Noteary vs Fathom
Fathom is a free notetaker bot for your video calls. Noteary is private AI memory for everything you hear — appointments, lectures, interviews, calls, and the ideas you almost forgot — that you record yourself. Here's an honest look at how they differ.
| Capability | Noteary | Fathom |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Everyday memory — meetings, appointments, lectures, interviews, phone calls, and voice notes. | A free AI notetaker for video meetings. |
| How it records | You record on your own device, with a clear recording indicator visible the whole time. | A notetaker bot joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams call to record and transcribe it. |
| Ask your memory | Ask any question in plain English across everything you've ever recorded — answered only from your recordings, with a link back to the exact moment. | AI summaries and the ability to search within your recorded meetings. |
| Summaries & action items | Summary, key dates, action items, and an outline — tuned to whether it was a doctor visit, a lecture, or an interview. | Meeting summaries, action items, and highlight clips, plus CRM and note-taking app sync. |
| Where it runs | Native macOS menu-bar app, iOS app, and the web. | A desktop app and browser extension built around joining video calls. |
| Recording consent | Noteary never supports covert recording — a consent reminder appears before every capture. | Governed by Fathom's own product design and policies. |
| Retention control | You choose: keep forever, or auto-delete after 30, 90, or 365 days. Deleting purges the audio file, not just the row. | Retention and storage depend on your plan. |
| Training on your data | Never used to train any AI model. Audio goes only to commercial inference APIs under terms that exclude training. | Governed by Fathom's own privacy policy. |
| Encryption | AES-256-GCM at rest and TLS in transit. | Encrypted in transit and at rest. |
Fathom is a trademark of Fathom Video, Inc. Noteary is not affiliated with or endorsed by Fathom. The Fathom column reflects that product's own publicly stated positioning; features and plans change, so check Fathom's own site for the latest.
More than a meeting bot.
Beyond meetings
Fathom is built for video call meetings. Noteary is memory for everything you hear — the appointment, the lecture, the quote, the idea you almost forgot.
You record — no bot in the room
Instead of a notetaker bot joining your call, you capture on your own device with a recording indicator everyone can see. Nothing joins uninvited, and nothing depends on the call being a supported video platform.
Privacy-first by design
Recording is always visible, never covert. You control retention, nothing trains an AI model, and your audio is encrypted at rest.
Questions, answered.
Is Noteary a replacement for Fathom?
It depends on what you need. If your world is video calls on Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams, Fathom is purpose-built for that. If you want a private memory for everything you hear — appointments, classes, interviews, phone calls, and voice notes, not just video meetings — that's exactly what Noteary is built for.
Does Noteary work for meetings too?
Yes. Meetings are one of Noteary's use cases — you get a summary, key dates, action items, and an outline the moment the recording finishes, and you can ask questions about it later.
Does Noteary send a bot to join my calls?
No. You record on your own device with a visible recording indicator — nothing joins your call as a bot, and it works on ANY conversation, not just a video call on a supported platform.
How is Noteary more privacy-first?
Recording is always visible — Noteary never supports covert capture and shows a consent reminder before every recording. You decide how long recordings are kept, deletion permanently purges the audio, and nothing you record is ever used to train an AI model.
Can I ask questions across all of my recordings?
Yes. Ask your memory anything in plain English and Noteary answers only from what you actually recorded, with a link back to the exact moment it was said.
Try memory that goes beyond meetings.
Free to start — 15 recordings a month, no credit card. Record anything, then ask it anything later.