Is Zoom AI Companion free?

It's included at no extra cost with paid Zoom Workplace plans — Pro, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise — but not with the free Basic tier, and the meeting host needs the paid licence for a summary to be generated. It also has to be enabled by an account admin, since it is off by default. Verify current terms on Zoom's own pages.

Why didn't my Zoom meeting get an AI summary?

The usual reasons are that the host was on a free Basic account, that AI Companion wasn't enabled in the account or in-meeting settings, or that the host simply didn't start it. All three are outside your control when you're not the host — which is the main reason people add a note taker on their own side, like Nod.

What's the best alternative to Zoom AI Companion?

For macOS, Nod: it captures your Mac's audio, so it doesn't depend on the host's plan, the admin's settings, or the meeting platform. The same notes come out of Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, and a phone on speaker, in one searchable history — and no audio is stored.

Does Nod work if the Zoom host is on a free plan?

Yes. Nod never touches the host's Zoom account — it reads your Mac's audio, so the host's plan, settings, and permissions are irrelevant to whether you get your notes.

A Zoom AI Companion Alternative That Works Everywhere

Why the built-in assistant keeps letting you down

None of this makes AI Companion a bad feature. It's a very good feature with conditions attached, and the conditions are the problem.

The host's plan decides. Meeting summary requires the host to hold a paid Zoom Workplace licence (Pro, Business, Business Plus, Enterprise). Free Basic accounts are excluded — so if a client or a colleague hosts on a free account, that meeting simply has no summary.
The admin decides too. AI Companion is off by default and has to be enabled in account settings and in-meeting controls before anyone can use it. On someone else's corporate tenant, that switch isn't yours to flip.
It stops at the edge of Zoom. A Google Meet, a Teams call, a Slack huddle, a phone call, a conversation across a table — none of them produce a Zoom summary, because none of them are Zoom.
Notes land in the host's account. The summary belongs to the meeting's Zoom account, not to you personally. On a client's Zoom, your notes are their asset.
English first. Summaries are documented as working best in English (verify current language coverage).

One assistant for every conversation, on your side of the call

Nod is a macOS menu-bar app that captures your Mac's own audio. It doesn't integrate with Zoom, so there's nothing for a host or an admin to enable, and no licence tier to be on the wrong side of. The same app covers Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles, Discord, FaceTime, and a phone on speaker — including calls hosted by people on free plans.

Capture is local on your Mac; transcription isn't. Each audio segment is sent through a European proxy to a hosted transcription service and discarded the instant the text returns, under Zero Data Retention and with no model training. No audio is stored at either end. Only the transcript and summary are saved, encrypted at rest in the EU (AWS eu-west-1). See the security page.

Works regardless of whose account hosts the meeting, or which plan they're on
One searchable history across every platform, instead of notes stranded in three silos
Your notes stay in your account, not the host organisation's tenant
No stored audio; transcript and summary encrypted in the EU, no model training
"Ask Nod" recall across your whole history, in 14 languages
Readable inside ChatGPT and Claude

Where AI Companion still wins

If your entire working week happens inside Zoom, on an account you or your employer controls, with the feature already switched on, AI Companion costs you nothing extra and there is no reason to add a second tool. It also captures the call from Zoom's own stream, so it works on any device you join from, while Nod needs your Mac.

The case for Nod is the week that isn't uniform: mixed platforms, external hosts, free-plan clients, phone calls, and conversations that were never on a calendar.

A note on consent

Capturing audio without a bot in the list isn't a licence to record people quietly, and we won't sell it that way. The rules that apply to Zoom's own recording apply to Nod too, and in several regions everyone in the conversation has to agree. Nod includes a one-time consent reminder; the plain-language version is at recording & consent.

Try it on next week's mixed calendar

14 days free, no card, then $12–$20 a month billed annually (pricing). Download Nod for Mac.

Frequently asked questions

Is Zoom AI Companion free?
It's included at no extra cost with paid Zoom Workplace plans — Pro, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise — but not with the free Basic tier, and the meeting host needs the paid licence for a summary to be generated. It also has to be enabled by an account admin, since it is off by default. Verify current terms on Zoom's own pages.
Why didn't my Zoom meeting get an AI summary?
The usual reasons are that the host was on a free Basic account, that AI Companion wasn't enabled in the account or in-meeting settings, or that the host simply didn't start it. All three are outside your control when you're not the host — which is the main reason people add a note taker on their own side, like Nod.
What's the best alternative to Zoom AI Companion?
For macOS, Nod: it captures your Mac's audio, so it doesn't depend on the host's plan, the admin's settings, or the meeting platform. The same notes come out of Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, and a phone on speaker, in one searchable history — and no audio is stored.
Does Nod work if the Zoom host is on a free plan?
Yes. Nod never touches the host's Zoom account — it reads your Mac's audio, so the host's plan, settings, and permissions are irrelevant to whether you get your notes.

A Zoom AI Companion Alternative for the Rest of Your Calls