Best free AI note takers for interviews in 2026
On this page
As of October 2026, the free AI note takers that hold up in job interviews are Fathom Free (unlimited recordings and transcripts), tl;dv Free (unlimited recordings, full AI notes on your first 10 meetings), Granola Basic (bot-free, 30 days of history), Tactiq Free (10 transcripts a month), Otter Basic (300 minutes a month, 30 minutes per call), Fireflies Free, Read.ai Free (5 transcripts a month) and Metaview Free (25 calls a month). None of them is free in every direction: each caps call length, monthly volume, AI summaries or how long your notes are kept.
This page is about the free plans only: what each one allows in interview terms, which ones work without a bot, and when a free plan stops being enough. For paid prices side by side, see AI interview note-taker pricing. We make Interview Signal, one of the tools below; everything about the other products comes from their own sites, linked and dated.
Which free AI note takers work for interviews?
All limits as published on each vendor's pricing page or help center, checked as of October 2026. "Not listed" means we did not find it on the vendor's site.
| Tool | How it captures the call | Bot or no bot | Phone screens | ATS links | Free plan, as published | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom | Joins the meeting, or records on your Mac | Bot, or bot-free in beta (Mac only) | Not listed | None named (CRM syncs only) | Unlimited recordings and transcriptions; action items "limited use" | High interview volume on video at no cost |
| tl;dv | Desktop app on system audio; Chrome extension for Meet and Teams | No bot with the desktop app | Not listed | Greenhouse (plan not stated) | Unlimited recordings and transcripts; full AI notes on first 10 meetings; recordings kept 3 months | Keeping recordings of every call for a few months |
| Granola | Device audio on desktop or phone | No bot | Mobile app covers phone calls | None named | No meeting cap stated; 30 days of history | Bot-free notes on recent interviews |
| Tactiq | Chrome extension in the browser meeting | No bot | Not listed | None named | 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits a month | A few browser-based interviews a month |
| Otter.ai | Notetaker joins Zoom, Teams and Meet, or desktop app records | Either | Zoom Phone and RingCentral integrations listed | Greenhouse via its Recruiting Agent (plan not stated) | 300 minutes a month; 30 minutes per conversation | Short screens of 30 minutes or less |
| Fireflies.ai | Bot joins; Chrome extension (Meet only) or desktop app without the bot | Either | Desktop app captures calls through FaceTime (Mac) or Phone Link (Windows) | Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable, Loxo, Gem | 3 transcriptions, unlimited with Auto Join; 400 minutes of storage; 20 one-time AI credits | Testing accuracy before a team buys |
| Read.ai | Read Assistant joins; botless Google Meet integration; desktop app | Either | Not listed | None named on pricing page | 5 transcripts a month; 1 hour per meeting | Occasional Google Meet interviews |
| Metaview | Notetaker bot joins Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex | Bot | Call the Metaview switchboard | Long list including Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Bullhorn | 25 calls a month, basic transcription | Recruiters who want a recruiting-specific tool for free |
| Interview Signal | Desktop app captures audio on your computer | No bot | Yes, through the computer's audio | None (copy or paste) | 20 minutes of transcription, no card (a trial, not a plan) | Trying a scorecard-and-submittal workflow on one real screen |
Sources, as of October 2026: Fathom bot-free capture; tl;dv free plan limits and Greenhouse page; Granola homepage; Tactiq Chrome extension; Otter integrations, desktop app and Recruiting Agent; Fireflies desktop app, Chrome extension, integrations and recruiting page; Read.ai botless Meet post; Metaview AI Notes FAQ and integrations.
What does each free plan actually give an interviewer?
