ChatGPT.
- To close the Sidebar, just hit CTRL + J again.
Choose from ChatGPT 4, Claude 3 Opus, to Jamie's own LLM
- Jamie: For when you want to get past meeting notes.
- Claude 3 Opus: For when you want to draft an email, brainstorm, and stuff.
- GPT-4: For when you want to use ChatGPT and yes it can search the web too.
- All of this is also available in the free plan. We don’t hide away ANY premium features in the free plan, so try it out!
Works Offline and in Any Video Conferencing Platform
Jamie is a native application that you download to your device and it just works. When you click “Start Meeting,” it starts transcribing record meetings, using the audio from your speakers and microphone.
So what does this mean for you? How does it make your life easier?
- It transcribes meetings, both offline and online.
- It transcribes in-person meetings, so you don’t miss a thing.
- Jamie’s got you covered with ad hoc, on-demand meeting transcriptions, no need for a pre-scheduled online meeting.
- Jamie works with any video conferencing platform, so you can focus on the conversation without fretting over tech issues.
- Jamie operates without bots. That’s right! no robotic interruptions to disrupt the flow. Jamie values your privacy and encourages genuine human connection, transcribing quietly in the background while you and your attendees engage in what truly matters.
Speaker Identification
Jamie can identify speakers in a meeting room and can learn the speakers’ voices so that you don’t have to keep telling it who is who. This makes it easier to transcribe meetings and can be done without an internet connection.
You may only have to train Jamie a few times before it is ready to identify on its own. Of course, if someone walks in with a cold and a voice that sounds like gravel, you may have to manually identify them.
Jamie is the right choice if you:
✅ Want privacy-first transcription without bots.
✅ Need offline transcription for in-person or remote meetings.
✅ Value customizable AI tools for brainstorming and insights.
Jamie isn’t the best option if you:
❌ Want real-time transcription during the meeting (Jamie processes audio after).
❌ Need video recording capabilities (Jamie only works with audio).
❌ Prefer integrations with niche apps not yet supported by Jamie.
Fathom Features
Ask Fathom
Fathom’s AI assistant gives you instant answers about your past meetings. Similar to Jamie's sidebar, you can ask it questions like “What surprised me about this call?” or “How could I have done this better?”. With this feature, you can get actionable insights from your calls in seconds, write follow-ups, evaluate your own performance, and get real-time feedback by simply interacting with this chat bot.
AI Summaries
Fathom’s platform is a single, unified view of your meeting data that combines recorded video and audio, summaries, transcripts, and actionable insights.
You can:
- Access recorded video, audio, summaries, transcripts, and insights in one place.
- Select and customize summary templates to fit your needs.
- Auto-generate action items and follow-up emails to ensure nothing is missed.
- Use attendee lists, AI-generated titles, and annotations to keep your team aligned.
- Extract actionable insights and refine summaries effortlessly post-meeting.
Viewing Coaching Metrics
This feature provides a high-level view of key moments of team performance, including average talk time, monologues, and questions asked during calls. Managers can track team performance over time, providing data-driven insights that inform coaching efforts and improve communication.
Fathom is the right choice if you:
✅ Work in sales and rely on CRM integrations.
✅ Want real-time transcription and call highlights.
✅ Prefer automated workflows specific to sales calls.
Fathom isn’t the best option if you:
❌ Worry about privacy (requires a bot to join your calls).
❌ Need offline transcription or summaries for in-person meetings.
❌ Require multi-language support.
Here's a quick comparison table for Fathom AI vs Jamie AI, so you quickly get a sense of the features you can get from both tools.
Fireflies Features
Tasks - AI-Powered Project Manager
Fireflies’ Tasks feature automates the creation, assignment, and tracking of action items after a meeting. It integrates with Asana, Trello, and Monday.com, so nothing important gets lost in your meeting notes. Tasks keeps teams accountable and organized, reducing administrative work. It shifts the focus from paperwork to execution, making post-meeting workflows seamless.
Feed - Your Organization’s Newsfeed
A social media feed for your meetings! Fireflies Feed aggregates all the meeting information into a single hub, providing summaries, action items, and other key points from discussions. It’s a great way to keep remote or hybrid teams aligned, with real-time updates on conversations and decisions. It respects privacy settings, so you can scroll through and know what was said without having to ask.
