I compared 6 AI notetakers for confidential meetings: here's my pick for 2026

Confidential calls change what matters in a notetaker. The point is where the audio and notes end up, who can open them, and how long they stay.

I compared Circleback, Granola, Fathom, Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai and tl;dv on that question. My picks rest on each vendor's documented features, plans and policies.

What is the safest AI notetaker for confidential client calls?

My pick is Circleback. It captures with no bot and no visible participant in the call, says "We do not use customer data to train models," lets workspace admins set how long data is kept, and includes its standard BAA with Enterprise. Granola is my pick if you want no audio kept at all.

My picks

• Circleback: best overall for confidential client calls
• Granola: best if you want no audio kept
• Fireflies.ai: best for locked-down Enterprise setups
• Fathom: best for a BAA published up front
• tl;dv: best for a no-training statement and a choice of AI hosting region
• Otter.ai: last for this use case, because it trains on de-identified audio and transcripts

What "confidential" changes about choosing a notetaker

Six questions decide it for me:

1. Does a visible bot join the call, or does capture stay on your device?
2. Is audio and video kept, and can recording storage be turned off?
3. Who can see the notes, and how is sharing controlled?
4. Does the vendor train on your data?
5. What retention and deletion controls does an admin get?
6. Is there a BAA when health information comes up?

Each block below has a "Who can see it" line.

The six notetakers

1. Circleback

Circleback turns conversations into speaker-labeled transcripts, notes, assigned action items, automations and searchable context.

Who can see it: Sharing automations share a meeting with the workspace members, teams or people you choose when it matches conditions such as participant, domain, title or tag. Each person's private notes stay private when the meeting is shared.

Pros

• The desktop app on Mac and Windows records with no bot and no visible participant in the call. It records any call that uses the mic, and the mobile app captures in-person meetings as audio.
• Recording storage can be turned off while the transcript and notes stay.
• Circleback is SOC 2 Type II and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certified, encrypts data at rest and in transit, and runs a security portal with a pentest report.
• Workspace admins set retention for recordings, transcripts and all meeting data. When a period expires, the data is permanently deleted.
• The standard BAA is included with Enterprise, and a workspace admin turns it on in Settings.

Cons

• Audio and video are saved by default, so turn recording storage off if you want notes without the file.
• Custom retention is an admin control that starts at Business. Retention runs: recordings 1 year on Free and Pro, up to 2 years on Business, transcripts and other data can be kept forever on Business, recordings forever on Enterprise.
• The BAA, SSO and SCIM are Enterprise only, and Circleback offers its standard BAA only, with no custom BAAs.

Best for: professional services teams that want bot-free capture, no training on their data and admin-set retention.

2. Granola

Granola runs on your computer with no meeting bot. It "does not record or save audio or video at any point during the call."

Who can see it: Notes are private by default on every plan. Sharing has three levels: Private, Only your company and Anyone with link. Admins cannot see your individual notes.

Pros

• No audio is kept: "We do not retain audio recordings."
• Granola holds SOC 2 Type II certification, and it can sign a BAA for Enterprise customers.

Cons

• "Granola trains on your anonymized data so we can keep making Granola better." You can opt out in Settings, and Enterprise users have training turned off by default. Granola adds, "We cannot guarantee that anonymised data wasn't used before you changed the setting."
• Notes and transcripts are kept indefinitely unless a transcript auto-deletion period is set. Enterprise workspaces use a retention policy arranged with Granola.
• The BAA covers the desktop and laptop apps only, and it is not available on Free, Personal or Business.

Best for: people who want nothing recorded and will opt out of training in Settings.

3. Fathom

Fathom's help center says "Fathom is HIPAA, SOC2 Type II, and GDPR-compliant."

Who can see it: Fathom writes, "We do not and will never sell your data to third parties." Its AI sub-processors (Anthropic, OpenAI and Google) are not contractually permitted to use your data to train their AI models.

Pros

• Fathom publishes a blanket BAA that customers agree to by entering the Service Agreement, and its pricing page lists a signed BAA under Enterprise.
• When you delete your account, all recording data and metadata are removed, and backups clear 7 days later.

Cons

• Fathom's "No!" on training covers its AI sub-processors. Fathom itself "uses de-identified customer data to improve the accuracy of our proprietary AI models," and you can opt out anytime.
• Opt-out is per person in My Settings. Organizations on Team Edition can opt out all users from Organization Settings.

Best for: health-adjacent teams that want a BAA published up front and accept an opt-out on training.

