{
    "title": "Read AI Alternatives 2027: 11 Paid, Free & Open-Source",
    "url": "https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/read-ai/",
    "summary": "The best Read AI alternatives in 2027 are Otter.ai (best overall, $8.33/user/mo billed yearly), Fathom (best free plan) and Meetily (best open source, MIT). Read AI itself starts at $15/user/mo billed yearly. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 13 Nov 2026; 8 more are compared below, including 5 with a free plan and 2 open source.",
    "tool": {
        "name": "Read AI",
        "starting_price": "$15/user/mo billed yearly",
        "free_plan": "5 meeting transcripts a month, 1-hour meetings",
        "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
        "pricing_url": "https://www.read.ai/pricing"
    },
    "task": "AI meeting notes",
    "prices_checked": "2026-11-13",
    "date_modified": "2026-11-13",
    "alternatives": [
        {
            "name": "Otter.ai",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$8.33/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation",
            "best_for": "Live transcripts for individuals and teams",
            "difference": "Otter Pro is $8.33 billed yearly against Read AI Pro's $15, with 1,200 transcription minutes a month and 90-minute meetings; Read AI Pro lists unlimited transcripts and 4-hour meetings.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://otter.ai/pricing",
            "website": "https://otter.ai/",
            "zekai_score": 8.6,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/otter-ai/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Fireflies.ai",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$10/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "Unlimited transcription, 400 minutes storage per team, 20 AI credits",
            "best_for": "Meeting bot across many calling apps",
            "difference": "Fireflies Pro lists unlimited transcription at $10 billed yearly but caps storage at 8,000 minutes per seat and recordings at 2 hours; Read AI Pro includes unlimited storage and 4-hour meetings.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://fireflies.ai/pricing",
            "website": "https://fireflies.ai/",
            "zekai_score": 9.3,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/fireflies/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Fathom",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$16/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "Unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI summaries",
            "best_for": "Free unlimited call recording and summaries",
            "difference": "Fathom's free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, against Read AI Free's 5 transcripts a month, and its Team plan adds HIPAA compliance with a standard BAA from $15 yearly.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://www.fathom.ai/pricing",
            "website": "https://fathom.ai/",
            "zekai_score": 8.8,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/fathom/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Granola",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$14/user/mo",
            "free_plan_limit": "30 days of note history, Slack integration only, Auto chat model",
            "best_for": "Bot-free notes alongside your own typing",
            "difference": "Granola captures device audio with no bot and Business is $14 monthly-only; its free Basic plan keeps 30 days of history, versus Read AI Free's 5 transcripts a month.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://www.granola.ai/pricing",
            "website": "https://www.granola.ai/",
            "zekai_score": 8.6,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/granola-ai/"
        },
        {
            "name": "tl;dv",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$18/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "Unlimited recordings and transcription, AI notes on 10 meetings",
            "best_for": "Free video recorder with AI notes",
            "difference": "tl;dv's free plan lists unlimited video recordings and transcription in 100+ languages with AI notes on 10 meetings; Pro is $18 billed yearly and Read AI Pro is $15.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://tldv.io/pricing",
            "website": "https://tldv.io/",
            "zekai_score": 8.8,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/tldv/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Avoma",
            "type": "Paid",
            "starting_price": "$19/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "No free plan",
            "best_for": "Meeting notes with revenue-team workflows",
            "difference": "Avoma charges only for recorder seats with unlimited free view-only users, and sells Conversation Intelligence and Revenue Intelligence add-ons at $29 per seat yearly; Read AI licenses every user.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://www.avoma.com/pricing",
            "website": "https://www.avoma.com/",
            "zekai_score": 7.9,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/avoma/"
        },
        {
            "name": "MeetGeek",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$9.99/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "3 hours of transcription a month, 3 months transcript storage",
            "best_for": "Meeting analytics with bot or bot-free capture",
            "difference": "MeetGeek Pro lists 20 hours of transcription a month for $9.99 billed yearly, with $0.50 per extra hour; Read AI Pro lists unlimited transcripts at $15 billed yearly.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://meetgeek.ai/pricing",
            "website": "https://meetgeek.ai/",
            "zekai_score": 7.5,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/meetgeek/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Tactiq",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$8/user/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "10 transcripts a month, 5 AI credits a month",
            "best_for": "Browser transcripts for Meet, Zoom, Teams",
            "difference": "Tactiq's Free plan caps transcripts at 10 a month and 5 AI credits; Pro at $8 billed yearly unlocks unlimited transcripts, and Team at $16.67 adds unlimited AI credits.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-13",
            "pricing_url": "https://tactiq.io/pricing",
            "website": "https://tactiq.io/",
            "zekai_score": 7.9,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/tactiq/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Meetily",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "MIT",
            "best_for": "Local Whisper transcription with Ollama summaries",
            "difference": "Meetily is MIT-licensed and transcribes locally with Whisper or Parakeet; Read AI is a hosted service with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS apps and CRM integrations.",
            "repository": "https://github.com/Zackriya-Solutions/meetily",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/meetily/",
            "last_release": "2026-09-12",
            "zekai_score": 8.4,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/meetily/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Muesli",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "MIT",
            "best_for": "Bot-free local notes on Apple Silicon Macs",
            "difference": "Muesli is MIT-licensed, bot-free and Apple Silicon-only (macOS 14.2 or later); Read AI offers Windows, Mac, Android and iOS apps and joins calls as an assistant.",
            "repository": "https://github.com/Muesli-HQ/muesli",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/muesli/",
            "last_release": "2026-11-08",
            "zekai_score": 6.8,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/muesli/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Vexa",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "Apache-2.0",
            "best_for": "Self-hosted meeting bots with transcript API",
            "difference": "Vexa is Apache-2.0 and exposes meeting bots for Google Meet, Teams and Zoom through an API you host; Read AI is a finished product with reports and coaching.",
            "repository": "https://github.com/Vexa-ai/vexa",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/vexa/",
            "last_release": "2026-10-09",
            "zekai_score": 7.8,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/vexa/"
        }
    ],
    "faq": [
        {
            "q": "What is the best alternative to Read AI in 2027?",
            "a": "Otter.ai is the best overall Read AI alternative on this page ($8.33/user/mo billed yearly). For no cost, Fathom has a free plan (Unlimited recordings and transcriptions, instant AI summaries). To self-host, Meetily is open source (MIT)."
        },
        {
            "q": "Is there a free version of Read AI?",
            "a": "Yes. Read AI has a free plan: 5 meeting transcripts a month, 1-hour meetings. Paid plans start at $15/user/mo billed yearly, checked on 13 Nov 2026."
        },
        {
            "q": "Is there a 100% free alternative to Read AI?",
            "a": "Yes. Meetily, Muesli, Vexa are open source and free to self-host. Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Granola, tl;dv, MeetGeek, Tactiq have a free plan with limits, shown in the table."
        },
        {
            "q": "What is cheaper than Read AI?",
            "a": "Tactiq starts at $8/user/mo billed yearly, against $15/user/mo billed yearly for Read AI, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 13 Nov 2026."
        },
        {
            "q": "How much do Read AI alternatives cost for a team of 5?",
            "a": "If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 13 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Tactiq $40/mo, Otter.ai $41.65/mo, MeetGeek $49.95/mo, against Read AI $75/mo for Read AI. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size."
        },
        {
            "q": "Which is better, Otter.ai or Read AI?",
            "a": "Otter Pro is $8.33 billed yearly against Read AI Pro's $15, with 1,200 transcription minutes a month and 90-minute meetings; Read AI Pro lists unlimited transcripts and 4-hour meetings. Choose Otter.ai if you transcribe under 20 hours a month per person and want to pay about half of Read AI Pro yearly. Stay with Read AI if you need meetings over 90 minutes, unlimited transcripts per seat, or video highlights on Enterprise."
        },
        {
            "q": "Why are people leaving Read AI?",
            "a": "The documented reasons are: Read AI Free is capped at 5 meeting transcripts a month and 1-hour meetings, with audio and video file uploads not included (13 Nov 2026); Audio and video playback and video highlights are not in Pro; they start on Enterprise at $22.50 per user billed yearly or $29.75 billed monthly, and HIPAA and SAML start on Enterprise+ (13 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above."
        },
        {
            "q": "What are the best Read AI alternatives?",
            "a": "Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai are the closest paid rivals, Fathom has the strongest free plan, and Meetily or Vexa are open-source options."
        }
    ],
    "publisher": "Zekai (zekaiwork.com) — independently reviewed; prices read on vendor pages on the dates shown.",
    "licence": "Free to quote with a link to https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/read-ai/. Bulk copying or republishing the dataset is not permitted."
}