Zoom has a built-in AI note-taking feature called AI Companion that can automatically generate meeting summaries, and there are also dozens of third-party tools that join your Zoom calls to transcribe and summarize everything said. Either approach lets you stop scribbling notes and actually pay attention during meetings. Here’s how to set up both options.
Use Zoom’s Built-In AI Companion
Zoom’s own AI Companion can listen to your meeting in real time and produce a written summary afterward, complete with key topics, action items, and next steps. No extra software required. The feature needs to be turned on before it works, though, and the steps depend on whether you’re an account admin or an individual user.
If you’re an individual user (not an admin), here’s the setup:
- Sign in to the Zoom web portal (zoom.us), not the desktop app.
- Click Settings in the left navigation menu.
- Click the AI Companion tab.
- Under Meeting, toggle on Meeting Summary with AI Companion.
- Check the box for Turn on meeting summary automatically when meetings start if you want it running by default for every call you host.
If you’re an account admin and want to enable it for everyone in your organization, go to Account Management, then Account Settings, then the AI Companion tab. The same toggle and sub-settings appear there. You can also enable it for specific groups through User Management and Groups.
A few useful sub-settings to know about: you can choose who automatically receives the summary (just the host, all participants, or specific people), restrict sharing outside your organization, and toggle email notifications when summaries are shared. Once a meeting ends, the summary typically appears in your Zoom account within minutes.
One important limitation: AI Companion is available on paid Zoom plans. If you’re on the free tier, you may not see the AI Companion tab at all. Also, the feature only works when you’re the host or your admin has enabled it account-wide.
Third-Party AI Meeting Assistants
If you’re not the meeting host, don’t have a paid Zoom account, or want more detailed transcripts than Zoom’s built-in tool provides, a third-party AI meeting assistant is the way to go. These tools typically work by joining your Zoom call as a bot participant (you’ll see it appear in the attendee list) or by running locally on your computer and capturing audio. After the meeting, they deliver a full transcript, a condensed summary, and often a list of action items and decisions.
Several of the most popular options offer free plans:
- Fathom: Free plan available, paid plans from $15/user/month. Works with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams. Often cited as the best free option.
- Otter: Free plan available, paid from $8.33/user/month. Lets you ask questions about past meetings using AI search.
- Fireflies: Free plan available, paid from $10/user/month. Supports the widest range of platforms, including Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, and GoTo Meeting.
- Fellow: Free plan available, paid from $7/user/month. Focuses on data privacy and security.
- MeetGeek: Free plan available, paid from $9.99/user/month.
- tl;dv: Free plan available, paid from $18/user/month. Strong AI-powered search across past meetings.
Tools without a free tier include Avoma (from $19/recorder/month), Equal Time ($15/user/month), and Krisp ($8/user/month). Krisp stands out because it also cleans up background noise during calls, so it doubles as an audio quality tool.
Granola ($14/month after the free plan) takes a hybrid approach: it captures the meeting audio but also lets you type your own notes during the call. Its AI then merges your shorthand with the full transcript to produce richer, more personalized summaries.
How to Set Up a Third-Party Tool
The setup process is similar across most of these tools. You create an account on the tool’s website, connect your calendar (Google Calendar or Outlook), and grant it permission to join your upcoming meetings. Once connected, the tool automatically detects scheduled Zoom calls and joins them at the start time. You don’t need to remember to launch anything.
Some tools, like Krisp and Granola, work differently. They run as desktop apps that capture audio directly from your computer rather than joining the call as a separate participant. This means other attendees won’t see a bot in the meeting, which can feel less intrusive.
After the meeting, you’ll get your notes through the tool’s dashboard, and most will also email you a summary or push it to apps like Slack, Notion, or your CRM. The free tiers usually limit how many meetings you can record per month or how far back you can search your transcript history. Paid plans remove those caps and add features like custom summary templates, CRM integrations, and team-wide transcript libraries.
Participant Consent and Privacy
Whether you use Zoom’s AI Companion or a third-party tool, everyone in the meeting should know they’re being recorded or transcribed. This isn’t just good etiquette. Several jurisdictions require the consent of all participants before a conversation can be recorded, and AI transcription tools that capture audio without clear disclosure can expose you to legal liability.
Zoom’s AI Companion handles this partly for you: when the feature activates, participants see a notification banner in the meeting window. Third-party bots that join as a participant are also visible in the attendee list, and most display a label like “Otter.ai Notetaker” or “Fireflies.ai.” But visibility alone isn’t the same as informed consent. Best practice is to announce at the start of the meeting that you’re using an AI note-taker and give people a chance to object.
If your organization uses these tools regularly, work with your IT team to set AI transcription to off by default and toggle it on only after consent is obtained. This is especially important if your meetings involve sensitive topics, client information, or participants in jurisdictions with strict recording laws.
Choosing the Right Approach
If you host most of your own Zoom meetings and already pay for a Zoom plan, AI Companion is the simplest starting point. There’s nothing extra to install, no additional cost, and the summaries land right in your Zoom account. The trade-off is that you get a summary, not a word-for-word transcript, and the output isn’t as customizable as what third-party tools offer.
Third-party tools make more sense if you attend meetings you don’t host, if you need full transcripts rather than summaries, or if you want to search across months of past meetings. They’re also the better choice if you use multiple video platforms, since tools like Fireflies and Krisp work across Zoom, Meet, Teams, and others. Start with a free plan to test whether the summaries are accurate and useful for your type of meetings before committing to a paid tier.