Fellow.app Alternatives: 5 Real Replacements
Fellow’s 5-seat minimum on Pro and 10-seat minimum on Business is the main reason people look elsewhere. Here are the actual tools to consider.
The short answer
- Fathom is the closest functional replacement and has no seat minimum (free unlimited recordings).
- tl;dv is cheaper than Fellow with similar features and no seat minimum.
- Otter is the pick if transcription accuracy is your priority.
Why people switch away from Fellow
The single biggest reason people search for Fellow alternatives in 2026 is the 5-seat-minimum on Pro (and 10-seat on Business). For solo professionals and teams of 2–4, Fellow Pro is unavailable, you’d be paying for seats you don’t need. Other common reasons: pricing creep, wanting better AI transcription, or wanting a free unlimited tier.
5 real Fellow alternatives
Each of these actually does the same job as Fellow. Pick by which version of the job you need.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Fathom | You want a free unlimited tier | Free unlimited recordings; Team Edition $19/user/mo |
| tl;dv | You want Fellow features at a lower price point | Free tier with unlimited recordings; paid from $18/user/mo |
| Otter.ai | You want best-in-class real-time transcription and live captions | Free (300 min/mo); Pro $8.33/user/mo annual |
| Notta | You work across 50+ languages | Free tier; Pro from $14.99/mo |
| Krisp | You want noise cancellation plus meeting notes | Free tier; Pro $8/user/mo |
Best for: You want a free unlimited tier
Pricing: Free unlimited recordings; Team Edition $19/user/mo
Where they beat Fellow: Unlimited free recordings, summaries, and storage, no seat minimum, no monthly cap
Best for: You want Fellow features at a lower price point
Pricing: Free tier with unlimited recordings; paid from $18/user/mo
Where they beat Fellow: Generous free tier; cheaper than Fellow at every paid tier; no seat minimum
Best for: You want best-in-class real-time transcription and live captions
Pricing: Free (300 min/mo); Pro $8.33/user/mo annual
Where they beat Fellow: Strongest real-time captions and speaker recognition; better for accessibility use cases
Best for: You work across 50+ languages
Pricing: Free tier; Pro from $14.99/mo
Where they beat Fellow: Multilingual transcription in 58 languages with real-time translation
About MeetingToll (we're not on the list above)
MeetingToll isn’t on this list because we’re not a meeting notes / agenda tool. Fellow runs the meeting (agendas, action items, transcription). We track what the meeting costs in dollars. Different category. If you want to replace Fellow, pick one of the five above.
A separate question worth asking
Whatever notes tool you pick, the meeting itself still costs money. MeetingToll shows that cost live during the call, useful if you’re trying to actually reduce meeting volume, not just take better notes on the ones you have.
MeetingToll dashboard, meeting cost breakdown, separate category from Fellow.
See what your meetings cost
Free Chrome extension. Runs alongside any meeting notes or calendar tool.
Real questions
Only the questions actually worth asking, not padded to a number.
Why is Fellow’s 5-seat minimum a problem?
Because Fellow Pro requires a minimum of 5 seats, billed annually. So a team of 3 wanting Pro features pays for 5 seats, effectively a ~67% surcharge. The 10-seat minimum on Business is worse. For solo and small teams, Fellow’s pricing structure doesn’t scale down well. Most alternatives on the list above have no seat minimum.
Which Fellow alternative is closest to a 1:1 replacement?
Fathom and tl;dv are the closest functional replacements. Fathom wins on the unlimited free tier; tl;dv has slightly more meeting-management features and integrations. If transcription accuracy is your priority, Otter is stronger than either.
Is Fellow Free enough for small teams?
Fellow Free is capped at 5 recordings per user and lacks AI Copilot, useful for trying the product but not viable as a long-term tool. If you need the actual features, you either upgrade to Pro (and hit the seat minimum) or switch to an alternative with a more generous free tier.
How does Fellow compare to Otter and Fireflies for transcription specifically?
Fellow’s AI Copilot is competent but Otter and Fireflies are stronger at pure transcription. Fellow’s differentiator is structured meeting management (agendas, templates, action items), not transcription itself. If transcription is your primary need, pick a dedicated transcription tool.
Does any meeting notes tool show meeting cost?
None of the major ones, Fellow, Otter, Fireflies, Read.ai, MeetGeek, Fathom, tl;dv, show the dollar cost of meetings. That’s a separate category. If you want both meeting notes and cost data, you’ll run two tools.
See what your meetings cost (separate from Fellow)
Free Chrome extension shows live meeting cost during Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls.