{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Dataset", "@id": "https://circleback.ai/compare/gong-vs-circleback#dataset", "schemaVersion": 4, "type": "SoftwareApplicationComparison", "slug": "gong-vs-circleback", "url": "https://circleback.ai/compare/gong-vs-circleback", "canonicalUrl": "https://circleback.ai/compare/gong-vs-circleback", "title": "Gong vs Circleback: pricing, features, and which is better", "description": "Compare Gong vs Circleback: pricing, recording options, notes, action items, and integrations, with plan limits and first-party sources.", "inLanguage": "en-US", "isAccessibleForFree": true, "representations": { "html": "https://circleback.ai/compare/gong-vs-circleback", "markdown": "https://circleback.ai/compare/gong-vs-circleback.md", "json": "https://circleback.ai/compare/gong-vs-circleback.json", "describedBy": "https://circleback.ai/compare/llms.txt" }, "editorialPerspective": "Circleback-authored direct comparison; product preference is explicit and competitor strengths are preserved.", "verdict": "Gong is a sales system. Circleback is a meeting system the whole company can use.", "products": [ { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "shortName": "Gong", "logoPath": "/logos/gong.svg", "website": "https://www.gong.io", "tagline": "A deep revenue-intelligence platform built for sales organizations.", "positioning": "Gong turns customer calls, meetings, and email into sales coaching, deal intelligence, pipeline inspection, forecasting, and sales engagement. Its tools, pricing, and administration are designed around revenue teams.", "bestFor": "Mature go-to-market organizations that want rep coaching, deal inspection, pipeline forecasting, conversation intelligence, and sales engagement in one suite.", "lessIdealFor": "A whole company looking for a light, shared memory across engineering, product, recruiting, leadership, and internal conversations.", "decisionSummary": { "fit": "Revenue forecasting, deal inspection, and rep coaching", "chooseFor": [ "Sales analytics and forecasting", "Enterprise coaching workflows" ], "watchFor": [ "Opaque pricing + platform fee", "Follow-up tasks require Engage" ] }, "pricing": { "headline": "Custom quote: per-user licenses plus a platform fee", "detail": "Gong does not publish a self-serve price. Its pricing page says cost combines a per-user license with a platform fee, and capabilities such as Forecast, Engage, Enable, and Data Cloud are organized as additional packages.", "freePlan": "No self-serve free plan or free trial is advertised; request a demo and quote." }, "strengths": [ "Sales coaching, call libraries, scorecards, deal inspection, pipeline analytics, and forecasting in one platform.", "Captures calls, meetings, and email in a customer-account context designed for revenue teams.", "Native Zoom recording avoids a Gong bot for eligible company-hosted Zoom calls, while iOS and Android cover face-to-face conversations.", "A public API, data exports, and MCP give engineering teams and AI tools access to sales conversations and account context.", "Gong Engage has a sales to-do system with AI-recommended follow-ups, due dates, completion state, rep and manager views, and direct email or call execution." ], "tradeoffs": [ "Pricing is opaque and includes a platform fee; important workflows are split across packages.", "Its data model, terminology, and analytics focus on sales; other departments may still need a separate meeting tool.", "It is a substantial platform to administer when the actual need is meeting notes, shared context, and reliable follow-through rather than revenue operations.", "Standard retention is the shorter of three years or the customer term, but calls placed in the company library are excluded. Shortening retention can also reduce the history behind Gong insights.", "MCP is read-only and focused on account and deal questions: it answers questions about one account or deal and generates briefs rather than returning raw transcripts. MCP and some AI APIs also consume a shared pool of Gong credits.", "Gong’s meeting-follow-up to-dos require the separately packaged Engage product, are fully supported only in English, and auto-dismiss after seven days if no other completion rule fires." ], "chooseIf": [ "Forecasting, rep coaching, and deal inspection are the center of the buying decision.", "Your organization wants a full revenue platform and can support an enterprise rollout.", "Sales leaders need opinionated analytics and manager workflows, not just searchable conversation context." ], "features": { "capture": { "summary": "Meeting bot, native Zoom recording, telephony, and mobile capture", "detail": "Gong captures supported web meetings, calls, and email. Eligible company-hosted Zoom calls can use Zoom-native recording with no Gong bot; other web-conferencing paths generally use the bot. Its mobile app records scheduled or ad-hoc face-to-face conversations.", "level": "strong" }, "platforms": { "summary": "Web plus iOS and Android; sales workflows are cloud-first", "detail": "Mobile apps support recording and review. Gong is primarily an enterprise web platform rather than a general-purpose botless desktop recorder; only its Zoom integration offers native provider recording without the Gong bot.", "level": "available" }, "inPerson": { "summary": "Mobile face-to-face audio recording", "detail": "iOS and Android can capture scheduled or ad-hoc room meetings. Gong separates speakers, but same-room voices may appear as room-name Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and so on until someone edits them; noisy rooms can reduce quality.", "level": "available" }, "recordings": { "summary": "Rich call playback, libraries, snippets, and coaching review", "detail": "Recording review is a core Gong workflow, with synchronized transcript, comments, snippets, libraries, trackers, and manager coaching tools.", "level": "strong" }, "notesAndSearch": { "summary": "Sales summaries, next steps, account search, and conversation intelligence", "detail": "Gong excels at finding deal moments, objections, topics, rep behaviors, and next steps. With Engage, recommended meeting follow-ups become due-dated to-dos that can be completed, dismissed, reviewed by managers, and acted on through email or calls. A recommendation can auto-dismiss after seven days if no other completion rule fires. The experience is optimized around customer and revenue questions rather than general company knowledge.", "level": "strong" }, "companyMemory": { "summary": "Account and deal history for revenue teams", "detail": "Calls, meetings, and email roll into account and deal context. This is powerful for revenue work but is not positioned as a shared memory for every internal and external company conversation.", "level": "strong" }, "sharing": { "summary": "Permissioned call, snippet, and folder sharing", "detail": "Calls and snippets can be shared internally or externally, and shared folders can grant access to every call they contain. Gong documents automatic capture rules, while post-meeting distribution centers on direct shares, folders, teams, accounts, and coaching libraries.", "level": "available" }, "automations": { "summary": "Purpose-built revenue workflows and engagement sequences", "detail": "Gong automates CRM activity, deal signals, alerts, coaching, and sales engagement. Engage flows and AI-recommended to-dos centralize rep work and let managers inspect team queues. It is highly capable inside revenue operations, but this task system is package-gated and less open-ended for arbitrary company workflows.", "level": "strong" }, "integrations": { "summary": "Deep CRM, calendar, conferencing, and sales-stack integrations", "detail": "The integration strategy is strong where revenue teams live: CRMs, dialers, calendars, meeting platforms, and sales engagement systems.", "level": "strong" }, "agentsAndApi": { "summary": "Mature APIs, exports, data cloud, and a focused MCP server", "detail": "Gong exposes calls, full speaker-segmented transcripts, users, CRM-linked objects, exports, and data-warehouse tables. Its 2026 MCP server supports personal or organization-wide authorization for ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and custom agents, but is read-only and limited to account/deal questions and generated briefs—not raw meeting retrieval. Those MCP tools and some AI APIs consume Gong credits. There is no documented first-party CLI.", "level": "strong" }, "admin": { "summary": "Mature enterprise administration and governance", "detail": "Gong supports large deployments, granular access, SSO/SCIM, retention configuration, deletion, and compliance workflows. Standard retention is the shorter of three years or the customer term and data is deleted 30 days after the relationship ends; company-library calls sit outside the standard rule.", "level": "strong" }, "languages": { "summary": "More than 70 languages; some AI features remain English-only", "detail": "Gong documents more than 70 transcription languages plus AI translation. Email labels, red-flag alerts, Gong-recommended to-dos, and example-based smart trackers are still English-only, so global teams should verify the exact workflow rather than relying on the headline count.", "level": "strong" } }, "sources": [ { "label": "Gong pricing", "url": "https://www.gong.io/pricing", "note": "Custom pricing structure, per-user licenses, platform fee, and package model." }, { "label": "Gong web-conferencing