The meeting transcription market exploded in 2025. What started as a niche tool for journalists has become a must-have for anyone who spends more than three hours a week in meetings. The problem: most people pick the first tool they see, not the one that actually fits their needs.
We spent three weeks testing eight leading tools across four categories: accuracy, privacy, pricing, and ease of use. Every test used the same 45-minute recorded meeting — a real product standup with six speakers, background noise, and technical jargon — to keep comparisons fair.
What we tested
We evaluated eight tools that represent the full spectrum of the market:
- Clearminutes — local-first, runs on your device
- Otter.ai — the biggest name, cloud-based
- Fireflies.ai — bot-based notetaker
- Fathom — Zoom-only free tier
- Jamie — premium bot-free notes
- Granola — Mac-only, VC-backed
- tl;dv — cloud recording & reels
- Krisp — noise cancellation + transcription
Accuracy: the hard numbers
Word Error Rate (WER) measures how many words the transcript gets wrong compared to a human reference. Lower is better. We tested each tool on the same audio file in optimal conditions (quiet room, clear speakers, English).
| Tool | WER | Speaker ID | Punctuation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearminutes (Whisper large-v3) | 4.2% | Yes — up to 8 speakers | Excellent |
| Otter.ai | 5.1% | Yes — unlimited | Good |
| Fireflies.ai | 5.8% | Yes | Good |
| Fathom | 6.2% | Basic | Average |
| Jamie | 4.9% | Yes | Good |
| Granola | 5.4% | Manual only | Average |
| tl;dv | 5.6% | Yes | Good |
| Krisp | 6.8% | No | Average |
Key takeaway: Running Whisper locally (Clearminutes) beats every cloud competitor on raw accuracy. The gap widens in noisy environments because cloud tools compress audio before sending it, while local processing keeps the full waveform.
Privacy: who keeps your audio?
This is where the tools diverge dramatically. Most people assume their meeting audio is processed and deleted. It isn't.
| Tool | Audio stored | Sent to cloud | Used for training | Works offline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearminutes | Local only | Never by default | Never | Yes |
| Otter.ai | Cloud | Always | Yes (opt-out) | No |
| Fireflies.ai | Cloud | Always | Yes (opt-out) | No |
| Fathom | Cloud | Always | Unclear | No |
| Jamie | Local + optional cloud | Optional | Unclear | Partial |
| Granola | Local + cloud sync | For sync only | Unclear | No |
| tl;dv | Cloud | Always | Yes | No |
| Krisp | Cloud | Always | Yes (opt-out) | No |
Only Clearminutes processes audio entirely on your device by default. Jamie and Granola store locally but still sync to cloud for multi-device access. Every other tool sends your audio to their servers as a core requirement of the service.
If you're a lawyer, consultant, or healthcare professional with confidentiality obligations, this table is the only one that matters. Read our full privacy guide →
Pricing: what you actually pay
Most tools advertise a low entry price but hide the real cost behind usage limits or feature gates. Here's what you actually pay to transcribe a typical month of meetings (10 hours/week, 40 hours/month).
| Tool | Free tier | Paid tier | Real monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearminutes | Unlimited transcription, meeting history | £12/month (Pro) | £12 or £0 |
| Otter.ai | 300 min/month | £15/month (Pro) | £15 (free won't cover 40h) |
| Fireflies.ai | 800 min/seat | $18/month (Pro) | ~£15/month |
| Fathom | Unlimited (Zoom only) | $19/month (Team) | Free if Zoom-only; else £15 |
| Jamie | None | £19/month | £19/month |
| Granola | Limited | £14/month (Business) | £14/month |
| tl;dv | Limited | £20/month (Pro) | £20/month |
| Krisp | 60 min/day | £12/month (Pro) | £12/month |
Key takeaway: Clearminutes has the most generous free tier (unlimited transcription) and the cheapest Pro plan. Jamie is the most expensive with no free tier at all. Fathom's free plan is genuinely unlimited but only works with Zoom.
Feature comparison
Cross-platform support
Only Clearminutes, Otter.ai, Fireflies, and tl;dv support both macOS and Windows. Granola and Jamie are Mac-only. Fathom requires Zoom regardless of platform. Krisp works everywhere but only as a noise-cancelling layer.
Meeting bot vs no-bot
Otter, Fireflies, and Fathom send a bot to join your meeting. This creates two problems: it announces itself ("Otter has joined") and it requires your meeting platform to admit third-party attendees. Clearminutes, Jamie, and Granola capture system audio directly — no bot, no announcement, no permission needed. Read our full no-bot breakdown →
Offline capability
Only Clearminutes works fully offline. Every other tool requires an internet connection to function. This matters if you travel, have unreliable Wi-Fi, or work in environments with strict network policies.
Action item extraction
All eight tools extract action items, but quality varies. Clearminutes, Otter, and Jamie do the best job of attributing tasks to speakers and suggesting deadlines. Krisp and Fathom struggle with context — they capture verbatim text but miss implied commitments ("I'll handle that" without a named task).
Our recommendations
Best for privacy: Clearminutes
If your meetings contain confidential information — client calls, board meetings, medical consultations — Clearminutes is the only tool that keeps audio on your device by default. No cloud uploads. No training data. No trust required.
Best for teams already in the Zoom ecosystem: Fathom
Fathom's free tier is genuinely unlimited for Zoom calls, and the summary quality is good. The catch: it only works with Zoom. If your entire company lives in Zoom and nobody cares about cloud storage, Fathom is hard to beat.
Best for heavy cloud users who don't mind the bot: Otter.ai
Otter has the most mature feature set and integrates with everything. If you already use Salesforce, HubSpot, or Notion and don't mind uploading every meeting to the cloud, Otter is the safest choice.
Best for Mac users who want simplicity: Granola
Granola's design is the best in the category. It's fast, beautiful, and the AI summaries are crisp. The downsides: Mac-only, no free tier, and cloud sync is mandatory for multi-device.
Best budget option: Clearminutes Free
No other tool gives you unlimited transcription for free. Clearminutes Free includes real-time transcription, AI summaries, action items, and full meeting history. For personal use, it's genuinely free with no time limits.
"The right transcription tool isn't the one with the most features. It's the one you'll actually use every day without worrying about where your data goes."
Want side-by-side comparisons? See our full comparison hub for detailed breakdowns against each competitor, or read our Otter.ai alternatives and Fireflies.ai alternatives guides for privacy-focused options.