A client call starts, and somewhere in the participant list a bot with a name like “Otter Assistant” or “Fireflies Notetaker” quietly joins. Everyone keeps talking. Nobody stops to ask whether the client noticed, or whose job it was to tell them. The bot does not ask permission to be there, and the vendor’s pricing page will not say who is responsible for asking on your behalf. That question, not the free plan’s minute cap, is what a team needs to settle before the next call.
The minutes cap is not the risk on this call
Otter’s free tier caps transcription at 300 monthly minutes per user, per otter.ai/pricing (fetched 2026-09-26). Fireflies’ free tier does not cap transcription minutes but caps free storage at 400 minutes per team and recording length at two hours per call (fireflies.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-26). Fathom’s free plan advertises unlimited recordings and transcriptions with no stated minute ceiling (www.fathom.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-26). Those numbers matter for choosing a plan, and this site already worked through that math in transcription pricing per finished minute. This post does not repeat it. It answers a narrower question: once the bot joins, where does the recording go, who can see it, and who was supposed to tell the client it exists.
Prices verified 2026-09-26. This is not Watchdog data and is not on followedapp’s re-verification schedule.
Who tells the client the bot is recording
None of the three vendors’ pricing or marketing pages promise to obtain a client’s consent on a team’s behalf. What they document is narrower: a bot that shows up with a name attached. Fireflies publishes a support FAQ answering “Can I customize the Fireflies Notetaker bot name?”, confirming the bot appears as a named, renameable participant, and separately lists a way to record Google Meet via Chrome extension “without Fireflies bot,” a feature that only makes sense if the default method is a visible bot joining the call (fireflies.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-26). Otter’s marketing draws the same line from the other side: its desktop app is pitched for “bot-free meetings,” letting a user “record conversations directly from your Mac or Windows desktop, without bots joining the call,” an implicit admission that its standard mode is a bot that does join (otter.ai, fetched 2026-09-26). Fathom’s pricing page frames the same choice as a plan feature: “Choice of bot-free (in beta) or bot capture” on its free tier (www.fathom.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-26).
A bot’s name in a participant list is a platform-level notice, not informed consent, which requires the client to understand what is recording and what happens to it afterward, and to have agreed before the call starts. None of the three vendors’ marketing copy claims to close that gap. The team on the call is the only party positioned to do it.
What each privacy policy says happens to the recording
| Vendor | Retention | Third-party sharing | Model training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter | No fixed window. Stores information “for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes… or for as long as we are required to do so by law” (otter.ai/privacy-policy, fetched 2026-09-26). | Discloses meeting and uploaded information to cloud, data-labeling, and AI service providers for backend support. | Yes. Lists training its proprietary AI on de-identified audio recordings and transcriptions as a stated purpose, with no opt-out named. [EVIDENCE NEEDED: an in-product opt-out for training use] |
| Fireflies | Account data deleted “within 30 days” of closure. Meeting content follows the stricter clause at right (fireflies.ai/privacy-policy, fetched 2026-09-26). | States a “Zero Data Retention” policy for meeting content: not “stored by any third-party vendor after processing” or “accessed by any third-party vendor once the service is completed.” | No. “We do not use personal information for AI model training and we contractually prohibit our vendors from using this information for their own model training.” |
| Fathom | No fixed window. Same “for as long as necessary… or as required by law” language (www.fathom.ai/privacy, fetched 2026-09-26). | May share a recording copy with “other meeting participants” per a user’s “automatic sharing configurations.” States it does not sell meeting content. | Yes, for its own models, with an opt-out in account settings. Explicitly bars named third parties, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, from training on this data. |
What a new recording is visible to by default
Fireflies describes a configurable surface rather than one stated default: a recap can be shared “via a link, with workspace teammates, with meeting participants, or keep it visible only to you,” but the policy does not say which option ships before an admin changes anything. [EVIDENCE NEEDED: Fireflies’ factory-default sharing scope] Fathom’s policy says a recording “may share a copy of that meeting with other meeting participants” through automatic sharing configurations, implying that behavior is built in rather than opt-in. On Team, Business, and Enterprise plans, an individual cannot request deletion of their own data directly; that routes through “the Customer administrator,” meaning recordings on paid workspace plans sit under admin control by design. Otter’s privacy policy does not state a default visibility scope. [EVIDENCE NEEDED: Otter’s documented default workspace visibility]
The practical fix is the same regardless of vendor: before the call, confirm the recording lands in a folder or workspace scope limited to the people on that deal, rather than trusting whatever the account shipped with. It is the same audit habit this site described for what a browser extension can actually see on a team laptop, applied to a recording instead of a permission grant.
