Best AI Meeting Summary Tools in 2026

Most AI meeting tools have transcription covered. Accuracy across the major platforms now hovers around 90–95% in decent audio conditions, and nearly all of them support Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. The technical floor has risen so much that transcription accuracy alone is no longer a meaningful differentiator.

But transcription isn't the deliverable. The summary is.

Nobody reads a 12,000-word transcript from a 45-minute product sync. Nobody scrolls through an hour of raw text looking for the one decision that was made in minute 38. The actual product people use after a meeting — the thing that gets pasted into a Slack channel, attached to a Jira ticket, or forwarded to someone who couldn't attend — is the summary.

And this is where AI meeting tools diverge dramatically. Some produce structured, scannable output that clearly separates decisions from discussion, surfaces action items with owners, and organizes key topics into a format you can act on in under a minute. Others produce vague paragraphs that read like a mediocre meeting recap written by someone who wasn't paying attention.

We evaluated nine AI meeting summary tools with this lens: not how well they transcribe, but how useful the summary actually is when it lands in your inbox. We looked at structure, customization, sharing, speed, and whether the tool helps you skip the transcript entirely.

How We Evaluated

Every tool on this list records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings. The differentiators are in the details:

Summary structure: Does the tool break output into key topics, decisions, and action items — or just produce a wall of text?

Customization: Can you modify summary templates or write custom prompts to control what the AI focuses on?

Sharing and distribution: How easily can summaries reach the people who need them — through Slack, email, CRM, or project management integrations?

Speed of delivery: How quickly does the summary appear after a meeting ends? For people in back-to-back calls, this matters.

Cross-meeting intelligence: Can the tool search across multiple meetings, surface trends, or answer questions about past conversations?

The 9 Best AI Meeting Summary Tools

1. Fellow

Fellow is an AI meeting assistant that captures everything from your meetings — decisions, action items, key moments — so you can stay focused on the conversation and walk away with a clear record of what was discussed and what happens next.

What stands out for summary-focused users is the cross-meeting search. Fellow's Ask Fellow agent can pull answers from your entire meeting history, not just the most recent call, which makes it useful for tracking decisions over time.

Fellow also offers both bot and botless recording. The botless option captures audio through a desktop app without adding a visible participant to the call — a meaningful advantage for client-facing meetings, sensitive HR conversations, or any situation where a recording bot changes the dynamic. Privacy controls include mid-meeting pause, transcript redaction, and granular sharing permissions.

Pros: Structured summaries with action item tracking; cross-meeting intelligence via Ask Fellow; botless recording option; strong privacy controls (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA); 50+ integrations including Salesforce and HubSpot

Cons: More than just summaries for users who only need a simple summarizer

Pricing: Free plan available. Team plan starts at $7/user/month. Business at $15/user/month. Enterprise at $25/user/month. AI note-taker available as an add-on.

2. Fathom

Fathom is built around one core promise: fast, clean summaries. Within roughly 30 seconds of a meeting ending, you get a structured recap with an overview, action items, and key moments — no waiting around. For people running back-to-back calls, this speed is a genuine differentiator.

The free tier is unusually generous. You get unlimited recordings and transcripts at no cost, with AI summaries limited to a handful per month on the free plan. Paid plans unlock custom summary templates, the Ask Fathom search feature, and CRM integrations.

Fathom's summaries are well-organized and concise, consistently rated highly in user reviews for readability. The tool focuses on doing a few things well rather than expanding into meeting management, coaching, or analytics.

Pros: Fastest summary delivery (under 30 seconds); clean, structured output; unlimited free recordings and transcripts; strong CRM integrations on paid plans; Ask Fathom for searching past calls

Cons: No botless recording — Fathom joins as a visible participant; limited to 6 transcript languages (English is strongest); no multi-meeting intelligence or recurring reports; no sales coaching features

Pricing: Free plan with unlimited recordings. Premium starts at $19/user/month. Team plans at $18/user/month (2-user minimum). Business at $25/user/month.

3. Fireflies

Fireflies is the strongest option for teams that want precise control over how summaries are structured. Its custom summary templates let you define exactly what the AI extracts — you can build templates for sales calls, product standups, client check-ins, or anything else, and the summaries adapt accordingly.

The AskFred AI assistant can answer questions about individual meetings after the fact, and the platform's Smart Search feature lets you locate specific topics, action items, or sentiment patterns across your call library. Fireflies also supports 100+ languages, making it one of the more globally accessible tools.

Where Fireflies trails is in hidden complexity. AI credits govern access to some advanced features, and the free plan's limitations become apparent quickly for regular users. Summary customization — the tool's biggest strength — is gated behind paid tiers.

Pros: Custom summary templates and AI prompts; AskFred for post-meeting Q&A; Smart Search with topic and sentiment tracking; 100+ language support; extensive integrations

Cons: AI credit system adds cost complexity on paid plans; summary customization locked behind Pro or higher; the visible bot (Fred) can feel intrusive; transcription accuracy drops with heavy accents or background noise

Pricing: Free plan with limited transcription. Pro at $10/user/month (annual). Business at $19/user/month (annual). Enterprise with custom pricing.

