AI Meeting & Transcription Tool Reviews
Which AI meeting tools let you download the transcript on a free plan?
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The Short Answer
- Otter.ai — Otter's free Basic plan lists mp3 and txt as its export formats, so the full transcript leaves as a text file — while pdf, docx and srt start two tiers up at Business.
- Fireflies.ai — Fireflies transcribes without a minute cap on its free plan and places "Download transcripts, summaries, recordings" in the Pro column, so nothing you record leaves the platform for free.
- Fathom — Fathom's help centre states it flatly — "While transcripts can't be downloaded directly, you can copy and paste them anywhere you need" — on the free plan and on every paid one.
| Product | Best for | From | Free plan | Free-plan export |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Best free transcript export | $16.99/mo | Yes | Full export |
| Fireflies.ai | Most free transcription, no free download | $10/mo (annual) | Yes | Export is paid |
| Fathom | Unlimited recording, no transcript file at all | $15/mo (annual) | Yes | Limited export |
What we checked, and what we did not test
Every meeting recorder advertises the same free-plan headline: it will transcribe your calls for nothing. That headline never answers the question you have after the meeting, which is whether the transcript becomes a file on your machine or stays a page inside someone else’s product.
So we opened each vendor’s own pricing page on 6 August 2026 and looked for one row: the one that names export or download formats on the free plan. We quote what that row says, link the page, and stamp the date. We did not create accounts or click the export buttons, so nothing here is a hands-on result — where a vendor’s page is silent, the verdict stays blank rather than becoming an assumption.
The three verdicts mean exactly this. Full export — the vendor’s page names a transcript file format available on the free plan. Limited export — a file leaves, with a stated restriction. Export is paid — the vendor’s page places download in a paid tier.
Best free transcript export
1. Otter.ai — Best free transcript export
Otter is the only tool of these three whose pricing page states, in a row you can point at, that a free account can export the transcript itself.
Best for Getting a plain-text transcript out of a free account
From $16.99/mo. Free plan: Basic — 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, 3 lifetime audio/video imports, and only your 25 most recent conversations.
- Pro — $16.99/mo (The annual figure appeared twice on the page we opened — $8.33 and $8.49 per user per month — so we are not printing one of them as the price)
- Business — $30/mo, or $19.99/mo billed annually (A discounted $24 per user per month was shown next to the $30 list price)
Otter's own plan table lists export formats as "mp3, txt" for Basic and Pro, and "mp3, txt, pdf, docx, srt; bulk export" for Business. A plain-text file of the full transcript is therefore something a free account can walk out with — caption and Word files are not.
Pros
- Export on the free plan includes the transcript itself as .txt, not just an in-app view of it.
- 300 minutes a month is the largest free transcription allowance among the tools on this page.
Skip it if
- Basic keeps only your 25 most recent conversations, so anything older is gone unless you exported it at the time.
- Caption files (.srt) and Word files (.docx) start at Business, two tiers above free.
Most free transcription, no free download
2. Fireflies.ai — Most free transcription, no free download
Fireflies gives away the transcription and sells the transcript: unlimited free recording, with download listed one tier up.
Best for Unlimited transcription, as long as you never need the file
From $10/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — unlimited transcription, 400 minutes of storage per team, 20 AI credits.
- Pro — $10/mo billed annually · 1 seat
- Business — $19/mo billed annually · 1 seat
- Enterprise — $39/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Marked ANNUAL ONLY on the pricing page)
"Download transcripts, summaries, recordings" sits in the Pro column of Fireflies' own plan comparison, not the Free column. The free plan will transcribe without a minute cap, and the result stays inside Fireflies.
Pros
- Transcription itself is uncapped on the free plan — no monthly minute ceiling to watch.
- Per-seat annual pricing is published plainly at $10, $19 and $39.
Skip it if
- Downloading transcripts, summaries or recordings starts at Pro, so a free account cannot take the text off the platform.
- Free storage is 400 minutes for the whole team, not per person.
- No monthly-billed price is published at all — every tier on the page is quoted billed annually.
Unlimited recording, no transcript file at all
3. Fathom — Unlimited recording, no transcript file at all
Fathom is the only tool here whose answer does not depend on your plan: nobody gets a transcript file, at any price.
Best for Unlimited free recording, and no transcript file on any plan
From $15/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, clips, playlists and search across calls.
- Premium — $20/mo, or $16/mo billed annually · 1 seat
- Team — $19/mo, or $15/mo billed annually (Per user, 2-user minimum)
- Business — $34/mo, or $25/mo billed annually (Per user, 2-user minimum)
Fathom's help centre answers it in one sentence, and the answer is not plan-dependent: "While transcripts can't be downloaded directly, you can copy and paste them anywhere you need." The mechanism is a "Copy Transcript button directly above your transcript" that puts the text on your clipboard. So the words do leave Fathom — as a paste, never as a file, on the free plan and on every paid one.
Pros
- Unlimited recordings and transcriptions on the free plan, with AI summaries included.
- The clipboard copy is not rationed by plan — free accounts get the same route out as paying ones.
- Both monthly and annual prices are published for every paid tier.
Skip it if
- There is no transcript file on any plan — "transcripts can't be downloaded directly" is stated flatly.
- A clipboard paste is not an archive: nothing is saved unless you paste it somewhere first.
- The pricing page's "Call downloads and clips (unlimited)" refers to recordings, and reads as if it covered transcripts too.
What this means if you are choosing today
If the artefact you need is a text file — for a CRM, a summary you will rewrite, or simply an archive — Otter is the only one of the three that produces one for free. If you need volume and expect to pay eventually, Fireflies removes the minute cap first and charges for the export later.
Fathom is the interesting case, because paying does not fix it. Its transcripts are copy-and-paste only at every tier, so the question there is not what the free plan withholds but whether a clipboard is an acceptable archive for you. For a handful of calls it is fine. For a year of them it is a habit you have to keep, and the pricing page’s “Call downloads and clips (unlimited)” reads as though it covered this, which it does not.
There is also a quieter consequence of the retention rules. Otter’s Basic plan keeps only your 25 most recent conversations, so a transcript you did not export is not waiting for you a month later. On a plan where export is free, that is a chore. On a plan where export is not, it is a deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you download an Otter transcript for free?
Yes, as plain text. Otter's own plan table lists the export formats for Basic and Pro as "mp3, txt", so a free account can take away the audio and the full transcript as a .txt file. PDF, Word and subtitle (.srt) files, plus bulk export, are listed against the Business tier instead, two steps above free.
Does Fireflies let you export transcripts on the free plan?
No. Fireflies puts "Download transcripts, summaries, recordings" in the Pro tier's feature list, and the Free column does not include it. The free plan will transcribe an unlimited number of meetings, but the resulting text stays inside Fireflies unless you move to Pro, which is published at $10 per seat per month billed annually.
Can you download a Fathom transcript?
Not as a file, on any plan. Fathom's help centre says so directly: "While transcripts can't be downloaded directly, you can copy and paste them anywhere you need." A "Copy Transcript" button above the transcript puts the text on your clipboard, and the article warns "it will not be available until you paste it". This page first recorded the verdict as unconfirmed because the pricing page never addresses it; the help centre does.
Which free plan gives you the most transcription?
Fireflies and Fathom both advertise unlimited transcription on their free tiers, against Otter's 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation. The catch is what happens next: Fireflies caps free storage at 400 minutes per team, Otter keeps only your 25 most recent conversations, and only Otter documents a free transcript download.
Did you test these tools yourselves?
No. Every verdict on this page was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 6 August 2026 and is labelled that way. We did not create accounts, record meetings or click the export buttons, so nothing here claims to be a hands-on result. When we do run a test, the verdict says "We ran this ourselves" instead.
How We Keep This Updated
Prices move and vendors rewrite their plan tables, so every value on this page carries the date we read it. When a page changes, the change lands here rather than being edited away quietly. The procedure is on the methodology page. tell us and we will re-check it.
- 2026-08-06 — Corrected. Fathom's export was first recorded as unconfirmed because its pricing page never mentions transcript files. Its help centre states that "transcripts can't be downloaded directly" and offers a Copy Transcript button instead — so the verdict is now recorded, and it applies to every plan rather than only the free one.
- 2026-08-06 — First published. Free-plan export rows and every price read on each vendor's own pricing page the same day.