In this guide
Guide

Meeting Notes Tools: What Gets Transcribed vs. What Gets Kept

Cuong M. Tran

Quick answerTranscription and storage are two different promises. A tool can transcribe everything you say and still let none of it leave — or export the transcript but drop the recording. Check `data_export` for meeting tools the same way you'd check it for anything else: what actually leaves the tool if you stop paying for it.

What “transcribed” doesn’t tell you

Most meeting tools advertise transcription accuracy — word error rate, language support, speaker labels. None of that tells you what happens to the transcript after the meeting ends. Some tools keep it forever on a free plan. Some purge it after 30 days unless you’re on a paid tier. Some transcribe live but only let you export a summary, not the full text.

Three things to check before you rely on a tool for meeting records

  1. Does the transcript survive if you cancel? (data_export)
  2. Does the recording export too, or only the text?
  3. Is there a retention window — and does it apply to free plans specifically?

Meetings & Notes tools, by export level

Embedded from the directory
ToolKind of freeReal limitData export
Otter.aiPerpetual free plan300 transcription minutes/month, 30-minute max meeting length, 3 lifetime file imports, 1 concurrent meeting, 20 AI chat queries, TXT export onlychecked 19-08Checked 3 months ago — see current price →Full export
Fireflies.aiPerpetual free plan400 minutes of storage per team, 20 AI credits, unlimited transcription and AI summaries, 100+ language transcription — transcript and recording downloads require Pro or higherchecked 19-08Checked 3 months ago — see current price →Full export
GrainPerpetual free planView team meetings and AI notes on up to 20 meetings; free non-recording 'viewer' seats are unlimitedchecked 19-08Checked 3 months ago — see current price →Full export + API
FathomPerpetual free planUnlimited recordings and transcriptions; choice of bot-free (beta) or bot-based capture; instant AI call summaries; clips, playlists, and search across callschecked 19-08Checked 3 months ago — see current price →Partial export
tl;dvPerpetual free planUnlimited recordings, auto-archived after 3 days and deleted after 3 months; full-meeting AI notes for the first 10 meetings ever, then limited to the first 10 minutes per meeting; 10 lifetime AI prompts; 10 lifetime AI reportschecked 19-08Checked 3 months ago — see current price →Partial export
MeetGeekPerpetual free plan3 hours transcription/month, 3 months transcript storage, 1 month audio storage; unlimited AI summaries; does not include transcript, video, or audio downloadschecked 19-08Checked 3 months ago — see current price →Full export + API

Pulled from the directory — updates automatically.