The best Fathom alternative for meetings in 2026
Fathom is a popular meeting recorder, but it captures calls by having a notetaker join the meeting. Poisely takes the quiet route: it listens to your computer's own audio, so nothing joins the call, nothing shows in the participant list, and your notes stay invisible when you share your screen.
Poisely vs Fathom at a glance
| Poisely | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| How it captures the call | Listens to your computer's audio, nothing joins | A notetaker joins the call to record |
| Shows in the participant list | No, nothing joins | Yes, the notetaker appears as a participant |
| Needs the host to admit it | No permission needed | The notetaker has to join the call |
| On a screen share | Invisible, hidden at the OS level | The app window is visible if you present it |
| Also does live interview help | Yes | No |
| Pricing | $19/mo Pro, $39/mo Max | Free tier plus paid plans (see their pricing) |
What Poisely does in a meeting: it captures the call's audio and your microphone together, shows a live transcript labeled by speaker, then gives you a clean AI summary and clear action items in one click. On Max you can ask questions across your saved meetings.
Where Poisely wins
No notetaker joins your call. Fathom records by adding a notetaker to the meeting. Poisely never joins anything, it listens to the audio already playing on your computer. Nothing to admit, nothing in the participant list, no extra name on a client or candidate call.
No permission, and it works where bots are blocked. Many calls block external participants and notetaker bots. Poisely doesn't join, so there's nothing to approve and nothing to block. It runs on your machine, on any call.
Invisible when you share your screen. The desktop app is excluded from screen capture at the operating-system level, so your transcript, summary, and notes never show up in what you present, even on a full-screen share.
Any platform, no integration required. Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, a Slack huddle, even a phone call on speaker. If the audio plays on your computer, Poisely hears it, with no per-platform bot and no calendar connection.
Both sides, labeled by speaker. It captures your microphone and the call audio together and separates the voices, so the whole conversation is transcribed, in 50+ languages.
Summary and action items, in one click. As soon as a call ends, you get a tight summary and action items with owners. On Max, ask-the-call answers questions across any saved meeting.
One app, two jobs. Poisely is also a live interview copilot, real-time answers in your ear, invisible on screen share. No meeting recorder does that. One tool covers both your meetings and your interviews.
Where Fathom is strong
To be fair: Fathom is popular for a reason, with a generous free experience and a smooth workflow for recording and sharing calls, and it is well suited to sales and customer teams that want every meeting captured and pushed into their other tools. If you want a notetaker that auto-joins each meeting and logs it for a team, that is what Fathom is built for. Poisely is for the person in the call who wants private, bot-free notes that stay off the screen.
Try Poisely free
No notetaker in your call, invisible on screen share, live transcript with an AI summary and action items. Start free, no card needed.
Frequently asked
Does Poisely join my meeting like Fathom? No. Poisely listens to your computer's own audio, so nothing joins the call and nobody sees an extra participant.
Will people know I'm capturing notes? Nothing joins the call and the app is hidden on screen share, so nothing on your side is visible to them. Always follow the recording-consent rules for your region.
Which platforms does it work on? Any call whose audio plays on your computer, Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack huddles, and more.
What does it cost? Meetings are included on Pro ($19/mo, up to 2 meetings a day) and Max ($39/mo, up to 5 a day, plus ask-the-call).