Best AI meeting assistants in the UK (2026)

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Table comparing ten AI meeting assistants for UK users on free plan, cheapest paid price, whether a bot joins, where meetings are stored and whether they train AI: Copilot in Teams, Gemini in Meet, Zoom, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, tl;dv, Read.ai, Granola and MacWhisper

The best AI meeting assistant for most UK teams is the one already built into the meeting software you pay for: Copilot or Teams Premium for Microsoft Teams, Gemini for Google Meet, and ZoomMate for Zoom. If your meetings are spread across all three, Fathom and tl;dv have the most generous free plans, tl;dv keeps your data in Europe, Granola takes notes without a bot joining the call, and MacWhisper keeps everything on your own Mac. Whichever you pick, UK GDPR means you need a reason to record and you must tell people before you start.

Last updated 31 October 2026. Written by Annie, a search and digital marketing specialist. Based on each company's official pricing, privacy, security and help pages, checked on 25 and 26 October 2026, and on ICO guidance; I have not tested these tools hands-on for this comparison. Prices are per user a month; dollar prices are converted at $1 = £0.75 and shown as "about £X". See the editorial policy.

Key facts

  • Cheapest built-in option: Teams Premium, £7.70 a user a month billed yearly plus VAT, adds AI recaps to Teams.
  • Best free plans: Fathom (unlimited recordings) and tl;dv (unlimited recordings, 10 meetings with AI notes), as of 26 October 2026.
  • UK or EU storage: only tl;dv stores data in Europe by default; Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Read.ai and Granola use the US.
  • No bot in the call: Granola and MacWhisper capture your device audio; Fathom and Fireflies offer bot-free options too.
  • Training on your meetings: Microsoft, Google, Zoom, Fireflies and tl;dv say they do not; Otter trains on de-identified data; Fathom and Granola do unless you opt out; Read.ai only if you opt in.
  • The law: the ICO says tell people why you record, what for and how long you keep it, before you start.

On this page

Quick picks by need

Pick by the meeting software you already use, then by where your data must live. Prices and policies are as of 26 October 2026.

  • Your team lives in Microsoft Teams: Teams Premium (£7.70) if you only want recaps; Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (£16.10 billed yearly) if you also want Copilot in Outlook, Word and Excel.
  • Your team lives in Google Workspace: Business Standard (£11.80 billed yearly) includes Gemini in Meet and "Take notes for me".
  • You run meetings on Zoom: the free tier gives summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month; ZoomMate is £13.33 billed yearly.
  • You join calls on all three platforms and want free: Fathom.
  • Your data must stay in Europe: tl;dv (Pro £16, billed yearly).
  • You do not want a bot in the call: Granola (free, Business about £10.50).
  • Sales calls that feed a CRM: Fireflies (Pro about £7.50) or Fathom.
  • Confidential work, or nothing may leave your computer: MacWhisper (free, Pro €64 once).

AI meeting assistants compared

"Paid from" is the cheapest paid plan per user a month on annual billing, where offered.

AssistantFree planPaid from (user/month)Bot joins the call?Where storedTrains AI on your meetings?
Copilot in TeamsNo£7.70 + VAT (Teams Premium recap); Copilot Business £16.10 + VATNo, built inYour Microsoft 365 tenantNo (foundation models)
Gemini in MeetNo£11.80 + VAT (Workspace Business Standard)No, built inOrganiser's Google DriveNo, without your permission
Zoom (ZoomMate)Summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month£13.33 (ZoomMate)No, built inZoom; AI may be processed in US data centresNo
Otter.ai300 minutes a monthAbout £6 ($8.33)YesUS (AWS)Yes, de-identified data
Fireflies.aiLimited summaries, 400 minutes of storageAbout £7.50 ($10)Yes, or Chrome extension without a botUS; your own storage on EnterpriseNo
FathomUnlimited recordingsAbout £12 ($16)Yes, or bot-free (beta, Mac)USDe-identified data, opt-out
tl;dvUnlimited recordings, 10 meetings with AI notes£16YesEuropean Economic AreaNo
Read.ai5 meetings a monthAbout £11 ($15)YesUSOnly if you opt in
Granola30 days of historyAbout £10.50 ($14)No, uses device audioUS; audio not keptAnonymised data, opt-out
MacWhisperYes, no time limit€64 once (Pro)No, runs on your MacYour MacNo
Table comparing ten AI meeting assistants for UK users on free plan, cheapest paid price, whether a bot joins, where meetings are stored and whether they train AI: Copilot in Teams, Gemini in Meet, Zoom, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, tl;dv, Read.ai, Granola and MacWhisper
The ten assistants side by side. Source: each company's pricing, security and privacy pages, checked 26 October 2026. Dollar prices converted at $1 = £0.75.

Microsoft and Google show UK prices excluding VAT, so add 20% if you cannot reclaim it. Zoom and tl;dv price in pounds without saying whether VAT is included. Dollar prices will move with the exchange rate.

