AI Meeting Notes Decision Checklist (2026)

1. Bot OK?

Yes — a join-bot is fine for our typical meetings Sometimes — OK internally, not for clients / sensitive calls No — botless only (privacy, optics, or policy)

If “No” or mostly client-facing → bias to Granola (or Fellow for agendas). If “Yes” and CRM/sales → Fireflies. If “Yes” and free/individual → Fathom. If “Yes” and company-wide search → Otter.

2. Primary job (pick one)

CRM / sales / CS intelligence Knowledge base / company-wide searchable transcript Best free / individual operator Privacy / client-facing discretion Agendas + 1:1 operating system

3. Must-haves

CRM sync that a human does not have to babysit Shareable clips / highlights for stakeholders who skip calls Live or near-live collaborative transcript Botless capture Agenda templates & recurring 1:1 structure Admin controls (SSO, retention, training opt-outs) Language coverage for our markets (verify on vendor site)

4. Hard nos

No third-party bot on external calls No vendor training on our meeting data (confirm in DPA) No tool that fails our CRM field mapping No paid plan until free tier proves the workflow No second overlapping note-taker while the first trial is open

5. Shortlist scorecard

Blank price cells on purpose — fill from live official pricing. Do not copy blog dollar figures.

Tool	Fits primary job?	Bot / botless	Price (verify live)	3-call score (1–5)	Notes
Fireflies		Bot
Otter		Bot
Fathom		Bot
Granola		Botless
Fellow		Meeting OS

Official pricing: Fireflies · Otter · Fathom

6. Next step = one real call test

Shortlist frozen at 1–2 tools (not five) Calendar blocked for three real meetings this week Success metric written (e.g. “notes in HubSpot within 10 min”) Kill criterion written (what fails → switch branch) Pricing re-checked on vendor site the day we buy