fathom alternative

The offline, open-source Fathom alternative

Fathom is a polished meeting notetaker with a generous free recording tier, but the AI is where it pinches: on the free plan summaries are basic, action items are limited, and the 'Ask Fathom' assistant is restricted to single calls. Unlimited AI needs Premium at $20/month. Its bot joins calls by default (a bot-free desktop capture arrived in Fathom 3.0), and either way your audio is processed in Fathom's cloud.

Dimmy runs everything on your device with no bot and no cloud. The full AI recap, decisions, action items and all, is there on the free build, with no per-call limits. It is open-core, native on macOS and Windows, and the same app also handles dictation and a voice command mode.

On-deviceAI not gatedOpen-source
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side by side

Dimmy vs Fathom

FeatureDimmyFathom
AI recap on the free plan
Full recap free: decisions, action items, open questions, no per-call limit.
Free is basic: limited action items, single-call assistant. Full AI needs Premium ($20/mo).
Where audio is processed
On your device, fully offline.
Cloud SaaS. Bot-free desktop capture still uploads to their servers.
Does a bot join the call?
No, never.
Bot joins by default; bot-free capture added in Fathom 3.0.
Offline / on-device
Yes. Recording, transcription and recap run locally.
No fully offline mode; cloud platform.
Open source
Open-core, AGPL.
Proprietary, closed source.
Dictation + command mode
Yes. System-wide dictation and a voice command mode.
Meetings only. No dictation or voice commands.
Price
Free from source. Pro €4.99/mo. Lifetime €99. Not per-seat.
Free (AI limited). Premium $20/mo; Team $19/user; Business $34/user.
Team minimum
None. Single license, no seats.
Team and Business plans need 2+ users.
Multilingual
99 languages with auto-detection.
25+ languages.
Platforms
Native macOS + Windows.
macOS, Windows, web, iOS.
included limited paid plan only not available
Competitor details verified on vendor sites in 2026 and may change. Recheck before relying on them.
why switch

Why switch to Dimmy

Full AI recap on the free build: decisions, action items and open questions, with no per-call limit. Fathom gates unlimited AI behind $20/month Premium.
On-device and bot-free: nothing joins your call and nothing is uploaded to a cloud server.
Open-core and AGPL, so you can audit exactly how your meetings are handled.
No per-seat billing and no 2-user minimum: one license, one price.
Three tools in one: meetings plus system-wide dictation and a voice command mode. Fathom is meetings only.
Recaps export to Notion, a folder, or Claude, with searchable local history.
works with your stack

Send your text and recaps where you work

NotionObsidianGoogle DriveClaude DesktopClaude CLICodex CLIMCP server
Every integration is included free, no add-on tier.
frequently asked

Full meeting AI, on your device, without the Premium upsell.

On Fathom's free plan, summaries are basic, AI action items are limited, and the 'Ask Fathom' assistant works on single calls only. Unlimited AI requires the Premium plan at $20 a month. Dimmy includes the full recap on its free build with no per-call limit.
Yes. Dimmy records, transcribes and writes the recap on your own machine, so it works offline and nothing is uploaded. Fathom is a cloud service; even its bot-free desktop capture still sends your audio to its servers.
No. Dimmy captures your microphone and system audio directly, with no participant added to the call. Fathom joins with a bot by default, with bot-free capture added in Fathom 3.0.
No. Dimmy is free from source, or Pro at €4.99/month or €99 lifetime, with no seats. Fathom's Team and Business plans are per-user and require a 2-user minimum.
Yes. Beyond meeting recaps, Dimmy does system-wide dictation into any app and a voice command mode. Fathom is a meeting notetaker only.
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