The built-in assistants: Teams, Meet and Zoom

Built-in assistants add no extra bot to the call, save notes where your files already live and sit under the data agreement you already have. The catch is that each works only inside its own meeting software.

Copilot and Teams Premium in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft says intelligent recap in Teams, its AI notes and tasks after a meeting, needs a Teams Premium or a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. Teams Premium costs £7.70 a user a month paid yearly, excluding VAT, on top of a paid Teams licence. Copilot Business costs £16.10 a user a month paid yearly (£13.80 under a first-year offer to 31 December 2026) or £19.32 monthly, excluding VAT.

The free Copilot Chat in Microsoft 365 is not enough: without a Copilot licence it answers only from public web data, and Copilot in Teams meetings comes with the paid licence. My guide to Microsoft Copilot agents in the UK breaks down every licence.

Microsoft says prompts and responses are stored with your other Microsoft 365 content and are not used to train its foundation models. It expects local processing for Microsoft 365 Copilot in the UK by the end of 2026.

Gemini in Google Meet

Gemini in Meet summarises, translates and takes notes. Google's UK pricing page leaves it out of Business Starter (£5.90) and includes it from Business Standard, £11.80 a user a month on a one-year plan, excluding tax. "Take notes for me" also comes with eligible personal Google AI plans.

The notes are a Google Doc saved in the organiser's Drive and attached to the calendar event; the organiser decides who sees them. Google says Workspace does not use customer data to train models without the customer's permission or instruction.

Zoom and ZoomMate

Zoom has renamed its AI assistant ZoomMate. The free Basic plan includes meeting summaries and in-meeting questions for 3 hosted meetings a month. The paid ZoomMate plan costs £13.33 a user a month billed yearly in pounds, with 2,200 AI credits a month, unlimited AI note-taking and agents.

Zoom says it does not use customer audio, video, chat or other communications content to train its own or third-party AI models. It says AI data may be processed in US data centres, and ZoomMate is currently available only to customers hosted on Zoom's US infrastructure.

The standalone notetakers

Standalone notetakers work across Zoom, Teams and Meet, which suits people who join other people's calls. Most send a bot that joins as a named participant. All are US companies except tl;dv, which is German.

Otter.ai

Otter's free Basic plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, with a 30-minute limit per conversation. Pro costs $8.33 a user a month billed yearly (about £6), or $16.99 monthly. Its privacy policy says it trains its own AI on de-identified recordings and transcripts; its AI providers do not. Data sits on Amazon Web Services under US law.

Fireflies.ai

Fireflies has a free plan with limited AI summaries and 400 minutes of storage per team. Pro costs $10 a seat a month billed yearly (about £7.50), or $18 monthly. Its Chrome extension can record without the Fireflies bot. Fireflies says it never uses customer data to train AI models, on any plan. Data is stored in the US by default; its Enterprise plan ($39 a seat a month, annual only) lets you keep it in your own storage.

Fathom

Fathom's free plan has unlimited recordings and transcription, the most generous free tier here, with a bot or bot-free capture (beta, Mac). Premium costs $16 a month billed yearly (about £12), or $20 monthly; Team is $15 a user with a two-user minimum. Fathom is hosted in the US and may train its own models on de-identified meeting data unless you switch this off in settings.

tl;dv

tl;dv shows UK visitors prices in pounds. The free plan has unlimited video recordings and transcription, plus 10 meetings with AI notes. Pro costs £16 a seat a month billed yearly and Business £24. Its privacy policy says personal data is primarily processed and stored in the European Economic Area, and that it does not use customer content, including recordings and transcripts, to train AI models.

Read.ai

Read.ai's free plan covers 5 meeting transcripts a month. Pro costs $15 a user a month billed yearly (about £11), or $19.75 monthly. Its trust centre says all user data is processed and stored in the US, and that user data is not used for model training unless you opt in to its Customer Experience Program.

Granola

Granola is a notepad on your computer or phone that listens to your device audio, so no bot joins the meeting. The free Basic plan keeps 30 days of meeting history; Business costs $14 a user a month (about £10.50) for unlimited history. It transcribes in real time and does not keep the audio. Its help centre says data is stored on AWS in the US with no UK or EU option, and that anonymised data may train its models unless you opt out. With no bot, people may not know it is running, so tell them.

The offline option: MacWhisper

MacWhisper transcribes on your own Mac with nothing uploaded, which removes the storage and training questions. The free version has no time limit. Pro costs €64 once (£54.47 at checkout on 22 October 2026) and adds meeting recording, speaker names and batch transcription. It writes no summaries unless you connect an AI service yourself, a fair trade for HR, legal or health work. My MacWhisper review covers which Mac you need and the free alternatives, and my guide to private AI covers other tools that keep data on your device.

Where your recordings are stored, and who trains on them

Storage and training are the first two questions UK clients and data protection officers ask. As of 26 October 2026, only tl;dv stores meeting data in Europe by default. Fireflies lets Enterprise customers use their own storage, Google offers data regions on Enterprise plans, and Microsoft expects UK local processing for Microsoft 365 Copilot by the end of 2026. Otter, Fathom, Read.ai and Granola store data in the US, and Zoom says AI features may be processed in US data centres. MacWhisper keeps everything on your Mac.

