Wavenote as a Fathom alternative
A meeting recorder whose free plan does not run out: unlimited recordings, transcripts and summaries, taken either by a bot in the call or, on a Mac, without one.
What Fathom does better
Fathom's free plan is unlimited recording, transcription and summaries, so there is no price argument to make against it. Its bot joins the call whether or not you are at your desk, it names each speaker, it syncs to a CRM on the business tiers, and it holds SOC 2 Type II and signs a HIPAA BAA. Wavenote has nothing to hand an IT department and will not have.
Where Wavenote is different
- The recording becomes text on your Mac. Fathom's is processed on its own servers, and its subprocessor list names Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.
- Recording without a bot is the only way Wavenote works, and it is not a beta. It hears your microphone and what your Mac is playing, and asks for System Audio Recording Only rather than for permission to record your screen.
- Notes are files in a folder you picked, so nothing is stranded in an account on the day you stop paying.
Side by side
| Wavenote | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| Recording becomes text | On your Mac | On their servers |
| Bot in the call | Never | Optional, or bot-free from the Mac |
| Speaker labels | You and everyone else | Yes, by name |
| Cost | $4.90 once | Free, then $16 to $20 a month |
Fathom pricing: Free with unlimited recordings, Premium $20 a month or $16 on annual billing, Team $19 a user or $15, Business $34 a user or $25, Enterprise quoted. Checked against fathom.ai on 10 August 2026.
fathom.video now redirects to fathom.ai, which is the page these prices were read from. The subprocessor list is Fathom's own, recorded in docs/research/notes-competitors-2026-08.md on the same day.