HumlaHumla vs Fathom
Fathom's free tier is generous — but every meeting lives in its US cloud. Humla keeps it on your Mac.
- Free, no account
- Open source, MIT
- Apple Silicon, macOS 13 or later
Which should you pick?
- Pick Humla for privacy, on-device processing, and price.
- Pick Fathom for integrations and its free cloud tier.
How they compare
An honest look. Humla wins on privacy, price, and openness; Fathom leads on integrations and its free cloud tier.
| Humla | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| No bot joins the call | Optional (Mac) | |
| Runs fully on your device | — | |
| Open source (auditable) | — | |
| Bring your own AI key / model | — | |
| Speaker labels (who said what) | ||
| AI summaries & action items | ||
| App integrations (Slack, CRM…) | — | |
| Mobile app | — | iOS soon |
| Price | Free | Free / $15–34/user/mo |
Reflects each product's standard plans as of 2026. Check their sites for the latest.
What you get instead
- Nothing uploaded, ever. Fathom defaults to a visible bot — its newer bot-free mode is Mac-only — and either way every meeting is processed and stored in its US cloud. Humla records your Mac directly and can keep everything on-device.
- Nothing to train on. Fathom uses de-identified customer data to improve its models unless you opt out; Humla never receives your meetings in the first place.
- Open source and yours. Audit every line, bring your own AI provider, or go fully offline — no vendor lock-in.
- Free with optional team sync at $5/user/month.
- Speaks your language. Around 99 languages via Whisper — on-device or with your own key — plus a dedicated Norwegian model and per-language routing.
One meeting, from agenda to recap
Write the agenda, record the call, press Summarize. Your note stays on the left while the transcript and the recap fill in on the right.
Six pages, maybe a new CMS?
Keep the brand palette
Who signs off the budget?
Hanna approves budget, wants qu
Speakers are identified when you stop.
When to pick Fathom instead
Humla isn't for everyone. Choose Fathom if:
- You want an unusually generous free cloud tier — unlimited recordings and storage — plus video capture and CRM integrations.
- You're comfortable with your meetings being stored and processed in Fathom's US cloud.
Fathom vs the field
Weighing Fathom against another tool? These honest head to heads put Humla up as the third option.
Related reading
- What is Meeting bot?A meeting bot is an automated participant that joins a video call to record and transcribe it, appearing in the attendee list like another guest.
- What is On-device transcription?On-device transcription converts speech to text entirely on your own computer, with no audio sent to a cloud service.
- What is Speaker diarization?Speaker diarization is the process of splitting an audio recording into segments by who is speaking, so a transcript can show “who said what.”
- What is AI notetaker vs AI notepad?An AI notetaker records and transcribes a meeting for you; an AI notepad is one you write in yourself while the AI augments your notes with the transcript.
Keep your meetings on your Mac.
Free and open source. Apple Silicon, macOS 13 or later.