US storage is not illegal for a UK business. UK GDPR allows transfers to the US with safeguards; Fathom, for example, says it relies on the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. But a transfer adds paperwork, and some clients write UK or EU storage into contracts, so check the data processing agreement first.

UK GDPR and consent to record

The ICO's advice for small organisations is direct. You can record video conferencing sessions, including people's images and voices, where you have a valid purpose that cannot be achieved by less intrusive methods, such as taking minutes. You need to record and justify your lawful basis. Before recording, you should tell people why you are recording, what you will use it for and how long you will keep it, and that information should be in your privacy notice. You should not usually post a recording online without permission from the people in it.

Note that the ICO says this guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. In practice, a short routine covers most small businesses:

  1. Write down your purpose and lawful basis. For internal meetings this is often legitimate interests. Note why written minutes alone would not do.
  2. Tell people in the invitation. Say which tool records, what you keep and for how long. Repeat it at the start of the call.
  3. Set a retention period. Most tools let you delete recordings automatically. Pick the shortest period that works.
  4. Check the processor terms. Find the data processing agreement, the storage location and the training setting, and switch off training if you can.
  5. Be careful with sensitive meetings. Health, HR, legal and anything involving children may need a DPIA. Consider an offline tool instead.

Bot-free tools such as Granola make transparency harder, because no "Notetaker" appears in the call, but the rules are the same. My guide to AI agents and UK GDPR covers lawful basis, DPIAs and processor contracts, and the ICO AI guidance tracker lists what the regulator has published.

Which one is right for you?

Start with where your meetings happen, then let data rules decide.

A small business on Microsoft 365

Buy Teams Premium (£7.70) for the people who run meetings if recaps are all you need. If you also want Copilot for email and documents, Copilot Business (£16.10) covers recaps too. Everything stays in your Microsoft 365 tenant.

A small business on Google Workspace

Move meeting organisers from Starter to Business Standard (£11.80). Gemini notes then appear in Drive and on the calendar event. Set note sharing to internal guests before you invite clients.

A consultant or freelancer joining other people's calls

Use Fathom's free plan first. If your clients are in Europe or ask about data location, use tl;dv instead. If clients dislike bots, use Granola and tell them at the start of the call. My personal AI assistant guide covers other tools for one-person businesses.

A sales team that lives in a CRM

Fathom's Business plan adds CRM field sync and coaching scorecards; Fireflies' Business plan adds team analytics. Fireflies' no-training promise covers every plan, which helps with procurement.

Confidential work

For legal, medical or HR work, transcribe locally with MacWhisper on an encrypted Mac. Nothing leaves your control. The AI for small business guide shows where meeting notes fit alongside other first jobs to hand to AI.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI meeting assistant in the UK?

For most teams it is the one built into the meeting software they already pay for: Copilot or Teams Premium for Microsoft Teams, Gemini for Google Meet and ZoomMate for Zoom. If you join calls on all three, Fathom has the most generous free plan, tl;dv keeps data in Europe and Granola works without a bot.

Is there a free AI meeting assistant?

Yes. As of 26 October 2026, Fathom offers unlimited free recordings, tl;dv unlimited recordings with 10 meetings of AI notes, Otter 300 minutes a month, Read.ai 5 meetings a month, Zoom summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month, and MacWhisper free transcription on a Mac.

Do I need consent to record a Teams or Zoom meeting in the UK?

You need a lawful basis, which is not always consent. The ICO says you can record video calls where you have a valid purpose that cannot be met by less intrusive methods, and you must tell people why you are recording, what you will use it for and how long you will keep it before you start.

Which AI notetaker stores data in the UK or EU?

tl;dv says personal data is primarily processed and stored in the European Economic Area. Fireflies lets Enterprise customers use their own storage. Otter, Fathom, Read.ai and Granola store data in the US by default. Microsoft expects UK local processing for Microsoft 365 Copilot by the end of 2026. MacWhisper keeps everything on your Mac.

Do AI meeting assistants train on my meetings?

Some do. Microsoft, Google, Zoom, Fireflies and tl;dv say they do not train AI on your meeting content. Otter trains on de-identified recordings and transcripts. Fathom and Granola use de-identified or anonymised data unless you opt out in settings. Read.ai uses your data only if you opt in.

Does Copilot Chat summarise Teams meetings for free?

No. Microsoft says intelligent recap in Teams needs a Teams Premium licence, at £7.70 a user a month billed yearly, or a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, such as Copilot Business at £16.10 a user a month billed yearly. Both prices exclude VAT. Without a licence, Copilot Chat answers only from web data.

Sources

About the author

Annie has spent twenty years in search, lead generation and ad tech, on the agency, client and publisher side, and has worked in growth for an AI agent platform. She writes aiagents.org.uk independently: no AI vendor pays for coverage. More about Annie · How guides are made · LinkedIn

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