Backchannel vs Fathom

Backchannel is a self-hosted, open-source AI meeting assistant that captures local audio and produces live speaker-attributed transcripts and meeting insights without joining calls as a bot. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and in-person meetings. Five live agents can surface questions, objections, opportunities, and action items, while briefing lenses and an arbiter prepare a post-call summary. Users can ask questions against the live transcript while recording continues and save answers with the call. Model options include Google Gemini, OpenAI, local ONNX Whisper and Parakeet, and compatible servers such as Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, and LiteLLM. Recordings and transcripts remain on the user’s server, according to the maker. Desktop builds are listed for Windows x64, macOS Apple Silicon, and Linux x64, with Docker Compose for full self-hosting. The free plan has no hosted tier, seat pricing, or feature paywall, though hardware and configured API usage may cost extra.

Fathom captures and transcribes meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. It can use bot or bot-free capture, then provide transcripts, summaries, and action items. The free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI call summaries, clips, playlists, and search. Fathom lists support for 38 transcription languages, speaker labels, and calendar integrations. Paid plans add advanced summaries, AI-generated action items, a conversational meeting assistant, or a custom meeting bot. The Free plan is free forever. Premium costs $16.00 per month with annual pricing. Team is $15.00 per month and Business is $25.00 per month, both with a two-user minimum and annual pricing. The pricing note lists paid plans from $15 per user per month on an annual basis. Enterprise has no listed price and includes organization-wide security controls, SSO and SCIM provisioning, custom data retention programs, and dedicated support options.