Stop Paying $20/Month for Meeting Notes (Do This Instead)

I watched my team add up meeting software costs last week. Twelve people. $20/month each for Fireflies.ai.

That’s $240/month to take notes.

$2,880 a year. To summarize conversations we were all sitting in.

Something felt off.

The Meeting Software Tax

Here’s what tools like Otter.ai, Fireflies, and Fathom actually charge:

And that’s per user. Scale to 50 people and you’re looking at $10,000+ annually. For meeting notes.

The kicker? These tools do one thing: they record your meeting, transcribe it, and summarize the key points.

You know what else does that? A well-prompted AI.

What These Tools Actually Do

Let’s break down the “features” you’re paying for:

1. Transcription — Convert speech to text
2. Summary generation — Condense transcript to key points
3. Action item extraction — Pull out tasks and owners
4. Searchable archive — Store and search past meetings

Here’s the secret: steps 2, 3, and 4 are just prompts running against the transcript.

And step 1? Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams all offer free transcription now. You already have the raw material.

The Free Alternative

Take your meeting transcript (from Zoom’s free transcription, Google Meet, or even the free tier of Otter) and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude with one of these skills:

For messy transcripts: Meeting Transcript Fixer

This skill cleans up garbled transcripts — fixes speaker attribution, removes filler words, corrects obvious mis-transcriptions. Turn chaos into readable notes.

For quick team updates: Meeting to Slack Digest

Generates a Slack-formatted digest with summary, decisions, action items, and blockers. Copy and paste straight into your team channel.

For leadership summaries: Executive Meeting Brief

One-page briefing format for executives who need the high-level view without the details. Strategic decisions, business impact, and recommended actions.

For board-level documentation: Board Meeting Minutes

Formal minutes with proper structure, motions, votes, and action items. Legal-ready documentation without the legal fees.

For client relationships: Client Meeting Recap

Professional recap you can send directly to clients. Confirms understanding, documents decisions, and lists next steps.

The Math Works Out

Let’s compare actual costs:

Current setup (Fireflies Pro):

• 10 users × $18/month = $180/month
• Annual cost: $2,160

Free alternative:

• Zoom transcription: $0 (included in free plan)
• ChatGPT Plus for the person doing recaps: $20/month
• Everyone else: $0
• Annual cost: $240

Savings: $1,920/year

And honestly? You probably already have ChatGPT Plus. So the savings might be the full $2,160.

But What About the Recording?

Here’s where people get stuck: “But Otter.ai records and transcribes automatically!”

True. But so does every major video platform now:

• Zoom — Free transcription on all plans
• Google Meet — Included with Workspace accounts
• Microsoft Teams — Built-in transcription
• Riverside — Automatic transcription for podcasts

You’re not paying $20/month for transcription. You’re paying for the summary. And summaries are just prompts.

Real Workflow: What I Do Now

Here’s my actual meeting workflow:

1. Meeting starts — Click “Record” in Zoom
2. Meeting ends — Download transcript from Zoom (free)
3. Quick summary — Paste transcript into Claude with Meeting to Slack Digest
4. Action items — Copy tasks into our project tracker
5. Archive — Save transcript in Notion (optional)

Total time: 3 minutes after the meeting. Total cost: $0 beyond tools I already had.

When Paid Tools Make Sense

I’m not saying never pay for meeting software. Some cases justify it:

High-volume situations: If someone processes 20+ meetings daily, automated pipelines might save time.

Compliance requirements: Some industries need specific recording/storage certifications.

Non-technical teams: If your team won’t touch ChatGPT, a polished UI matters.

But for most teams? You’re paying for convenience you could build with a 2-minute workflow.

Try It Today

Next meeting you have:

1. Enable transcription in Zoom/Meet/Teams
2. After the meeting, grab the transcript
3. Paste it into ChatGPT or Claude with the Meeting to Slack Digest skill
4. Compare the output to what Otter/Fireflies produces

If it’s just as good — and it probably will be — you’ve found $20/month you don’t need to spend.

All the Meeting Skills

We’ve built skills for every meeting scenario:

All free. All work with any AI assistant. No subscription required.

The Bottom Line

Meeting software companies charge $10-39 per user monthly for features that are essentially sophisticated prompts.

Those prompts work just as well when you run them yourself.

The choice is yours: keep paying $2,000+ annually for automated notes, or spend 3 minutes after each meeting with a free skill.

Your finance team will notice the difference.

Ready to stop paying for meeting notes? Grab the Meeting to Slack Digest skill and try it on your next meeting. No signup, no trial period — just copy and use.