ParrotChecked 24 September 2026
Parrot vs Fathom
Fathom is a cloud note taker. By default a bot joins your Zoom, Meet or Teams call, and the recording, transcript and summary live in Fathom's cloud. A bot-free mode is in beta on Mac. Parrot records on your Mac with no bot and keeps the audio there. Fathom is stronger for teams sharing video and syncing a CRM. Parrot is for keeping calls on your own machine and getting help during them.
Released 24 Sept 2026. 17 MB. macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. or build from source
The short answer
Pick Parrot if
you'd rather keep calls on your own Mac, want no bot in the room, or want help while you're still talking.
Pick Fathom if
your team wants shared video recordings, CRM sync and a free plan, and you're fine with calls living in the cloud.
The big differences
Price
Parrot
YesFree, no account
Fathom
YesFree plan, unlimited recordings
Where your audio goes
Parrot
YesStays on your Mac
Fathom
NoFathom's cloud
Help during the call
Parrot
YesAnswers from your documents
Fathom
PartlyA live summary, in beta
What help during the call looks like
When the other side asks something your documents cover, the answer appears on a card within seconds, with the file it came from. Open questions stay pinned until you answer them, and a one-line coach tells you how the call is going.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Parrot | Fathom |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy | ||
| Bot in the call | YesNo. It records what your Mac plays and hears. | PartlyYes by default. A bot-free mode is in beta on Mac. |
| Where your audio goes | YesStays on your Mac. Sent out only if you pick Groq or Deepgram for transcription. | NoTo Fathom's cloud, stored in the US until you delete it. |
| Works offline | YesYes, with Whisper and Ollama. | NoNo. Processing happens in the cloud. |
| Open source | YesYes, GPL-3.0. | NoNo. |
| During the call | ||
| Help during the call | YesYes. Answers from your own documents, open questions pinned, a live coach. | PartlyA live summary in the new Mac app (English), talk-time alerts in the bot version. Answers from your documents aren't listed. |
| Choice of AI | YesClaude, Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible server, with your own keys. | NoChosen by Fathom. You can pass meeting data to Claude or ChatGPT through its integrations. |
| Cost and platforms | ||
| Price | YesFree. No paid plan. Cloud AI with your own key costs a few cents per call hour. | YesFree plan with unlimited recordings. Premium is $16 a month billed yearly, or $20 monthly. Team and Business plans for groups. |
| Runs on | PartlyMac only: macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. | YesMac and Windows, for Zoom, Google Meet and Teams. An iPhone app is coming. |
Where Fathom is better
- A generous free cloud plan: unlimited recordings, transcripts and summaries, with nothing to set up.
- It records video, with clips and playlists you can share by link.
- Windows support, and a bot that can record even when your own computer isn't running the app.
- Team features: shared folders, comments, team search and CRM sync.
- Integrations with Slack, Zapier and Make, plus an API.
Where Parrot is better
- No bot in the call and no cloud. Your audio stays on your Mac.
- Answers from your own documents while the call is going.
- Open source, so you can check exactly what it does.
- Works offline with local models.
Try both on the same call
- 1
Keep Fathom
Nothing to cancel or move. Parrot works on its own, next to what you already use.
- 2
Hit record in Parrot on your next call
It records what your Mac hears, so both can record the same call.
- 3
Compare afterwards
Read both sets of notes and keep whichever helped more. Parrot costs nothing to try or to keep.
Questions
- Can I use Parrot and Fathom together?
- Yes. They don't touch each other, and Parrot never joins the call, so it adds nothing the other people can see.
- Why is Parrot free?
- It started as Uygar's own tool for client calls and is open source under GPL-3.0. There are no servers to pay for, because it all runs on your Mac. If you use cloud AI, you pay that provider directly with your own key, usually a few cents per call hour.
- Can I bring my Fathom recordings?
- If you have the audio as a file, yes. Drop it on Parrot and it's transcribed, split by speaker and summarised like a live call. Notes you wrote in Fathom stay there.
- Is Parrot on Windows or iPhone?
- No. Parrot is Mac only: macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. If you need another platform, Fathom is the better pick.
Sources, checked 24 September 2026
Checked on 24 September 2026 against their own pages. Prices and features change, so check before you buy. If something here is out of date, email me and I'll fix it.