capture", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/web-conferencing-integrations", "note": "Bot capture across providers and native bot-free recording for eligible Zoom meetings." }, { "label": "Gong transcript API", "url": "https://help.gong.io/apidocs/retrieve-transcripts-of-calls-by-date-or-callids-v2callstranscript-2", "note": "Documented call-transcript endpoint, pagination, filters, and authorization scope." }, { "label": "Gong API overview", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/what-the-gong-api-provides", "note": "Calls, full transcripts, analyzed conversation data, users, activity, and CRM-linked API capabilities." }, { "label": "Gong MCP server", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/about-gong-mcp-server", "note": "Read-only account/deal questions and brief generation for external AI clients." }, { "label": "Gong MCP setup", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/create-an-integration-to-connect-to-the-mcp-server", "note": "Paid-seat requirement, personal or shared authorization, OAuth setup, and official MCP endpoint." }, { "label": "Gong AI credits", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/about-gong-credits", "note": "Shared annual credit pool and consumption behavior for MCP, AI APIs, and continuous AI processing." }, { "label": "Gong transcript downloads", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/view-a-call-transcript", "note": "Per-call transcript download and synchronized transcript behavior." }, { "label": "Gong media downloads", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/download-a-call-or-snippet", "note": "Permissioned audio, video, and snippet downloads on any Gong plan." }, { "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." }, { "label": "Gong mobile recording", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/record-meetings-on-mobile", "note": "iOS and Android in-person recording behavior and quality considerations." }, { "label": "Gong speaker identification", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/how-gong-identifies-speakers", "note": "Speaker separation, same-room generic labels, platform behavior, and optional voice identification." }, { "label": "Gong data retention", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/data-retention-policy", "note": "Standard and custom retention behavior." }, { "label": "Gong language support", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/what-languages-are-supported-in-gong", "note": "More than 70 transcription languages, AI translation, and the AI capabilities that remain English-only." }, { "label": "Gong call and folder sharing", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/enable-call-and-folder-sharing", "note": "Company permissions for external call sharing and internal shared folders." }, { "label": "Gong automation rules", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/introduction-to-automation-rules", "note": "Plan availability, supported triggers and actions, and future-only rule application." }, { "label": "Gong recommended to-dos", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/gong-recommended-to-dos", "note": "Engage eligibility, AI meeting follow-ups, source timestamps, due dates, completion rules, seven-day expiry, and language limits." }, { "label": "Gong team to-do management", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/working-with-todos", "note": "Personal and manager task views, filters, due dates, bulk completion, CRM context, and execution controls." } ] }, { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "shortName": "Circleback", "logoPath": "/logos/circleback_square.png", "website": "https://circleback.ai", "tagline": "Every meeting becomes useful company memory.", "positioning": "Circleback records online meetings with a meeting bot or bot-free desktop app, then turns them into detailed notes, speaker-labeled transcripts, and automatically assigned action items. Automatic sharing, search, and automations turn those meetings into shared company memory. People and AI agents can use the same complete record through the app, API, MCP, and CLI. In-person conversations captured on mobile or Apple Watch, plus imported recordings, flow through the same system.", "bestFor": "Teams across sales, product, engineering, recruiting, customer success, and leadership that need shared meeting notes, assigned follow-up, and automations—with the full record available to people and AI agents.", "lessIdealFor": "People who only need occasional transcripts, or sales organizations buying primarily for forecasting and rep coaching.", "decisionSummary": { "fit": "Online meeting notes, follow-through, and shared company memory", "chooseFor": [ "Detailed notes and labeled transcripts", "Full meeting data via API, MCP, and CLI" ], "watchFor": [ "Paid plans are per user", "Not a forecasting suite" ] }, "pricing": { "headline": "Free; Pro from $15/user/month annually; Business from $25/user/month annually; Enterprise $35/user/month, billed annually", "detail": "Free includes unlimited meetings and members with 30 days of meeting and recording history, limited automations, and API, MCP, and CLI access. Pro adds automations with all integrations, including Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, webhooks, and many more apps, plus custom AI insights. Paid prices are per user/month: Pro is $15 with annual billing or $18 month-to-month; Business is $25 or $29; Enterprise is $35 with annual billing only. See https://circleback.ai/pricing for current plan packaging.", "freePlan": "Free includes unlimited meetings and members, with 30 days of meeting and recording history, limited automations, and API, MCP, and CLI access." }, "strengths": [ "Record online meetings with a meeting bot or bot-free desktop app. In-person and imported recordings get the same speaker-labeled transcripts. Keep the recording for playback, or retain just the notes and transcript.", "The notes are detailed enough to stand alone, while automatically assigned action items stay trackable across the workspace and can become issues in Linear or another work tracker.", "Conditional automatic sharing, company context, free viewers, enforced defaults, and actions in connected apps make each meeting useful beyond the person who recorded it.", "Circleback is built for people and AI agents. The complete meeting record available to a person—including the recording, full speaker-labeled transcript, notes, action items, attendees, people, and companies—is also available programmatically through the public API, MCP, and CLI.", "Security controls include encryption at rest and in transit, SOC 2 Type II, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, GDPR support, and HIPAA compliance. Customer data is never used to train models, and an external infrastructure pentest report is available through the security portal.", "For in-person conversations, one tap on your phone’s Lock Screen widget or Apple Watch complication starts recording; a configured iPhone Action button starts it with a press and hold. There is no separate recorder to buy, carry, or charge." ], "tradeoffs": [ "The Free plan has shorter history and limited automations. Pro adds automations with all integrations, including Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, webhooks, and many more apps, plus custom AI insights. A solo user who only wants occasional transcripts may find a more generous free recorder elsewhere.", "It is not a sales forecasting suite. Gong goes further on deal inspection, rep coaching, and forecasting.", "It is not a live meeting coach. Read AI goes further on real-time engagement and sentiment signals, while Krisp specializes in cleaning up audio before it reaches the transcript.", "Circleback’s primary processing operations are in the United States. A company with a hard regional-hosting or on-premises requirement should confirm fit during security review." ], "chooseIf": [ "You want online meetings captured with or without a bot, with the same speaker-labeled record for in-person conversations and imported recordings.", "You want notes that explain the meeting to someone who missed it, plus assigned action items in one shared list and your issue tracker.", "You want Circleback to look things up and do the next step in the apps where your team works.", "You want coworkers, ChatGPT, Claude, other agents, and your own tools to use the same company context.", "You also want quick in-person recording from your phone or Watch without a separate recorder." ], "features": { "capture": { "summary": "Online meetings with or without a bot; in-person recording too", "detail": "Use the meeting bot for Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and Webex calls, or record online meetings locally on macOS or Windows without a bot. On desktop, click Record in the detected-meeting prompt. In-person recording on mobile or Apple Watch and imported phone calls join the same system. Every route produces speaker-labeled transcripts, notes, and assigned action items, with search, sharing, and automations in one workspace.", "level": "strong" }, "platforms": { "summary": "Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch", "detail": "macOS and Windows apps capture online meetings without a bot, including system audio and video, with recording from the detected-meeting prompt. The iOS and Android apps record in-person conversations and include Assistant. Apple Watch records from your wrist without the iPhone nearby. Every app sends recordings into the same