Fathom Review 2026: Plans, Bot-Free Mode and the iPhone App

Diego sells payroll software. On Tuesday he had three Zoom demos before lunch, then drove to a restaurant group's head office to walk their HR lead through the contract in person. His team lead had told him to "just use Fathom," so he searched for a Fathom review to see whether it would cover both halves of his day. (Diego is a composite, not a real person.)

He found reviews that disagreed with each other. One said Fathom needs a bot in every call. Another said the bot is gone. One said the iPhone app was on a waitlist. Fathom's own help center says it is live.

This Fathom review sorts that out. It is built from Fathom's own pages: the pricing page, the help center and the product pages, all checked on October 20, 2026. It is not a hands-on test, and every Fathom claim links to the page it came from.

One disclosure: ParrotNotes publishes this blog, and we make a note taker for meetings in a room. If that's your week, you can try ParrotNotes free at your next in-person meeting. The rest of this review is about Fathom.

Fathom review in short

Fathom is a strong choice if most of your meetings are video calls at a computer. Its paid team plans add search across the team's calls, CRM sync and coaching scorecards.

It's a weaker fit if your meetings leave the laptop. The bot-free mode is a Mac beta, there is no Android app, and the new iPhone app needs a connection to record and launched without Ask Fathom or meeting search.

Here's the short version of what Fathom's pages say today.

What Fathom does

Fathom is an AI notetaker for video calls. You join a meeting on a Mac or Windows computer, and Fathom records it, transcribes it and writes a summary when the call ends.

Fathom's compatibility article says it records meetings joined "with a standard meeting link" on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. The same article lists what it doesn't cover: Chromebooks, Linux, iPads and other tablets, phone calls such as Zoom Phone, webinars and breakout rooms (it captures the main room only).

After the call, depending on plan, you get a summary, action items, a follow-up email draft, clips you can share, and an assistant called Ask Fathom that answers questions about your calls. Fathom's What's new page adds that you can now ask about your meeting history from ChatGPT or Claude, and that it has an MCP connection for custom workflows.

Fathom's plans in 2026: what each one unlocks

Fathom has five plans. Prices below are from the pricing page, checked October 20, 2026, per user per month.

Paid plans come with a 90-day guarantee, and annual billing saves "25%+", per the same page.

The free plan, read closely

The Free plan is the reason most people try Fathom. Its Free vs Premium article fills in the details the pricing card leaves out:

• Recording, transcription and storage are unlimited.
• Transcription covers 38 languages.
• Advanced AI summaries run on your first five calls a month. After that, Free uses the general summary template.
• New accounts get a 30-day Premium preview, then drop to Free unless you upgrade.
• AI action items, follow-up emails, custom summaries and Ask Fathom are Premium features.
• CRM sync with HubSpot, Salesforce and Close is on both plans, capped at three users per email domain.

So "free forever" is real for recording and transcripts. The richer AI work is where Premium earns its price.

Team and Business: the two-seat floor

Team and Business both carry a two-user minimum. A solo rep who wants CRM field sync or AI scorecards is buying two seats on Business, which comes to $50 a month billed annually or $68 monthly at today's prices.

If you're weighing Fathom's plans against another tool's, our Fathom vs Fireflies and Otter vs Fathom comparisons put the prices side by side.

Fathom's bot-free mode: what's live and where

The bot is the part of Fathom other people in the call notice: an extra participant that records the meeting. In 2026 that has changed, but only partly.

On Mac, bot-free capture is live. Fathom's What's new page marks it "Now live on Mac": you choose "bot or no bot, video audio or transcript-only," meeting by meeting. The same page says bot-free recording now works in Slack Huddles.

It is still labeled beta. The pricing page lists "Choice of bot-free (in beta) or bot capture" on every plan, including Free. Bot-free video capture is "in a limited beta" for Zoom.

On Windows, it isn't available yet. The compatibility article says "the new bot-free experience is currently available on Mac only," with Windows "coming soon." The What's new page says "the full Fathom experience is coming to PC" without a date.

So if you're on a Windows laptop, Fathom still joins your calls as a bot today. If you want to understand how bot-free capture works across tools, our guide to AI meeting notes without a bot explains the trade-offs, and Fathom vs Granola compares Fathom with a tool that was bot-free from the start.

The Fathom iPhone app: what it does and what it doesn't yet

This is the biggest change since most Fathom reviews were written. Fathom's iOS app article says the app lets you "record in-person meetings and conversations directly from your iPhone," with no meeting link. You get a recording, transcript, AI summary and action items, and the app is "on all Fathom pricing plans." You can also send the Fathom bot to an upcoming video call from your phone.

The same article lists what the app doesn't do at launch:

• It needs a connection to record. "Offline recording is not available." A basement meeting room or a site with no signal is a problem.
• It's iPhone only. On an iPad it runs in compatibility mode. There's no Android version.
• No phone calls. The app can't record calls made on the phone.
• No Ask Fathom and no meeting search in the app yet.

