You joined a customer call on a Zoom link the other side sent. The meeting ends, and no summary shows up anywhere. Your company is on a paid Zoom plan, so the obvious explanation does not fit.
Working from the official pages as of August 31, 2026, here are three things worth knowing:
- What the name changed to
- That the free plan does include AI meeting summaries, for up to 3 hosted meetings a month (many articles still say it does not)
- And the one condition that upgrading does not fix
That last one is why your customer call produced nothing.
The short version
| Free (Basic) | Paid ZoomMate | |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting summary | 3 hosted meetings/month | Included, with custom summary templates |
| In-meeting questions | 3 hosted meetings/month | Included |
| AI note taking | 3 uses/month | Unlimited |
| AI queries | 20/month | 2,200 AI credits per user/month |
| Meeting length itself | 40 minutes | No limit |
| Who can start a summary | Hosts and co-hosts only | Hosts and co-hosts only |
"AI Companion" is now called ZoomMate
Zoom's product page introduces ZoomMate as its new AI teammate. Meeting summaries, in-meeting questions and automatic note taking all live under that name now.
Nearly every explainer you will find still says "AI Companion," which leaves readers looking at three different names across an article, an app and an official page. Nothing is out of date on your side. The label moved; the thing you want, an automatic summary of the meeting, is in the same place.
For the rest of this article, "meeting summary" refers to the feature and ZoomMate to the product.
What the free plan includes
These are the AI features Zoom lists for the free Workplace Basic tier:
| Feature | Free limit |
|---|---|
| Meeting summary | 3 hosted meetings per month |
| In-meeting questions | 3 hosted meetings per month |
| AI note taking | 3 uses per month |
| AI queries | 20 per month |
Articles claiming "AI Companion is not available on the free plan" are still easy to find, but the official page currently grants three summaries a month. If you are only trying to see what the output looks like, you can do that without paying.
Running actual minutes on the free tier is another matter, for two reasons.
| Situation | Is free enough? |
|---|---|
| You host 1 to 3 recurring meetings a month, under 40 minutes | Yes |
| You want to evaluate summary quality | Yes |
| Several sales calls or interviews a week | No |
| Meetings that run past an hour | No (the call itself ends at 40 minutes) |
| You want to capture meetings someone else hosts | Not a plan question (see below) |
Three conditions for getting a summary
"We pay for Zoom and it still does not appear" almost always comes down to one of these.
1. You are the host or a co-host
This is the part money does not solve. A paid account on a call you did not organize still cannot start the summary.
2. The summary was actually started
Unless "automatically start meeting summary" is enabled in the Zoom web portal, nothing is generated until the host clicks to start it. If you host and keep forgetting, turn auto-start on.
The setting lives in the web portal under meeting settings. It can be managed at the account, group and user level, so on a company account an admin may have locked it. If the option is missing from your screen, suspect that first.
3. The receiving side is set up
Who gets the summary afterwards is the host's choice. Access is one of three scopes:
- Host, co-hosts and alternative hosts only
- The host plus invitees inside your own organization
- All invitees, including people outside the organization
The wall is meetings other people host
Back to condition one, because this is where it bites in practice.
That leaves two moves.
Capturing a meeting you do not host
Recording it yourself needs three things:
- Screen and audio capture that includes the other side's voice (system audio)
- No time limit, so the whole meeting fits
- Text at the end, not just a video file
Skip the third and you accumulate recordings nobody rewatches. Nobody has an hour to replay an hour-long call.
- Screen and audio recording are free, with no time limit and no watermark
- Your voice and the other party's audio are both captured without setting up a virtual audio driver such as BlackHole
- On the Pro plan, AI generates minutes from the recording and sends them to Notion
Host or participant, every call you attend is captured the same way. Pro is free for the first month, no credit card required.
One caveat: Qureco is macOS only, with no Windows version, and it does not display live captions or summaries during a call. If you need text on screen while people are speaking, Zoom's own features fit better.
Whether to upgrade
| Your situation | What fits |
|---|---|
| You host most of your meetings, 3 or fewer a month | Stay free, just watch the 40-minute cap |
| You host most of your meetings, but many of them, or long ones | Upgrade. Zoom handles it end to end |
| You want summaries in your company's own format | Paid ZoomMate (custom templates) |
| You need meetings others host | Not solvable by plan. Record locally |
| You want live text during the call | Zoom's own features |
| You want recordings kept and minutes collected in Notion | Record locally plus AI minutes (Qureco Pro) |
If you host everything, keeping it inside Zoom is the simplest answer and there is no reason to add tools. The decision only gets interesting once a meaningful share of your calls belong to someone else.
FAQ
When do the 3 free summaries reset?
It is a monthly allowance. Exact reset timing depends on your account, so check the remaining count in your Zoom account settings.
Does it summarize non-English meetings?
Summaries are generated in languages beyond English, and coverage keeps expanding. Check Zoom's help center for the status of a specific language or region.
Who receives the summary?
Whoever the host's access scope includes: hosts and co-hosts only, invitees within the organization, or all invitees including external guests. Participants must be signed in during the meeting to receive it automatically.
Are participants notified?
The fact that a summary is running is surfaced to participants. It is a separate feature from recording, but a record is still being produced, so mentioning it at the start of the call keeps the later sharing straightforward.
Do I need to record the meeting to get a summary?
No, they are separate features. A summary can run on its own. If you want to revisit exactly what was said, though, you need a recording. A summary is key points, not a verbatim record.
Can a participant get a summary at all?
Yes, if the host widened the access scope. You cannot start one yourself.
Is the Zoom Phone call summary the same thing?
Call summaries are a separate feature. This article covers Zoom Meetings only.
Can I use Zoom's summary and Qureco together?
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ZoomMate | The current name for Zoom's AI feature set, previously AI Companion |
| Meeting summary | Automatically generated key points from a meeting. Only hosts and co-hosts can start or stop it |
| Co-host | A participant granted host privileges, including summary controls |
| Auto-start | A web portal setting that begins the summary as the meeting starts |
| AI note taking | Automatic meeting notes. 3 uses per month on free |
| AI queries | Requests to the AI. 20 per month on free |
| Basic | Zoom's free plan. Hosted meetings end at 40 minutes |
Summary
- Zoom's AI features are now called ZoomMate; searching for AI Companion is why the names look inconsistent
- The free plan does include meeting summaries, for 3 hosted meetings a month. Articles saying otherwise are out of date
- Free is still thin for real minutes, because the meeting itself ends at 40 minutes
- Only hosts and co-hosts can start a summary. On a call someone else organized, no plan changes that
- If you frequently join as a participant, recording locally and generating minutes is the reliable route. If you host everything, stay inside Zoom
When a paid plan still produces nothing, the cause is usually permission rather than price. Check whether you are the host of that meeting first, and the next step becomes obvious.
Qureco Screen Recorder
Powerful screen recording app for Mac
Record meetings, let AI handle the notes, just read what arrives in Notion.
Try all features free for the first month.