Circleback meeting system.", "level": "strong" }, "inPerson": { "summary": "Phone, desktop, or Watch—with speaker labels", "detail": "Record in-person conversations from iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, or Apple Watch. For quick capture, tap your phone’s Lock Screen widget or Apple Watch complication, or press and hold your configured iPhone Action button. No separate recorder is needed. Recordings get the same speaker labels, notes, assigned action items, search, sharing, and automations as online meetings. Phone calls use an existing call recording imported into Circleback.", "level": "strong" }, "recordings": { "summary": "Optional recordings with playback, downloads, and clips", "detail": "Every capture route can keep the source recording with the meeting. Play it beside the transcript, download it, link to a moment, or make a clip. If you only want notes and the speaker-labeled transcript, turn recording storage off.", "level": "strong" }, "notesAndSearch": { "summary": "Detailed standalone notes, assigned action items, and cited search", "detail": "Circleback’s notes are designed to give someone who missed the meeting its context, decisions, and next steps. It automatically creates action items and assigns them when the conversation makes the owner clear. One workspace-wide list lets teams filter and complete tasks across meetings. Custom insights extract the fields a team needs, while Assistant searches meetings and connected email with citations.", "level": "strong" }, "companyMemory": { "summary": "Meeting and email history for each person and company", "detail": "Person and company pages combine rolling summaries, relationship timelines, emails, meetings, attendees, and upcoming events. Search and Assistant work across that context, so a conversation stays useful to the next person and the next team.", "level": "strong" }, "sharing": { "summary": "Conditional automatic sharing with workspace safeguards", "detail": "Automations can share matching meetings with specific people, teams, or the whole workspace based on titles, participants, invitee emails or domains, tags, and combined conditions. Admins can set or enforce default sharing access while members retain explicit controls for private or sensitive conversations.", "level": "strong" }, "automations": { "summary": "Conditional sharing, CRM updates, and task creation", "detail": "Run actions when meetings match conditions, extract the fields each team cares about, share notes, and route the result into the system where work happens. Sales can update the CRM; product and research can collect themes; engineering can open assigned issues in Linear or another tracker; recruiting and customer teams can route structured follow-up. Automations also post to Slack, call webhooks, and re-run against older meetings.", "level": "strong" }, "integrations": { "summary": "Search other apps, then do the work there", "detail": "Circleback Assistant can look up context and take actions in tools such as Linear, Notion, Asana, HubSpot, PostHog, Attio, Ashby, Intercom, and Plain. Automations can create Linear issues from assigned meeting action items, write action items to monday.com, and send outcomes to Slack, Salesforce, Zoho, and more. Connect additional tools through Zapier, Make, webhooks, or custom MCP servers.", "level": "strong" }, "agentsAndApi": { "summary": "The same complete meeting data for people and AI agents", "detail": "Circleback is built for people and AI agents. The complete meeting record a person can access—its full speaker-labeled transcript, recording, notes, action items, metadata, attendees, and related people and companies—is also available programmatically through the public API, MCP, and CLI. The API also supports action-item updates. MCP and CLI add search and retrieval across meetings, transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and tags, and can update meetings and tags, share meetings, and create, update, or delete action items. Connect ChatGPT or Claude, build internal tools, or receive meeting data by webhook.", "level": "strong" }, "admin": { "summary": "Security, privacy, and workspace controls", "detail": "Customer data is encrypted at rest and in transit and never used to train models. Circleback is SOC 2 Type II, certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, supports GDPR obligations, and is HIPAA-compliant with BAAs available. The security portal includes compliance materials and an external infrastructure pentest report. Available controls include single sign-on (SAML or OIDC) and SCIM provisioning, configurable data retention and recording storage, enforced workspace and sharing settings, teams and roles, domain and API key access controls, centralized billing, usage reporting, and free viewer seats.", "level": "strong" }, "languages": { "summary": "100+ transcription languages", "detail": "Users can choose from more than 100 meeting languages and separately control the output language used for generated notes.", "level": "strong" } }, "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." }, { "label": "Circleback pricing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/pricing", "note": "Current plan prices, included features, Business controls, Enterprise options, and free viewer seats." }, { "label": "Circleback recording guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/getting-started-with-recording", "note": "Desktop, mobile, bot, and import capture paths for online and in-person conversations." }, { "label": "Circleback desktop recording", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/desktop-app/record-meetings-with-the-desktop-app", "note": "Detected-meeting recording prompts, automatic recording, and bot-free desktop audio and video capture." }, { "label": "Circleback mobile recording shortcuts", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/mobile-app/record-meetings-with-the-mobile-app", "note": "Mobile recording and links to widget and Action button setup guides." }, { "label": "Circleback iPhone Action button", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/mobile-app/start-recording-with-the-action-button-on-iphone", "note": "Configure Controls → Circleback → Record, then press and hold to start recording." }, { "label": "Circleback Apple Watch complication", "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/circleback-ai-meeting-notes/id6738971048", "note": "Publisher description documents one-tap Watch complication recording and the same transcript and notes as other meetings." }, { "label": "Circleback optional recording storage", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/configure-whether-meeting-recordings-are-saved", "note": "Keep notes, action items, transcript, and insights while disabling stored audio and video." }, { "label": "Circleback mobile and Apple Watch apps", "url": "https://circleback.ai/mobile", "note": "iOS, Android, and Apple Watch capture for in-person meetings and conversations." }, { "label": "Circleback public API", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/api", "note": "Programmatic access to the complete meeting record available in Circleback, including notes, action items, transcripts, recordings, people, and companies." }, { "label": "Circleback MCP documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-mcp", "note": "Access from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Codex, and other MCP clients to meetings, transcripts, action items, people, companies, calendar, email, and tags, plus write tools for meetings, tags, sharing, and action items." }, { "label": "Circleback CLI documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-cli", "note": "Command-line and JSON access to meetings, speaker-labeled transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and cross-meeting action-item search." }, { "label": "Circleback Assistant connectors", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/assistant/ask-circleback-assistant", "note": "Search and take action in connected work apps from Circleback Assistant." }, { "label": "Circleback automatic sharing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/automations/automatically-share-meetings-with-your-workspace", "note": "Conditional sharing by meeting title, participants, invitee emails or domains, and tags to people, teams, or the workspace." }, { "label": "Circleback enforced workspace settings", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/workspace-and-teams/default-and-enforced-workspace-settings", "note": "Admin-controlled defaults for sharing access, recording storage, joining preferences, and other meeting settings." }, { "label": "Circleback security and data processing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/dpa", "note": "Retention responsibilities, subprocessors, and United States primary processing operations." }, { "label": "Circleback security overview", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/security/security", "note": "Encryption at rest and in transit, SOC 2 Type II, no-training commitment, GDPR support, HIPAA compliance and BAA availability, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, and an external infrastructure pentest." }, { "label": "Circleback security portal", "url": "https://security.circleback.ai/", "note": "Compliance materials, security controls, subprocessors, and an external infrastructure pentest report." }, { "label": "Circleback action items in Linear", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/automations/integrations/integrate-with-linear", "note": "Automatically create Linear issues from meeting action items and preserve the matched assignee." } ] } ], "dimensions": [ { "key": "capture", "label": "Capture options", "lead": "Both products document broad support for capture options, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Gong captures supported web meetings, calls, and email. Eligible company-hosted Zoom calls can use Zoom-native recording with no Gong bot; other web-conferencing paths generally use the bot. Its mobile app records scheduled or ad-hoc face-to-face conversations. Circleback: Use the meeting bot for Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and Webex calls, or record online meetings locally on macOS or Windows without a bot. On desktop, click Record in the detected-meeting prompt. In-person recording on mobile or Apple Watch and imported phone calls join the same system. Every route produces speaker-labeled transcripts, notes, and assigned action items, with search, sharing, and automations in one workspace.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Meeting bot, native Zoom recording, telephony, and mobile capture", "detail": "Gong captures supported web meetings, calls, and email. Eligible company-hosted Zoom calls can use Zoom-native recording with no Gong bot; other web-conferencing paths generally use the bot. Its mobile app records scheduled or ad-hoc face-to-face conversations.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong web-conferencing capture", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/web-conferencing-integrations", "note": "Bot capture across providers and native bot-free recording for eligible Zoom meetings." }, { "label": "Gong mobile recording", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/record-meetings-on-mobile", "note": "iOS and Android in-person recording behavior and quality considerations." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Online meetings with or without a bot; in-person recording too", "detail": "Use the meeting bot for Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and Webex calls, or record online meetings locally on macOS or Windows without a bot. On desktop, click Record in the detected-meeting prompt. In-person recording on mobile or Apple Watch and imported phone calls join the same system. Every route produces speaker-labeled transcripts, notes, and assigned action items, with search, sharing, and automations in one workspace.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." }, { "label": "Circleback recording guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/getting-started-with-recording", "note": "Desktop, mobile, bot, and import capture paths for online and in-person conversations." }, { "label": "Circleback desktop recording", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/desktop-app/record-meetings-with-the-desktop-app", "note": "Detected-meeting recording prompts, automatic recording, and bot-free desktop audio and video capture." }, { "label": "Circleback mobile and Apple Watch apps", "url": "https://circleback.ai/mobile", "note": "iOS, Android, and Apple Watch capture for in-person meetings and conversations." } ] } }, { "key": "platforms", "label": "Desktop and mobile", "lead": "Circleback has broader documented support for desktop and mobile.", "analysis": "Gong: Mobile apps support recording and review. Gong is primarily an enterprise web platform rather than a general-purpose botless desktop recorder; only its Zoom integration offers native provider recording without the Gong bot. Circleback: macOS and Windows apps capture online meetings without a bot, including system audio and video, with recording from the detected-meeting prompt. The iOS and Android apps record in-person conversations and include Assistant. Apple Watch records from your wrist without the iPhone nearby. Every app sends recordings into the same Circleback meeting system.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Web plus iOS and Android; sales workflows are cloud-first", "detail": "Mobile apps support recording and review. Gong is primarily an enterprise web platform rather than a general-purpose botless desktop recorder; only its Zoom integration offers native provider recording without the Gong bot.", "level": "available", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong web-conferencing capture", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/web-conferencing-integrations", "note": "Bot capture across providers and native bot-free recording for eligible Zoom meetings." }, { "label": "Gong mobile recording", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/record-meetings-on-mobile", "note": "iOS and Android in-person recording behavior and quality considerations." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch", "detail": "macOS and Windows apps capture online meetings without a bot, including system audio and video, with recording from the detected-meeting prompt. The iOS and Android apps record in-person conversations and include Assistant. Apple Watch records from your wrist without the iPhone nearby. Every app sends recordings into the same Circleback meeting system.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback recording guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/getting-started-with-recording", "note": "Desktop, mobile, bot, and import capture paths for online and in-person conversations." }, { "label": "Circleback desktop recording", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/desktop-app/record-meetings-with-the-desktop-app", "note": "Detected-meeting recording prompts, automatic recording, and bot-free desktop audio and video capture." }, { "label": "Circleback mobile and Apple Watch apps", "url": "https://circleback.ai/mobile", "note": "iOS, Android, and Apple Watch capture for in-person meetings and conversations." } ] } }, { "key": "inPerson", "label": "In-person capture and speaker labels", "lead": "Circleback has broader documented support for in-person capture and speaker labels.", "analysis": "Gong: iOS and Android can capture scheduled or ad-hoc room meetings. Gong separates speakers, but same-room voices may appear as room-name Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and so on until someone edits them; noisy rooms can reduce quality. Circleback: Record in-person conversations from iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, or Apple Watch. For quick capture, tap your phone’s Lock Screen widget or Apple Watch complication, or press and hold your configured iPhone Action button. No separate recorder is needed. Recordings get the same speaker labels, notes, assigned action items, search, sharing, and automations as online meetings. Phone calls use an existing call recording imported into Circleback.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Mobile face-to-face audio recording", "detail": "iOS and Android can capture scheduled or ad-hoc room meetings. Gong separates speakers, but same-room voices may appear as room-name Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and so on until someone edits them; noisy rooms can reduce quality.", "level": "available", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong mobile recording", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/record-meetings-on-mobile", "note": "iOS and Android in-person recording behavior and quality considerations." }, { "label": "Gong speaker identification", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/how-gong-identifies-speakers", "note": "Speaker separation, same-room generic labels, platform behavior, and optional voice identification." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Phone, desktop, or Watch—with speaker labels", "detail": "Record in-person conversations from iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, or Apple Watch. For quick capture, tap your phone’s Lock Screen widget or Apple Watch complication, or press and hold your configured iPhone Action button. No separate recorder is needed. Recordings get the same speaker labels, notes, assigned action items, search, sharing, and automations as online meetings. Phone calls use an existing call recording imported into Circleback.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." }, { "label": "Circleback mobile and Apple Watch apps", "url": "https://circleback.ai/mobile", "note": "iOS, Android, and Apple Watch capture for in-person meetings and conversations." }, { "label": "Circleback mobile recording shortcuts", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/mobile-app/record-meetings-with-the-mobile-app", "note": "Mobile recording and links to widget and Action button setup guides." }, { "label": "Circleback iPhone Action button", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/mobile-app/start-recording-with-the-action-button-on-iphone", "note": "Configure Controls → Circleback → Record, then press and hold to start recording." }, { "label": "Circleback Apple Watch complication", "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/circleback-ai-meeting-notes/id6738971048", "note": "Publisher description documents one-tap Watch complication recording and the same transcript and notes as other meetings." } ] } }, { "key": "recordings", "label": "Recordings, playback, and clips", "lead": "Both products document broad support for recordings, playback, and clips, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Recording review is a core Gong workflow, with synchronized transcript, comments, snippets, libraries, trackers, and manager coaching tools. Circleback: Every capture route can keep the source recording with the meeting. Play it beside the transcript, download it, link to a moment, or make a clip. If you only want notes and the speaker-labeled transcript, turn recording storage off.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Rich call playback, libraries, snippets, and coaching review", "detail": "Recording review is a core Gong workflow, with synchronized transcript, comments, snippets, libraries, trackers, and manager coaching tools.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." }, { "label": "Gong data retention", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/data-retention-policy", "note": "Standard and custom retention behavior." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Optional recordings with playback, downloads, and clips", "detail": "Every capture route can keep the source recording with the meeting. Play it beside the transcript, download it, link to a moment, or make a clip. If you only want notes and the speaker-labeled transcript, turn recording storage off.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback recording guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/getting-started-with-recording", "note": "Desktop, mobile, bot, and import capture paths for online and in-person conversations." }, { "label": "Circleback optional recording storage", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/configure-whether-meeting-recordings-are-saved", "note": "Keep notes, action items, transcript, and insights while disabling stored audio and video." } ] } }, { "key": "notesAndSearch", "label": "Notes, action items, and search", "lead": "Both products document broad support for notes, action items, and search, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Gong excels at finding deal moments, objections, topics, rep behaviors, and next steps. With Engage, recommended meeting follow-ups become due-dated to-dos that can be completed, dismissed, reviewed by managers, and acted on through email or calls. A recommendation can auto-dismiss after seven days if no other completion rule fires. The experience is optimized around customer and revenue questions rather than general company knowledge. Circleback: Circleback’s notes are designed to give someone who missed the meeting its context, decisions, and next steps. It automatically creates action items and assigns them when the conversation makes the owner clear. One workspace-wide list lets teams filter and complete tasks across meetings. Custom insights extract the fields a team needs, while Assistant searches meetings and connected email with citations.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Sales summaries, next steps, account search, and conversation intelligence", "detail": "Gong excels at finding deal moments, objections, topics, rep behaviors, and next steps. With Engage, recommended meeting follow-ups become due-dated to-dos that can be completed, dismissed, reviewed by managers, and acted on through email or calls. A recommendation can auto-dismiss after seven days if no other completion rule fires. The experience is optimized around customer and revenue questions rather than general company knowledge.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." }, { "label": "Gong recommended to-dos", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/gong-recommended-to-dos", "note": "Engage eligibility, AI meeting follow-ups, source timestamps, due dates, completion rules, seven-day expiry, and language limits." }, { "label": "Gong team to-do management", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/working-with-todos", "note": "Personal and manager task views, filters, due dates, bulk completion, CRM context, and execution controls." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Detailed standalone notes, assigned action items, and cited search", "detail": "Circleback’s notes are designed to give someone who missed the meeting its context, decisions, and next steps. It automatically creates action items and assigns them when the conversation makes the owner clear. One workspace-wide list lets teams filter and complete tasks across meetings. Custom insights extract the fields a team needs, while Assistant searches meetings and connected email with citations.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." }, { "label": "Circleback action items in Linear", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/automations/integrations/integrate-with-linear", "note": "Automatically create Linear issues from meeting action items and preserve the matched assignee." }, { "label": "Circleback CLI documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-cli", "note": "Command-line and JSON access to meetings, speaker-labeled transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and cross-meeting action-item search." } ] } }, { "key": "companyMemory", "label": "People, companies, and context", "lead": "Both products document broad support for people, companies, and context, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Calls, meetings, and email roll into account and deal context. This is powerful for revenue work but is not positioned as a shared memory for every internal and external company conversation. Circleback: Person and company pages combine rolling summaries, relationship timelines, emails, meetings, attendees, and upcoming events. Search and Assistant work across that context, so a conversation stays useful to the next person and the next team.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Account and deal history for revenue teams", "detail": "Calls, meetings, and email roll into account and deal context. This is powerful for revenue work but is not positioned as a shared memory for every internal and external company conversation.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Meeting and email history for each person and company", "detail": "Person and company pages combine rolling summaries, relationship timelines, emails, meetings, attendees, and upcoming events. Search and Assistant work across that context, so a conversation stays useful to the next person and the next team.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." } ] } }, { "key": "sharing", "label": "Automatic sharing and workspace defaults", "lead": "Circleback has broader documented support for automatic sharing and workspace defaults.", "analysis": "Gong: Calls and snippets can be shared internally or externally, and shared folders can grant access to every call they contain. Gong documents automatic capture rules, while post-meeting distribution centers on direct shares, folders, teams, accounts, and coaching libraries. Circleback: Automations can share matching meetings with specific people, teams, or the whole workspace based on titles, participants, invitee emails or domains, tags, and combined conditions. Admins can set or enforce default sharing access while members retain explicit controls for private or sensitive conversations.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Permissioned call, snippet, and folder sharing", "detail": "Calls and snippets can be shared internally or externally, and shared folders can grant access to every call they contain. Gong documents automatic capture rules, while post-meeting distribution centers on direct shares, folders, teams, accounts, and coaching libraries.", "level": "available", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong call and folder sharing", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/enable-call-and-folder-sharing", "note": "Company permissions for external call sharing and internal shared folders." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Conditional automatic sharing with workspace safeguards", "detail": "Automations can share matching meetings with specific people, teams, or the whole workspace based on titles, participants, invitee emails or domains, tags, and combined conditions. Admins can set or enforce default sharing access while members retain explicit controls for private or sensitive conversations.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback automatic sharing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/automations/automatically-share-meetings-with-your-workspace", "note": "Conditional sharing by meeting title, participants, invitee emails or domains, and tags to people, teams, or the workspace." }, { "label": "Circleback enforced workspace settings", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/workspace-and-teams/default-and-enforced-workspace-settings", "note": "Admin-controlled defaults for sharing access, recording storage, joining preferences, and other meeting settings." } ] } }, { "key": "automations", "label": "Automations", "lead": "Both products document broad support for automations, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Gong automates CRM activity, deal signals, alerts, coaching, and sales engagement. Engage flows and AI-recommended to-dos centralize rep work and let managers inspect team queues. It is highly capable inside revenue operations, but this task system is package-gated and less open-ended for arbitrary company workflows. Circleback: Run actions when meetings match conditions, extract the fields each team cares about, share notes, and route the result into the system where work happens. Sales can update the CRM; product and research can collect themes; engineering can open assigned issues in Linear or another tracker; recruiting and customer teams can route structured follow-up. Automations also post to Slack, call webhooks, and re-run against older meetings.