Fathom vs Gong (2026)
Fathom and Gong share a category but rarely a shortlist, so the real decision is whether you need a meeting notetaker or a revenue platform. Fathom records calls on the major conferencing services, free and unlimited on its base plan. It returns transcripts, summaries, action items, drafted follow up emails and an assistant over each call. Coaching metrics, scorecards, deal views and CRM field sync come on its Business plan at $25 a user a month billed annually. Gong builds a Revenue Graph from calls, email, meetings and CRM records. It sells forecasting, sequencing, enablement, a warehouse export and agents that update records, priced per user plus a platform fee through a quote. Their treatment of the people on the other side of the call differs most. Gong offers consent rules by region or state law and a consent page in more than 70 languages. Fathom sells a custom bot name and a switch that turns off the recording banner, and its free plan can capture without a bot joining at all.
- Individuals or small teams want unlimited recorded and transcribed meetings for free.
- Paid plans should be self serve, from $16 a user a month billed annually, with a 90 day money back guarantee.
- Meeting context should reach outside AI assistants through a public API.
- Revenue leaders need forecasting, deal risk and coaching across every call, email and CRM record.
- Recordings must sit in an EU data center under the customer's own encryption key.
- Consent rules have to change by region or state law before a meeting is recorded.
This comparison is published by GTM Tech Index, an independent research platform that compares go to market software vendors objectively. Fathom and Gong are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials, under the GTM Tech Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fathom | Gong | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Conversation Intelligence | Conversation Intelligence |
| Founded | Not published | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Not published | San Francisco, CA, United States |
| Website | www.fathom.ai | www.gong.io |
Side by Side
| Axis | F Fathom |
G Gong |
|---|---|---|
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AI Capability
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| AI Centrality | ||
| Autonomy and Oversight Model | ||
| AI Disclosure and Model Transparency | ||
| Operational and Outcome Evidence | ||
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Compliance and Risk
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| Outreach Compliance Posture | ||
| Data Privacy Posture | ||
| Data Licensing and Provenance | ||
| Platform Terms Exposure | ||
| AI Safety and Data Stewardship | ||
| Recipient Disclosure and Authenticity | ||
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Integration and Deployment
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| Ecosystem and Integration Depth | ||
| Deployment Model and Data Residency | ||
| Security Certifications and Trust Center | ||
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Commercial and Operational
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| Commercial Transparency | ||
| Exit and Data Portability | ||
| Deliverability and Sending Discipline | ||
| Segment and Market Coverage | ||
The short version of each
Fathom
Fathom is an AI notetaker that records calls on the major conferencing platforms through a bot that joins, or on the free plan through a capture mode that runs with no bot. Every plan, the free one included, gives unlimited recordings and transcripts with summaries, clips and search. Paid tiers add advanced summaries built on named sales qualification frameworks, generated action items, drafted follow up emails and an assistant that answers questions about each call. Business adds coaching metrics, scorecards, deal views and sync of meeting insights into named CRM fields. Premium is $16 a user a month billed annually, while Team at $15 and Business at $25 each need two seats, and every plan carries a 90 day money back guarantee. Among the conversation intelligence tools in the GTM Tech Index, Fathom is one of the few whose free plan records an unlimited number of meetings.
Source: GTM Tech Index, 2026
Gong
Built on a Revenue Graph that joins calls, emails, meetings and CRM records, Gong sells what it calls a Revenue AI Operating System, and since buying RightBound in December 2025 it adds third party account and contact data. The founding call recorder now sits beside forecasting, sequencing, enablement, Gong Data Cloud for warehouse export, an assistant, and agents that draft follow ups and update CRM records. Customers choose a US or EU data center on AWS, can bring their own encryption key, and get consent profiles by team, region or state law with a consent page in more than 70 languages. Pricing is quoted per user plus a platform fee, integrations cost nothing, and contracts renew yearly unless notice arrives 60 days before the end. Gong commits that customer data never trains generative models, and in the GTM Tech Index it carries the deepest security record of any vendor, with nine certifications and attestations including ISO 42001.
Source: GTM Tech Index, 2026
Common questions
Is Fathom a good alternative to Gong?
For recording, transcribing and summarizing sales calls, Fathom covers the core at a fraction of the cost. Its Business plan adds coaching metrics, scorecards, deal views and CRM field sync. It does not replace Gong's forecasting, sequencing, enablement or warehouse export, or the Revenue Graph that ties calls to email and CRM history. Teams that only need notes and light coaching often choose Fathom, while revenue organizations running forecasts on conversation data stay with Gong. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do Fathom and Gong cost?
Fathom is free for unlimited recordings. Premium is $16 a user a month billed annually, Team $15 and Business $25, the last two with a two seat minimum, and Enterprise is quoted, with a 90 day money back guarantee on every plan. Gong quotes every deal, charging per user plus a platform fee that scales with the number of users, with integrations included. Gong's fees are non cancelable and contracts renew for a year unless notice arrives 60 days before the end. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Do Fathom and Gong tell people they are being recorded?
Gong lets admins set consent profiles by team, region or state law and require a consent page in more than 70 languages before recording. It can also play an audio prompt to outside participants, though enforcing the consent page is a setting rather than the default. Fathom shows a bot in the participant list and an in meeting banner by default, but paid plans can rename the bot and turn the banner off, and the free plan offers capture with no bot. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Where do Fathom and Gong store recordings?
Gong runs on AWS and lets each new customer choose a US or EU data center, with the option to bring its own encryption key and daily backups. Fathom offers no hosting region or residency choice, and its bot free capture runs locally on a desktop while bot capture runs in Fathom's cloud. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Do Fathom and Gong train AI on my calls?
Gong commits that customer data never trains generative models, holds ISO 42001 certification for AI management and lets regulated customers redact content before analysis. Fathom makes no commitment about whether recorded meetings train its models or reach a model provider that keeps them, and offers custom retention only on Enterprise. The GTM Tech Index treats that training commitment as one of the clearest dividing lines between the two.
What happens to my recordings if I cancel Fathom or Gong?
Gong gives a customer 30 days after termination to request its data, recordings included, before deletion, and Gong Data Cloud can copy interaction data into the customer's warehouse during the contract. Fathom allows unlimited call downloads from the free plan up and syncs summaries into the CRM, but sets no retention window or bulk export for a closed account. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Conversation Intelligence page.
Both transcribe and summarize calls on unnamed models. Gong commits that customer data never trains its generative models, while Fathom makes no such commitment. Fathom's paid plans can rename the recording bot and switch off the in meeting banner, which together can leave other attendees with no visible sign they are being recorded, in places where many laws require their consent. Gong bought RightBound in December 2025 and now feeds third party account and contact data into its Revenue Graph. Both companies are independent.