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Fathom vs Grain
Fathom and Grain are AI meeting assistants, which join video calls, record and transcribe them, and write up notes and action items afterward. Our editors read both companies' own sites, then read what sales and customer teams say about the two tools in public reviews, community boards and chat forums. The table below compares price, limits and features.
| What buyers compare | Fathom | Grain |
|---|---|---|
| Price per monthSources 3, 4 | Premium $20 per user ($16 billed annually). Team $19 per user ($15 annually). Business $34 per user ($25 annually). Enterprise: quote | Starter $15 per seat billed annually, $19 monthly. Business $29 per seat billed annually, $39 monthly. Enterprise: quote |
| Free plan or trialSources 3, 4 | Free plan with unlimited recordings and transcription. Paid plans start with a free trial and a 90-day guarantee | Free plan: unlimited meetings up to 45 minutes each, 30-day meeting history |
| How usage is countedSources 3, 4 | Unlimited meetings captured and transcribed on every plan | Free caps each meeting at 45 minutes and keeps 30 days of history. Paid plans remove both limits |
| Seats and usersSources 3, 4 | Team and Business need at least 2 users. Up to 2 years of Team free for startups backed by selected VCs and accelerators. 10 free seats for nonprofits | Unlimited notetaker seats on Free. Paid plans are per seat, with free viewer seats. No required annual contract |
| Integrations and featuresSources 3, 4 | HubSpot, Salesforce, Asana, Zapier, ChatGPT and Claude, plus a public API and MCP server. Automatic CRM field updates on Business | Slack, personal Zapier and API on Starter. HubSpot, Salesforce, workspace API and advanced MCP access on Business |
| Security and deploymentSources 3, 4 | Enterprise: SSO and SCIM provisioning, custom data retention and organization-wide security controls | Enterprise: SAML single sign-on, priority API support and a dedicated customer success manager |
| Best forSources 1, 2 | Individuals and teams that want good meeting notes they can start using for free | Revenue teams that want call clips, coaching and shareable highlights from customer conversations |
List prices in US dollars per month before tax, as published on each vendor's site on October 16, 2026, billed monthly unless the cell says otherwise. "Quote" means the vendor sets the price through its sales team. A green check marks a row where the published data shows a clear edge.
Which one fits
Both have free plans, so the choice comes down to meeting length, call clips and which CRM features you need.
Choose Fathom if
- You want to start free. The free plan records and transcribes unlimited meetings and writes instant summaries.
- You are a small team on a budget. Team costs $15 per user per month billed annually, with a two-user minimum.
- You are a startup or nonprofit. Fathom gives up to two years of Team to startups backed by selected VCs, and 10 free seats to nonprofits.
Choose Grain if
- You want to clip and share moments from customer calls. Grain builds clips and highlight reels into every plan, including Free.
- You coach a sales team. Business adds AI coaching, trackers and team interaction metrics, plus HubSpot and Salesforce sync.
- You want monthly billing without an annual contract. Grain says none of its plans require one.
What buyers say
“Fathom is better if you want free-tier notes that just work after every Zoom. Grain is better if the sales team lives on highlight clips and playlists more than full summaries.”
Nosky92 · r/demandmyths · · source
“Fathom is better when CS needs notes that drop HubSpot tasks without a Gong-sized bill. Grain is better if the team already lives on shareable call clips more than CRM tasking.”
Street_Ad6437 · r/CustomerSuccess · · source
“Fathom gave us notes from every meeting on the free plan with no fuss. Grain's clips are useful for sharing customer calls, but its free plan caps each meeting at 45 minutes, which cut off our longer calls.”
Customer success lead, 30-person startup
Representative buyer view
Verdict
Fathom (7.6 out of 10, Recommend) is the better choice if you want full notes from every meeting at no cost, since its free plan records and transcribes unlimited meetings. Grain (6.8 out of 10, Conditional recommend) is the better choice for revenue teams that share clips and highlight reels from customer calls, though its free plan caps each meeting at 45 minutes.
Methodology
We read the Fathom and Grain pricing pages and product sites on October 16, 2026 and recorded every published price, limit and plan feature. A cell reads "Not published" when the vendor does not state that detail on its site, and rows where neither vendor publishes anything were left out.
Scores, best-fit notes and buyer quotes come from the AIR reviews of each product, which weight practitioner reviews at 40%, hands-on product checks at 35%, pricing at 15% and docs at 10%. Paid reviews and pay-for-play sites are excluded. Quotes marked Representative buyer view are written by AIR to reflect buyer feedback and carry no source link.