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Purpose-built revenue workflows and engagement sequences", "detail": "Gong automates CRM activity, deal signals, alerts, coaching, and sales engagement. Engage flows and AI-recommended to-dos centralize rep work and let managers inspect team queues. It is highly capable inside revenue operations, but this task system is package-gated and less open-ended for arbitrary company workflows.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong automation rules", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/introduction-to-automation-rules", "note": "Plan availability, supported triggers and actions, and future-only rule application." }, { "label": "Gong recommended to-dos", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/gong-recommended-to-dos", "note": "Engage eligibility, AI meeting follow-ups, source timestamps, due dates, completion rules, seven-day expiry, and language limits." }, { "label": "Gong team to-do management", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/working-with-todos", "note": "Personal and manager task views, filters, due dates, bulk completion, CRM context, and execution controls." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Conditional sharing, CRM updates, and task creation", "detail": "Run actions when meetings match conditions, extract the fields each team cares about, share notes, and route the result into the system where work happens. Sales can update the CRM; product and research can collect themes; engineering can open assigned issues in Linear or another tracker; recruiting and customer teams can route structured follow-up. Automations also post to Slack, call webhooks, and re-run against older meetings.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." } ] } }, { "key": "integrations", "label": "Integrations", "lead": "Both products document broad support for integrations, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: The integration strategy is strong where revenue teams live: CRMs, dialers, calendars, meeting platforms, and sales engagement systems. Circleback: Circleback Assistant can look up context and take actions in tools such as Linear, Notion, Asana, HubSpot, PostHog, Attio, Ashby, Intercom, and Plain. Automations can create Linear issues from assigned meeting action items, write action items to monday.com, and send outcomes to Slack, Salesforce, Zoho, and more. Connect additional tools through Zapier, Make, webhooks, or custom MCP servers.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Deep CRM, calendar, conferencing, and sales-stack integrations", "detail": "The integration strategy is strong where revenue teams live: CRMs, dialers, calendars, meeting platforms, and sales engagement systems.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Search other apps, then do the work there", "detail": "Circleback Assistant can look up context and take actions in tools such as Linear, Notion, Asana, HubSpot, PostHog, Attio, Ashby, Intercom, and Plain. Automations can create Linear issues from assigned meeting action items, write action items to monday.com, and send outcomes to Slack, Salesforce, Zoho, and more. Connect additional tools through Zapier, Make, webhooks, or custom MCP servers.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." }, { "label": "Circleback Assistant connectors", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/assistant/ask-circleback-assistant", "note": "Search and take action in connected work apps from Circleback Assistant." } ] } }, { "key": "agentsAndApi", "label": "API, MCP, CLI, and data portability", "lead": "Both products document broad support for API, MCP, CLI, and data portability, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Gong exposes calls, full speaker-segmented transcripts, users, CRM-linked objects, exports, and data-warehouse tables. Its 2026 MCP server supports personal or organization-wide authorization for ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and custom agents, but is read-only and limited to account/deal questions and generated briefs—not raw meeting retrieval. Those MCP tools and some AI APIs consume Gong credits. There is no documented first-party CLI. Circleback: Circleback is built for people and AI agents. The complete meeting record a person can access—its full speaker-labeled transcript, recording, notes, action items, metadata, attendees, and related people and companies—is also available programmatically through the public API, MCP, and CLI. The API also supports action-item updates. MCP and CLI add search and retrieval across meetings, transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and tags, and can update meetings and tags, share meetings, and create, update, or delete action items. Connect ChatGPT or Claude, build internal tools, or receive meeting data by webhook.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Mature APIs, exports, data cloud, and a focused MCP server", "detail": "Gong exposes calls, full speaker-segmented transcripts, users, CRM-linked objects, exports, and data-warehouse tables. Its 2026 MCP server supports personal or organization-wide authorization for ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and custom agents, but is read-only and limited to account/deal questions and generated briefs—not raw meeting retrieval. Those MCP tools and some AI APIs consume Gong credits. There is no documented first-party CLI.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong transcript API", "url": "https://help.gong.io/apidocs/retrieve-transcripts-of-calls-by-date-or-callids-v2callstranscript-2", "note": "Documented call-transcript endpoint, pagination, filters, and authorization scope." }, { "label": "Gong API overview", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/what-the-gong-api-provides", "note": "Calls, full transcripts, analyzed conversation data, users, activity, and CRM-linked API capabilities." }, { "label": "Gong MCP server", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/about-gong-mcp-server", "note": "Read-only account/deal questions and brief generation for external AI clients." }, { "label": "Gong MCP setup", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/create-an-integration-to-connect-to-the-mcp-server", "note": "Paid-seat requirement, personal or shared authorization, OAuth setup, and official MCP endpoint." }, { "label": "Gong AI credits", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/about-gong-credits", "note": "Shared annual credit pool and consumption behavior for MCP, AI APIs, and continuous AI processing." }, { "label": "Gong transcript downloads", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/view-a-call-transcript", "note": "Per-call transcript download and synchronized transcript behavior." }, { "label": "Gong media downloads", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/download-a-call-or-snippet", "note": "Permissioned audio, video, and snippet downloads on any Gong plan." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "The same complete meeting data for people and AI agents", "detail": "Circleback is built for people and AI agents. The complete meeting record a person can access—its full speaker-labeled transcript, recording, notes, action items, metadata, attendees, and related people and companies—is also available programmatically through the public API, MCP, and CLI. The API also supports action-item updates. MCP and CLI add search and retrieval across meetings, transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and tags, and can update meetings and tags, share meetings, and create, update, or delete action items. Connect ChatGPT or Claude, build internal tools, or receive meeting data by webhook.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback public API", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/api", "note": "Programmatic access to the complete meeting record available in Circleback, including notes, action items, transcripts, recordings, people, and companies." }, { "label": "Circleback MCP documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-mcp", "note": "Access from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Codex, and other MCP clients to meetings, transcripts, action items, people, companies, calendar, email, and tags, plus write tools for meetings, tags, sharing, and action items." }, { "label": "Circleback CLI documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-cli", "note": "Command-line and JSON access to meetings, speaker-labeled transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and cross-meeting action-item search." } ] } }, { "key": "admin", "label": "Security, privacy, and admin", "lead": "Both products document broad support for security, privacy, and admin, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Gong supports large deployments, granular access, SSO/SCIM, retention configuration, deletion, and compliance workflows. Standard retention is the shorter of three years or the customer term and data is deleted 30 days after the relationship ends; company-library calls sit outside the standard rule. Circleback: Customer data is encrypted at rest and in transit and never used to train models. Circleback is SOC 2 Type II, certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, supports GDPR obligations, and is HIPAA-compliant with BAAs available. The security portal includes compliance materials and an external infrastructure pentest report. Available controls include single sign-on (SAML or OIDC) and SCIM provisioning, configurable data retention and recording storage, enforced workspace and sharing settings, teams and roles, domain and API key access controls, centralized billing, usage reporting, and free viewer seats.