AskFred - ChatGPT for Meetings
AskFred is a conversational AI tool, powered by OpenAI, that can extract insights and generate content from past meeting transcripts.
If you need a follow-up email, a blog draft, or internal documentation all you have to do is simply ask AskFred. This tool consists of conversation intelligence that can quickly extract insights and generate content from simply having a conversation with it. It saves you time by automating the manual search and summarizing process.
Fireflies is the right choice if you:
✅ Need a collaboration-first tool to share and edit notes.
✅ Rely on integrations with tools like Slack or Zapier.
✅ Want an advanced features affordable transcription solution
Fireflies isn’t the best option if you:
❌ Need transcription without an internet connection.
❌ Worry about bots joining your meetings (required for transcription).
❌ Want it to work in any video conferencing platform.
Here is a quick two-way comparison table, for a quick grasp of the tool's features, capabilities and weaknesses
Pricing - Fathom vs Fireflies vs Jamie
Pricing can make or break your choice of tool. Let’s compare the value offered by each.
Jamie Pricing
- Free Plan: €0/month (10 meeting credits, 30-min meetings).
- Standard: €24/month (20 credits, 3-hour meetings).
- Pro: €47/month (50 credits, 3-hour meetings).
- Executive: €99/month (unlimited credits and features).
Fathom Pricing
- Free Plan: Includes basic transcription and summaries.
- Premium: $19/user/month.
- Team Edition: $29/user/month.
- Team Edition Pro: $39/user/month.
- Custom Pricing: For advanced CRM integrations and workflows.
Fireflies Pricing
- Free Plan: $0 (limited transcription and features).
- Pro Plan: $18/user/month.
- Business Plan: $29/user/month.
- Enterprise Plan: $39/user/month.
What are Customers Saying about Fathom vs Fireflies vs Jamie?
Jamie Reviews | G2 Rating 4.9/5.0
Users Love
- "It can actually transcribe, summarize, and detect action items with way more accuracy than the rest."
- "Jamie saves me the work of a human assistant (approx. 45k annual salary)."
- "Jamie does not rely on bots joining my calls and works seamlessly without any plugins."
- "The meeting notes that Jamie creates are outstanding, and the best I have seen so far."
- "The notes are sorted automatically for me, saving a lot of time when revisiting my notes."
Users Dislike
- "From a realistic point of view, it must be acknowledged that the relatively new tool certainly still has potential for optimization."
- "Jamie excels in creating precise meeting summaries, but it shines brightest once it learns your specific terminology. This initial setup requires some hands-on input."
- "Maybe they should adjust their pricing a bit, but that's my personal take."
Source: G2
Fathom Reviews | G2 Rating 5.0/5.0
Users Love
- "Receiving action points after each meeting. Ease of use, automatic connection to meetings, and identifying impromptu meetings."
- "Fathom is simple to use, and I like that it emails recordings to participants immediately."
- "I love how Fathom automatically identifies and creates action items from discussions. This ensures that nothing important slips through the cracks, and I can follow up on tasks with clarity and confidence."
- "It’s very easy and user-friendly, quick and accurate in recording and taking notes. I even recommended it to the whole corporate."
- "The share link for recordings is available even while you're recording. So easy to use."
Users Dislike
- "Action points aren’t part of the premium package. There’s not much to say negatively, but it didn’t translate a meeting that was held in Afrikaans."
- "It took me a while to learn how to add an ad hoc meeting to Fathom."
- "I’d like it to automatically assign tasks in the right projects within Asana. For now, I just manually add them myself after a meeting."
- "Fathom adds an extra user to meetings, which can lead to confusion or questions from participants about who the additional attendee is."
- "After their update, timestamps became extremely inaccurate, and the meeting assistant kept joining and leaving repeatedly. Weeks later, no resolution."
Source: G2
Fireflies AI Reviews | G2 Rating 4.8/5.0
Users Love
- "I admire the idea of having the application automatically start recording and taking notes. Sometimes I forget to do the recording manually, but when I see the icon, I realize I am already covered."
- "It never escapes any point discussed in the meeting; the summary is short and complete. You can edit your summary or even use the script in any other AI tool to get more summaries."
