Quick answer: We checked the vendor pricing pages of all 24 AI note takers in the Work Insiders directory on September 24, 2026. Prices were readable for 22 of them; 2 were not readable and are left out of every figure below. Of those 22, 11 (50%) have a permanent free plan, 6 (27%) are quote only, and 16 (73%) publish a price. The median cheapest paid seat, across the 10 tools that publish a monthly US dollar seat price, is $16.50. Recruiting note takers cost more than four times as much as general ones: a median of $69.50 per seat (4 tools) against $15 (6 tools).
Who it suits: recruiters, agency owners and talent teams putting a number in next year’s budget, and anyone writing about what interview note takers cost.
What to check: seat minimums, whether the headline price assumes annual billing, and whether the plan writes notes into your ATS. Those three things move the real bill more than the sticker price.
What are the key AI note taker pricing numbers in 2026?
The AI note taker market splits cleanly in two. General meeting note takers such as Otter, Fireflies and Fathom publish low per seat prices and almost all have free plans. Recruiting note takers such as BrightHire, CoRecruit and Honeit cost more, rarely have a free plan, and are far more likely to hide the price behind a demo.
| Metric | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tools checked | 24 | |
| Price not readable (excluded from all math) | 2 | |
| Tools in the math | 22 | 100% |
| Permanent free plan | 11 of 22 | 50% |
| Quote only, no public price | 6 of 22 | 27% |
| Publish a paid price | 16 of 22 | 73% |
| Median cheapest paid seat, USD per month | 10 tools | $16.50 |
| Show an annual discount (of those with a price) | 11 of 16 | 69% |
The AI note taker median of $16.50 per seat sits well below the $49 median across 368 recruiting and HR tools in our pricing statistics study, because cheap general meeting tools dominate the published prices.
How much does every AI note taker cost?
The table below lists all 24 tools as listed in September 2026. “Cheapest paid” is the lowest per seat figure the vendor prints, usually the annual rate. Each tool name links to its Work Insiders listing, and the last column links to the vendor page we read.
| Tool | Type | Free plan (cap) | Cheapest paid | Model | Annual discount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BarRaiser | Recruiting | Yes, 5 interviews total | $75 per interviewer, 5 user minimum | Per seat | 20% | BarRaiser pricing |
| BrightHire | Recruiting | No | Quote only | Quote | Not shown | BrightHire pricing |
| Carv | Recruiting | Not readable | Not readable | Not readable | Not readable | Carv site |
| CoRecruit | Recruiting | No (7 day trial) | $64 per user annual, $85 monthly | Per seat, 12 month minimum | About 25% | CoRecruit pricing |
| Equitas | Recruiting | No | Quote only | Quote | Not shown | Equitas site |
| Fathom | General | Yes, unlimited recordings and summaries | $15 per user annual (Team, 2 user minimum) | Per seat | 25% or more | Fathom pricing |
| Fireflies | General | Yes, unlimited transcription, limited summaries | $10 per seat annual, $18 monthly | Per seat | Up to 44% | Fireflies pricing |
| Gong | General | No | Quote only | Per user plus platform fee | Not shown | Gong pricing |
| Grain | General | Yes, limited free plan | $15 per seat annual, $19 monthly | Per seat | About 21% | Grain pricing |
| HireBrain | Recruiting | Not readable | Not readable | Not readable | Not readable | HireBrain domain |
| HireLogic | Recruiting | No published plan (free signup) | Quote only | Quote | Not shown | HireLogic site |
| HireScribe | Recruiting | Yes, recording and transcription, a few AI summaries | $79 one time license | One time license | Not applicable | HireScribe site |
| Honeit | Recruiting | No (14 day trial, 10 interviews) | $110 per recruiter seat | Per seat, quarterly or annual billing | Volume discounts, no rate shown | Honeit pricing |
| IN2DIALOG | Recruiting | No (free trial link) | Quote only | Quote | Not shown | IN2DIALOG site |
| Lavalier | Recruiting | Yes, 100 credits a month, unlimited users | $499 a month flat, unlimited users | Flat, credit based | 20% | Lavalier pricing |
| Metaview | Recruiting | Yes, 25 calls a month | $60 per user monthly (Notetaker Pro) | Per user, priced by agent | Not shown | Metaview pricing |
| Noota | General | Yes, 300 minutes a month | 19 per user annual, 29 monthly (no currency symbol shown) | Per seat | Up to 50% | Noota pricing |
| Otter | General | Yes, 300 minutes a month | $8.33 per user annual, $16.99 monthly | Per seat | 51% | Otter pricing |
| Read AI | General | Yes, 5 meetings a month | $15 per user annual, $19.75 monthly | Per seat | 25% | Read AI pricing |
| ReCo | Recruiting | No (14 day trial) | €39 per license plus VAT | Per seat, teams of 5 or more quoted | Not shown | ReCo site |
| RecView | Recruiting | No (14 day trial) | A$32.50 per seat annual (Starter, no ATS sync) | Per seat, bands at 4 and 16 seats | Two months free | RecView pricing |
| Screenloop | Recruiting | No | Quote only | Quote | Not shown | Screenloop pricing |
| Superscribe | General | No (free dictation app only) | €49 a month, one seat, 600 minutes | Per seat | Not shown | Superscribe pricing |
| tl;dv | General | Yes, AI notes on 10 meetings | $18 per seat annual | Per seat | 40% (vendor claim) | tl;dv pricing |
Which AI note takers had prices we could not read?
