Circleback
AI meeting notes with action items that sync into the tools your team already uses.
why this verdict
Downgrade — pay for the workflow, not the AI
Fathom and Otter.ai cover the headline feature free, so the $25/mo is now paying for the workflow around it.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Teams, Meet and Zoom shipping free AI notes to everyone already in the meeting. OpenAI, April 30, 2025 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers headline only editorial call
- The headline feature, but not the workflow, data or integrations around it.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 2 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Fathom and Otter.ai.
- What the call is worth $300/yr
- $25/mo at the entry paid tier — $300 a year per seat.
- Threatened by
- OpenAI
- Since
- April 30, 2025
- List price
- $25/mo
- Per year
- $300
The backstory
Circleback produces unusually clean meeting notes and routes the resulting actions into Linear, Notion or a CRM, which is the part most note-takers do badly. The category's problem is that the meeting platforms give this away: Google Meet, Teams and Zoom all include AI summaries for subscribers, and Granola took the design-conscious end of the independent market. Quality is real here and the willingness to pay for it keeps thinning.
Escape hatches
switching could free up $300/yrPopular note-taker that augments your own typing
granola.ai open_in_newGenerous free tier with solid CRM integration
fathom.video open_in_newLong-standing transcription with meeting summaries
otter.ai open_in_new2 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.