Is Fathom or Microsoft Teams better?

Neither clearly leads. Fathom starts at Free and Microsoft Teams at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Fathom or Microsoft Teams?

Fathom starts at Free and Microsoft Teams at Free.

Does Fathom or Microsoft Teams run on more platforms?

Fathom runs on Web, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams runs on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.

Can I use Fathom for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Fathom best used for?

Fathom is most often used for ai-powered meeting transcription and automatic note-taking for sales teams and professionals, meeting analysis with ai scorecards and action item generation that syncs to crms. Of those, ai-powered meeting transcription and automatic note-taking for sales teams and professionals and meeting analysis with ai scorecards and action item generation that syncs to crms are not what Microsoft Teams is typically brought in for.

What can Fathom do that Microsoft Teams cannot?

Fathom covers Auto-recording, AI summaries, Transcription, Highlight clips. Microsoft Teams covers Chat & channels, Video conferencing, Screen sharing, File collaboration.

AI Tools · head to head

Fathom vs Microsoft Teams

Fathom

AI Tools

Free AI meeting assistant

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Microsoft Teams

All industries

Meet, chat, call, and collaborate in just one place

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Fathom team plan requires minimum 2 users; cannot purchase single seat at team pricing; Microsoft Teams resource-heavy application; slow to load and consumes significant CPU/memory compared to alternatives
They diverge on capability: Fathom covers Auto-recording, Microsoft Teams covers Chat & channels.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fathom and Microsoft Teams actually diverge.

Attributes where Fathom and Microsoft Teams differ
Attribute	Fathom	Microsoft Teams
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Platforms	Web, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams	Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Category	AI Tools	All industries
Founded	2020	1975

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Fathom

Auto-recording
AI summaries
Transcription
Highlight clips
Zoom
Google Meet
HubSpot
Salesforce

Only in Microsoft Teams

Chat & channels
Video conferencing
Screen sharing
File collaboration
Office integration
Live events
Phone system
Apps & workflows

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fathom

AI-powered meeting transcription and automatic note-taking for sales teams and professionalsnot Microsoft Teams
Meeting analysis with AI scorecards and action item generation that syncs to CRMsnot Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams

Remote meetingsnot Fathom
Team collaborationnot Fathom
Document sharingnot Fathom
Project managementnot Fathom
Webinarsnot Fathom

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fathom

Team plan requires minimum 2 users; cannot purchase single seat at team pricing
CRM field sync and deal view summaries available only on Business plan ($34/user/month) and above

Microsoft Teams

Resource-heavy application; slow to load and consumes significant CPU/memory compared to alternatives
Limited channel structure; maximum of 200 public and 30 private channels per team
Cannot invite guest users to specific channels; guest access grants full team visibility
Unable to chat during screen sharing; limits real-time collaborative communication
Limited customization options for branding and interface; cluttered UX compared to Slack
Channels cannot be moved between teams; requires manual replication for reorganization

Pricing, plan by plan

Fathom

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Fathom review.

Microsoft Teams

Free

FreeFree
- Unlimited chat
- 100 participants in meetings
- 5GB file storage
Microsoft Teams Essentials$4/month
- 300 participants in meetings
- 10GB cloud storage
- Phone & web support
Microsoft 365 Business Basic$6/month
- Everything in Essentials
- 1TB OneDrive storage
- Web & mobile Office apps
Microsoft 365 Business Standard$12.5/month
- Everything in Basic
- Desktop Office apps
- Webinar hosting

Which should you pick?

Choose Fathom if

You need auto-recording.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams.
You also want ai summaries.

Fathom review

Choose Microsoft Teams if

You need chat & channels.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
You also want video conferencing.

Microsoft Teams review

Questions people ask

Is Fathom or Microsoft Teams better?: Neither clearly leads. Fathom starts at Free and Microsoft Teams at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fathom or Microsoft Teams?: Fathom starts at Free and Microsoft Teams at Free.
Does Fathom or Microsoft Teams run on more platforms?: Fathom runs on Web, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams runs on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
Can I use Fathom for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Fathom best used for?: Fathom is most often used for ai-powered meeting transcription and automatic note-taking for sales teams and professionals, meeting analysis with ai scorecards and action item generation that syncs to crms. Of those, ai-powered meeting transcription and automatic note-taking for sales teams and professionals and meeting analysis with ai scorecards and action item generation that syncs to crms are not what Microsoft Teams is typically brought in for.
What can Fathom do that Microsoft Teams cannot?: Fathom covers Auto-recording, AI summaries, Transcription, Highlight clips. Microsoft Teams covers Chat & channels, Video conferencing, Screen sharing, File collaboration.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Microsoft Teams: Does Microsoft Teams have a free tier?

Yes. Microsoft Teams offers a free Home tier with unlimited chat, 60-minute group meetings for up to 100 people, 5GB cloud storage, and basic file sharing, though limits are restrictive for growing teams.

Source

Microsoft Teams: What are Microsoft Teams' paid plans?

Microsoft Teams Essentials costs $4/user/month (chat, calling, meetings, 10GB storage). Microsoft 365 Business Basic costs $7/user/month (includes desktop Office apps, 1TB storage). Premium plans with Copilot start at $23.50/user/month.

Source

Microsoft Teams: What are Microsoft Teams' primary features?

Teams provides real-time chat, video and voice calling, meetings with up to 300 participants, file sharing and storage integration with OneDrive, recording and transcripts, and deep integration with Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

Microsoft Teams: What integrations does Teams support?

Microsoft Teams integrates with calendar apps (Outlook, Google Calendar), project management tools (Trello), and works with Zapier for custom workflow automation. Teams also has native connectors to many Microsoft 365 apps and third-party services.

Fathom vs Microsoft Teams

Fathom

Microsoft Teams

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Fathom

Only in Microsoft Teams

What people use each for

Fathom

Microsoft Teams

Where each one falls short

Fathom

Microsoft Teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Fathom

Microsoft Teams

Which should you pick?

Choose Fathom if

Choose Microsoft Teams if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Fathom

More on Microsoft Teams

Keep looking

Other head to heads