Shadow vs Fathom (2026)

Shadow

by Taper Labs

Fathom

by Fathom Video

Pros

• ✓Bot-free architecture means no visible participant ever joins meetings, a significant differentiator for client-facing sales calls, regulated industries, and confidential conversations where vendor bots create trust friction or compliance issues
• ✓Captures both audio and on-screen content through smart screenshots where every other major meeting AI (Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Otter.ai) captures audio only, critical for design reviews, product demos, and slide-driven presentations where screen context changes meaning
• ✓Shadow 2.0 auto-execute Skills run post-meeting actions (PDF creation, slide generation, CRM updates, follow-up emails, scheduling) automatically with no manual button press, putting Shadow among the few meeting tools in the autonomous-action-taking category rather than just transcription

Limitations

• ⚠Mac-only with no Windows or mobile support: this excludes Windows-heavy organisations and mobile-first users and is the single most-cited gap in public user feedback; teams with mixed Mac and Windows environments cannot standardize on Shadow
• ⚠No first-party SOC 2 certification and no public security or trust page: procurement teams requiring vendor-confirmed SOC 2 should use Fathom (SOC 2 Type II) or Fireflies (SOC 2 Type II) instead; Shadow's privacy posture relies on local on-device transcription plus OpenAI Enterprise Policy for AI features
• ⚠Integration depth is Zapier-dependent rather than native: connecting Shadow outputs to Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, or Linear requires a separate Zapier subscription and webhook configuration, adding cost and setup complexity versus competitors with direct native integrations

Pros

• ✓Number one AI notetaker on G2 with approximately 6,895 reviews at 5.0 stars as of June 2026, HubSpot Most Used App 2025, and ranked 69th on G2 2026 Best Global Software: the strongest third-party validation track record in the meeting intelligence category
• ✓Bot-free capture now generally available alongside the traditional meeting bot, with a generous free tier offering unlimited recordings, transcriptions, and basic AI summaries with no storage time limit
• ✓Business tier CRM field sync automatically maps and writes meeting insights into specific fields in Salesforce and HubSpot records, eliminating post-call manual CRM data entry for revenue teams

Limitations

• ⚠CRM sync is capped at 3 users per domain across Free, Premium, and Team tiers, and advanced AI summaries and action items are limited to reduced usage on the free plan, driving upgrade pressure for teams relying on these features daily
• ⚠CRM field sync, Deal View, coaching metrics, and AI scorecards are all Business-tier only at $25 per user per month annually, pricing out smaller sales teams that need revenue intelligence without a full enterprise commitment
• ⚠De-identified meeting data may be used by default to train in-house AI models with opt-out available in account settings: teams in sensitive industries should verify opt-out is configured before deployment