A Fathom AI Notetaker alternative with no bot in the call, on Windows and Mac
Fathom is a bot-first AI notetaker: the Fathom Notetaker joins your Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Slack Huddles call, records it, and hands you a summary, action items and, for teams, CRM updates and sales coaching. It has a free-forever tier, states SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR compliance, and is now part of Superhuman per its site. A bot-free mode exists, but in October 2026 its pricing page lists it as a beta feature for Mac.
People look for a Fathom alternative because they do not want a named participant recording the call, because they are on Windows and want bot-free capture today, because they want help during the conversation rather than a summary after it, or because they want to choose the AI model and keep the transcript on their own machine. This page compares Fathom with Natively on those points, says where Fathom is the better choice, and answers the questions people search for, including whether Fathom works with Microsoft Teams.
We make Natively. Every Fathom fact below was read from fathom.ai in October 2026, and where its pages do not say, the cell says so.
What Fathom does well
Fathom is a mature product, and much of what it does is good.
- Free forever: unlimited recordings and transcriptions on the free plan, with a choice of bot or bot-free (beta) capture.
- Team tooling: CRM updates, sales coaching and scorecards, an integrations directory covering HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Zapier, Notion, Asana and more, plus a public API and MCP.
- Compliance: SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR stated on its home page, with SSO and SCIM for larger customers.
- Live summary: a summary that follows the conversation as it happens, and Ask Fathom for questions afterwards.
- Languages: seven natively (English, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, German and Portuguese) on Premium and Team, with Ask Fathom translating into 29 more.
- A web app, so recordings and summaries are reachable from any browser.
What Natively does differently
- No bot, on both platforms: Natively listens to the meeting audio on your machine, on macOS and on Windows. Nothing joins the call and nothing appears in the participant list. Fathom's bot-free capture is a beta feature for Mac per its pricing page, and its own comparison page says bot-free capture on Windows is coming.
- Help during the call: a live transcript, answer suggestions (the “What should I say?” button) and notes written as you talk, with a median 0.9 seconds to the first word of an answer. Fathom's live feature is a summary that follows the conversation; it does not suggest what to say.
- Any app that plays audio: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, Discord, and phone calls through the Phone Mirror companion. Fathom covers Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack Huddles.
- Your model, your data path: bring your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter and others, run a local model through Ollama, or take a Natively API plan. Transcripts, notes and screen content are processed by the provider you chose and stored on your device; Natively's servers receive product-usage events (which features were used, linked to the device), not transcripts or answers. Fathom records in its cloud and describes no way to bring your own key.
- Price shape: free for personal use with your own keys or Ollama; Natively Pro is $39 a year or $79 once; Natively API plans run $8 to $35 a month. Fathom has a free tier, then paid plans from $15 per user per month.
- Source-available: the app's source is published under the Natively Personal Use Source License, free for personal use. Fathom publishes no source.
- Overlay: Natively's overlay stays out of screen shares and recordings on the supported apps. Fathom's recorder is a participant or a web app; the question does not arise.
- Modes: nine built-in modes (General, Sales, Recruiting, Team Meet, Looking for work, Technical Interview, Lecture, Seminar, Call Center), so the same app covers interviews and lectures as well as meetings.
- What Natively does not have: no SOC 2, HIPAA or GDPR certification claims, no web app, and no store mobile app. If those are requirements, Fathom is the better fit.
Fathom and Natively side by side
Rows are the questions people ask before switching. Where a vendor does not say, the cell says so.
| What matters | Natively | Fathom |
|---|---|---|
| How it joins the call | It does not; it listens to the meeting audio on your machine | The Fathom Notetaker joins as a participant by default; bot-free capture is a beta feature for Mac |
| Platforms | macOS and Windows desktop app; phone calls through the Phone Mirror companion | Web app and a Mac desktop app; bot-free capture on Windows listed as coming; an iOS app page |
| Meeting apps | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, Discord and any app that plays audio | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack Huddles |
| During the call | Live transcript, answer suggestions, notes written as you talk | A live summary that follows the conversation; coaching and scorecards for sales teams |
| After the call | Summary, action items, notes with templates, Markdown export | Summary, action items, Ask Fathom, CRM updates; 15+ templates on Premium and up |
| AI models | Your own keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter and others), Ollama locally, or Natively API plans | Fathom's cloud; no bring-your-own-key described |
| Time to the first word of an answer | 0.9 s median, measured in the app | Not stated |
| Price | Free with your own keys or Ollama; Pro $39 a year or $79 once; API plans $8 to $35 a month | Free forever tier; Premium $20 a month or $16 with annual billing; Team $19 or $15 (two-user minimum); Business $34 or $25; each per user |
| Licence | Source-available (Natively Personal Use Source License), free for personal use | No source published |
| Compliance claims | None | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR; SSO and SCIM |
| Screen shares | The overlay stays out of screen shares and recordings on the supported apps | Not stated |
| Company | Natively AI | Part of Superhuman, per its site |
As of October 2026, from each vendor's website: Fathom's home, pricing, overview, bot-free explainer and comparison pages, linked under Sources; Natively's pricing, privacy, supported apps and benchmark pages. Fathom's pricing cards show two figures per plan under a Monthly / Annually toggle without labelling them; we took the lower figure as the annual price, as the toggle's “save 25%+” implies. Prices change; check each site before you pay.
