Best AI meeting assistants in 2026: Granola, Otter, Fireflies, Zoom AI Companion and Copilot

AI meeting assistants record, transcribe and summarise your calls so you don’t have to take notes by hand. Some are dedicated tools that plug into whichever video app you use, and some are already built into the platform. This guide compares Granola, Otter.ai, Fireflies, Zoom AI Companion and Microsoft Copilot in Teams, with US prices as of September 2026.

Best AI meeting assistants at a glance

Granola

Granola takes a different approach from most meeting assistants: instead of joining your call as a visible bot, it records audio directly from your computer and combines it with notes you type during the meeting to produce a structured summary afterwards. That makes it less intrusive in calls where a visible recording bot would feel odd. Our guide to What is Granola AI? covers how it works and what it costs.

Otter.ai

Otter.ai is one of the longest-running dedicated transcription tools, and its pricing page lists:

It integrates with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, and Pro adds Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier integrations.

Fireflies

Fireflies’ pricing page lists a Free plan, then paid Pro, Business and Enterprise tiers, each unlocking more storage, video recording and monthly AI credits. Every plan, including Free, gives unlimited transcription and unlimited AI summaries; what changes between tiers is storage (the Free plan keeps only 400 minutes of recordings for the whole team) and a monthly credit allowance for its more advanced AI features, such as AskFred question-answering and automatic highlights, which is higher on Business and Enterprise than on Pro.

Zoom AI Companion

Zoom AI Companion is built into Zoom itself. After a meeting, it generates a summary with key discussion points, decisions and action items, shared with participants automatically. It also offers live transcription in more than 30 languages, Smart Recording that organises long recordings into chapters, and a chat feature that can draft messages or summarise what you missed in a channel. Zoom says these original AI Companion features are included at no extra cost with eligible paid Zoom Workplace plans; a newer, more agentic tier called ZoomMate, launched June 1, 2026, is a separate paid add-on.

Microsoft Copilot in Teams

Microsoft 365 Copilot brings meeting notes into Teams itself: it can summarise a call, pull out action items and answer questions about what was discussed, using the same subscription that also works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. If you already pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot, this is the meeting assistant with no extra sign-up. See our guide to Microsoft Copilot plans explained for the exact prices.

Which AI meeting assistant should you use?

• You want notes without a bot visibly joining the call: Granola.
• You want a generous free plan to try first: Otter.ai or Fireflies.
• You already pay for Zoom: Zoom AI Companion, since it’s likely already included.
• You already pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot: use Copilot in Teams rather than adding another subscription.
• You need unlimited transcription without a per-minute cap: Fireflies’ paid plans, or Otter Business.

For general note-taking and everyday productivity, see our roundup of ways to be more productive with AI, and for the wider agent trend these tools are part of, read AI agents explained.