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Tool matchup

Fathom vs Grain

Fathom vs Grain for consultants. Compare two Delivery & Reporting tools on pricing, setup speed, strengths, and Curalo score.

Fathom

Strong Choice

Effortless call notes. Join a meeting, get summaries and action items synced to your tools. No configuration, no manual work. Generous free tier.

Free, paid from $16/mo

Prices checked October 23, 2026fathom.ai pricing page

83/100

Grain

Strong Choice

Records meetings with a bot or bot-free desktop capture, then turns them into AI notes, shareable clips and highlight reels. The Free plan covers unlimited meetings up to 45 minutes.

Free, paid from $15/mo

Prices checked October 21, 2026grain.com pricing page

71/100

Verdict

Fathom leads by 12 points (strong advantage).

Decision guidance

  • Fathom currently leads with 83/100.
  • Fathom strength: Strong on UX quality.
  • Grain trails Fathom most on Setup speed: 14/20 vs 18/20.

What drives this decision

  • Setup speed favors Fathom by 4 points.
  • UX polish favors Fathom by 3 points.
  • Pricing sanity favors Fathom by 2 points.

Decision shortcuts

Which one fits your practice

Choose Fathom if

  • Best fit: Consultants who want zero-friction call notes and task capture
  • Setup speed matters most to you: Fathom scores 18/20 vs 14/20 for Grain.
  • UX polish matters most to you: Fathom scores 14/15 vs 11/15 for Grain.
  • You need iOS app, Mac capture without a bot (beta), which the Grain pricing page does not list.

Choose Grain if

  • Best fit: Consultants managing recurring client delivery and reporting
  • You want the lower paid entry: Starter at $15 vs $16 for Fathom.
  • You need Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Desktop capture without a bot, which the Fathom pricing page does not list.

Client-ready brief

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Send a concise summary of winner, trade-offs, and rollout recommendation.

  • Fathom: 83/100
  • Grain: 71/100
  • Fathom leads by 12 points (strong advantage).

Best fit

Who each tool is for

Fathom

Strong Choice

Best for: Consultants who want zero-friction call notes and task capture.

Why pick it: The lowest-friction meeting assistant available. Install once, forget it exists, and get perfect notes after every call. Free tier is genuinely usable.

Watch for: Limited analytics and no cross-meeting intelligence. If you need to search across months of conversations, Fireflies or Otter are better fits.

Grain

Strong Choice

Best for: Consultants managing recurring client delivery and reporting.

Why pick it: Records meetings with a bot or bot-free desktop capture, then turns them into AI notes, shareable clips and highlight reels. The Free plan covers unlimited meetings up to 45 minutes.

Watch for: Skip it if you only need written summaries of long calls: the Free plan stops at 45 minutes per meeting and keeps 30 days of history, and paid seats start at $15/month billed annually ($19 monthly).

Swipe sideways to compare all columns.

Fathom

Grain

Quick facts
Pricing sanityFree, paid from $16/moFree, paid from $15/mo
IntelligenceHighMedium
Integrations4+3+
Score breakdown
Outcome fit
20/25
19/25
Setup speed
18/20
14/20
Pricing sanity
11/15
9/15
Integrations
12/15
10/15
UX polish
14/15
11/15
Trust & support
8/10
8/10
Summary
Best forConsultants who want zero-friction call notes and task capture.Consultants managing recurring client delivery and reporting.
Key strengthStrong on UX qualityStrong on trust

Pricing

Plan-by-plan pricing

Fathom

PlanPriceLimits (vendor's wording)
FreeFreeUnlimited recordings and transcription; instant AI summaries
Premium$16 per user / month, billed annually$20 per user / month, billed monthlyFor individuals: advanced summaries, AI action items
Team$15 per user / month, billed annually$19 per user / month, billed monthly2-user minimum; team search and shared playlists
Business$25 per user / month, billed annually$34 per user / month, billed monthly2-user minimum; CRM field sync; coaching metrics
EnterpriseContact salesContact sales; SSO and SCIM

Prices checked October 23, 2026fathom.ai pricing page

Grain

PlanPriceLimits (vendor's wording)
FreeFreeUnlimited meetings up to 45 minutes each; 30-day meeting history
Starter$15 per seat / month, billed annually$19 per seat / month, billed monthlyUnlimited meeting length and history; custom AI prompts; Slack and personal Zapier
Business$29 per seat / month, billed annually$39 per seat / month, billed monthlyHubSpot and Salesforce integrations; AI coaching; unlimited uploads
EnterpriseContact salesContact sales; SAML SSO; dedicated CS manager

Prices checked October 21, 2026grain.com pricing page

Cost calculator

What would you pay?

Seats
Billing

Fathom

$16 per month · $192 per year

Cheapest plan that fits: Premium, $16 per seat or user

Team left out: needs at least 2 users.

Grain

$15 per month · $180 per year

Cheapest plan that fits: Starter, $15 per seat or user

Uses list prices from each vendor's pricing page, before tax and discounts. Free plans and custom-quote plans are left out.

Platforms

Where each tool runs

PlatformFathomGrain
iOS appListedNot listed on vendor pricing page
Mac capture without a bot (beta)ListedNot listed on vendor pricing page
ZoomNot listed on vendor pricing pageListed
Google MeetNot listed on vendor pricing pageListed
Microsoft TeamsNot listed on vendor pricing pageListed
Desktop capture without a botNot listed on vendor pricing pageListed

Based only on what each vendor's pricing page states. A platform that is not listed there may still be supported.

Method

How we checked

  • Scores: Curalo rates each tool out of 100 on six consultant criteria (outcome fit, setup speed, pricing, integrations, UX, trust and support). See the scoring method
  • Fathom: prices checked October 23, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page: fathom.ai
  • Grain: prices checked October 21, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page: grain.com
  • Plans, limits and platforms are copied from each vendor's pricing page in the vendor's own terms.
  • Anything a vendor does not publish is shown as not listed rather than guessed. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before buying.

Common questions

Questions consultants ask before choosing

Which is better for consultants, Fathom or Grain?

Fathom scores 83/100 and Grain scores 71/100 on Curalo's consultant rubric. The biggest gap is Setup speed: Fathom 18/20 vs 14/20.

Is Fathom or Grain cheaper?

Fathom's cheapest paid plan is Premium at $16 per user / month, billed annually. Grain's cheapest paid plan is Starter at $15 per seat / month, billed annually.

Do Fathom and Grain have a free plan?

Fathom has a free plan: Unlimited recordings and transcription; instant AI summaries. Grain has a free plan: Unlimited meetings up to 45 minutes each; 30-day meeting history.

What would one user pay for Fathom or Grain?

Fathom: $16 a month on Premium. (Team needs at least 2 users.) Grain: $15 a month on Starter. Annual list prices where available, before tax.

When is Fathom the wrong choice?

Limited analytics and no cross-meeting intelligence. If you need to search across months of conversations, Fireflies or Otter are better fits.

When is Grain the wrong choice?

Skip it if you only need written summaries of long calls: the Free plan stops at 45 minutes per meeting and keeps 30 days of history, and paid seats start at $15/month billed annually ($19 monthly).

Guides

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