tl;dv Alternatives: Strong Options Compared

tl;dv caps free AI notes at 10 meetings for life. These four alternatives offer stronger free plans or lower paid prices, compared on features and cost.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-10T19:35:18+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-10T19:35:18+00:00

tl;dv Alternatives: Strong Options Compared

tl;dv records, transcribes and summarizes video meetings on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Its free plan is generous on recording but strict on intelligence. You get unlimited recordings and transcription in over 30 languages, yet full AI notes on only 10 meetings for the life of the account. Pro costs $18 per seat a month billed yearly. If that trade-off does not fit, four alternatives cover the same job with different limits. Fathom has the strongest free plan. Fireflies is the cheapest paid option with deep CRM sync. Otter is the budget pick for live transcripts. Granola suits people who never want a bot on the call.

Why Look for tl;dv Alternatives

The free plan is the main reason people shop around. Recordings are unlimited, but AI notes stop after 10 meetings. After that, only the first 10 minutes of each meeting get AI notes. Ask AI queries are also capped at 10 for the account lifetime. Free recordings are kept for up to 3 months, then scheduled for deletion. Web recordings are capped at 40 per week, and each recording stops at 3 hours. Downloads are blocked on the free plan except for a 4-week window. Pro removes those caps at $18 per seat a month billed yearly, or $29 billed monthly. Business costs $29 billed yearly, or $39 monthly, and adds sales coaching, playbook monitoring and team-wide automation. The jump from Pro to Business is where the price starts to bite. That gap is what the alternatives below exploit.

tl;dv Alternatives at a Glance

Prices are list prices from each vendor's own pricing page, checked in October 2026 by independent reviewers. Confirm the current figure on the vendor site before you buy.

Fathom: Best Free Plan

Fathom is the strongest free option in this group. The free individual plan records and transcribes with no published minute cap and no storage limit. It includes 5 advanced AI summaries a month. That is a monthly allowance, not a lifetime cap like tl;dv's 10 meetings. Fathom works with Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and offers a bot-free mode on Mac. It transcribes in 38 languages, with AI summaries in 7. Paid plans start with Premium at $16 per user a month billed yearly for individuals. Team costs $15 per user a month with a 2-user minimum. Business runs $25 per user a month and adds CRM field sync and coaching scorecards. Fathom's data is hosted in the US only, which matters for teams that need EU hosting. It also offers a 90-day money-back guarantee on paid plans, which tl;dv, Otter, Fireflies and Granola do not match. Pick Fathom if you want the most capable free tier and do not need EU data hosting.

Fireflies.ai: Best for Automation and CRM

Fireflies.ai sends a visible bot into Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other calls to record, transcribe and summarize them. It also captures without a bot through a desktop app, a Chrome extension and a mobile app. The free plan is a test, not an archive. It gives the whole team 400 minutes of storage, a running total that never resets. That covers about six one-hour meetings for the entire team. Transcription is listed as unlimited on the pricing page, but the help center adds conditions. Accounts created on or after September 1, 2026 get only 3 transcribed meetings unless auto-join is switched on. With auto-join on, transcription has no cap. AI summaries are limited, backed by 3 to 10 transcription credits given at sign-up. Each recording stops at 2 hours, and there is no video capture or downloads on the free plan. Pro costs $10 per seat a month billed yearly, or $18 monthly. It adds unlimited AI summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, 720p video capture and all integrations. Business costs $19 billed yearly and adds conversation intelligence and team analytics. Fireflies lists transcription in over 100 languages, the widest in this group. Its native Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive and Zoho sync makes it the sales-team pick. Pick Fireflies if your notes must land in the CRM automatically.

Otter.ai: Budget Pick for Live Transcripts

Otter.ai is the cheapest paid option here. The free plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, with a hard 30-minute cap per conversation and 3 lifetime file imports. That is thin for regular use. Pro costs $8.33 per user a month billed yearly, or $16.99 monthly, and raises the allowance to 1,200 minutes a month. Business costs $20 billed yearly with 6,000 minutes a month. Otter's strength is live transcription. You can read and edit the transcript during the call, while it is still happening. It works through a bot or a desktop app, covers Slack Huddles and in-person meetings, and searches across your whole meeting history. It transcribes in 6 languages, far fewer than tl;dv or Fireflies. CRM sync is thinner than Fireflies, and data is hosted in the US only. Pick Otter if you want the lowest paid price and live, editable transcripts matter more than language coverage.

Granola: Best for Bot-Free Meetings

Granola takes a different approach. It never puts a visible bot on the call. It works from live notes you take during the meeting and turns them into structured summaries afterward. The free Basic tier covers individuals, and Business costs $14 per user a month. The free tier history cap is not publicly stated, so check it before relying on the free plan. Granola suits people who find meeting bots awkward or intrusive, and teams that want notes without a third participant joining the call. It lacks the coaching depth of tl;dv Business or Avoma, and its CRM story is lighter than Fireflies. Pick Granola if the bot itself is the problem you are solving.

Bottom Line

Stay with tl;dv if you want EU-hosted data, strong multilingual transcription and a capable free recording tier, and you can live with the 10-meeting AI note cap or pay $18 a seat for Pro. Switch to Fathom if the free plan matters most, since its 5 AI summaries a month renew while tl;dv's 10 never do. Switch to Fireflies if your notes must sync to a CRM and you want the cheapest capable paid tier at $10 a seat. Switch to Otter if you want the lowest paid price and live transcripts. Switch to Granola if you never want a bot on your calls. Test two of them on real meetings before you pay. Free tiers differ more than paid tiers, and the right limit depends on how you actually meet.