Fathom is a great free notetaker - until you hit the part most people miss: on the free plan, advanced AI summaries and action items are capped at 5 calls a month. After that you get a basic transcript-style summary until the cycle resets. Raven gives you unlimited AI notes because they run on your own API key, adds live help during the call (Fathom is after-the-call only), and keeps everything local with no bot in the meeting.

At a glance

At a glance

RavenFathom
Live in-call assistYes - overlay suggests what to sayNo - recap is after the call
AI summaries / action itemsUnlimited (your own key)Free: 5 calls/month, then basic only; unlimited on paid
Follow-up email draftYesYes (paid)
Bot in the meetingNever - local captureBot, or bot-free capture in beta (Mac)
Where your meetings liveLocal SQLiteFathom's cloud
PriceFree, open source (your own keys)Free (capped AI); Premium $16/user/mo (annual), $20 monthly; Business $25/user/mo
Open sourceYesNo
PlatformsmacOS + Windows (native capture)Zoom-native; Meet/Teams; Mac bot-free beta

Price

Price

Fathom’s free tier is genuinely generous on recording, transcription, and storage (no minute cap) - the limit is the AI: 5 advanced summaries/action-item runs per month. To remove that you’re on Premium at $16/user/mo (billed annually; $20 monthly), and CRM sync lives in Business at $25/user/mo.

Raven’s AI is unlimited because you’re billing your own provider for usage - typically a few dollars a month - with no per-seat fee.

Where your meetings live

Where your meetings live

Fathom stores your recordings, transcripts, and summaries in its cloud. Raven keeps them in a local SQLite database on your machine - no account, no server, and (because it’s open source) a data path you can audit. Audio only ever goes to the transcription/AI providers you configured with your own keys.

What Fathom does better (honestly)

What Fathom does better (honestly)

Calendar auto-join: Fathom’s bot joins scheduled meetings automatically. Raven detects a meeting and offers to start (or auto-starts) locally, but it doesn’t join from your calendar.

  • CRM sync (HubSpot/Salesforce), clips/playlists, team collaboration, and 15+ summary templates are mature.

  • A very polished, zero-setup hosted experience.

If you’re a team that lives in a CRM and wants shared clips, Fathom’s paid tiers are strong.

When Raven wins

When Raven wins

  • You want unlimited AI notes without a 5-a-month cap or a subscription.

  • You want help during the call, not just a recap after.

  • You don’t want a bot joining, and you want recordings on your machine.

  • You’re on Windows and want native capture (not just Mac bot-free beta).

Switching from Fathom

Switching from Fathom

  1. Download Raven (Mac or Windows) and add your API keys on first launch.

  2. Set meeting auto-start (Settings → prompt or auto) so you never forget to record.

  3. Run both for a week; compare notes + action items. Cancel Fathom once Raven owns the habit. (Fathom importers are on the roadmap; export what you need from Fathom in the meantime.)