Looking for a free AI note taker that actually works with Zoom? After testing 15+ tools, I found that only 5 offer genuinely useful free plans. Here is my honest breakdown of which ones are worth your time.
🏆 Top 5 Free AI Note Takers for Zoom (2025)
1. Otter.ai - Best Overall Free Option
Otter.ai remains the gold standard for free meeting transcription. Their free plan includes:
- 600 monthly transcription minutes
- Real-time transcription during Zoom calls
- Basic speaker identification
- Mobile and desktop apps
- Export to text, PDF, SRT
The accuracy is solid at around 85-90% for clear audio. The main limitation? Those 600 minutes disappear fast if you are in back-to-back meetings.
2. Zoom Built-in Transcription - Most Convenient
Zoom native transcription is improving rapidly and it is completely free:
- Unlimited transcription for basic accounts
- Live captions during meetings
- Automatic transcript saving
- Speaker attribution
The catch? Accuracy hovers around 75-80%, and it struggles with accents or background noise. But for simple note-taking, it is hard to beat the convenience.
3. Fireflies.ai - Best for Team Collaboration
Fireflies offers a surprisingly generous free tier:
- 800 minutes of transcription per month
- Smart search through past meetings
- Basic conversation analytics
- Integration with popular tools
The AI summaries on the free plan are basic, but the search functionality is genuinely useful for finding specific discussions later.
4. Krisp - Best for Audio Enhancement
While primarily a noise cancellation tool, Krisp free plan includes:
- 120 minutes of transcription monthly
- Superior audio preprocessing
- Works with any video platform
- Background noise removal
The transcription accuracy is excellent thanks to their audio cleaning, but 120 minutes will not last long for heavy users.
5. Tactiq - Best Chrome Extension
Tactiq works as a Chrome extension and offers:
- 10 free transcriptions per month
- Works with Google Meet, Zoom, Teams
- Basic AI summaries
- Simple setup process
Limited but useful for occasional meetings. The transcription quality is decent, though not as polished as Otter.
📊 Free Plan Comparison Table
Here is how they stack up side-by-side:
• Otter.ai: 600 min/month, 90% accuracy, excellent mobile app
• Zoom Native: Unlimited, 80% accuracy, built-in convenience
• Fireflies.ai: 800 min/month, 85% accuracy, great search features
• Krisp: 120 min/month, 92% accuracy, superior audio quality
• Tactiq: 10 meetings/month, 82% accuracy, easy Chrome extension