- "The best part is hands down being able to just be present in meetings and not worry about forgetting anything discussed. Fireflies lets you think and connect ideas during conversations without the fear of missing vital information."
- "We've been using Fireflies.ai for all our meetings, both internal and with customers. It's made following up from meetings much easier, and no need to look at hastily scribbled notes anymore."
- "The voice identifications, task lists, summaries, and time next to notes that link to transcripts are excellent. Great tool, quick processing, and affordable."
Users Dislike
- "Though I was trying out the 'Free' version of the software, it was a slight setback to see the message of having little to no recording minutes left on my profile."
- "The pricing—when adding up the bill from all the AI tools, the subscription fee of $130/year for a tool that only has one feature which is becoming more and more commonplace—is a bit much."
- "The speech recognition does not always identify the correct person talking. Each member of the team likes to be valued and recognized for their contribution."
- "If you don't have a pro-account, they're extremely aggressive in upselling you the bigger packages. Not to mention, their storage limits are complete b.s."
- "When you uninstall it and delete your account, the Fireflies notetaker still joins Zoom meetings. This obviously causes major privacy concerns for other parties in your Zoom meetings."
Source: G2
Final Thoughts? Fathom, Fireflies, Or Jamie?
When it comes to choosing the best meeting assistant for 2025, your needs will determine the winner:
Pick Jamie if You Prefer Real Human Connection With Zero Intrusive Bots and Perfect Notes
Jamie is the best choice for professionals and teams who need privacy, offline transcription, and flexibility. Unlike Fathom and Fireflies, Jamie doesn’t use bots, so you can rest assured that your meetings are secure. With more advanced features, AI customization and support for multiple language models, Jamie is the most flexible tool for users who need detailed, actionable meeting insights without sacrificing security or flexibility.
Pick Fathom if You Need CRM Integration, Real-Time Transcription, and Call Highlights
Fathom is the way to go if you are a sales-focused team looking for a seamless integration with your CRM, real-time transcription, and call highlights. If you are laser-focused on sales performance and don’t mind a bot sitting in on your calls, Fathom has features that will help you do your job better. However, if you are not comfortable with bots and don’t want to use a tool that doesn’t work offline, you may find Fathom a bit creepy. (especially with their bright yellow pop-ups all over the screen)
Pick Fireflies for Budget-Friendly Tools, Project Tracking, and Powerful Integrations
Fireflies is the budget-friendly option for teams. With its impressive integrations and standout features like “Tasks” and the “Feed,” it’s a great choice for teams with multiple projects. However, like Fathom, it relies on bots and doesn’t have strong privacy controls, so if you are handling sensitive information or need to use the tool offline, you may want to look elsewhere.
The Verdict
If you are a sales professional who needs CRM integration and real-time transcription, Fathom is the way to go. If you are budget-conscious and need a tool that is great for teams, Fireflies is a great value.
But if you need a privacy-first, bot-free, and highly customizable meeting assistant that works both online and offline, Jamie can be the most helpful for you.
Whatever you choose, Fathom, Fireflies, or Jamie, picking a reliable meeting assistant can save you time, increase productivity, and change the way you work. Pick the tool that’s right for you, and start maximizing your meeting efficiency today!
Read More
- Best Fireflies AI Alternatives: Find the top alternatives to Fireflies AI, chosen by our team.
- Top Read AI Alternatives: Discover the best options instead of Read AI for your needs.
- Best Fathom AI Alternatives: Here are the 10 best Fathom AI alternatives we tested for you.
- Top Otter AI Alternatives: Check out our test and comparison of 10 Otter AI alternative tools.
- Top Krisp AI Alternatives: Check out our team's review of the best Krisp AI competitors.
Sanduni Yureka is a Growth Content Editor at Jamie, known for driving a 10x increase in website traffic for clients across Singapore, the U.S., and Germany. With an LLB Honors degree and a background in law, Sanduni transitioned from aspiring lawyer to digital marketing expert during the 2019 lockdown. She now specializes in crafting high-impact SEO strategies for AI-powered SaaS companies, particularly those using large language models (LLMs). When she’s not binge-watching true crime shows, Sanduni is obsessed with studying everything SEO.
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