# Best AI Meeting Assistant for Spreadsheet Users (2026)

URL: https://formula.dog/compare/best-ai-meeting-assistant
Type: comparison
Locale: en
Published: 2026-11-01
Updated: 2026-11-02

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> We compared six AI meeting assistants on one question spreadsheet people care about: how easily notes and action items reach Excel or Google Sheets.

## Ranking (6 products)

**Winner:** fireflies-ai

**Verdict:** Fireflies wins for spreadsheet people because a ready Zapier template drops each meeting into a Google Sheets row. Fathom is the pick if you want free and unlimited, TicNote suits people who end with a report or deck, and Otter is the one that makes you copy action items by hand.

**Methodology:** This is a desk comparison, not a lab test. We did not run each tool through a month of live meetings. We checked each vendor's own pages, help center and pricing, the Zapier app directory for spreadsheet routes, and aggregated G2 ratings where a number was public, all in November 2026. The custom score (0 to 5) answers one narrow question: how easily do meeting notes and action items reach Excel or Google Sheets, with price, capture style and review signals as tie-breakers. It is not an overall quality score, so a tool with a perfect G2 rating can score lower here. Prices move often, so confirm them on the vendor page. TicNote and Krisp are affiliate partners of ours; the ranking was set by the criteria above, and the table shows the weaknesses we found for both.


### Criteria

| Criterion | fireflies-ai | fathom | ticnote | granola | krisp | otter-ai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 800 min/mo storage, limited AI summary credits | Unlimited recordings, transcripts and AI summaries for individuals | 300 transcription min/mo | Free Basic plan, meeting history capped (30 days) | Free plan lists 60 min/day of noise cancellation | 300 transcription min/mo, 30 min cap per meeting |
| Paid plans (as listed) | Pro $10-18/mo, Business $19-29/seat | Premium $16-20/mo, Team $15-19/user | Roughly $13 to $29/mo depending on plan | Business $14/user/mo | Pro $8/mo annual or $16/mo monthly | Pro $8.33-16.99/mo, Business $19.99-30/user |
| How it captures the call | Bot joins Zoom, Meet and Teams | Bot, or bot-free capture (beta on Mac) | Chrome extension, no bot invited, plus hardware recorders | Bot-free, records computer audio on desktop | Bot-free note taker plus noise cancellation | Joins Zoom, Meet and Teams with live transcription |
| Files you can export | Transcripts and summaries, plus Zapier and CRM hooks | Summaries and action items, synced to Slack, CRM, Notion, Asana (paid) | TXT, DOCX, PDF, Markdown, HTML, Notion, Obsidian, Xmind | Notes synced to Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Attio (Business), API | Notes and action items sent through native integrations or Zapier | TXT on Basic; DOCX, PDF, SRT on paid plans |
| Route into Excel or Google Sheets | Zapier template adds a Sheets row per new meeting | Zapier, with a ready template for action items into Google Docs | No CSV or Excel export listed; copy tables out of reports | Zapier connects Granola to Google Sheets | Zapier connects Krisp to Google Sheets, action items to Zapier Tables | Action items cannot be exported directly; copy by hand |
| Customer rating signal | G2 4.8/5 (shown on its homepage) | G2 5.0/5 from 6,500+ reviews (shown on its homepage) | No aggregated G2 score we could verify | No aggregated G2 score we could verify | G2 4.7/5 (cited by Krisp itself) | G2 4.4/5 (cited by third-party roundups) |

### Per-product notes

- **krisp** — *Best for noisy calls*, best for: Noisy calls where audio quality comes first, score: 3.9/5
  Pick it when the audio is the real problem.
- **fathom** — *Best free plan*, best for: Free unlimited notes with action items, score: 4.4/5
  Start here if you want zero cost and no minute counter.
- **granola** — *Best bot-free notepad*, best for: Bot-free notes on a Mac or Windows laptop, score: 4/5
  Great notes, but you route them to Sheets yourself.
- **ticnote** — *Best for deliverables*, best for: Turning meetings into finished reports and decks, score: 4.1/5
  Not a Sheets tool, but strong if your end product is a report.
- **otter-ai** — best for: Live transcripts and simple summaries, score: 3.8/5
  Solid transcripts, awkward when the goal is a spreadsheet.
- **fireflies-ai** — *Best for Sheets pipelines*, best for: Pushing every meeting into a Google Sheets row, score: 4.5/5
  The cleanest road from a meeting to a spreadsheet row.

## FAQ

### What is the best AI meeting assistant for Excel and Google Sheets users?

Fireflies, in our comparison. A Zapier template creates a Google Sheets row for each new meeting, which is the shortest path from a call to a tracker.

### Which AI meeting assistant has the best free plan?

Fathom. Its free plan for individuals has no meeting cap, no seat limit and no expiry on history, according to its own pricing information.

### Can Otter.ai export action items to a spreadsheet?

Not directly. Otter's help center says action items cannot be exported, so you copy them manually. Basic plans export TXT only.

### Do these tools join my meeting as a bot?

Fireflies and Otter send a bot. Fathom offers bot or bot-free capture (beta on Mac). TicNote uses a Chrome extension, and Granola and Krisp record audio locally with no bot.

### Does TicNote export to Excel or CSV?

The formats it lists are TXT, DOCX, PDF, Markdown, HTML, Notion, Obsidian and Xmind. No CSV or Excel file is listed, so you copy tables from its reports.

### Do I need Zapier to send meeting notes to Google Sheets?

For most of these tools, yes, or a similar automation service. Fireflies, Granola and Krisp all have Zapier routes to Google Sheets.