Most AI meeting tools transcribe and summarize after the call. Speq coaches you during it. Here's an honest look at how they compare.
Last updated: May 2026
| Feature | Speq | Otter.ai | Fireflies | Fathom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| During the Meeting | ||||
| Live AI coaching | ✓ Real-time advisory every few minutes — risks, contradictions, action items surfaced while you talk | ✗ No live coaching | ✗ No live coaching | ✗ No live coaching |
| Document-grounded responses | ✓ Upload SOWs, policies, contracts — AI cross-references what's being said against your documents | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Mid-meeting Q&A | ✓ Ask the AI anything during the call — answers grounded in transcript + documents + screen | ~ Otter AI Chat — queries against transcript only, no document context | ~ AskFred — web search via Perplexity, not your documents. Consumes AI credits | ✗ |
| Screen awareness | ✓ AI sees shared slides, spreadsheets, and screens — factors visuals into coaching | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Screenshot + Q&A | ✓ Capture your screen and ask the AI about it mid-meeting | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Live transcription | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Speaker detection | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| After the Meeting | ||||
| Structured debrief | ✓ Action items, decisions, risks, follow-ups — organized by category, grounded in your documents | ~ AI summary with action items — generic, not document-grounded | ~ AI summary — consumes credits on free plan | ~ AI summary — 5/month free, unlimited on Premium |
| Searchable meeting history | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM integration | ✗ Not yet | ✓ Salesforce, HubSpot | ✓ Salesforce, HubSpot (Business+) | ✓ Salesforce, HubSpot |
| Customization | ||||
| Custom AI coach profiles | ✓ Create profiles per client, project, or domain — each with its own prompt and documents | ✗ | ✗ | ~ Custom summary templates (post-meeting only) |
| Upload project documents | ✓ SOWs, policies, contracts, specs — AI uses them in real time | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Customizable AI prompts | ✓ Tailor what the AI watches for — by industry, role, or project | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Platform | ||||
| Zoom / Teams / Meet | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calendar integration | ✓ Google Calendar + Outlook | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✗ Web-based | ✓ iOS + Android | ✓ iOS + Android | ✗ Desktop only |
| Languages | English | English, French, Spanish | 100+ | English |
Otter, Fireflies, and Fathom are good at what they do: they join your meeting, transcribe it, and give you a summary afterward. If all you need is a record of what was said, any of them will work.
Speq does something different. It coaches you while the meeting is happening — flagging risks, surfacing relevant clauses from your documents, catching contradictions between what's being said and what was agreed. It doesn't replace your judgment. It gives you the information you need to make better decisions in real time, not after the meeting is over.
If you're in meetings where the stakes are high and the details matter — consulting engagements, contract discussions, technical reviews, client negotiations — the difference between "here's what was said" and "here's what you should do about it right now" is the difference between a note-taker and a coach.