Fathom is an AI meeting assistant that joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls, records and transcribes the conversation, and produces a clean summary with action items in under 30 seconds after the call ends. Instead of splitting your attention between talking and typing notes, you stay present in the conversation while Fathom handles the record-keeping. This guide covers setting up Fathom and getting the most out of it from your very first meeting.
Fathom joins meetings either as a visible bot participant (labeled “Fathom Notetaker” so everyone can see recording is happening) or, on paid tiers, in a bot-free mode for more discreet capture. It uses your calendar and connected video-conferencing accounts to know which meetings to join automatically, so once it’s set up you don’t have to remember to start it each time.
Fathom vs. Manual Note-Taking
| Manual Notes | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| Attention during the call | Split between talking and typing | Fully present, Fathom records |
| Summary turnaround | Written after the fact, from memory | Ready in under 30 seconds |
| Action items | Manually extracted, easy to miss | Automatically identified |
| Searching past meetings | Scroll through old docs | Ask Fathom directly, or search transcripts |
| CRM updates | Manual data entry | Auto-synced on paid tiers |
What You’ll Need
- A Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams account
- A free Fathom account
- A calendar connected to your video-conferencing tool, for auto-join to work
Step 1: Create Your Account
Step 1Sign up at fathom.ai with a free account. The free plan includes unlimited recordings, transcription, and instant AI summaries with no time limits — it’s genuinely usable long-term, not just a trial.
Step 2: Connect Your Video-Conferencing Tool
Step 2In Fathom’s settings, connect Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. If you use Zoom, make sure to connect your Zoom account specifically inside Fathom’s settings — this is what lets Fathom join Zoom calls correctly.
Step 3: Set Auto-Join Behavior
Step 3Decide whether Fathom should join every meeting on your calendar automatically or only ones you manually invite it to. For internal team meetings you might want auto-join on; for sensitive or external calls, you may prefer to add Fathom manually each time.
Step 4: Let It Record and Just Talk
Step 4Once Fathom joins, you don’t need to do anything else — stay focused on the conversation. You can optionally highlight key moments in real time during the call if you want to flag something for later.
Step 5: Review Your Summary
Step 5Within about 30 seconds of the meeting ending, Fathom generates a summary along with action items pulled directly from the conversation. Review it, then share it to Slack, email, or your notes app in one click.
Step 6: Search and Ask Fathom
Step 6Use the “Ask Fathom” feature to question your entire meeting archive in plain language — for example, “what did we agree on pricing in last week’s call with Acme?” — instead of manually scrubbing through old recordings.
Step 7: Connect Your CRM (Optional, Paid Tiers)
Step 7On Team and Business plans, connect HubSpot, Salesforce, or Close so meeting summaries and action items sync automatically after every call, cutting out manual post-meeting data entry.
The Fathom Workflow at a Glance
Fathom Pricing at a Glance
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Individuals, unlimited recordings and basic summaries |
| Premium | ~$16-20/user/mo | Advanced AI summaries, more integrations |
| Team | ~$15-19/user/mo (2-user min) | CRM sync, shared call search, coaching analytics |
| Business | ~$25-34/user/mo (2-user min) | SSO, custom retention, account-wide AI search |
Things to Try Asking Fathom
- “what were the action items from today’s call?”
- “what did we agree on pricing with Acme last week?”
- “summarize every meeting I had with this client this quarter”
- “find the moment we discussed the launch date”
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Fathom doesn’t auto-join a meeting: Confirm your calendar is properly connected and that auto-join is enabled for that meeting type in settings.
Transcript accuracy seems off: Accuracy drops in noisy environments or with heavy cross-talk — a quieter room and one speaker at a time noticeably improves results.
Fathom has trouble in Microsoft Teams calls: Fathom officially supports Teams but tends to work most reliably with Zoom and Google Meet — double-check your Teams meeting settings if you hit issues.
Recording feels intrusive to participants: Consider switching to Fathom’s bot-free recording mode (paid tiers) for a more discreet setup, or give participants a heads-up before the call.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fathom really free? Yes, the free plan includes unlimited recordings, transcription, and instant AI summaries with no time limit — it’s not just a trial tier.
Is my meeting data secure? Fathom uses end-to-end encryption and maintains SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, and states that customer data isn’t used to train its AI models.
Which meeting platforms does Fathom support? Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are all officially supported.