Voiceprinting is opt-in and iOS only, and it only covers the person who opts in.

One practical tip: the App Store has several unrelated apps named "Fathom" note takers from other developers. Use the download link on Fathom's iOS page to get the real one.

Not ready to wait for Fathom's phone app to grow up? Try ParrotNotes free: it was built for the phone first, on iPhone and Android.

Fathom status board: what each page says on October 20, 2026

Fathom's own pages don't agree with each other right now, which is why reviews contradict each other too. Here is what each page says, so you can see where the confusion comes from.

Sources: pricing, What's new, iOS page, help center on compatibility and the iOS app. All checked October 20, 2026.

When the help center and the marketing pages disagree, we've gone with the help center, because it describes how the product works rather than what's coming.

Languages in Fathom

Fathom's language article says: "We currently support transcripts in 38 languages!"

Summaries are a narrower story. When Fathom detects a call in Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian or Dutch, it translates the summary into that language. Translated summaries are on Premium and Team.

That covers most Western European calls. If your customers speak Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic or Tagalog, check the full list in the article before you commit.

Where Fathom is strong

• It fits the video-call workflow well. Join with a standard meeting link and the summary is ready when the call ends.
• Team plans are built for sales operations. Business adds CRM field sync, a Deal View that gathers a deal's calls, and coaching metrics with AI scorecards.
• It plugs into AI assistants. Asking about your meeting history from ChatGPT or Claude is available to all.
• Paid plans carry a 90-day guarantee.

Where Fathom falls short

• The bot-free mode is Mac only and still beta. Windows users get the bot.
• No Android app. A team with mixed phones can't put everyone on Fathom's mobile app.
• The iPhone app records online only. No signal, no recording.
• The phone app is a first version. No Ask Fathom and no search on the phone yet.
• The richer AI sits behind Premium. Free gets advanced summaries on five calls a month, and action items and follow-up emails need a paid plan.
• Team plans start at two seats.
• 38 transcription languages, with translated summaries in six.

Is Fathom right for you? Seven questions

Answer these about the last month of your calendar.

1. Were most of your meetings Zoom, Google Meet or Teams calls at a computer?
2. Is that computer a Mac?
3. Are you fine with a bot joining when the bot-free beta isn't an option?
4. Does everyone who'd use it carry an iPhone?
5. Do your in-person meetings happen where there's reliable signal?
6. Are your calls in English or one of the six summary languages?
7. Do you need CRM sync and scorecards for a team of two or more?

Mostly yes: Fathom fits your week. Start on Free and see whether five advanced summaries a month are enough.

Several no's, especially 1, 4 and 5: your meetings live away from the laptop, and you'll feel Fathom's gaps every week. The next section is for you, and our Fathom alternatives list covers five other options by meeting type.

If your meetings happen in a room: ParrotNotes

Back to Diego. Fathom handles his three morning demos well. The contract walkthrough at the restaurant group is a different job: one phone on the table, no meeting link, and an HR assistant who'll work from the notes and reads Spanish more comfortably than English.

That's the meeting ParrotNotes was built for. You open the app, tap record and put the phone down. When you stop, you get a transcript, an AI summary on every recording, the action items and a draft of the follow-up email. There's no bot, no calendar invite and no laptop.

Fathom facts from the pages linked above; ParrotNotes facts from parrotnotes.app/pricing. Checked October 20, 2026.

What ParrotNotes costs. Free is $0 with 100 minutes of recording a month, an AI summary on every recording and 5 AI-powered recordings a month, where summaries, insights, action items, chat and the BANT, MEDDIC and SPIN sales frameworks all run.

Pro is $19.99 a month, or $14.99 a month billed annually, with 3,000 minutes a month, recordings up to three hours, all AI features on every recording, speaker identification, transcription in 99+ languages with translation, and AI search across your notes.

It runs on iOS, Android and macOS.

Some teams use both: Fathom for scheduled video calls, ParrotNotes on the phone for site visits, lunches and debriefs. Our full ParrotNotes vs Fathom comparison walks through that split.

Ask before you record, with any tool

Whichever tool you pick, recording law follows the conversation, not the app. Some US states require every person's consent, and the rules change when a call crosses state lines. Our guide to one-party consent states covers the basics, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press keeps a state-by-state recording guide. The simplest habit: say you're recording at the start, and stop if anyone objects.

The verdict on Fathom

Fathom is a solid notetaker for video calls at a desk, especially if your week is Zoom, Meet and Teams on a Mac.

The 2026 additions, bot-free capture and the iPhone app, are real but early. Bot-free is a Mac beta, the phone app needs a signal and lacks Ask Fathom and search, and there's still no Android app.

For most field and in-person teams, ParrotNotes is the better pick. It runs on the iPhone and Android phones your team already carries, records with no signal, transcribes 99+ languages and gives you an AI summary of every recording, even on the free plan. Try ParrotNotes free at your next in-person meeting and see your summary before you reach the car.