# Read AI vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)

> Zoom Realtime Media Streams scores 58.3 (C) to Read AI's 42.4 (E) for meeting transcripts. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/read-ai-vs-zoom-rtms
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/read-ai-vs-zoom-rtms.md (~4,750 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against Read AI's 42.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Read AI leads on payments & pricing. Both do meeting transcripts.

- Read AI: grade E, 42.4/100, rank #1282 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/read-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/read-ai.json
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS): grade C, 58.3/100, rank #757 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoom-rtms.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoom-rtms.json
- Best meeting bots, recording and transcript APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/meeting-capture/index.md
- All 78 meetings comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meeting-capture/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Read AI (E)

Good for: An agent working for a person or team that already records meetings with Read AI and wants transcripts, summaries and action items in context.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 0

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Both the REST API and the MCP server are labelled open beta, with no SLA, no deprecation policy and no dated API change on record since the February 2026 launch

### Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (C)

Good for: Apps that need live Zoom media or transcripts without a bot, including in-meeting agents.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 67 against 27
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 46
- Security & auth, 63 against 54
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 6
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 64

Watch for: Zoom only. Other meeting platforms need a bot service


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +67

- Read AI (6): No changelog or release list was found on 8 October, and Read AI's hosts are paused today, so only recorded dates count. The MCP server article's edit date of 2 September 2026 records no stated change, and a page date without a recorded change doesn't set recency. The last dated API change on record is the MCP launch of 25 February 2026, over 180 days ago (0). Connection guides for Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot Studio published between 25 and 27 August 2026 are documents, not dated releases, so fewer than three entries fall in the 90 days from 6 August (0). A support request form, no public changelog or developer forum found (6, a partial value kept). No readable MCP registry entry and no official SDK (0). No packages to assess (0). 0+0+6+0+0 = 6.
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (73): RTMS October release on 30 October 2026 (continuous meeting sharing by default and a `rtms.request_status` webhook) (30). Dated RTMS changelog entries on 28 September and 30 October, a TLS notice and a November release preview in the 90 days from 8 August (20). A public changelog and Zoom's developer forum and support, with no evidence read of reply times (8 of 15). The official `@zoom/rtms` SDK is at 1.1.0 from 16 April 2026, behind the protocol changes since (10 of 15). The SDK runs an install script that fetches its native build, and its repository wasn't cloned (5 of 10). 30+20+8+10+5 = 73.

### Reliability: Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +40

- Read AI (27): Graded as a hosted service on the MCP server and REST API. Read AI's terms bar robots except to compile search results, so its hosts are paused and the 8 October readings stand where kept. The status page at readai.statuspage.io wasn't re-read on 4 November. Its components and incidents had been read only from the page's data path, which this run doesn't use, so the status-page line scores 0 and the window from 6 August is unread (5). 100 requests a minute per user, per the 8 October check (15). 429 is documented as retry later with no Retry-After or backoff guidance, while create meeting agent and share meeting report are documented as safe to repeat, per the 8 October check (7, a partial value kept). No SLA found (0). Both surfaces are open beta (0). 0+5+15+7+0+0 = 27.
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (67): Graded on the hosted RTMS service with the hosted lines. www.zoomstatus.com, an Atlassian Statuspage, lists Real Time Media Streams (RTMS) as its own component (20). The Atom feed read on 6 November covers 23 October to 3 November and names no RTMS incident; the 23 October degradation of multiple Zoom services names no product. The window from 8 August to 22 October is drawn by script and robots.txt closes /api/, so, as for zoom-scheduler, the line is 10. Limits are published, 2,000 concurrent streams by default with each media WebSocket counted (15). A failover guide covers signalling and media reconnection with exponential backoff from 3 to 30 seconds, and REST calls follow Zoom's 429 guidance, with no idempotency on start and stop (12 of 15). No SLA found for RTMS (0). RTMS for Meetings carries no beta label (10). 20+10+15+12+0+10 = 67.