Fathom Free
Fathom calls its Free plan "free forever" and lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions with instant AI call summaries; action items and account-wide search are marked "limited use" without a number. Capture is by bot, or bot-free in beta on Mac only (Fathom pricing, as of October 2026). Best for: a recruiter on video calls who wants every interview transcribed without counting minutes. Watch for: no ATS integration is named, and on Windows the bot is the only option.
tl;dv Free
tl;dv's help center says the Free plan gives unlimited recordings and transcripts, but only your first 10 meetings get full AI notes; after that, automatic notes cover the first 10 minutes of each meeting. Free recordings are kept for 3 months, the AI limits apply for the lifetime of the account rather than renewing monthly, and every plan caps a meeting at 3 hours (tl;dv help). Its desktop app records system audio on Mac and Windows with no meeting bot. Best for: keeping full transcripts of every interview for a hiring cycle. Watch for: after ten meetings the AI summary covers only the opening minutes, which in an interview is mostly small talk.
Granola Basic
Granola's Basic plan costs nothing, captures device audio with no bot on every plan, and shows 30 days of meeting history (Granola pricing). Its security FAQ says that on Free and Business plans anonymised data may be used to improve Granola's models by default, with an opt-out toggle in settings (Granola FAQ). Best for: hiring managers who want clean notes on this month's interviews. Watch for: turn the training toggle off before the first candidate call, and copy notes into your scorecard within 30 days.
Tactiq Free
Tactiq Free includes 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits a month for one user. Its FAQ says that when you reach the limit, Tactiq keeps transcribing but AI features pause until the next month (Tactiq pricing). It runs as a Chrome extension with no bot. On Zoom it works only when you join in Chrome or Edge and needs Zoom's automated captions turned on by the host (Tactiq help). Best for: a few browser-based interviews a month. Watch for: it depends on how you join the call, so test it on a client-hosted Zoom before relying on it.
Otter Basic
Otter Basic gives 300 transcription minutes a month per user, caps each conversation at 30 minutes, keeps your 25 most recent conversations and allows 3 lifetime file imports (Otter pricing). Its desktop app for Mac and Windows records without a bot (Otter desktop). Best for: 20 to 30 minute phone or video screens. Watch for: a 45-minute interview stops being transcribed at minute 30.
Fireflies Free
Fireflies' help center lists 3 free meeting transcriptions by default, with unlimited transcriptions unlocked by turning on Auto Join, 400 minutes of storage per seat, 20 one-time AI credits and recording up to 2 hours per meeting (Fireflies free tier). Auto Join means the Fireflies bot joins your calendar meetings. Best for: checking transcript accuracy on your own accents and roles before a team buys. Watch for: 400 minutes is about thirteen 30-minute screens before you must delete older ones.
Read.ai Free
Read.ai Free includes 5 transcripts and 5 reports a month with a one-hour maximum meeting length (Read.ai pricing). In a post dated March 26, 2026, Read.ai said its botless Google Meet integration is free and that all Google integrations are on the free plan (Read.ai). Best for: occasional Google Meet interviews. Watch for: five transcripts is roughly one week of light interviewing.
Metaview Free
Metaview's Notetaker Free plan covers 25 calls a month with basic transcription (Metaview pricing). It is the only recruiting-specific tool here with a permanent free plan. A bot joins video calls, and phone calls go through the Metaview switchboard (Metaview FAQ). Best for: a recruiter with about one interview a working day who wants recruiting-shaped notes. Watch for: candidates and client hosts see the bot.
Interview Signal (trial, not a free plan)
Ours gives 20 free minutes of transcription with no card, which is enough to run one short screen through the full workflow: question guide, scorecard with the candidate's quotes, and a submittal. After that, hour packs start at $9 for one hour and never expire (pricing, as of October 2026). It has no ATS integration and is desktop-only. Best for: deciding whether a structured scorecard is worth paying for, not ongoing free use. The walkthrough shows the workflow without installing anything.
Which free note taker works without a bot?
