How to Auto‑Summarize Zoom, Teams & Google Meet Meetings with AI (2025 Edition)

Introduction

In the modern workplace, back-to-back virtual meetings can make it hard to keep track of everything. Taking detailed notes or writing meeting minutes manually is time-consuming, and missing a meeting often meant chasing someone for a recap. Fortunately, AI meeting assistants can now do the heavy lifting for you by transcribing discussions and generating concise summaries with action items. In this 2025 edition guide, we’ll explore how to automatically summarize your meetings on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, as well as popular third-party AI note-taker tools like Granola, Otter.ai, and Fireflies.ai. We’ll cover the features of each solution, their pros and cons, and give rough pricing so you can choose the best fit for your business.

Native AI Meeting Summary Tools

Major video conferencing platforms have introduced built-in AI companions to help users save time on meeting notes. These native tools are tightly integrated and require little setup:

Zoom AI Companion – Your AI Meeting Assistant

Zoom offers an AI Companion (formerly called Zoom IQ) that is included at no extra cost for paid Zoom users. This AI assistant can automatically generate a meeting summary after your Zoom call ends, highlighting who said what, key topics discussed, and any next steps or tasks identified. You can even summon the AI during a live meeting – for example, if you join late, ask the AI Companion “Catch me up” and it will recap what you missed so far. After the meeting, the AI can divide the cloud recording into smart chapters, highlight important points, and draft action items for you. All of this appears in the Zoom interface (look for the small AI Companion icon in your meeting toolbar).

Pros: Seamlessly integrated into Zoom’s platform (no extra apps needed), available to all paid plans at no additional cost, and can answer questions or recap in real-time during meetings – improving productivity immediately.

Cons: Only works within Zoom’s ecosystem – it won’t help for meetings held on other platforms. Also, you must have a paid Zoom account (free Zoom users don’t have the AI Companion). While summaries are quite good, the AI’s accuracy depends on audio quality and it may occasionally miss context or nuances like any AI.

Microsoft Teams Intelligent Recap (Teams Premium)

Microsoft Teams has introduced Intelligent Recap as part of its Teams Premium offering. This AI-powered feature automatically generates a structured recap for your meetings – including a list of AI-generated meeting notes, key points, and suggested action items – shortly after the meeting ends. If you record the meeting, the recap becomes even richer: Teams will organize the recording into chapters by topic, mark when each person spoke, and flag important moments (like when your name was mentioned or when someone shared their screen). All participants can later access the Recap tab in the meeting chat or calendar event, which presents the transcript, the AI summary, and a timeline they can click to jump to specific points. Essentially, it’s like having a virtual note-taker that never misses a detail.

Pros: Deeply integrated with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem – the AI recap ties into Teams meetings seamlessly and even works for 1:1 calls or calls on Teams Phone. The summaries are comprehensive and include powerful extras: you get personalized timeline markers (so you can catch up on just the parts you missed, like when you joined late) and AI-highlighted tasks to follow up on.

Cons: Requires a Teams Premium license, which is an add-on cost on top of your Microsoft 365 plan. As of 2024, Teams Premium costs about $10 per user/month. This extra cost may be a consideration for budget-conscious teams with a large number of users. Also, full Intelligent Recap features are available only if the meeting is recorded (without recording, you still get some notes but not the speaker timeline or chapters). And of course, this works only for meetings held in Teams – it won’t assist on Zoom or other platforms.

Google Meet “Duet AI” Note-Taking

Google Meet has rolled out its own AI helper (part of Google’s Duet AI for Workspace, now under the Gemini brand) to capture meeting notes. In Meet, you can use the “Take notes for me” feature, which instructs Google’s AI to join the meeting as a virtual assistant. The AI will capture a live transcript, pick out key points, and compile a summary with action items in real time. At the end of the meeting, it can automatically send out a recap to all attendees – so everyone gets an email or document with the notes and next steps. Google’s AI can even help latecomers during the meeting by providing a “summary so far” on demand, and in the future it can “attend for me” (joining a meeting on your behalf to deliver your message and record the discussion).