4. Fireflies.ai

Fireflies puts its strongest controls on Enterprise: HIPAA compliance, private storage, custom data retention and a "Transcript + Summary only mode."

Who can see it: Its security page says meeting content "remains inaccessible without explicit user consent." It also offers a Super Admin status that gives "Full meeting access to your entire workspace." For confidential work, I'd decide up front who holds that status.

Pros

• SOC 2 Type II and GDPR apply on every plan, with 256-bit AES encryption at rest and TLS encryption in transit.
• Enterprise adds private storage and custom data retention.

Cons

• The training wording differs on the same page: "never used for AI model training" in one place and "We don't train on it by default" in another. I'd want that settled in writing before confidential content goes in.
• "HIPAA compliance is only available on Enterprise plans."

Best for: Enterprise buyers who want private storage, custom retention and a transcript and summary only mode.

5. Otter.ai

Otter's privacy policy lists "training our proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions (which may contain Personal Information)."

Who can see it: Otter's pricing table lists recording control and sharing permissions, a recording disclaimer email and audio removal from conversations.

Pros

• TLS encryption and AES-256 encryption for real-time content appear on all four plans.

Cons

• It trains on de-identified audio and transcripts, which is the main reason I'd place it last for this use case.
• HIPAA compliance is an add-on on the Enterprise plan, and custom data retention is ticked only on Enterprise.

Best for: internal meetings where de-identified training is acceptable.

6. tl;dv

tl;dv leads its security page with training and hosting: "No customer data is used to train the AI."

Who can see it: tl;dv writes, "You have full sovereignty over the data that you record." Its AI partner is Anthropic. tl;dv says it anonymizes metadata and splits meetings into small pieces in randomized order, so Anthropic never sees more than a short sequence of a meeting at once.

Pros

• tl;dv cites a SOC 2 Type II report.
• You can choose whether your AI is hosted in Europe or the US.
• Data is stored encrypted using AES-256.

Cons

• A third party, Anthropic, processes short slices of your meetings, even with the anonymizing steps.

Best for: teams that want a no-training statement and a choice of AI hosting region.

Side by side

How I'd set it up for client calls

1. Capture with the desktop app, so no bot appears in the call. Use the mobile app for in-person meetings.
2. Decide on the recording. If the file should not exist, turn recording storage off. The transcript and notes stay.
3. Control who sees what. Add conditional sharing rules by participant, domain, title or tag, and use private notes for anything that should not travel with a shared meeting.
4. Ask an admin to set retention under Settings, General, Data retention.
5. If health information comes up, use Enterprise. The standard BAA is included, a workspace admin turns it on in Settings, and Circleback's pricing page lists the plans.

How to choose

• A visible bot is the worry: Circleback or Granola. Both capture on your device with no bot in the call.
• Any stored audio is the worry: Granola, which trains on anonymized data unless you opt out.
• Training is the worry: Circleback or tl;dv, which both say they do not use customer data to train.
• You need a BAA published up front: Fathom. Circleback's standard BAA comes with Enterprise.

FAQ

Is a bot-free notetaker safer for confidential calls?

Not by itself. Bot-free describes how a call is captured, not where the data goes afterward. Circleback's desktop app records with no bot and no visible participant in the call, and it still saves audio and video unless you turn recording storage off. Granola captures on your device with no bot and keeps no audio. With no bot in the call there is no extra name in the participant list, so I'd tell clients you are taking notes before the call starts.

Which AI notetakers sign a BAA?

Circleback, Granola and Fathom each describe a BAA. Circleback includes its standard BAA with Enterprise and offers no custom BAAs. Granola can sign a BAA for Enterprise customers, and says HIPAA support is not available on Free, Personal or Business. Fathom publishes a blanket BAA and lists a signed BAA under Enterprise. Fireflies.ai says "HIPAA compliance is only available on Enterprise plans," and Otter.ai lists "HIPAA compliance (add-on)" on its Enterprise plan.

Which AI notetakers train on your meeting data?

Circleback and tl;dv say they do not use customer data to train. Granola trains on anonymized data unless you opt out, and Enterprise has training off by default. Fathom trains its own models on de-identified data with an opt-out. Otter.ai's privacy policy lists training on de-identified audio and transcriptions. Fireflies.ai says both "never used for AI model training" and "We don't train on it by default."

Can I stop an AI notetaker from keeping the recording?

With some of them, yes. Circleback lets you turn recording storage off while keeping the transcript and notes. Granola never keeps audio. Fireflies.ai lists a "Transcript + Summary only mode" on Enterprise, and Otter.ai lists audio removal from conversations.