Deleting a recording after the call
- Otter: erasure runs through a privacy request, not a documented self-serve per-recording delete button. Deleted files are made “irrecoverable or irreproducible” and “permanently deleted.” [EVIDENCE NEEDED: whether a deleted recording is purged from any de-identified training corpus]
- Fireflies: account holders delete directly in account settings, the distinction this site drew for sharing account access without sharing a password, applied here to a recording instead of a login. A non-host participant must “reach out to the meeting host to request deletion.” Given Fireflies’ Zero Data Retention policy, no separate backup or training copy is described as surviving deletion.
- Fathom: a user can delete their account any time; Fathom then makes “commercially reasonable efforts to delete your recordings and personal information within 30 days,” without guaranteeing that window. [EVIDENCE NEEDED: whether training data from a deleted recording is removed retroactively]
Saying it out loud before the bot joins
A short line said at the top of a call, or pasted into the calendar invite beforehand, closes the gap none of the three vendors close on their own. For example: “Heads up, we’re using [Otter/Fireflies/Fathom] to record and transcribe this call for our own notes. Let us know now if you’d rather we not record, and we’ll send you the summary afterward instead.”
If a client declines mid-call, the options depend on the tool. Otter’s own documentation does not describe a pause-without-disconnect control, so stopping means manually ending the bot’s session. [EVIDENCE NEEDED: a documented pause control on Otter’s own page] Fathom’s “bot-free (in beta)” mode avoids a visible bot entirely if decided ahead of time. Fireflies’ Chrome-extension path for Google Meet, “without Fireflies bot,” is the same workaround, limited to that platform. The safest move in any case is manually stopping or leaving the recording tool, not assuming a decline can be handled after the fact.
This is a workflow practice, not legal advice. Consent-law specifics vary by jurisdiction, including whether a call counts as one-party or two-party consent, and this post does not verify or assert any particular rule.
FAQ
Do AI notetaker bots get consent from everyone on the call?
No. Each vendor documents a presence notice at most: a named, renameable bot in the participant list (Fireflies), or marketing that acknowledges the standard mode involves “bots joining the call” (Otter). None describe the bot obtaining a client’s informed consent. That step has to come from the host, out loud, before recording starts.
Are client call recordings used to train the vendor’s AI models?
It depends on the vendor. Otter’s policy names training its models on de-identified recordings and transcriptions as a stated purpose, with no opt-out named. Fireflies states meeting content is never used for AI training, by itself or its vendors. Fathom trains its own models on de-identified content, with an account-settings opt-out, while barring named third parties like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google from doing the same.
How long do Otter, Fireflies and Fathom keep a recording?
Otter and Fathom both store information “for as long as necessary” or as required by law, with no fixed day or month count published on either policy page (fetched 2026-09-26). Fireflies is the one vendor with a specific number: account data is deleted “within 30 days” of closure, while meeting content falls under its Zero Data Retention policy instead.
Can a client ask to have their recording deleted?
It depends on who is asking. Otter and Fathom route deletion through an account-level privacy request, with Fathom naming a 30-day target it does not guarantee. Fireflies gives account holders self-serve deletion, but a client or other non-host participant has to ask the meeting host to request it.
Sources
- Otter.ai pricing page, fetched 2026-09-26
- Otter.ai privacy policy, fetched 2026-09-26
- Fireflies.ai pricing page, fetched 2026-09-26
- Fireflies.ai privacy policy, fetched 2026-09-26
- Fathom pricing page, fetched 2026-09-26
- Fathom privacy policy, fetched 2026-09-26