4. Otter

Otter pioneered the AI transcription space and remains one of the most recognizable names in it. Summaries are generated as chapter-based recaps with timestamps, and the OtterPilot feature automatically joins scheduled meetings and handles recording.

The real-time transcription is still one of Otter's strengths — you can watch the transcript appear during the meeting, which is useful for keeping up with fast-moving discussions. Summaries include action items, and the automatic screenshot feature captures slides during presentations.

However, Otter's position in 2026 is increasingly challenged. Transcription minutes are capped on every plan (even paid ones don't offer unlimited), the free plan limits conversations to 30 minutes, and several features like video playback and sales coaching are locked behind the enterprise tier with opaque pricing. Language support is limited to English, French, and Spanish.

Pros: Real-time transcription during meetings; chapter-based summaries with timestamps; automatic screenshot capture for presentations; established brand with a large user base

Cons: Transcription minutes capped on all plans (300/month free, 1,200 on Pro); 30-minute per-conversation limit on free plan; only 3 languages supported; video replay is enterprise-only; summary customization options are limited

Pricing: Free plan with 300 minutes/month. Pro at $8.33/user/month (annual). Business at $20/user/month (annual). Enterprise with custom pricing.

5. tl;dv

tl;dv takes a video-first approach, making it easy to clip, share, and highlight specific moments from meetings alongside text summaries. The AI generates structured summaries with key points, decisions, and action items, and you can customize the format using custom prompts.

The multi-meeting intelligence feature is particularly useful for managers. You can set recurring AI reports that synthesize insights across your team's meetings for the week — tracking objection handling, feature requests, or any other pattern you define. This works well for sales teams and product managers who need to spot trends without watching every recording.

tl;dv's free plan is one of the most generous in the category, offering unlimited recordings and transcriptions in 30+ languages with a limited number of AI summaries per month.

Pros: Video clips and highlight reels alongside text summaries; customizable summary prompts; multi-meeting reports and recurring AI insights; unlimited free recordings and transcriptions; 30+ languages; EU hosting available

Cons: No native mobile app (relies on meeting platform auto-recording); bot-joining can hit issues with strict authentication settings; business plan pricing is steep compared to competition ($59/month annual)

Pricing: Free plan with 10 AI notes/month. Pro at $18/user/month (annual). Business at $59/user/month (annual). Enterprise with custom pricing.

6. MeetGeek

MeetGeek focuses on automation and analytics. It automatically detects meeting types and applies appropriate summary templates, which reduces manual setup. Summaries include key points, action items, and highlights, and the platform provides engagement metrics like speaker talk time and participation rates.

The searchable meeting library with custom tags makes it straightforward to organize and retrieve past discussions. MeetGeek also supports both bot and browser-based recording options, and its integration ecosystem spans 7,000+ apps through Zapier, Make, and n8n.

MeetGeek positions itself particularly well for teams that want structured, automated output without a lot of configuration. The tradeoff is lighter governance and admin controls compared to enterprise-focused platforms.

Pros: Automatic meeting-type detection with adaptive summary templates; engagement analytics and speaker metrics; searchable library with custom tags; 50+ language support; bot-free browser recording option

Cons: Lighter admin and governance controls than enterprise tools; dashboard can feel complex for simple use cases; transcription accuracy can vary with accents and mixed-language meetings

Pricing: Free plan available. Basic plan at $19/user/month. Business and Enterprise tiers with additional features and custom pricing.

7. Jamie

Jamie's core differentiator is its completely bot-free approach. It runs locally on your device, capturing audio from any meeting platform — or even in-person conversations — without adding a participant to the call. After the meeting, Jamie processes the audio and produces topic-based summaries with action items and speaker identification.

This makes Jamie uniquely suited for in-person meetings and situations where a recording bot would be disruptive or inappropriate. The tool supports 90+ languages and stores data in European data centers with GDPR compliance.

The tradeoff is clear: by operating device-locally without a bot, Jamie sacrifices some capabilities that bot-based tools offer, including video recording, centralized team recording libraries, and real-time transcription for other participants.

Pros: Fully bot-free — no visible participants added to calls; works for in-person meetings; 90+ language support; GDPR-compliant European data storage; clean summary output

Cons: No video recording (audio-only); processing can take 5–10 minutes for longer meetings; limited native integrations compared to competitors; paid plans get expensive for what's included ($24/month for Plus); no multi-meeting intelligence

Pricing: Free plan available. Plus at $24/user/month. Pro at $47/user/month. Team and Enterprise tiers available.

8. Krisp

Krisp started as a noise cancellation tool and expanded into meeting transcription and summaries. If you regularly take calls from noisy environments — home offices, coffee shops, coworking spaces — Krisp's audio cleanup is genuinely useful, and it processes the cleaned audio into transcripts and summaries.

The noise cancellation runs locally for privacy, and Krisp doesn't require a bot to join meetings. Summaries are generated after meetings with key points and action items, and the Krisp AI chat feature lets you ask follow-up questions about specific calls.

