TOM vs the cloud notetakers.
TOM is the only one that combines local data, retained video, fully on-device AI, and cross-meeting semantic search with cited answers — all without a network connection. Here's the side-by-side.
| Feature | TOM Desktop macOS, free & open source | Granola cloud notetaker | Otter.ai cloud bot | Fireflies cloud bot | Fathom cloud notetaker | Zoom AI Companion native to Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bot-free recording Captures the meeting window locally — no participant ever sees a bot join. | native | |||||
Video retained You can re-watch screen shares, demos, and presentations — not just text. | via bot | Business+ | ||||
Where your data lives Where recordings, transcripts, and search index are stored. | 100% on your Mac | Granola AWS | Otter cloud | Fireflies cloud | Fathom cloud | Zoom cloud |
On-device AI Transcription, summaries, and search synthesis run locally. No third-party AI provider in the loop. | ||||||
Works offline Records, transcribes, summarises, and searches without an internet connection (after first-launch model download). | ||||||
Cross-meeting Q&A Ask a question across your library and get a cited answer. | Yes — local RAG, all meetings | Cloud, 25–40 cap | Cloud | Cloud | ||
Recordings kept Whether the source recording is retained and where. | Full MP4, on your Mac | Deleted | In their cloud | In their cloud | In their cloud | In their cloud |
Pricing model How vendors charge. | Free & open source — no fees | Per-seat SaaS | Per-seat SaaS | Per-seat SaaS | Per-seat SaaS | Bundled with Zoom |
Comparison reflects publicly available product information at the time of writing. We compare on capability — not on which tool is “best.” If a competitor has changed their behaviour and this page is wrong, email hi@meettom.ai and we'll update it.
Try TOM yourself — free & open source.
No card, no account. macOS 26.2+ on Apple Silicon. All AI runs on your Mac — no cloud, no key. Whatever you record stays readable on your Mac forever.