If a visible participant is a problem for your candidates or your clients, the free options narrow to Granola Basic, Tactiq Free, tl;dv's desktop app, Otter's desktop app, Fireflies' desktop app, Fathom's Mac beta and Read.ai's botless Meet integration. Microsoft Teams now detects external bots and holds them in the lobby by default until the organizer admits them (Microsoft Learn), so on Teams interviews a bot-based free plan may simply not get in. Our guide to AI note takers without a bot explains how device-audio capture works and its trade-offs.
What do free plans leave out that interviews need?
- Retention you control. Free history ranges from 25 conversations (Otter) to 30 days (Granola) to 3 months of recordings (tl;dv). If your hiring process runs longer, export notes into your ATS or scorecard as you go.
- Long calls. Per-call caps of 30 minutes (Otter Basic) and one hour (Read.ai Free) cut off panel interviews and technical rounds.
- Structured output. General note takers produce meeting summaries. They do not score answers against your criteria, so you still write the scorecard; our scorecard template helps.
- Data settings. Check training defaults (Granola's opt-out toggle is one example) and who can see shared notes before you record a candidate.
- Consent tools. No free plan gives a candidate notice for you. Say it out loud first; the consent script has wording.
How many interviews can a free plan cover?
As an example, take a recruiter who runs eight 30-minute screens and two 60-minute interviews a week, which is 360 minutes a week. Against the published limits:
- Otter Basic: 300 minutes a month runs out in the first week, and both 60-minute interviews stop at 30 minutes.
- Read.ai Free: 5 transcripts covers half of week one.
- Tactiq Free: 10 transcripts covers about week one; AI features then pause.
- Metaview Free: 25 calls covers about two and a half weeks.
- Fireflies Free: 400 minutes of storage fills in about a week, so you delete as you go.
- Fathom, tl;dv and Granola: no monthly meeting cap, but tl;dv's full AI notes stop after ten meetings and Granola hides anything older than 30 days.
A light user, such as a hiring manager with three interviews a month, fits inside almost every free plan. A full-time recruiter does not, which is the point at which the paid plans are worth comparing.
Which free plan should you pick?
- Most interviews on video, no budget: Fathom Free or tl;dv Free.
- No bot allowed: Granola Basic, or Tactiq Free if you join meetings in Chrome.
- Short screens only: Otter Basic.
- Recruiting-shaped notes and an ATS list: Metaview Free, if a bot is acceptable.
- Mainly Google Meet: Read.ai Free with its botless Meet integration, or Meet's own transcripts if your Workspace edition has them (see Google Meet interview transcription).
- Testing a scorecard and submittal workflow: the Interview Signal trial.
Whichever you choose, run it on a real interview with a colleague first, read the transcript for names, numbers and dates, and confirm where the notes are stored before a candidate's words go into it. Limits change often, so recheck the vendor's page on the day you sign up.
Questions people ask
Is there a completely free AI note taker for job interviews?
Yes, several have free-forever plans as of October 2026. Fathom's Free plan lists unlimited recordings and transcriptions, tl;dv's Free plan gives unlimited recordings and transcripts, and Granola's Basic plan has no stated meeting cap. Each limits something else, such as AI notes, how long recordings are kept, or how far back your history goes.
Which free AI note taker works without a bot joining the interview?
Granola Basic captures device audio with no bot, Tactiq's Chrome extension transcribes without a bot, tl;dv's desktop app records system audio without a bot, and Fathom offers bot-free capture in beta on Mac. Read.ai has a botless Google Meet integration that it says is available on its free plan.
Is Otter's free plan enough for interviews?
Only for short calls. Otter Basic gives 300 transcription minutes a month and caps each conversation at 30 minutes, so a 45-minute interview is cut off and about ten 30-minute screens use up the month. It also keeps only your 25 most recent conversations.
What do free AI note takers leave out for recruiters?
Usually long retention, exports, ATS integrations, structured scorecards and admin controls. Some free plans also use your data to improve the vendor's models by default unless you opt out, so check the privacy settings before recording candidates.