Krisp's summaries are functional but not as structured or customizable as purpose-built summarization tools. It's best understood as a noise-cancellation-first tool with meeting intelligence layered on top, rather than a dedicated AI summarizer.

Pros: Best-in-class noise cancellation; bot-free operation; local audio processing for privacy; works across all meeting platforms; AI chat for post-meeting queries

Cons: Summaries are less structured than dedicated summarization tools; limited summary customization; meeting intelligence features are secondary to audio quality; CRM integrations are still developing

Pricing: Free plan with limited minutes. Pro at $8/user/month for unlimited noise cancellation and meeting notes. Additional tiers for teams.

9. Tactiq

Tactiq is a Chrome extension that provides real-time transcription directly in your browser during Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls. It's lightweight by design — install the extension, and captions appear in your meeting window. After the call, Tactiq generates AI summaries, key points, and action items.

The browser-based approach means no bots, no desktop apps, and minimal setup. You can highlight moments during the meeting, export content to Google Docs, and use AI prompts to transform transcripts into emails, tickets, or meeting notes.

Tactiq is best suited for individuals or small teams that want quick, low-friction transcription and summaries without committing to a full meeting intelligence platform. The tradeoff is that it can only capture audio from the browser — participants joining from mobile or non-Chrome browsers won't be captured from their perspective.

Pros: Minimal setup — just a Chrome extension; real-time captions during meetings; no bot joins the call; easy export to Google Docs; supports 30+ languages

Cons: Browser-only capture (Chrome/Edge required); no audio or video recording storage; AI credits limit summary usage on lower plans; limited integrations beyond Google Workspace; no centralized team library or admin controls

Pricing: Free with 10 transcripts/month and 5 AI credits. Pro at $8/user/month (annual). Team at $12/user/month (annual). Business and Enterprise tiers available.

Comparison at a Glance

Summary speed: Fathom (~30 seconds) > MeetGeek and Fireflies (~2–5 minutes) > Jamie (~5–10 minutes)

Summary customization: Fireflies (custom templates and prompts) > tl;dv (custom prompts) > Fellow and Fathom (template-based) > Otter, Krisp, Tactiq (limited)

Cross-meeting intelligence: Fellow (Ask Fellow) and tl;dv (multi-meeting reports) > Fathom (Ask Fathom, single-meeting) and Fireflies (AskFred, single-meeting) > Others (limited or none)

Bot-free recording: Fellow (optional botless mode), Jamie, Krisp, Tactiq (fully bot-free)

Free plan generosity: Fathom and tl;dv (unlimited recordings)

Language support: Fireflies (100+) > Fellow, Jamie (90+) > tl;dv and MeetGeek (30–50+) > Fathom (6) > Otter (3)

FAQ

Do AI meeting summaries actually replace taking notes?

‍For most meetings, yes. The best tools capture decisions, action items, and key topics reliably enough that you can stop taking notes and focus on the conversation. Where they occasionally fall short is in highly technical discussions or meetings with a lot of crosstalk, where some manual review of the transcript may still be helpful.

Is summary quality better with a bot or without one?

‍Generally, bot-based tools produce more reliable summaries because they capture audio directly from the meeting platform with clean speaker identification. Bot-free tools rely on device audio, which introduces more variables. That said, tools like Jamie and Krisp have closed this gap significantly, and the tradeoff — no intrusive bot in your meeting — is worth it for many users.

Can I customize what appears in the summary?

‍It depends on the tool. Fireflies and tl;dv offer the most flexibility with custom templates and AI prompts. Fathom and Fellow provide structured templates you can select from (you can edit the Fellow templates to make them your own). Others like Otter, Krisp, and Tactiq offer limited or no summary customization.

Are these tools safe for meetings with sensitive information?

‍Security varies significantly. Fellow offers the most comprehensive privacy controls — including mid-meeting pause, transcript redaction, granular sharing, and SOC 2/GDPR/HIPAA compliance. Fathom is HIPAA-compliant. Most other tools offer SOC 2 and GDPR compliance at enterprise tiers. Always review a tool's data handling policies before recording sensitive conversations, and check whether the tool uses your data for AI model training.

What's the real cost for a team of 10?

‍On annual billing, rough monthly costs for 10 users: Fellow Team ~$70, Fathom Team ~$180, Fireflies Pro ~$100, Otter Pro ~$83, tl;dv Pro ~$180, MeetGeek Basic ~$190. These figures exclude add-ons, AI credits, or enterprise features that may be needed.

Do these tools work for in-person meetings?

‍Most AI meeting assistants are designed for virtual calls. Fellow's botless recording mode can also capture in-person conversations through the desktop app. If in-person meeting capture is a priority, these three should be at the top of your shortlist.

What happens to my data?

‍Data handling varies by tool and plan. Fellow explicitly states it does not train AI models on customer data and offers data residency options. Fathom is HIPAA-compliant. Otter's free and Pro plans may use anonymized data, while enterprise plans offer zero data retention. Always check each tool's privacy policy — particularly whether recordings are used for model training and where data is stored.