Gong is the strongest choice for revenue teams that want recording, coaching and forecasting and can pay quote-based pricing. Avoma and Fathom cover call notes and CRM sync for far less. Sybill is best at follow-up emails and CRM autofill. For private help during the call itself, with nothing recorded, use a desktop overlay like AuraCloak.
Which AI sales assistant is best for you?
| Tool | Main job | Best for | Price (checked Oct 2026) | Records calls? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gong | Conversation and revenue intelligence | Sales orgs with managers who coach | Quote only | Yes |
| Avoma | Notes, CRM sync, optional coaching | Small and mid-size teams | From $19/seat/mo (annual) | Yes |
| Sybill | Follow-ups and CRM autofill | Reps who hate admin | Free; Pro $30/user/mo (annual) | Yes |
| Fathom | Free notetaker with a sales tier | Founders and small teams | Free; Business $25/user/mo (annual) | Yes |
| Fireflies | Searchable call library | Teams with many tools to connect | Business about $19/seat/mo (annual) | Yes |
| ChatGPT or Claude | Prep, emails, objection practice | Every rep, as a baseline | Free tier; paid plans about $20/mo | No |
| AuraCloak | Private live help during the call | Reps who share screens on Zoom or Teams | $9/mo or $49 once | No |
"Records calls?" is marked red for a reason. Recording is useful, but it means telling the buyer and, in all-party consent states like California, getting their agreement.
What can an AI sales assistant actually do?
Before comparing tools, separate the jobs. Most teams need one or two of these, not all four.
- Record and summarize calls so nobody types notes and the summary lands in the CRM.
- Coach: score calls, track talk time and questions, flag risky deals.
- Write the follow-up: recap email, next steps, proposal outline.
- Help live: answer the product question you can't remember, suggest a reply to an objection, check a number.
Jobs 1 to 3 happen after the call and need a recording. Job 4 happens during it and doesn't. That split explains most of the price differences below.
What does call data say good sales calls look like?
One reason AI coaching tools exist: reps can't judge their own calls. Gong refreshed its talk-to-listen research in March 2025 using 326,000 sales calls of at least 10 minutes. The average was 60% seller talking and 40% listening. Won deals averaged 57% talk time and lost deals 62%, a smaller gap than the old 43:57 "golden ratio" from Gong's 2016 post suggested.
The surprising finding was about questions. Sellers on won deals asked 15 to 16 questions per call; sellers on lost deals asked about 20. More questions didn't help. Better ones did, along with shorter monologues. We kept that in mind when judging live-help tools: an assistant that throws extra questions at you mid-call can make things worse. You want fewer, sharper prompts. (Our sales call cheat sheet is built around that.)
1. Gong: best for coaching at scale
Gong records calls and emails, then layers coaching, deal risk and forecasting on top. If you run a team of 20+ reps with managers who actually review calls, it's the reference product.
Gong doesn't publish prices. 2026 buyer guides put the core license at roughly $1,300 to $1,920 per user per year, plus a platform fee that grows with team size (reported between $5,000 and $50,000 a year) and onboarding costs. Treat those as estimates and expect a negotiation.
Skip it if you're under ten sellers or nobody will look at the coaching dashboards. You'd pay for analytics that go unread.
2. Avoma: best value for notes plus coaching
Avoma's pricing page (checked October 2026) lists Startup at $19 per recorder seat per month billed annually or $29 monthly, with unlimited AI meeting notes and notes saved to CRM records. Organization is $29 annually or $39 monthly. Coaching lives in a Conversation Intelligence add-on at $29 or $35 per seat, which also includes a "real-time answer assistant", AI call scoring and custom scorecards. A Revenue Intelligence add-on at the same price covers deal risk and forecasting.
Built-in CRM integrations cover Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive and Copper. For a 10-person team that wants notes and coaching, Avoma comes out far below Gong's estimated pricing.
3. Sybill: best for follow-up emails and CRM autofill
Sybill is built for the 20 minutes after a call. Its free plan covers summaries and briefs for 20 meetings a month, AI follow-up emails and unlimited recordings, using what Sybill calls an "Invisible Recorder". Pro is $30 per user per month annually ($36 monthly) for unlimited summaries pushed to your CRM. Business, at $90 annually or $108 monthly, adds CRM Autofill for 10 fields.
