Fathom is free and fast. Shadow is invisible and sees your screen. Here's how they compare on features, privacy, and price.
Shadow and Fathom are both AI meeting assistants that record, transcribe, and summarize your calls. Fathom is known for its generous free plan and fast summaries. Shadow is known for running invisibly — no bot, no interruption, and the ability to capture what's shown on screen, not just what's said. Here's how they compare.
Fathom joins your meeting as a visible bot — "Fathom Notetaker" appears in the participant list, and everyone in the call can see it. Like most meeting AI tools, it connects to the meeting platform's audio feed and transcribes from there.
Shadow works differently. It runs locally on your Mac, detects meetings automatically, and captures audio directly from your device — along with smart screenshots of your screen. Nothing joins your call. No one sees it. The meeting proceeds as if Shadow isn't there, because as far as your participants are concerned, it isn't.
No bot in your meeting. Fathom's "Notetaker" bot is visible to every participant the moment it joins. For client calls, sales discovery, investor meetings, or any conversation where trust is being built, that bot is a variable you can't control. Shadow removes it entirely.
Screen awareness. Fathom captures audio. Shadow captures audio and screen. When a prospect shares their roadmap, when a client walks through a problem on their dashboard, when someone demos a product — Shadow sees it all and includes that context in your summary. Fathom hears the words but misses the picture.
Follow-up email drafting. Shadow writes the follow-up for you the moment the meeting ends. Fathom gives you a summary and action items, but the email is on you.
More languages. Shadow supports transcription in 100+ languages. Fathom supports 28. For international teams or multilingual calls, this gap matters.
Price. Shadow's paid plan is $8/month. Fathom Premium starts at $15/month billed annually — nearly double — and the Team plan is $19/month.
The free plan. Fathom's free tier is genuinely useful: unlimited recordings, unlimited storage, and transcription with no monthly cap. The only real limit is 5 AI summaries per month (and recordings are deleted after 90 days). For light users or those just getting started, this is hard to beat.
Summary speed. Fathom delivers meeting summaries within 30 seconds of your call ending — faster than most competitors. If you need to act on meeting outputs immediately, Fathom's speed is a real advantage.
Windows support. Shadow is macOS-only. Fathom works on Windows, Mac, and any device — making it accessible to mixed-platform teams.
Salesforce and HubSpot integration. Fathom's native CRM sync is polished and saves a meaningful amount of manual data entry per meeting. It's one of the stronger CRM integrations in this category.
Fathom routes your meeting audio through its servers for transcription and processing. The bot must connect to your meeting platform, which means your content travels through Fathom's infrastructure. Fathom states it doesn't use meeting data for training, but your audio is still processed externally.
Shadow transcribes on your device. Audio doesn't leave your Mac. AI features for summaries and action items use external APIs, but these can be disabled for fully local processing. For teams in regulated industries or those handling sensitive conversations, Shadow's architecture provides a structural privacy advantage.
You're a sales rep doing a discovery call.Fathom's bot joins. Your prospect sees it. Some people tense up; others don't care. Shadow is invisible, captures what was said and what was shown on screen, and drafts your follow-up before you're off the next call. Shadow wins.
You need a free meeting notetaker to start.Fathom's free plan is more generous than Shadow's 25-meeting free tier. If budget is the constraint, Fathom gets you further for free.
You're on a Windows machine.Shadow isn't available for Windows yet. Fathom works everywhere.
Your meeting involves heavy screen sharing — demos, dashboards, design reviews.Only Shadow captures what's on screen. Fathom misses all of that visual context.
You need fast summaries and Salesforce sync.Fathom delivers summaries in 30 seconds and syncs natively with Salesforce. If speed and CRM are your top priorities and you don't mind the visible bot, Fathom is a strong choice.
Choose Shadow if:
Choose Fathom if:
Does Fathom join meetings as a bot?Yes. Fathom joins every meeting as a visible participant called "Fathom Notetaker." All attendees can see it in the participant list.
Is Fathom really free?Fathom's free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcription, but AI summaries are limited to 5 per month. Recordings are also deleted after 90 days on the free plan.
Is Shadow cheaper than Fathom?Yes. Shadow's paid plan is $8/month. Fathom Premium starts at $15/month billed annually ($19/month billed monthly).
Does Fathom capture screen content during meetings?No. Fathom records audio through the meeting platform bot and does not capture what's shown on screen. Shadow is the only major meeting assistant that captures smart screenshots alongside audio.
Can Shadow replace Fathom?For Mac users, Shadow covers and extends Fathom's core functionality — transcription, summaries, action items — while adding screen capture, automatic meeting detection, and follow-up email drafting. Shadow does not yet support Windows.
Which is better for sales teams — Shadow or Fathom?For client-facing sales teams on Mac, Shadow is better — no visible bot, BANT insights, and automatic follow-up drafts. For teams that need Salesforce sync and are on Windows, Fathom is the stronger fit.