Who should stay on Fathom
Stay on Fathom if your buyer needs SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA or GDPR paperwork: Fathom states all three and Natively claims none of them. Stay if you run a sales team on CRM updates, coaching and scorecards, or if you want a web app the whole team can open from a browser, with recordings kept in one place.
Stay if the free-forever tier with unlimited recordings is what you need and a bot in the call does not bother you or the people you meet. And if you want a vendor that belongs to a larger company, Fathom is part of Superhuman per its site; Natively is made by Natively AI.
A free Fathom alternative: what free means on each side
Fathom's free plan is free forever, with unlimited recordings and transcriptions and a choice of bot or bot-free (beta) capture; its pricing page marks some features as limited use. Natively's free is a licence, not a tier: the Natively Personal Use Source License lets you use the app free for personal use, with no recording or history limit from Natively.
What you pay for is the AI. Either you bring your own API key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter and others charge per use at their own rates), or you run a model locally through Ollama at no cost beyond your hardware. There is no free Natively API plan: the hosted plans are $8, $15, $25 and $35 a month, and Natively Pro is $39 a year or $79 once. The licence covers personal use; for anything else, see the pricing page.
The plans and the licence are on the pricing page.
Does Fathom work with Microsoft Teams, and does Natively?
Yes to both. Fathom lists Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack Huddles as the calls its notetaker joins. Natively works with Microsoft Teams too, and because it listens to the audio on your machine rather than joining, it works the same way in Webex, Discord, a browser tab or a phone call through Phone Mirror. Nothing is added to the Teams participant list on either platform.
The list of apps where the overlay stays out of screen shares and recordings is on the supported apps page.
How to switch
- Download Natively for macOS or Windows and open it; no account is needed to start.
- Pick how the AI runs: paste your own API key, point it at Ollama for a local model, or take a Natively API plan.
- Choose a mode for the meeting (General, Sales or Team Meet for most calls) and join the call in Zoom, Meet, Teams or whichever app you use. Natively listens on the machine; nothing joins the call.
- Your Fathom recordings and summaries stay in Fathom's web app. Natively has no Fathom import, so there is nothing to migrate: keep Fathom for the archive and use Natively for new meetings.
- Going the other way is possible: Natively's notes export as Markdown, so they can be kept or moved to any tool that reads text.
Start on the download page; the Notepad and its templates are described on the Notepad page.
Questions people ask
Is there a Fathom AI alternative that does not put a bot in the call?
Natively. It listens to the meeting audio on your machine, on macOS and on Windows, so nothing joins the call and nothing appears in the participant list. Fathom's bot-free capture is a beta feature for Mac per its pricing page in October 2026, and its own comparison page says Windows bot-free capture is coming.
Does Fathom work with Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Fathom's site lists Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack Huddles as the calls its notetaker joins. Natively works with Microsoft Teams as well, and with any other app that plays audio, because it listens on your machine rather than joining the meeting.
Is there a free Fathom alternative?
Natively is free for personal use under the Natively Personal Use Source License, with no recording or history limit from Natively. You supply the AI: your own API key, billed by that provider, or a local model through Ollama at no cost. There is no free Natively API plan. Fathom's own free plan is free forever with unlimited recordings, so if a bot in the call is fine for you, the reason to switch is the live help and the data path, not the price.
Is Natively HIPAA compliant or SOC 2 certified like Fathom?
No. Natively claims no SOC 2, HIPAA or GDPR certification. Fathom states all three on its home page. If your organisation requires them, stay on Fathom or pick another vendor that states them. What Natively offers instead is a data path you control: transcripts, notes and screen content processed by the AI provider you chose and stored on your device, or kept on the machine with Ollama.
Can I import my Fathom recordings or summaries into Natively?
No. Natively has no Fathom import. Your Fathom recordings and summaries stay in Fathom's web app; keep the account for the archive or copy the notes you still need by hand. Natively's own notes export as Markdown, so moving out of Natively later is straightforward.
Does Natively give answers during the call, or a live summary like Fathom?
Answers. Fathom's live feature is a summary that follows the conversation as it happens. Natively shows a live transcript and answer suggestions during the call, with a median 0.9 seconds to the first word, and writes the summary, action items and notes as the meeting runs rather than after it.
Sources
The pages each fact was read from, in October 2026.
- Fathom home page: fathom.ai/
- Fathom pricing: fathom.ai/pricing
- Fathom overview: fathom.ai/overview
- Fathom bot-free note taker explainer: fathom.ai/learn/bot-free-note-taker
- Fathom vs Granola (Windows and desktop statements): fathom.ai/vs/granola
- Fathom integrations: fathom.ai/integrations
- Natively pricing: heynatively.com/pricing
- Natively privacy: heynatively.com/privacy
- Supported apps: heynatively.com/supportedapps
- Answer latency benchmark: heynatively.com/benchmarks/answer-latency
Other notetakers are compared on the Granola AI alternative, Fireflies alternative and compare pages.