Pros: Completely hands-free note-taking for Google Meet – you can focus on the discussion while the AI notes everything. It identifies speakers, records action items, and shares the summary instantly, which is great for keeping all participants on the same page. Being a Google product, it integrates with Google Docs and Gmail easily (for example, sending the recap via Google Docs to attendees). Unique features like live translated captions and the upcoming ability to have the AI attend a meeting on your behalf are standout innovations that could set it apart.

Cons: This functionality is not available on free Google accounts or basic Workspace plans – it comes with Google’s Gemini (Duet AI) add-on, which has been priced around $30 per user/month for enterprise customers. Google announced a lower-cost Gemini Business tier (about $20 per user/month with an annual commitment) to make these AI features accessible to smaller teams, but it’s still a significant added cost. And similar to others, this built-in assistant is limited to Google Meet – it won’t help in a Zoom or Teams call.

Third-Party AI Meeting Assistants (Cross-Platform Tools)

If your team uses multiple meeting platforms or you want specialized features, third-party AI note-taker apps can be a great solution. These tools typically connect to your calendar and can join any online meeting (Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc.) to record, transcribe, and summarize the conversation. Many offer free plans or trials and have features like searching across all your meeting transcripts or integrating with other business apps. Below, we cover three popular options – Granola, Otter.ai, and Fireflies.ai – and how they stack up.

Granola – AI Notepad for Meetings

Granola is a newer AI meeting assistant that takes a slightly different approach. Instead of acting as a bot in your call, Granola runs as an app on your computer (currently Mac-only) and listens to the meeting audio directly from your device. It transcribes the meeting in real time and lets you take your own notes in its notepad interface. Once the meeting ends, Granola’s AI augments your notes with additional details from the transcript, turning your rough notes into polished minutes. For example, if you quickly typed “budget 10K” during the meeting, the AI might expand it to “Photography budget can go up to $10K” to add context. It also hyperlinks each note to the relevant spot in the transcript, making it easy to double-check for accuracy.

Pricing: Granola is free to use for your first 25 meetings. After that, it costs around $10 per month for individuals.
Pros: No awkward meeting bots – since it captures audio directly on your device, other participants don’t see any “bot” joining the call. This makes it feel more private and seamless. It works across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, Webex and more by capturing your system audio. The collaborative approach (you can guide the AI by typing highlights or headings during the meeting) means the final summary is more tailored to what you found important. It’s great for professionals who still like to jot down notes but want AI to polish and fill gaps.
Cons: Currently Mac-only (so Windows users are out of luck unless a web or PC version emerges). Also, unlike some competitors, Granola doesn’t create a summary entirely on its own if you don’t type any notes – it shines best when you provide at least a little input or structure for the AI to build on. For those who prefer a fully hands-off approach, another tool might be more suitable. As a newer app, it’s still evolving so all of this is subject to change.

Otter.ai – Popular AI Note‑Taker with Transcription and Chat

Otter.ai is one of the best-known AI meeting assistants, widely used by individuals and businesses. Otter connects to your calendar and can auto-join meetings on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet as an “Otter Assistant” to record and transcribe the conversation. It provides a live transcript during the meeting (so you can see text in real time) and afterwards generates an Automated Summary of the key points and topics discussed. Otter’s summaries appear in a “Meeting Summary” email that you (and your invitees, if you enable sharing) receive within about an hour after the meeting. You can click on these highlights to jump to that part of the transcript in Otter’s app. Otter also has a feature called Otter Chat, where you can ask questions about the meeting (for example, “What decision was made about the budget?”) and the AI will answer based on the transcript. This makes reviewing meetings more interactive – you don’t have to read the whole transcript to find specific details.

Pricing: Otter has a free Basic plan (includes 300 transcription minutes per month, up to 30 minutes per meeting)i. Paid plans offer more: the Pro plan starts at about $8.33 per user/month (billed annually) for 1,200 minutes/month and longer meeting limitsi. There’s also a Business plan (~$20 per user/month annually) with 6,000 minutes and additional admin and collaboration features.
Pros: Easy to use – you can literally “set it and forget it.” Once Otter is synced with your calendar, it will automatically join scheduled meetings as your AI note-taker, so you don’t have to remember to start recording. It works across all major platforms (Zoom, Teams, Meet) and even for in-person meetings or any conversation you record with its app. The summaries and transcripts support English, French, and Spanish transcription, and Otter can even capture slides that were shown in the meeting.
Cons: The AI-generated summaries are decent but not perfect – sometimes they can be too high-level or miss a nuance, so you may still need to tweak the notes for critical meetings. Also, using Otter’s assistant means a bot joins your meeting, which you should make attendees aware of.. Finally, while Otter works with Teams and Meet, the integration on those isn’t as smooth as with Zoom (on Zoom it can use a built-in app, whereas on Teams/Meet it may rely on the bot or manual recording).