The pricing page doesn't explain how the Invisible Recorder captures calls, so ask Sybill before assuming buyers won't see anything. Recording rules apply either way.
4. Fathom: best free starting point
Fathom's free plan records and transcribes unlimited calls with instant summaries, so a founder doing their own sales can start at $0. The Business plan, $34 per user per month or $25 annually with a 2-user minimum, adds CRM field sync, a Deal View, coaching metrics and AI scorecards. Not Gong, but plenty for a five-person team.
5. Fireflies: best for connecting many tools
Fireflies' bot joins calls on Zoom, Meet and Teams and feeds transcripts into CRMs and other apps. Its pricing page loaded without prices for us; Castmagic's August 2026 check of the official page lists Business at $19 per seat per month annually or $29 monthly, and Pro at $10 or $18. Choose it if integrations matter more than coaching depth.
6. ChatGPT or Claude: the assistant every rep already has
Plain chat assistants don't record anything, which is a feature on some calls. They're excellent at the prep and follow-up work: researching an account from its annual report, drafting a recap email from your rough notes, role-playing a tough buyer. The free tiers are enough to start, and paid plans run about $20 a month. The weak spot is speed during a call, since you're switching to a browser tab that might be on your shared screen. We wrote 35 ready-made ChatGPT prompts for sales calls if you want to try this route.
7. AuraCloak: best for private live help
AuraCloak is our product, so weigh this section accordingly. It covers job 4 only. It's an always-on-top AI window for Windows that you open with Ctrl + Alt + Space during a Zoom or Teams call. Put your pricing, product notes and objection answers in the custom system prompt, then type "competitor X price?" or push-to-talk with Alt + V. Windows keeps the window out of screen capture, so the buyer doesn't see it while you share your demo.
It doesn't record, transcribe or listen to the call, and it doesn't write anything into your CRM. Use your own OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, GitHub Copilot or Azure OpenAI key, or your ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro login in browser mode. $9 a month or $49 once. Setup details are on the sales calls page.
Keep pricing, objection answers and product notes one hotkey away, hidden from your screen share.
Get AuraCloakHow do you choose an AI sales assistant?
- Count your sellers. Under 10: Fathom free or Avoma Startup. Over 20 with real coaching: get a Gong quote and compare it with Avoma plus its two add-ons.
- Check your CRM. If summaries must land in Salesforce or HubSpot automatically, Avoma, Fathom Business and Sybill all do it. Confirm the specific fields during a trial.
- Decide how you'll handle consent. Every recorder on this list needs you to tell buyers. If many of your buyers are in banking, health or government, expect pushback on bots.
- Add live help separately. No recorder above is great at feeding you answers mid-call without distracting you. A private overlay or a well-built cheat sheet does that job.
FAQ
What is an AI sales assistant?
An AI sales assistant is software that uses AI to help sellers with call notes, CRM updates, follow-up emails, coaching or live answers during calls. Some record and analyze every call, like Gong or Avoma. Others, like AuraCloak, help privately during the call without recording it.
How much does Gong cost?
Gong doesn't publish pricing. Buyer guides from 2026 estimate about $1,300 to $1,920 per user per year, plus an annual platform fee reported between $5,000 and $50,000 depending on team size, plus onboarding. Get a formal quote and compare it with Avoma or Fathom Business.
What is the best free AI sales assistant?
Fathom's free plan records and transcribes unlimited calls with AI summaries. Sybill's free plan covers summaries for 20 meetings a month plus follow-up emails. ChatGPT and Claude free tiers work well for call prep and drafting recap emails, though they don't connect to your calls.
Can AI help me handle objections during a live sales call?
Yes, if the answer is ready fast. Load your objection responses and pricing into an assistant's instructions beforehand, then ask short questions during the call. Keep the window out of your screen share. Gong's 2025 data suggests fewer, better questions win more deals than more questions.
Do I have to tell buyers I'm using an AI notetaker?
You should. Tools that record calls capture the buyer's voice, and some US states, including California, require all parties to consent to recording a confidential conversation. A one-line mention at the start of the call is normal. This is general information, not legal advice.