Two of the 24 AI note takers were marked not readable and excluded from every percentage and median. Carv’s pricing link now redirects to a homepage about volume hiring agents with no price, and the HireBrain domain now serves a different HR product. Grain and Metaview load their plan cards with JavaScript, so we read both in a browser on September 24, 2026 and included them.
What share of AI note takers have a free plan?
Eleven of the 22 readable AI note takers (50%) have a permanent free plan rather than a timed trial. The split by type is stark: 7 of 9 general tools (78%) are free to start, against 4 of 13 recruiting tools (31%).
| Group | Readable tools | Free plan | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| General meeting note takers | 9 | 7 | 78% |
| Recruiting note takers | 13 | 4 | 31% |
| All | 22 | 11 | 50% |
Free plan caps vary a lot. Fathom offers unlimited recordings and summaries, and Fireflies unlimited transcription, according to the Fathom and Fireflies pricing pages. Read AI stops at 5 meetings a month, tl;dv at AI notes on 10 meetings, and Otter and Noota at 300 minutes a month. The free AI note takers page keeps the current list.
Among recruiting tools, the free options are narrow. BarRaiser’s Interviewer Lite covers 5 interviews in total, not per month. Lavalier gives 100 credits a month to unlimited users. HireScribe keeps recording and transcription free forever and charges only for unlimited AI write ups.
How many AI note takers hide their price?
Six of the 22 readable AI note takers (27%) are quote only. Five of those six are recruiting tools: BrightHire, Equitas, HireLogic, IN2DIALOG and Screenloop. That is 5 of 13 readable recruiting tools (38%), against 1 of 9 general tools (11%), which is Gong.
Gong at least explains its model. The Gong pricing page says licenses are priced per user, plus a platform fee based on the number of users. The other quote only tools route straight to a demo form.
How much does an AI note taker cost per seat?
The median cheapest paid seat is $16.50 per month, across the 10 AI note takers that publish a monthly US dollar per seat price. Sorted, those prices are $8.33, $10, $15, $15, $15, $18, $60, $64, $75 and $110.
Six more tools publish a price that cannot sit in the same median: HireScribe’s $79 is a one time license, Lavalier’s $499 a month is a flat fee for unlimited users, ReCo and Superscribe price in euros, RecView’s page shows Australian dollars by default, and Noota’s page prints no currency symbol. We kept each in its own currency rather than converting.
How big is the price gap between recruiting and general note takers?
Recruiting AI note takers cost more than four times as much per seat. The median cheapest seat is $69.50 for recruiting tools (Metaview $60, CoRecruit $64, BarRaiser $75, Honeit $110) and $15 for general tools (Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Grain, Read AI and tl;dv). That is a gap of about $55 per seat per month, from small samples of 4 and 6 tools.
The recruiting premium buys specific things. CoRecruit includes ATS sync to Bullhorn, Vincere, Loxo, Crelate and 40 more, plus free VoIP with unlimited US and Canada calling, according to its pricing page. Honeit’s Professional plan adds scorecards and candidate submissions with audio highlights. General tools give you a transcript and summary that you move into the ATS yourself.
What does a five recruiter team actually pay?
A five recruiter team pays anywhere from about $42 to $550 a month for AI note taking, depending on the tool. The figures below multiply the cheapest published seat by five and ignore taxes and add ons.
| Tool | Seat price used | Five seats per month |
|---|---|---|
| Otter Pro | $8.33 annual | $41.65 |
| Fireflies Pro | $10 annual | $50 |
| Fathom Team | $15 annual | $75 |
| Grain Starter | $15 annual | $75 |
| tl;dv Pro | $18 annual | $90 |
| Metaview Notetaker Pro | $60 monthly | $300 |
| CoRecruit Starter | $64 annual | $320 |
| BarRaiser Team | $75, before 20% annual discount | $375 |
| Honeit Professional | $110 | $550 |
Seat minimums change the math for small teams. BarRaiser’s Team plan needs 5 interviewers, so a solo recruiter still pays for five. Fathom’s Team plan needs 2 users, while its Premium plan for individuals is $16 a month on annual billing, according to the Fathom pricing page.