Fireflies.ai – AI Summaries and Search Across Meetings

Fireflies.ai is another popular AI meeting assistant that focuses on capturing everything discussed and making it easily searchable later. Fireflies can join your online meetings to record and transcribe the conversation (either via its bot named “Fred” or through a Chrome extension for a bot-free experience)i. After each meeting, Fireflies generates an AI summary that includes detailed notes and identified action items, which are ready within minutes of the meeting’s end. You can customize the format of the summary (for example, getting bullet points or a concise paragraph). It also provides conversation analytics – things like talk time for each participant, sentiment analysis, and topic tracking over time. One standout feature is “Ask Fred”, an AI query assistant: you can ask questions about the meeting (similar to Otter’s chat) or even across multiple meetings. For example, “What issues were discussed in our last 3 project calls?” and it will search the transcripts to give you an answer. Fireflies supports a wide range of platforms, not just the big three; it can also integrate with Webex, GoToMeeting, Skype, dialers, and more.

Pricing: Fireflies has a Free plan (unlimited recording/transcription for meetings, but with 800 minutes of storage for transcripts and limited AI summary credits). The Pro plan is about $10 per user/month (annual billing) and offers unlimited storage and full AI summaries. Their Business plan at $19 per user/month (annual) adds video recording and more advanced analytics, and an Enterprise tier ($39) is available for large organizations with extra security features.
Pros: Multi-platform support – if your team’s meetings are spread across Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex, etc., Fireflies can handle all of them and bring the notes together in one place. The AI summaries are available instantly after every meeting and include key points and tasks, which saves a ton of time for meeting follow-ups. Fireflies also shines in allowing you to search your past meetings easily (it transcribes in over 100 languages, making every word searchable). The AskFred AI assistant for querying notes and the ability to set up integrations (e.g., send action items to Asana or HubSpot CRM automatically) are powerful for productivity.
Cons: When using the Fireflies bot to auto-join, other attendees will see “Fred@fireflies.ai” as a participant, which could be awkward if they aren’t expecting it – transparency is important. Like others, transcription accuracy can vary with audio quality, so the summaries are only as good as the transcript (technical jargon or heavy accents might need manual correction). Some users report that while Fireflies’ summaries are useful, they might not be as polished in language as those from other tools – you might need to edit phrasing before sharing externally. Lastly, because Fireflies offers so many features, the interface can feel a bit complex at first (dashboards with analytics, etc.), which could be overkill if you just want simple notes. But you can choose to ignore the extras and focus on the notes if you prefer.

Conclusion: Choosing the Right AI Summarization Solution

In 2025, you have an array of AI companions ready to help declutter your meeting load. For SMBs and mid-market teams, the choice may come down to your existing workflow and budget:

If you primarily use one video platform (e.g., all your calls are on Zoom or all on Teams), trying the built-in AI features of that platform is a logical first step. They offer tight integration – e.g. Zoom’s AI Companion is a natural part of the Zoom experience – and in some cases can be very cost-effective (Zoom includes it free with paid accounts, whereas Microsoft and Google’s require an add-on).
If your team hops between different meeting platforms or you want more advanced capabilities (like cross-meeting search, or an AI that can join any call you have), a third-party service like Otter, Fireflies, or Granola can add value. They centralize your notes from every meeting in one place and often provide collaboration features to share and review those notes easily. Many offer free plans or free trials, so you can test them in your workflow without commitment.

By leveraging these AI companions, you’ll spend less time writing up meeting notes and more time acting on the insights from those meetings. Here’s to more productive meetings and fewer “What did we decide on that call?” moments in the year ahead. Happy summarizing!