5 Best AI Meeting Notes Tools for IT Consultants (2026)

Krisp is our pick for most IT consultants: it takes notes without sending a bot into the client's call, cleans up background noise on both sides of the line, and its Advanced plan syncs with ConnectWise. Granola is the lightest bot-free option for solo consultants, Fathom has the most useful free plan, and Otter and Fireflies suit firms that want a shared, searchable archive of every client call.

Prices below were read on 15 October 2026 from each vendor's own pricing page, in USD. Where two prices are given, the lower one is the per-month rate when you pay yearly.

Why IT consultants need a different shortlist

A consultant's meetings are not internal standups. They are discovery calls with a client's IT lead, scoping sessions where a vague request turns into a statement of work, and incident reviews where the exact wording of who agreed to what matters later. Three things follow from that:

• The client controls the meeting. Many enterprise clients block or remove third-party recording bots from Teams and Zoom calls. A tool that records from your own device audio keeps working when the bot is refused at the door.
• Notes need to land in your ticketing or PSA tool. For managed service providers, that usually means ConnectWise, Autotask or HaloPSA, not just a Google Doc.
• Security reviews come with the job. Clients will ask where recordings are stored and whether their data trains an AI model. SOC 2 Type II and a clear no-training policy save you a long questionnaire.

At a glance

1. Krisp: best overall for client-facing IT work

Krisp AI Meeting Assistant started as a noise cancellation app and grew into a full meeting assistant, and both halves matter for consultants. The AI note-taker is bot-free: it records from your computer's audio, so nothing new appears in the client's participant list. It works across Zoom, Teams, Google Meet and in-person meetings, and produces a transcript, a summary and action items after each call. Its noise cancellation removes background noise from your side and from the other side of the call, which is useful when the client's network engineer joins from a data center floor.

The detail that sets it apart for IT firms is on the Advanced plan ($15 per user per month yearly, $30 monthly): a native ConnectWise integration alongside Salesforce, so call notes can follow the client into the PSA where tickets and agreements already live. Core ($8 yearly, $16 monthly) covers unlimited transcription, recording, AI notes and noise cancellation, plus an MCP integration for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.

On security, Krisp lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance, AES-256 encryption at rest, and states that meeting data is never used to train its models. Enterprise adds SSO and SCIM, a choice of data center location, and on-device private transcription.

Watch out: signup expects a Google or Outlook calendar connection by default. Krisp offers a zero-permission option, but you have to ask for it.

2. Granola: best for consultants who take their own notes

Granola takes a different approach: you type rough notes during the meeting, and it fills them out from the transcript afterward, so the summary follows your structure instead of a generic template. Capture is bot-free from device audio, with desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps. Audio is deleted after transcription, and the company is SOC 2 Type II certified.

The free Basic plan keeps only 30 days of meeting history, which is short if you bill by the engagement. Business at $14 per user per month unlocks unlimited history, integrations with Notion, HubSpot, Attio and Zapier, and API access. SSO and Salesforce sit on the $35 Enterprise plan. There is no PSA integration, so MSPs will be copying notes across or wiring up Zapier.

3. Fathom: best free plan

Fathom offers unlimited recordings and transcriptions on its free plan, with instant AI summaries, which is enough for a freelancer who mostly needs a record of each call. You can choose between a meeting bot and bot-free capture, though bot-free is still a beta feature on Mac.

Premium for individuals costs $16 a month yearly or $20 monthly and adds advanced summaries, AI action items and the Ask Fathom assistant. Team plans start at $15 per user per month yearly with a two-user minimum. CRM syncs are built in, but there is no ConnectWise or Autotask connector, and SSO only arrives on Enterprise.

4. Otter: best for live transcription and a shared archive

Otter is one of the oldest names in AI transcription, and its strength is still live transcription with speaker identification, plus AI Chat that searches across past meetings. The bot joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet automatically from your calendar.

The free Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month. Pro costs $8.33 per user per month yearly ($16.99 monthly) with 1,200 minutes and meetings up to 90 minutes. Business removes the meeting limits and adds admin logs and usage analytics. SSO and SCIM require Enterprise with a minimum of 100 users, which rules them out for most consulting firms. For client calls, keep in mind that Otter relies on a bot that the client can see and remove.

5. Fireflies: best for analytics across many client calls

Fireflies records through a bot on Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and more than ten other platforms, or through a Chrome extension without a bot. Its edge is what happens after the call: topic trackers, sentiment and talk-time analytics, and AskFred, an assistant that answers questions across your meeting history.

Pro costs $10 per seat per month yearly ($18 monthly), and Business costs $19 yearly ($29 monthly) with video recording, team analytics and higher API limits. Fireflies lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance and says customer data is not used for AI training. Transcription is strongest in English, with 100 or more other languages in beta.

How we chose

We started from the meeting tools we track on Toolradar and in our best note-taking apps guide on Dupple, then scored each one on what matters in client work: whether it can capture without a bot, whether notes can reach a PSA or CRM, what the vendor states about security and model training, and what a small firm pays per seat. All prices and features come from the vendors' own pricing pages on the date above. If your notes also live in a personal knowledge base, our Notion vs Obsidian comparison covers where to keep them.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a bot-free note-taker for client meetings?

Not always, but it helps. Some clients remove unknown bots from calls or forbid them in their security policy. Krisp and Granola record from your own device audio, and Fathom offers bot-free capture in beta on Mac. Whatever you use, tell participants the call is being recorded and follow your client's rules.

Which AI meeting notes tool integrates with ConnectWise?

Of the five tools here, only Krisp lists a native ConnectWise integration, on its Advanced plan. The others can reach a PSA through Zapier or an API, which takes more setup.

Is there a free AI meeting notes tool good enough for freelancers?

Fathom's free plan, with unlimited recordings and transcriptions, is the most generous. Otter's free plan caps you at 300 minutes a month, and Granola's free plan keeps only 30 days of history.

Do these tools train AI models on my clients' meetings?

Krisp and Fireflies state that customer meeting data is not used to train their models, and Granola lets each user opt out, with a workspace-wide opt-out on Enterprise. Check the current data policy and ask for the SOC 2 report before you record a client under NDA.

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