How much does annual billing save on an AI note taker?
Eleven of the 16 AI note takers with a published price show an annual discount, ranging from 20% to 51%. Otter shows the largest gap: $8.33 a month on annual billing against $16.99 monthly. Read AI saves 25%, Grain about 21%, BarRaiser and Lavalier 20%, and RecView advertises two months free.
What do recruiters on Reddit say about note taker pricing?
Recruiters on Reddit mostly weigh a recruiting tool’s templates and ATS sync against a cheaper general tool. In an r/RecruitmentAgencies thread, a new agency recruiter asked whether Fathom and Otter were built for recruiting. Replies split between Metaview, CoRecruit and cheaper general tools, and one commenter called about $60 a month for full Metaview access expensive.
Phone screens come up again and again. In an r/recruiting thread, a recruiter doing most screens by phone said many note takers need a video link to work. Commenters named Metaview’s dial in number, CoRecruit’s VoIP number (described as pricier) and HireLogic’s conference in approach. Several others argued a typed template is enough.
The practical lesson for AI note taker pricing is to price the calls you actually make. If most screens are phone calls, a free video only plan is not really free, because it will not capture the work. The best AI note taker guide covers phone capture tool by tool.
How was this pricing data collected?
We started from the 24 tools in the AI note takers category and fetched each vendor’s pricing page, or homepage where no pricing page exists, on September 24, 2026. Every price in this study comes from that fresh read, not from the directory listing.
A tool counts as having a free plan only when the vendor offers a permanent free tier; trials do not count. A tool counts as quote only when the vendor shows no price and routes to a demo or quote form. “Recruiting” means the product is sold for interviews and candidate calls; “General” means it is sold for meetings of any kind. We classed Noota as general because its cheapest plan is its general meeting plan, and Superscribe as general because its plans are sold for business calls.
Any tool whose paid price we could not read was marked not readable and removed from every calculation, which excluded 2 tools and left 22. The per seat medians use only monthly US dollar per seat figures. Figures in euros or Australian dollars, flat fees and one time licenses are reported but not converted or averaged. Our counts differ slightly from the live category page, which uses the directory’s stored listings.
Quick answers
How much does an AI note taker cost?
The median cheapest paid seat is $16.50 per month across 10 AI note takers with a published US dollar seat price, as listed in September 2026. General tools start from $8.33 (Otter, annual) and recruiting tools from $60 (Metaview Notetaker Pro, monthly).
What is the cheapest AI note taker for recruiters?
Otter is the cheapest paid general option at $8.33 per user a month billed annually. Among recruiting specific tools, HireScribe’s $79 one time license is the lowest outlay, and Metaview’s $60 Notetaker Pro seat is the lowest published monthly seat.
Which AI note takers are free?
Eleven of 22 readable tools have a permanent free plan: Fathom, Fireflies, Grain, Noota, Otter, Read AI, tl;dv, BarRaiser, HireScribe, Lavalier and Metaview.
Is Metaview free?
Metaview’s Notetaker has a free plan with 25 calls a month, and Pro costs $60 per user per month for unlimited calls, according to the Metaview Notetaker pricing. The Metaview listing and the Metaview vs BrightHire comparison track its plans.
How much does BrightHire cost?
BrightHire does not publish a price. Its pricing page lists Recruiters, Teams and Enterprises plans, each behind a demo request.
Why are recruiting note takers more expensive?
Recruiting note takers charge a median $69.50 per seat against $15 for general tools because they add ATS writeback, recruiting templates, scorecards and often phone capture. General tools stop at a transcript and summary.
The bottom line
AI note taker pricing depends mostly on one choice: general or recruiting. General tools cost about $15 a seat and usually start free. Recruiting tools cost about $70 a seat, start free less often, and are far more likely to hide the price. Decide whether ATS writeback and phone capture are worth that gap, then compare shortlisted tools in the note taker guide.
Sources: BarRaiser, BrightHire, Carv, CoRecruit, Equitas, Fathom, Fireflies, Gong, Grain, HireBrain, HireLogic, HireScribe, Honeit, IN2DIALOG, Lavalier, Metaview, Noota, Otter, Read AI, ReCo, RecView, Screenloop, Superscribe, tl;dv, r/RecruitmentAgencies thread, r/recruiting thread