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "Mature enterprise administration and governance", "detail": "Gong supports large deployments, granular access, SSO/SCIM, retention configuration, deletion, and compliance workflows. Standard retention is the shorter of three years or the customer term and data is deleted 30 days after the relationship ends; company-library calls sit outside the standard rule.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." }, { "label": "Gong data retention", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/data-retention-policy", "note": "Standard and custom retention behavior." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "Security, privacy, and workspace controls", "detail": "Customer data is encrypted at rest and in transit and never used to train models. Circleback is SOC 2 Type II, certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, supports GDPR obligations, and is HIPAA-compliant with BAAs available. The security portal includes compliance materials and an external infrastructure pentest report. Available controls include single sign-on (SAML or OIDC) and SCIM provisioning, configurable data retention and recording storage, enforced workspace and sharing settings, teams and roles, domain and API key access controls, centralized billing, usage reporting, and free viewer seats.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback enforced workspace settings", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/workspace-and-teams/default-and-enforced-workspace-settings", "note": "Admin-controlled defaults for sharing access, recording storage, joining preferences, and other meeting settings." }, { "label": "Circleback security and data processing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/dpa", "note": "Retention responsibilities, subprocessors, and United States primary processing operations." }, { "label": "Circleback security overview", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/security/security", "note": "Encryption at rest and in transit, SOC 2 Type II, no-training commitment, GDPR support, HIPAA compliance and BAA availability, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, and an external infrastructure pentest." }, { "label": "Circleback security portal", "url": "https://security.circleback.ai/", "note": "Compliance materials, security controls, subprocessors, and an external infrastructure pentest report." } ] } }, { "key": "languages", "label": "Languages", "lead": "Both products document broad support for languages, with different scope and plan limits.", "analysis": "Gong: Gong documents more than 70 transcription languages plus AI translation. Email labels, red-flag alerts, Gong-recommended to-dos, and example-based smart trackers are still English-only, so global teams should verify the exact workflow rather than relying on the headline count. Circleback: Users can choose from more than 100 meeting languages and separately control the output language used for generated notes.", "productA": { "id": "gong", "name": "Gong", "summary": "More than 70 languages; some AI features remain English-only", "detail": "Gong documents more than 70 transcription languages plus AI translation. Email labels, red-flag alerts, Gong-recommended to-dos, and example-based smart trackers are still English-only, so global teams should verify the exact workflow rather than relying on the headline count.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Gong language support", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/what-languages-are-supported-in-gong", "note": "More than 70 transcription languages, AI translation, and the AI capabilities that remain English-only." } ] }, "productB": { "id": "circleback", "name": "Circleback", "summary": "100+ transcription languages", "detail": "Users can choose from more than 100 meeting languages and separately control the output language used for generated notes.", "level": "strong", "sources": [ { "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." } ] } } ], "directComparison": { "shortVerdict": "Gong is a sales system. Circleback is a meeting system the whole company can use.", "competitorFit": "Pick Gong for forecasting, deal inspection, rep coaching, scorecards, sales engagement, and follow-up that managers can track across the team.", "circlebackFit": "Pick Circleback when sales, product, recruiting, and other teams need shared meeting notes, assigned action items, and automations that send updates to the apps they use.", "worthKnowing": "Circleback handles sales notes, assigned work, and CRM updates. Gong adds forecasting and sales coaching. Its team to-do views require Engage, with package and language limits." }, "thirdOption": null, "faqs": [ { "question": "Which is better: Gong or Circleback?", "answer": "Gong is a sales system. Circleback is a meeting system the whole company can use." }, { "question": "Which is less expensive, Gong or Circleback?", "answer": "Gong: Custom quote: per-user licenses plus a platform fee. Circleback: Free; Pro from $15/user/month annually; Business from $25/user/month annually; Enterprise $35/user/month, billed annually. Compare the paid seats, included usage, recording access, and admin features you actually need." }, { "question": "Can Gong and Circleback record without a bot?", "answer": "Gong: Meeting bot, native Zoom recording, telephony, and mobile capture. Circleback: Online meetings with or without a bot; in-person recording too. Check whether your preferred recording method preserves video and speaker labels." }, { "question": "Which is better for a whole company?", "answer": "Compare automatic sharing, permissions, retention, and the defaults admins can enforce. Gong: Permissioned call, snippet, and folder sharing. Circleback: Conditional automatic sharing with workspace safeguards." }, { "question": "Can I access and move the full meeting data?", "answer": "Circleback is built for people and AI agents: the complete meeting record available in the product is also available through API, MCP, and CLI. Gong: Mature APIs, exports, data cloud, and a focused MCP server. Compare transcript, export, plan, and retention limits." }, { "question": "Can I start recording in Circleback with one tap or button press?", "answer": "Yes. On desktop, click Record in the detected-meeting prompt. For in-person recording, tap the Circleback Lock Screen widget on your phone (iOS or Android) or Apple Watch complication, or press and hold your configured iPhone Action button. No separate recorder to buy, carry, or charge." }, { "question": "Do all Circleback recordings get the same features?", "answer": "Yes. Online meetings, in-person recordings, and imports all get speaker-labeled transcripts, notes, assigned action items, search, sharing, and automations. To capture a phone call, import an existing call recording; the Circleback mobile app does not record calls directly." }, { "question": "How was this comparison researched?", "answer": "We use first-party pricing pages, product pages, help docs, and release notes for both products. Links appear in each feature comparison and in the Sources section." } ], "variableMeasured": [ "Capture options", "Desktop and mobile", "In-person capture and speaker labels", "Recordings, playback, and clips", "Notes, action items, and search", "People, companies, and context", "Automatic sharing and workspace defaults", "Automations", "Integrations", "API, MCP, CLI, and data portability", "Security, privacy, and admin", "Languages" ], "sources": [ { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong pricing", "url": "https://www.gong.io/pricing", "note": "Custom pricing structure, per-user licenses, platform fee, and package model." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong web-conferencing capture", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/web-conferencing-integrations", "note": "Bot capture across providers and native bot-free recording for eligible Zoom meetings." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong transcript API", "url": "https://help.gong.io/apidocs/retrieve-transcripts-of-calls-by-date-or-callids-v2callstranscript-2", "note": "Documented call-transcript endpoint, pagination, filters, and authorization scope." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong API overview", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/what-the-gong-api-provides", "note": "Calls, full transcripts, analyzed conversation data, users, activity, and CRM-linked API capabilities." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong MCP server", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/about-gong-mcp-server", "note": "Read-only account/deal questions and brief generation for external AI clients." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong MCP setup", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/create-an-integration-to-connect-to-the-mcp-server", "note": "Paid-seat requirement, personal or shared authorization, OAuth setup, and official MCP endpoint." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong AI credits", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/about-gong-credits", "note": "Shared annual credit pool and consumption behavior for MCP, AI APIs, and continuous AI processing." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong transcript downloads", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/view-a-call-transcript", "note": "Per-call transcript download and synchronized transcript behavior." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong media downloads", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/download-a-call-or-snippet", "note": "Permissioned audio, video, and snippet downloads on any Gong plan." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong plans and seats", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/plans-and-seats", "note": "Foundation platform and Enable, Forecast, Engage, and Data Cloud packages." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong mobile recording", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/record-meetings-on-mobile", "note": "iOS and Android in-person recording behavior and quality considerations." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong speaker identification", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/how-gong-identifies-speakers", "note": "Speaker separation, same-room generic labels, platform behavior, and optional voice identification." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong data retention", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/data-retention-policy", "note": "Standard and custom retention behavior." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong language support", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/what-languages-are-supported-in-gong", "note": "More than 70 transcription languages, AI translation, and the AI capabilities that remain English-only." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong call and folder sharing", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/enable-call-and-folder-sharing", "note": "Company permissions for external call sharing and internal shared folders." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong automation rules", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/introduction-to-automation-rules", "note": "Plan availability, supported triggers and actions, and future-only rule application." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong recommended to-dos", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/gong-recommended-to-dos", "note": "Engage eligibility, AI meeting follow-ups, source timestamps, due dates, completion rules, seven-day expiry, and language limits." }, { "productId": "gong", "productName": "Gong", "label": "Gong team to-do management", "url": "https://help.gong.io/docs/working-with-todos", "note": "Personal and manager task views, filters, due dates, bulk completion, CRM context, and execution controls." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback product guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/llms.txt", "note": "Capture modes, apps, search, automations, integrations, recordings, MCP, CLI, webhooks, and security resources." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback pricing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/pricing", "note": "Current plan prices, included features, Business controls, Enterprise options, and free viewer seats." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback recording guide", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/getting-started-with-recording", "note": "Desktop, mobile, bot, and import capture paths for online and in-person conversations." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback desktop recording", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/desktop-app/record-meetings-with-the-desktop-app", "note": "Detected-meeting recording prompts, automatic recording, and bot-free desktop audio and video capture." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback mobile recording shortcuts", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/mobile-app/record-meetings-with-the-mobile-app", "note": "Mobile recording and links to widget and Action button setup guides." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback iPhone Action button", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/mobile-app/start-recording-with-the-action-button-on-iphone", "note": "Configure Controls → Circleback → Record, then press and hold to start recording." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback Apple Watch complication", "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/circleback-ai-meeting-notes/id6738971048", "note": "Publisher description documents one-tap Watch complication recording and the same transcript and notes as other meetings." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback optional recording storage", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/recording/configure-whether-meeting-recordings-are-saved", "note": "Keep notes, action items, transcript, and insights while disabling stored audio and video." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback mobile and Apple Watch apps", "url": "https://circleback.ai/mobile", "note": "iOS, Android, and Apple Watch capture for in-person meetings and conversations." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback public API", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/api", "note": "Programmatic access to the complete meeting record available in Circleback, including notes, action items, transcripts, recordings, people, and companies." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback MCP documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-mcp", "note": "Access from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Codex, and other MCP clients to meetings, transcripts, action items, people, companies, calendar, email, and tags, plus write tools for meetings, tags, sharing, and action items." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback CLI documentation", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/platform/circleback-cli", "note": "Command-line and JSON access to meetings, speaker-labeled transcripts, action items, calendars, email, people, companies, and cross-meeting action-item search." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback Assistant connectors", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/assistant/ask-circleback-assistant", "note": "Search and take action in connected work apps from Circleback Assistant." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback automatic sharing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/automations/automatically-share-meetings-with-your-workspace", "note": "Conditional sharing by meeting title, participants, invitee emails or domains, and tags to people, teams, or the workspace." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback enforced workspace settings", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/workspace-and-teams/default-and-enforced-workspace-settings", "note": "Admin-controlled defaults for sharing access, recording storage, joining preferences, and other meeting settings." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback security and data processing", "url": "https://circleback.ai/dpa", "note": "Retention responsibilities, subprocessors, and United States primary processing operations." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback security overview", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/security/security", "note": "Encryption at rest and in transit, SOC 2 Type II, no-training commitment, GDPR support, HIPAA compliance and BAA availability, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, and an external infrastructure pentest." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback security portal", "url": "https://security.circleback.ai/", "note": "Compliance materials, security controls, subprocessors, and an external infrastructure pentest report." }, { "productId": "circleback", "productName": "Circleback", "label": "Circleback action items in Linear", "url": "https://circleback.ai/docs/support/automations/integrations/integrate-with-linear", "note": "Automatically create Linear issues from meeting action items and preserve the matched assignee." } ], "methodology": { "approach": "First-party pricing, product documentation, help-center articles, and release notes. Capability levels describe documented breadth, not overall product quality. Competitor strengths and material plan or capture-mode limits are both included. No pay-to-play rankings.", "ratingLabels": { "strong": "Broad support", "available": "Available with limits", "limited": "Narrow or indirect", "not-available": "Not documented" }, "ratingScale": { "strong": "Broad native support across the product or relevant paid plans.", "available": "Documented support with meaningful scope, mode, or plan limits.", "limited": "Narrow, indirect, beta, or substantially plan-gated support.", "not-available": "No current first-party documentation for a native option." }, "claimLevelEvidence": "Each feature dimension includes the exact first-party sources used for both products.", "limitations": "Prices and features change. Check the linked sources and test both products on real calls." } }