Dalm as a Fathom alternative: what you give up, and what you keep

Both Fathom and Dalm make a transcript and a summary of each call, and neither needs a bot in it. Fathom keeps the call in its service as video, audio or the transcript only, and makes clips you can send by link. Dalm is a Mac app: the speech is recognised on your Mac and no audio is sent anywhere; the transcript goes to our servers on its own, and a language model writes the summary from it. There is nothing to replay or clip. Fathom fits people who send recordings to clients; Dalm, people whose calls, phone calls on speaker and meetings across a table should leave behind text and no audio. There is a Free plan.

Dalm and Fathom at a glance

	Fathom	Dalm
How it hears a call	A notetaker that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, or Capture Now in the desktop app with nothing joining — on Mac, in beta	The microphone and the sound of the call, as two separate streams; nobody joins
What it keeps of the call	Your choice: audio and video, audio only, or the transcript only — kept until you delete it	The text; the audio is deleted once the text exists
Where the text goes	Fathom’s service, hosted in the United States	Our servers, automatically; a language model reads it after every meeting
While the meeting runs	A summary that updates as you talk, in the new Mac app, in English	A draft of what has been said, marked preliminary; the transcript comes after you stop
Phone calls and rooms	Phone calls, such as Zoom phone calls, are not supported; conversations in person through its iPhone app	Both from the Mac microphone: a phone on speaker is recorded like a meeting in the room, voices told apart on the Mac
A recording you already have	Uploaded recordings are not supported	Audio or video up to four hours, read on this Mac
Sending it to someone	A link to the recording or a clip; no account needed to watch	The summary through the macOS share menu; documents as Markdown, Word or PDF
Questions across meetings	Ask Fathom across your meetings, in beta	One meeting at a time; across all your recordings — in development
Dictation into other apps	Not found	Yes: hold a key, and the text goes into any app
Apps	Mac, Windows, iPhone	Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later

The audio is deleted once the text exists. The transcript goes to our servers either way. What Fathom does is taken from its own pricing page, privacy policy and help center, checked on 2 October 2026. “Not found” means Fathom’s documentation we checked does not describe it, not that it does not exist.

Where Fathom is better than Dalm

• The call on video, and clips to send. Fathom can keep a call as video and audio, cut clips and playlists from it, and share them by link with someone who has no account. Dalm keeps no audio or video at all.
• It can go to the call for you. Fathom’s notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Dalm asks “Record this meeting?” when a call app takes the microphone, and you press Record.
• A summary while you talk. In its new Mac app, Fathom shows a summary that updates during an English-language meeting. Dalm shows a draft of what has been said and writes the summary afterwards.
• Questions across your meetings. Ask Fathom answers across your calls; in Dalm you ask about one meeting at a time, and questions across all your recordings are in development.
• Windows and iPhone. Fathom has apps for Mac and Windows, and an iPhone app for conversations in person. Dalm needs a Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later.
• Sales tools. Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack and Zapier connect to Fathom, and CRM sync is on its free plan for up to three people. Dalm connects to Google Calendar.
• A written answer on training, and audits to show. Fathom’s privacy policy lets you opt out of training its own models and does not let third parties train on your meetings, and its security article lists HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II and GDPR. Dalm has no such audit to show, and this page answers the training question for the audio only.
• A lower team price. Fathom Team is $19 a month for each user, or $15 billed annually; Dalm Team is $40 a month for each member, or $32 a month billed annually (paid plans are not open yet).

Where Dalm is better than Fathom

• The audio does not go anywhere. Fathom keeps your recordings in its service until you delete them. In Dalm the speech becomes text on your Mac and no audio or video is sent anywhere. This point is about the audio only: the transcript goes to our servers automatically, and after every meeting a language model reads it to write the summary — there is no switch to skip that for one meeting. What leaves your Mac, piece by piece, is on the privacy page.
• Phone calls and the room, on one Mac. Fathom’s device list says phone calls, such as Zoom phone calls, are not supported. In Dalm a phone on speaker and a meeting across the table are recorded from the microphone, and the voices are told apart on the Mac. Everything you say lands in one archive you can search: meetings, phone calls, conversations in the room, and what you dictate to a model. Asking one question across all of it is still in development.
• Recordings you already have. Fathom does not take uploaded recordings. Dalm takes audio or video from 0.3 seconds to four hours long, on the Free plan, and reads it on this Mac; the transcript is synced to our servers like any other.
• Your notes lead the summary. What you type during the call shapes the summary, and each point carries a word-for-word quote. Every quote shows you where it was said — open it and the transcript opens at that place.
• Dictation in the same app. Hold a key and your words go into any app, with one dictionary of names and terms for dictation and meetings. The text of a dictation syncs to our servers too.
• A lower price for one person. Dalm Pro is $16 a month, or $12 a month billed annually; Fathom Premium is $20, or $16 billed annually.

What the free plans keep, and what they limit

	Fathom	Dalm
Free plan	Free forever: no cap on recordings, transcription or storage; advanced AI summaries for the first 5 calls each month	Free: a plan, not a trial
One person, billed monthly	Premium $20 a month	Pro $16 a month
One person, billed annually	Premium $16 a month	Pro $12 a month
A team, billed monthly	Team $19 a month for each user, from two users; Business $34	Team $40 a month for each member
A team, billed annually	Team $15; Business $25	Team $32 a month for each member

Neither free plan caps how much you record. No plan puts a limit on recording minutes, on the length of a recording, or on how long anything is kept. Fathom draws its line at the AI: on its free plan, advanced summaries cover the first five calls each month. In Dalm the recording, the transcript and the summary of a meeting come with the Free plan, and what the paid plans add is on the pricing page. Team adds one dictionary, shared templates and tags, and dictations that stay visible to their author only — working as a team. Dalm needs a Mac with Apple Silicon · macOS 15.0 or later; while it is not public, the way in is the waitlist. Fathom’s prices are from its pricing page, checked on 2 October 2026.

Video, audio or text only: what each one keeps

Fathom’s desktop app asks what to keep of a call: audio and video, audio only, or the transcript only. What you keep stays in Fathom’s service until you delete it; you send the call or a clip as a link that opens without an account, and a recording downloads as an MP4 video. Dalm has no such choice to make. The speech is recognised on your Mac. The audio is deleted once the text exists. The transcript goes to our servers either way. What you send is text: the summary through the macOS share menu, documents as Markdown, Word or PDF. So the question is what the other person needs. To see or hear the call, that is Fathom. To know what was said and decided, Dalm hands over the text and has nothing to replay.

Which one fits the way you work

• Fathom if the people you work for want to watch the call or a clip, your sales run through Salesforce or HubSpot, someone on the team works on Windows, or you want a summary on screen while an English-language call is still going.
• Dalm if you run a small business or advise clients from a Mac, and the conversations happen on Zoom, on a phone on speaker and across a table; if the client’s voice should not sit in anyone’s service as audio; if you dictate follow-ups as well as meet; and if old recordings are waiting as files. How it fits consulting work.
• Neither if you need a recording to play back and also audio kept off every server: Dalm deletes it, Fathom keeps it.

Other note takers, compared by name

If your list is longer than Fathom and Dalm, a side-by-side of seven note takers names them all and says where each one beats us. How AI note takers differ sorts them by how they work, and local and cloud transcription, step by step shows where the speech turns into text.