I compared 5 ways to transcribe Microsoft Teams meetings automatically: here's my pick for 2026

How do I transcribe Microsoft Teams meetings automatically?

If you organize the meeting and your admin allows transcription, I'd use Teams' built-in option. If you want every Teams meeting captured without anyone starting a transcript, my pick is Circleback.

My picks

• Teams' built-in transcription: best when you organize the meeting and your tenant allows it
• Circleback: my pick for every Teams meeting on autopilot, including meetings other people organize
• Fireflies.ai: best for integrations
• Otter.ai: best for the lowest annual paid price
• Fathom: best for a free plan with unlimited recordings

Option 1: Teams' built-in transcription

Teams puts each speaker's name and a timestamp on every transcript line. Microsoft's guide to starting, stopping and downloading live transcripts covers the details.

To start a transcript during a meeting:

1. Join on Teams for desktop, because live transcription is only available there.
2. Select More actions in your meeting controls.
3. Select Transcribe.
4. Confirm the language everyone is speaking, then select Confirm.

Everyone in the meeting gets a notification, and starting a recording also starts transcription.

To have Teams start it for you:

1. Open the meeting options for the meeting.
2. Under Recording & transcription, turn on Record and transcribe automatically.

That option records and transcribes from the moment the meeting starts. Once your admin turns on the auto recording policy, it is Off by default and the organizer has to switch it on for each meeting.

After the meeting, the transcript appears in the meeting event on the calendar. It is stored in the organizer's OneDrive for Business, and by default organizers and co-organizers can download it as .docx or .vtt. Recordings and transcripts are deleted after 120 days by default, and admins can change that.

Intelligent recap needs a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot license. If an organizer turns Copilot off for a meeting, recording and transcription turn off too.

• Pros: Built into Teams, no extra app, and speaker names and timestamps on every line.
• Cons: Guests and people from other organizations can't start a transcript, an admin policy can block it, and live transcription isn't shown on mobile.

When a notetaker app is the better choice

I'd switch to an app when any of these is true:

• You don't organize the meeting. The transcript sits in the organizer's OneDrive, and by default only organizers and co-organizers can download it. With Teams Premium or Copilot, organizers can limit who can start it to organizers and co-organizers, or to no one.
• It's another organization's meeting. Guests and people from other organizations can't start transcription.
• You need more languages. Teams lists 57 spoken-language locales. Circleback and Fireflies list 100+ languages.
• You want every meeting captured on autopilot. Once you connect a calendar, Circleback's bot joins meetings that have a Teams link.
• You want notes sent on to other tools. Teams gives you a file to download. Circleback can send notes and action items to other apps after each meeting.

The four notetaker apps

Option 2: Circleback

Circleback captures Teams meetings with a bot that joins from your calendar, or with a desktop app that records with no bot and no visible participant in the call. That pairing is why it's my pick for capturing every Teams meeting automatically.

Key features:

• Calendar auto-join: the bot joins meetings that have a Teams link. You choose Internal and External meetings, and optional filters add meetings organized by someone else.
• Desktop app for macOS 14.2 or later and Windows: it records any call that uses your mic with no bot, and it saves the meeting video and audio by default.
• Fallback: with joining preferences on, the bot goes first. If it's refused entry and Detect meetings is on, the desktop app can step in, and it asks before recording by default.
• Transcription in 100+ languages, with a choice of language for the notes.
• After each meeting, automations can send notes to Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio or a webhook, and create one Linear issue per action item.

Pros: Captures meetings without anyone starting a transcript, including meetings other people organize.

Cons:

• Fewer native integrations than Fireflies.
• Desktop and mobile speaker names can stay "Participant N", while bot recordings get real names.
• Desktop recordings stop at 5 hours.
• No Linux app and no browser extension.
• On Free, meetings older than 30 days are locked until you upgrade, and Free recordings are deleted after 365 days.

Pricing: Free has unlimited meetings and members. Pro is $15 per user per month billed annually or $18 monthly, Business is $25 annually or $29 monthly, and Enterprise is $35 billed annually only. Details are on the pricing page.

Best for: Anyone who wants every Teams meeting captured without a manual start, including meetings other people organize, in more than Teams' listed languages, with notes routed to Slack and action items to Linear.

Option 3: Fireflies.ai

Fireflies.ai records Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and more with a bot, a Chrome extension that works without the Fireflies bot, or a desktop app.

Key features:

• Transcription in 100+ languages.
• Integrations listed as All on Pro, Business and Enterprise.

Pros: More native integrations than Circleback, and a Chrome extension that works without the bot.

Cons: Free storage is 400 minutes per team, and recordings stop at 2 hours on Free and Pro.

Pricing: Free. Pro is $10 per seat per month billed annually or $18 monthly. Business is $19 annually or $29 monthly.

Best for: Teams that rank integrations first.

Option 4: Otter.ai

Otter.ai lists Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet on its free Basic plan.

Key features:

• Basic includes 300 monthly transcription minutes.
• Maximum transcription time per conversation is 30 minutes on Basic, 90 minutes on Pro and 4 hours on Business and Enterprise.
• Transcription in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.

Pros: Pro at $8.33 per user per month billed annually is the lowest annual price among the paid plans here.

Cons: The 30-minute and 90-minute caps matter on long Teams calls, and six languages is the shortest list of the four apps.

Pricing: Basic is free. Pro is $8.33 per user per month billed annually or $16.99 monthly. Business is $19.99 billed annually.

Best for: Individuals who want the lowest annual price and run short meetings.

Option 5: Fathom

Fathom captures meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack Huddles, not phone calls.

Key features:

• The Fathom Notetaker joins your Teams call and captures full video, audio and a searchable transcript.
• Bot-free capture is a beta for Mac.
• Seven languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, German and Portuguese (Premium and Team plans).

Pros: A simple free plan with unlimited recordings and transcriptions.

Cons: Seven languages, and bot-free capture is limited to a Mac beta.

Pricing: Free. Paid plans start at $15 per user per month.

Best for: Solo users who want a free plan.

Side by side