### Payments & pricing: Read AI +30

- Read AI (30): Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (terms pause). No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public ($15, $22.50 and $29.75 a user a month billed annually) with nothing charged per call (10). The free plan needs no card and includes the API and MCP server (20). Client registration is programmatic, but a person has to sign in and consent in a browser (0). 0+10+20+0 = 30.
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (0): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). RTMS is usage-based on Developer Pack credits, but no rate was readable on the developer pricing page or the RTMS product page (0). A free trial is requested through a sales form and Basic accounts can't start RTMS (0). A person creates the app, buys credits and submits the app for review (0). 0+0+0+0 = 0.

### Schema & documentation: Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +25

- Read AI (46): Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (terms pause). No public OpenAPI file was found. The MCP tool schemas sit behind sign-in and were not read, and the help centre's parameter tables are prose documentation, not a machine-readable contract, so the contract line scores 0 (the tables count on typed inputs). www.read.ai/llms.txt points to the help centre's article index (10). The API reference says when to use the live endpoint over the standard one, and the MCP article lists inputs, defaults and limits for each of four tools (13). Parameters are typed in tables and access levels are enumerated, with no schema to confirm constraints (8). Each endpoint has a curl request and a sample response. Errors are a table of status codes with no body schema (10). A /v1 path prefix, no changelog (5). 0+10+13+8+10+5 = 46.
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (71): No machine-readable contract for the WebSocket protocol (no AsyncAPI), and the REST start and stop calls sit in Zoom's reference with no spec file linked (8 of 25). llms.txt and a Markdown copy of each page (10). Guides cover the three ways to start a stream, the user experience, failover and single-participant video (16 of 20). Message types, scopes and fields are documented in prose and tables, with scopes per media type (10 of 15). Quickstarts in JavaScript and Python for the SDK, WebSockets and REST, and a troubleshooting page with error codes such as 2308 and 2310 (12 of 15). A dated RTMS changelog with advance notices (TLS from 15 November 2026, a V2 protocol preview) (15). 8+10+16+10+12+15 = 71.

### Security & auth: Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +9

- Read AI (54): Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (terms pause). OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration, PKCE, 10-minute access tokens, rotating single-use refresh tokens and a revocation endpoint. Only two scopes, `meeting:read` and `mcp:execute`, so MCP access can't be narrowed to reading (24). A token reaches only reports its user can open, and a workspace admin can switch off access through the Downloads setting. No confirmation step is documented for sending a bot or sharing a report by email (9). Transcripts are untrusted speech and no injection guidance was found (0). Workspace audit logs in OCSF by webhook on Enterprise+ record sign-ins and integration connections, not individual calls (6). security.txt valid to 18 August 2027, SOC 2 Type 2 and a HIPAA option per the help centre, no bug bounty found (15). 24+9+0+6+15 = 54.
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (63): OAuth 2.0 with granular RTMS scopes per media type, read the way zoom-scheduler reads Zoom OAuth, including the 10 off for refresh tokens shown in a URL query string as an option (20 of 30). Least privilege is strong. Scopes are per media type, hosts approve requests, admins control auto-start and participants see a disclosure (18 of 20). Transcripts and chat are participant content, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0). Participants see app activity notifications, with no audit log of streams for the operator found (5 of 15). Zoom's security.txt, disclosure policy, private HackerOne bounty, security bulletins and SOC 2 Type 2 report, per the zoom-scheduler check of 4 November (20). 20+18+0+5+20 = 63.

### Transparency & trust: Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +9

- Read AI (64): Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (terms pause). Closed service with published terms, last updated 26 February 2026, which still carry that date on 4 November (15). The privacy policy of 29 June 2026 keeps audio and video for no longer than two years and paid accounts' data until payment stops or deletion is requested. The help centre says model training is opt-in, while the terms grant a licence to train subject to opt-in or opt-out settings, and the DPA sits in a Trust Centre we couldn't read (20). No deprecation policy for the beta API (0). A sub-processor list is linked at trust.read.ai/subprocessors but didn't render for us, and EU and Canada data regions were announced on 2 February 2026 (10). 15+20+0+10 = 45.
- Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) (73): Closed service under the Zoom API Licence and Terms of Use of 16 July 2025, as for zoom-scheduler (15 of 30). The Privacy Statement (17 September 2026) and Terms of Service say communications-like customer content isn't used to train AI models, with no fixed retention periods, per the zoom-scheduler check; RTMS streams to the customer's own app, which holds the data (18 of 30). Advance, dated notices in the RTMS changelog, such as TLS 1.2 from 15 November 2026 and a V2 preview, beside API terms that let Zoom deprecate without prior notice (14 of 20). The sub-processor list (2 October 2026) names third parties and affiliates with locations, per the zoom-scheduler check (18 of 20). 15+18+14+18 = 65.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Read AI | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 27 | 67 | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 71 | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +25 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 59 | Read AI +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 63 | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 0 | Read AI +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 6 | 73 | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +67 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 73 | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **42.4 · E** | **58.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Read AI | Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Read AI, Inc. | Zoom Communications, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.read.ai/mcp` | `https://api.zoom.us/v2` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, HTTP | websocket, HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Read AI's terms of service | Proprietary service under the Zoom API Licence and Terms of Use. The `@zoom/rtms` SDK is MIT on npm |
| Tools exposed | 4 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-02-26 | 2025-07-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-29 | 2026-09-17 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |

## How the scores have moved

### Read AI

- -8.0 on 4 November 2026 (D to E): correction
- -0.1 on 28 October 2026: correction
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist

### Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Read AI.** Four MCP tools and three REST endpoints return transcripts, summaries, action items and recording links, and the MCP server can send a bot to a named meeting. Both surfaces are in open beta. Access needs a browser sign-in, access tokens last 10 minutes, and no OpenAPI file, changelog or readable incident history was found.

**Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS).** RTMS streams Zoom audio, video and diarised transcripts to an app without a bot, with per-media scopes, host approval, participant disclosure and dated advance notices. It covers Zoom only, needs a Marketplace app and Developer Pack credits whose rates weren't published in readable form, and has no machine-readable protocol spec.

## Before you call either

### Read AI

1. Persist the new refresh token after every refresh. Access tokens expire after 10 minutes and each refresh token works once.
2. Request only the fields needed with `expand[]` on the REST API. Transcripts and other expansions slow the response.
3. Stay under 100 requests a minute per user and back off on 429. No Retry-After header is documented.
4. Confirm with the user before calling create meeting agent or share meeting report. Sharing emails the recipient unless notify is set to no.
5. Ask a workspace admin to enable Downloads in Reports & Sharing first. Without it the API and MCP server return nothing for workspace members.

### Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)

1. Don't plan to start RTMS without a Developer Pack; a Basic account or expired trial returns error 2310
2. Request only the media scopes the task needs. RTMS scopes can't be optional
3. Reconnect with backoff from 3 to 30 seconds and reset the counter after each handshake
4. Use TLS 1.2 or 1.3 on every connection from 15 November 2026
5. Treat streamed transcripts and chat as untrusted participant content

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Read AI or Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)?

Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against Read AI's 42.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Read AI leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Read AI and Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) need an API key?

Both use an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Read AI and Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) without installing anything?

Yes. Read AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.read.ai/mcp and Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS) at https://api.zoom.us/v2.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/read-ai-vs-zoom-rtms.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/read-ai-vs-zoom-rtms.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "read-ai", "b": "zoom-rtms"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare read-ai zoom-rtms`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/read-ai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoom-rtms.json

## Other comparisons with Read AI or Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)

- [Attendee vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/attendee-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Circleback vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circleback-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Circleback vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circleback-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Fathom vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fathom-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Fathom vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fathom-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Fireflies.ai vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireflies-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Fireflies.ai vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireflies-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Granola vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granola-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Granola vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granola-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [MeetGeek vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meetgeek-vs-read-ai.md)
- [MeetGeek vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meetgeek-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Meeting BaaS vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meeting-baas-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [MeetStream vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meetstream-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Nylas Notetaker API vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nylas-notetaker-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Read AI vs tl;dv](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/read-ai-vs-tldv.md)
- [Recall.ai vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/recall-ai-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [tl;dv vs Zoom Realtime Media Streams (RTMS)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tldv-vs-zoom-rtms.md)
- [Attendee vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/attendee-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Meeting BaaS vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meeting-baas-vs-read-ai.md)
- [MeetStream vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meetstream-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Nylas Notetaker API vs Read AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nylas-notetaker-vs-read-ai.md)
- [Read AI vs Recall.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/read-ai-vs-recall-ai.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp