This Zoom AI Companion review is an amalgamation of real users’ reviews, cherry-picked from dozens of different platforms. I’ve tried to keep it fair by taking a look at what people love about it as well as what people detest.
Here’s the deal: I write for tl;dv, so there’s an unavoidable element of bias. But I’m up front about it and it in no way hinders my opinion on Zoom AI Companion. In fact, to be totally honest, I didn’t even get a chance to try Zoom AI Companion because I don’t have a paid subscription (there’s no free plan for this AI meeting assistant unfortunately).
I did do the next best thing though: research and analyze every review I could find until I started to see the word Zoom in bright letters whenever I closed my eyes. I searched through Reddit, YouTube, and X before going over to more traditional review sites like TrustPilot, G2, ProductHunt, Capterra, and more. Here’s what I found.
Table of Contents
TL;DR: Is Zoom AI Companion Any Good?
Here’s the scoop: Zoom AI Companion is a useful, built-in assistant that makes Zoom meetings more efficient. If you already use Zoom a lot for work, particularly if you already have a Zoom paid subscription, it’s a great no-extra-cost option.
It delivers valuable features like summaries, chat drafting, and meeting recall, but it’s not perfect. It can struggle with casual conversations, it lacks multi-platform or external knowledge integration, and sometimes overshares private comments.
Users looking to test it will also be disappointed: Zoom doesn’t currently offer a free trial.
Best for: Regular Zoom users who already have a paid subscription and just need light AI organization.
Not great for: Users that require in-depth AI automations or run their video calls on different platforms.
The verdict: Worth trying if you already have free access, but not worth subscribing to Zoom solely for AI Companion.
Zoom AI Companion: What Is It?
Zoom’s AI Companion feature, previously known as Zoom IQ, is a built-in AI assistant for your Zoom calls. Here’s the lowdown.
It sits inside your Zoom apps (Meetings, Chat, Phone, Whiteboard, Mail, Docs) and helps with things like:
- Taking notes & summaries. It writes up what happened in a meeting, including action items.
- Catching you up. If you join late, you can ask “What did I miss?” and it gives you a recap.
- Drafting content. From chat replies and emails to brainstorm ideas on a whiteboard.
- Smart recording. Turns long recordings into searchable chapters, highlights, and transcripts.
- Follow-ups & tasks. Pulls out next steps from discussions.
In short: it’s Zoom’s attempt to make meetings more productive by taking care of the tedious admin stuff that usually takes the most time (but reaps the least rewards). Technically, Zoom AI Companion can also be used for mobile voice recording or in-person meetings too, though reviews for these are hard to come by.
To see how Zoom’s AI Companion works for different areas of Zoom, check out the table below:
| Feature | Zoom Product | Primary Benefit | Notable Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting Summary | Meetings | Auto-summarizes meetings, captures decisions and action items. | Can miss nuance in casual talk; struggles with jargon; not available on free plan. |
| In-Meeting Questions | Meetings | Lets latecomers ask “What did I miss?” without derailing the flow. | Limited to Zoom meetings only; often repeats summary points instead of real context. |
| Smart Recording | Meetings | Creates chapters, highlights, searchable transcripts for recordings. | Speaker ID only works with Zoom users; external guests often show up as “Unknown.” |
| Thread Summary | Team Chat | Quickly condenses long chat threads for catch-up. | Accuracy dips in fast-moving or emoji-heavy chats. |
| Chat Compose | Team Chat | Drafts replies, helps with writer’s block, adjusts tone. | Drafts can sound generic; lacks company-specific context. |
| Call Summary | Phone | Summarizes phone calls, extracts tasks. | No support for PSTN-only or third-party integrations; quality varies with call audio. |
| Content Generation | Whiteboard | Suggests ideas, organizes brainstorms visually (mind maps, lists, etc.). | Limited creativity; feels template-like compared to real facilitation. |
| Email & Doc Drafting | Mail/Docs (Zoom apps) | Helps draft follow-up emails, agendas, or docs. | No integration with Gmail/Outlook natively; outputs often need heavy editing. |
| Action Items & Tasks | Across Zoom | Detects next steps, assigns follow-ups, links to calendar tasks. | No automation into CRMs or PM tools; manual copy-paste still needed. |
| Sentiment Analysis | Meetings | Gauges tone, participation levels, speaker balance. | Risk of oversimplifying tone; can mislabel sarcasm or cultural nuance. |
| AI Companion Sidebar | Meetings & Chat | Real-time Q&A: “Catch me up,” “What decisions were made?” | Only works during active sessions; doesn’t integrate outside Zoom ecosystem. |
| Multi-Language Support | Meetings & Chat | Summaries and transcripts available in multiple languages. | Accuracy varies widely across languages; niche dialects unsupported. |
As you can see, while Zoom AI Companion does have a lot going for it, it’s also got plenty of valid drawbacks. For teams that use Zoom infrequently, or not at all, Zoom AI Companion is mostly useless. There are plenty of other options available that are compatible with multiple video conferencing platforms, so you’re not locked into any one ecosystem.
There’s also one HUGE downside to Zoom AI Companion that seems to go mostly unnoticed: you can only use it if you’re the host. Meeting participants can still ask it to catch them up on conversations or to ask other questions mid-call, but they will not be able to get summaries, notes, or transcripts unless the host asks for them and sends them to you separately.
But enough about AI Companion’s general features, what do real users actually think about it? Do they recommend it? Let’s find out.
What Do Real Users Think of Zoom?
I scoured the web, looking on Reddit, YouTube, X, G2, ProductHunt, TrustPilot, Capterra, and more to find out whether Zoom AI Companion was well-received by everyday users. The answers were fairly mixed.
First of all, let’s weigh up the averages from impartial review sites. These review sites are focused on Zoom in general, as both a video conferencing platform and, to a lesser extent, an AI meeting assistant. I had to dig deeper into individual reviews to find specific remarks about the AI Companion. Overall, Zoom scored:
- 4.7/5 from 973 reviews on ProductHunt.
- 4.6/5 from 14,422 reviews on Capterra.
- 3.9/5 from 1,000 ratings on Google Chrome Store (for the Zoom Chrome Extension).
- 1.3/5 from 1,278 reviews on TrustPilot.
- 4.5/5 from 54,306 reviews on G2.
That gives Zoom, the video conferencing app, a pretty good weighted average of 4.46/5 from 71,979 reviews.
Like most people, I’ve used Zoom before. I can vouch for its video conferencing abilities. While it may not be quite as straightforward as Google Meet (for someone who uses Gmail and Google Calendar, at least), it’s certainly easy enough to use and does what I want it to do. I prefer it to Microsoft Teams, that’s for sure.
However, do any of these reviews have any AI Companion feedback? Let’s take a look.
What Do Everyday Users Think Of Zoom AI Companion?
Starting off with an anonymous review on Capterra, they were not happy that Zoom had changed to Zoom workspace.
Rating Zoom just 2 stars, this user said, “they have also incorporated AI but I don’t feel it is needed.” However, the primary drawback for this user was the fact that Zoom Workplace took a lot of their favorite features from the original Zoom.
Another Capterra review by Joy was revealing. She “loved the AI meeting summary feature” but she found it “frustrating” because despite setting it to automatic, sometimes it doesn’t work and she’s left without notes. This downside caused her to lower her Zoom review to 4/5.
Despite rating it 5 stars, Tory found herself annoyed that Zoom requires so many tabs to be open, claiming the new AI component window needs to keep the camera on too.
Meanwhile, Melanie complains that Zoom’s AI feature is too expensive for regular users, suggesting that $21.99 per user is fine for a large company but is a “pretty hefty amount” for the individual. She also notes that Zoom’s AI often “requires editing.”
It’s worth noting that Melanie’s price quote here is actually for the Business plan. Zoom AI Companion is also available on the Pro plan for $13.33* per month (when billed annually) or $16.99 when paying month-to-month.
* These figures are correct according to Zoom’s own pricing as of September 2025: see below for more details.
Some users are satisfied with what Zoom AI Companion does. The fact it can summarize meetings, transcribe conversations, and extract action items is a great productivity booster. There’s no denying it. If you already have a Zoom subscription, getting these things for free in your pre-existing place of work is amazing.
However, these surface level features are fine if you just want transcripts and summaries. Zoom doesn’t provide anything for teams that need serious conversational intelligence, nor does it intend to (at the moment). For teams that want a little bit more out of their AI notetaker, they’ll need to look further afield than any of the video conferencing platform’s built-in transcription tools. Google and Microsoft suffer from the same problems.
Over on TrustPilot, it’s fair to say Zoom has a fairly bad rep. As of September 4th 2025, 78% of people rated it just 1 star. However, mixed in with all the terrible reviews, there are a few praises for Zoom AI Companion.
Helen is a teacher who used to spend 20 minutes writing up notes and feedback for parents after a class. “This has been halved thanks to this very useful and clever AI Companion which turns [her] teaching content into a report.”
This review was from June 2025, so it’s fairly recent, but it also comes from a teacher that was already using Zoom as part of their classroom set-up.
Peter Lancett would’ve given Zoom zero stars if he could. He claims that many of the features don’t work the way they’re supposed to, including Zoom AI Companion. He enabled the AI to create a transcript, summary, and notes of the recording, only to find it didn’t work. Then he tried to contact customer support and found it was “NON-EXISTENT, even for [his] Pro account.”
He’s not alone in his frustration. Hundreds of TrustPilot reviews talk about Zoom’s customer support being an AI chatbot that doesn’t understand anything. They are unable to get through to a human and, as a result, unable to fix their problem. While this isn’t a direct AI Companion complaint, it’s the support system you have to turn to if it goes wrong. And, as it turns out, Peter seems to be right: it is non-existent.
Here are just a tiny fraction of the reviews discussing Zoom’s customer service.
From the six 1 star reviews above, a pattern emerges:
- “AI didn’t let me come in contact with a human agent.” – Kunde
- “…you basically have to fight your way through an AI chat bot to even get into a chat with an actual person.” – Alex C
- “…all just an AI goose chase…” – d boy westcoastuncensored
- “Customer service is a joke.” – Scott
- “Worst of the worst.” – Gabriel Marcos
- “Support that is non-existent.” – John0
Even more worrying, Scott pointed out that with the basic plan ($20 per month), you don’t even get an AI chatbot for support. That’s for Enterprise users only ($40 per month).
Over on G2, we get a lot of fake-sounding reviews that have much more of an AI ring to them than the raw, typo-filled rants you get on TrustPilot. Take this review by CA Arun B. for example.
Firstly, there’s an em dash overload here. That, in and of itself, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s AI-generated, though in 2025, it does increase the likelihood by around 95%. But the fact that he’s included “I love that it’s free” in the title, then gone on to discuss AI Companion, which is absolutely not free, makes me think that this isn’t a genuine review.
However, buried in the flowery reviews of G2, there are a few more genuine-sounding ones. This verified but anonymous user says they decided to go with a competitor because “the AI transcript simply doesn’t understand what is spoken and will write the most absurd things. That compromises all features that depend on the transcript like setting to-dos.”
Impartial Zoom AI Companion Review Round-Up
I took a deeper dive into Capterra, G2, and TrustPilot above. I wanted to do the same for ProductHunt and ChromeStore, but they don’t really have any mentions of AI Companion specifically.
So what have we learned from these impartial review sites?
Zoom AI Companion Pros and Benefits
- Time-saver. Easy meeting summaries and transcripts save time (e.g. teachers, busy professionals).
- Action items. Extracts action items and tasks, helping with follow-ups.
- Included in pre-existing Zoom plans. Built directly into Zoom at no extra cost if you already have a paid plan.
- Efficiency. Can cut reporting/note-taking workload in half.
- Great for Zoom-only teams. Works seamlessly for teams already committed to Zoom’s ecosystem.
Zoom AI Companion Cons and Drawbacks
- Unreliable. Inconsistent performance means summaries sometimes fail or require editing.
- Costly. Expensive for individuals.
- Poor customer support. Many reviews complain about non-existent customer support (AI chatbot “goose chase”).
- Trust issues. Fake-sounding or inauthentic reviews on sites like G2 hurt trust.
- Limited feature set. Doesn’t offer advanced conversational intelligence beyond transcripts and summaries.
- Zoom-locked. Accessibility limited to Zoom (not useful for hybrid tool setups).
What Do Real People Say About Zoom Companion on Social Media?
Impartial review sites are one thing, but social media is a whole different ball game. I checked Reddit, X, YouTube, and more to see if there were any other insights to be gathered about Zoom AI Companion. Truth is, there wasn’t a great deal. But a few things caught my eye.
Over on Reddit, user gorcbor19 posted, asking how to transcribe meetings when he’s not the host. As it turns out, he liked Zoom AI Companion and was “surprised at how detailed and precise the meeting notes were from the meetings [he] hosted.” However, when it comes to taking notes for meetings he didn’t host, Zoom AI Companion didn’t work.
AI Companion only works for meetings you host. Now that’s a bit of a drawback, especially if you’re paying for a subscription specifically to get that feature, only to find that it only works if you’re hosting.
He suggests that he’s heard of Otter.ai, but from my personal perspective, they shouldn’t really be considered as a contender. tl;dv, Fireflies, and Fathom are all better choices.
Another Redditor, cawatrooper9, asks what data Zoom AI Companion collects.
What they really want to know is whether Zoom as a company can view his organization’s transcripts, or if Zoom’s AI model uses the transcripts to learn and evolve. They go on to suggest that their organization would “have some major issues with feeding all of [their] meeting info to a third company.”
This is a valid concern. When Zoom first launched its AI feature, it did use user data to train its models. After huge backlash and “obliterated” user trust, Zoom clarified that it will not use user data to train AI models without the user’s consent. But the damage was already done for most people. The cheek they had to just assume they could take everybody’s video call transcripts to use for their own purposes is arguably unforgivable, especially as we edge closer and closer to a privacy-less digital dystopia. Not to mention that the “consent” was in the terms and conditions, which if you refused, you weren’t able to use the app in the first place.
This is why it’s always better to opt for a privacy-focused AI meeting assistant like tl;dv. Not only is tl;dv SOC2 and GDPR compliant, it’s also EU AI Act compliant, and absolutely does not use your data, sensitive or otherwise, to train its AI models. Additionally, you can use it for Google Meet and MS Teams calls, as well as Zoom ones. Not to mention, it comes with a whole bunch of extra features depending on which plan you choose.
While Zoom AI Companion is just a feature within Zoom’s video conferencing platform, tl;dv is a dedicated and specialized meeting notetaker. Notes, transcriptions, and summaries are its bread and butter. The real value comes from multi-meeting memory, contextual awareness, and insights, as well as sales coaching, objection handling tips, and speaker analytics dashboard. It also features an automated CRM integration so your sales reps can fill it out without lifting a finger, and automatic language detection so you can continue to capture notes, even if you change languages mid-call.
Other users on Reddit criticize Zoom’s “surface-level summaries.”
What Do X Users Think About Zoom AI Companion?
Over on X, Zoom AI Companion also receives its fair share of criticism.
Hamel Husain shares a screenshot of his AI Companion chat, which may be taken out of context. However, the point remains: he isn’t happy with Zoom AI Companion. He’s asked the Companion chatbot how it can help with the meeting, only for it to respond that it can help prepare for his meeting, but there is no meeting scheduled.
Hemel says, “It sucks.” while the comments also rip into Zoom’s AI capabilities.
Zach didn’t even know Zoom had an AI Companion feature, but he already knows he’ll “never be enabling it” and he thanks Hemel for “taking one for the team.”
Skylar also thanks Hemel’s sacrifice and suggests she’s been getting dozens of pop ups about it that she’s been avoiding. Nick, meanwhile, adds, “It’s comically awful.”
All round, it’s not looking great for everyday people’s general reaction.
Other X posts suggest that Zoom AI Companion sometimes decides not to bother doing what it’s supposed to.
The X posts seem to be divided. When searching for “Zoom AI Companion,” I get two types of post:
- Zoom’s advertising posts
- Real users ranting about it
There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground, but then again, that’s to be expected on a platform like X.
Zoom Pricing: How Much Does Zoom AI Companion Cost?
While there’s no free trial for Zoom AI Companion, you can access it at no additional cost if you already have a Zoom subscription. This, at least, is better than Microsoft’s Copilot which caused them to spike the subscription price by over 40% whether you wanted it or not.
See our comprehensive breakdown for a detailed analysis of these two tools: Zoom vs MS Teams.
As of September 2025, Zoom has three plans in total:
- Basic: $0
- Pro: $13.33 per user, billed annually ($16.99 monthly)
- Business: $18.33 per user, billed annually ($21.99 monthly)
Basic (free) users don’t get AI Companion. The free version is just for video calls. Zoom’s AI features come in at the Pro level, making it relatively expensive compared to many Zoom AI Companion alternatives.
Zoom AI Companion costs a minimum of $13.33 per month (when paying for the whole year up front). To net the lower price, you’ll need to pay $159.96 per user up front for 12 months.
Zoom AI Companion Review: The Verdict
At the end of the day, if you’re super into the Zoom ecosystem, AI Companion is a great no-extra-cost notetaker. At the very least, it’s worth trying out to see if it fulfills your needs.
If, however, like 99% of the world, you’re not deeply entrenched in the Zoom ecosystem, then Zoom’s AI Companion is not worth it. Not only does it lock you into Zoom’s small ecosystem, it also lacks the benefits of more specialized meeting notetakers like sales coaching, automatic CRM integrations, and multi-meeting intelligence.
Additionally, if you sometimes have meetings on a different platform like MS Teams or Google Meet, Zoom AI Companion won’t be worth anything to you. Similarly, if you’re not the host of the meeting, you won’t be able to use Zoom AI Companion to get your summaries and notes.
It’s a nice addition for pre-existing Zoom subscribers, but it’s absolutely not worth considering in comparison to dedicated AI meeting assistants like tl;dv.
FAQs About Zoom AI Companion
Is Zoom AI Companion free?
No. Zoom AI Companion is only available with paid Zoom plans (Pro, Business, or higher). Basic (free) accounts don’t get access, even if they belong to a paid organization.
Which Zoom plans include AI Companion?
AI Companion is included at no extra cost in all paid Zoom user licenses (Meetings, Phone, Team Chat, Whiteboard, etc.). There’s no add-on fee, but you must be on a paid plan.
The cheapest of these is the Pro plan, coming in at $13.33 per user per month when billed annually, or $16.99 if billed monthly.
Can meeting participants use AI Companion, or only the host?
Only the host (or admins via policy) can enable Meeting Summary. Attendees can interact with it (e.g. ask “What did I miss?”), but they can’t initiate summaries themselves.
Does Zoom AI Companion work outside of Zoom?
No. It’s locked to the Zoom ecosystem. If you use Microsoft Teams or Google Meet for some calls, AI Companion won’t follow you there.
Does Zoom AI Companion work for in-person meetings?
Yes. As of 2025, Zoom supports mobile voice recording + AI summaries for in-person conversations (if enabled by your admin).
What are the main features of Zoom AI Companion?
Core features include meeting summaries, in-meeting Q&A (“Catch me up”), smart recordings, chat thread summaries, email and doc drafting, task extraction, whiteboard content generation, sentiment analysis, and multi-language support.
Does Zoom AI Companion train on my data?
No. After heavy backlash in 2023, Zoom confirmed it does not use meeting audio, video, or chat to train AI models without consent. Your content is processed for the features you use, but not repurposed for model training.
How much does Zoom AI Companion cost?
The lowest tier that includes it is Zoom Pro ($16.99/month, or $13.33/month if billed annually). Business plans start at $21.99/month per user. There’s no free trial for AI Companion.
Is Zoom AI Companion good?
It’s useful for quick summaries, transcripts, and task extraction, especially if your team already lives inside Zoom. But it’s not as powerful as dedicated AI meeting assistants (like tl;dv or Fireflies), and many users report inconsistent results and poor customer support.
