Sub-desk · Zoom meetings
Summarising Zoom meetings
AI Companion, Otter, Fireflies, tl;dv. April 2026.
If your host has Zoom Pro+ with AI Companion enabled, start there. It is included at no extra charge and requires no bot setup. For multi-platform meeting summarisation across Zoom, Teams, and Meet, Otter Pro is the better long-term investment. For deep CRM auto-logging from Zoom sales calls, Fireflies Pro wins.
§ I.Four-tool comparison
Zoom AI Companion (native)
Included in Zoom Pro+ · No bot, runs natively inside Zoom
+ Strengths
Zero setup, no bot participant visible, immediate post-meeting delivery, chapter breakdown, Q&A summary, next steps.
- Weaknesses
Only works for Zoom meetings. Requires host to have Pro+ with AI Companion enabled. No cross-platform coverage.
Otter Pro
Mid-tier monthly · Bot joins as participant
+ Strengths
Works across Zoom, Teams, Meet, and offline recordings. Clean meeting notes UI. Strong action-item detection. Excellent transcription quality.
- Weaknesses
Bot is visible to participants. Slightly higher friction than native Companion. Free tier limited to 300 min/mo.
Fireflies Pro
Low monthly tier · Bot joins as participant
+ Strengths
Automatic CRM logging (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive). Soundbite clips with speaker labels. Free tier with multi-hour storage forever.
- Weaknesses
Summary quality slightly behind Otter. CRM integration requires setup. Bot is visible to participants.
tl;dv
Free / $18/mo Pro · Bot joins as participant
+ Strengths
Free plan includes unlimited Zoom + Teams recordings. Multi-meeting search on paid plans. Timestamp-linked highlights.
- Weaknesses
Free plan transcription quality lower than Otter. Action item detection weaker on free plan.
§ II.Recording consent and bot compliance
Bot-join tools appear in the Zoom participant list, which provides notice of their presence. In most jurisdictions, this visible disclosure satisfies the notice requirement for single-party-consent states and many all-party-consent jurisdictions when participants can see the bot and proceed with the meeting. However, this is not universal legal protection.
For meetings with external parties (clients, candidates, patients), announce the bot verbally at the start: "I use Otter or Fireflies to take meeting notes, is everyone okay with that?" and document the consent in your CRM. For internal-only meetings, a standing company policy communicated to all employees typically satisfies consent requirements.
Important
Recording consent law varies significantly by jurisdiction. California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and most EU member states require all-party consent. Always check applicable law for your participants' locations, not just your own. When uncertain, disclose verbally and get explicit confirmation before the meeting continues.
§ III.Common questions
Q.01Is Zoom AI Companion free?
Zoom AI Companion is included at no additional cost in Zoom Pro, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise plans. It is not available on the free Zoom plan. If your organisation has one of these paid plans and AI Companion is enabled by your Zoom admin, you can access meeting summaries and chapter breakdowns automatically after each meeting at no per-seat fee.
Q.02Do Otter and Fireflies require the host to record?
No. Otter and Fireflies join as bot participants and capture audio independently of the host's recording. This means they work even when the host recording is off, and even when you are not the host. However, participants can see the bot in the participant list, satisfying notice requirements in most jurisdictions.
Q.03Which is better for Zoom: Otter or Fireflies?
For individual knowledge workers focused on meeting notes and action items, Otter has a cleaner user experience and slightly better transcription on the Zoom-specific audio codec. For sales teams that need call data pushed automatically to a CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive), Fireflies wins clearly. Otter does have CRM integrations, but they require more manual triggering compared to Fireflies' automatic post-call logging.