Aside vs Fathom.
Fathom has the most generous free plan on these pages. The cap is on the summaries rather than on the recording, which is easy to miss until you hit it.
- Fathom5 summariesa month on Fathom free, then only their general template
- FathomUnlimitedrecording on the same free plan, and that part is generous
- Fathom$20/moper user for premium, $16 if you pay for the year
- Aside$79 oncewith nothing capped after it, because nothing is metered
| What is being compared |  Aside |
Fathom |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Plus. $8/mo all-in, or $79 once (cloud optional) | Limit. $20/user/mo premium, $16 annual |
| Free | Limit. 10 meeting trial | Plus. Unlimited recording, 5 advanced summaries/month |
| What the free plan caps | Neither. Nothing, it’s a trial that ends | Limit. The summaries, five a month |
| Joins the call | Plus. Never, no bot and no attendee | Neither. Optional. Bot-free capture is in beta on the Mac app, bot-free video is a Zoom-only beta |
| Where recordings live | Plus. On your Mac, note as Markdown in your folder | Limit. Fathom’s cloud, bot or no bot |
| Transcription | Plus. On your Mac, ~99 languages, works offline | Neither. On their servers, even when nothing joins the call |
| System-wide dictation | Plus. Yes, hold fn, transcribed on your Mac | Limit. Not offered as of 14 September 2026, meeting capture only |
| Speaker labels | Plus. On your Mac, and the mic is already a separate track from the far end | Neither. Not named on their pricing page |
| Own model or API key | Plus. Yes. Free from us, your provider bills you, or Ollama for free | Limit. No, we found no way to bring your own key |
| MCP for agents | Plus. Included | Plus. Yes, public API and MCP, on every plan |
| CRM sync | Limit. None | Plus. Yes, on the business plan |
| Platform | Limit. macOS only | Plus. Web and a Mac app, Windows announced but not shipped |
| macOS version needed | Limit. macOS 26 or later | Neither. Not published. Bot-free capture is Mac only |
| Refunds | Plus. 14 days from buying, no form and no reason needed | Plus. 90 day guarantee on paid plans |
The summaries are capped, and the bot is now optional.
1. The cap is on the summaries
Unlimited recording sounds like the generous option, and for pure archiving it is. But the reason you run one of these is the summary, and that is what gets metered: five advanced summaries a month, then only their general template. Aside’s ten meeting trial is a smaller number, and it is a trial rather than a plan.
2. The bot is optional, the cloud is not
Since Fathom 3.0 you can capture without a bot on the free plan, the way we do, though it is a beta on the Mac app and bot-free video is Zoom only. What that release did not change is the destination: the audio goes to Fathom, the transcript is made on their servers, and the note is a row in their database. With Aside the recording stays on your Mac and the note is a Markdown file in a folder you picked.
Fathom makes the transcript on its servers. How the same job goes on your own Mac was measured, and the run is on the benchmark page.
Every meeting, still searchable in a year.
Every call lands as a dated file in the folder you chose. Inside Aside you can search across all of them, tag them, and click any transcript line to hear that moment again.
Your meetings folder
How long a cloud archive stays readable is their retention policy to set. These are plain Markdown files on your own disk, and they stay readable whatever you do with your subscription.
Where Fathom is the better answer.
- You want unlimited archiving for nothing. If you mostly need the recording and rarely need a good summary, Fathom free is hard to beat.
- You’re in sales. CRM sync, deal views and coaching metrics are the product Fathom actually is, and Aside has none of that.
- Your team needs shared folders, comments and keyword alerts. Fathom has all of it. We have none of it and no date for any of it, though we are not ruling it out either.
- You’re not on a Mac. Fathom also runs in a browser on Windows and Linux. Aside doesn’t.
- You want the bot in the room. A name in the participant list tells everyone they are being recorded, and off the Mac it is the only capture Fathom has. Aside has no bot to offer, on any platform.
Best for.
- Aside. A Mac user who wants the summary and the transcript as files they own, without a bot in the call, and dictation into other Mac apps in between.
- Fathom. Sales teams, and anyone who wants unlimited free recording with CRM sync.
Aside, pros
- No bot joins the call and nothing appears in the attendee list.
- Transcription runs on your Mac, in about 99 languages, and works offline.
- Every meeting is a Markdown file you can commit to Git or open in Obsidian.
Aside, cons
- macOS only. No browser, no Windows, no Linux.
- No CRM sync, no deal views, no coaching metrics.
- No shared folders, comments or keyword alerts.
Asked before switching.
Is Fathom actually free?
The recording is. Unlimited calls, unlimited transcripts, no charge, and that’s the most generous free recording allowance in this category. The cap is on the intelligence: five advanced summaries a month, after which only the general template is available. Premium is $20 per user a month.
How much is Fathom in 2026?
Checked 5 August 2026: free as above. Premium $20 per user a month, $16 annually. Team $19 from two users, $15 annually. Business $34, $25 annually. Enterprise custom. Fathom puts a ninety day guarantee on all paid plans.
Does Fathom join my meeting?
Only if you let it. Since Fathom 3.0 in April 2026 you can pick bot-free capture on any plan, free included, and paid plans can rename the bot if you keep it. Two limits: bot-free is a beta on their Mac app, and capturing video without a bot is a Zoom-only beta. Aside has one mode and no beta, it listens to what your Mac is playing plus your microphone.
Where does Fathom store recordings?
In Fathom’s cloud, and you read them back through Fathom, in the browser or in their Mac app. Bot-free capture doesn’t change that: the audio is taken from your device and processed on theirs. Aside keeps the recording on your Mac, transcribes it there with an open speech model, and writes the note as a Markdown file into a folder you choose. Only transcript text goes to the AI you picked to write that note.
Can I keep my recordings if I stop paying?
With Aside, yes, because they were never anywhere else. The audio and the Markdown notes are files on your own disk, and the app keeps opening them whether or not you subscribe to the cloud layer. With any cloud archive, that answer depends on the vendor’s retention policy.
Does Aside do CRM sync?
No. If the reason you’re using Fathom is deal views and coaching metrics, Aside is not a replacement and we’d rather say that here than after you’ve paid.