People usually look for a Fireflies.ai alternative for one of four reasons: the free plan’s storage limit, AI features that run on a small pool of credits, a bot that joins every call, or the jump in price on monthly billing. The best Fireflies alternative for most people is Fathom, because its free plan records and stores unlimited calls with no storage cap.
The right switch depends on what bothers you about Fireflies. This guide compares six options, including two you may already pay for, and shows who should stay with Fireflies. Prices come from each tool’s official pricing page.
Why look for a Fireflies.ai alternative?
Fireflies is a strong meeting assistant, with transcription in more than 100 languages, AskFred search across meetings and CRM autofill on Business. But a few limits push people to look elsewhere:
- Free storage runs out. The free plan caps how many minutes of recordings you can keep, so a busy calendar fills it within weeks.
- AI credits are thin. Free and Pro include about 20 AI credits a month, and Business only about 30. AskFred questions and some advanced features use them, and extra packs start at $5 for 50 credits.
- There’s a bot in every call. Fireflies joins as a participant by default. Bot-free recording through the Chrome extension is only on paid plans.
- Monthly billing costs much more. Pro is $10 a seat on annual billing but $18 month to month, and Business goes from $19 to $29.
- Long meetings get cut off. Free and Pro record up to 2 hours per meeting.
- New free accounts have a catch. Free accounts created from 1 September 2026 get unlimited transcription only with Auto-join switched on; otherwise they’re limited to 3 meetings.
Fireflies.ai alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid plans from | vs Fireflies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom | The best free plan | Unlimited recordings and storage | $15/user/month (annual) | No storage cap on Free |
| Granola | Notes without a bot | Last 30 days of notes | $14/user/month | Records your computer’s audio, no bot joins |
| Otter.ai | Live transcription on a budget | 300 min/month, 30 min per call | $8.33/user/month (annual) | Live transcript during the call, cheaper Pro |
| tl;dv | Clips and highlights | Unlimited recordings, AI notes on 10 meetings | $18/seat/month (annual) | Easier clip sharing, costs more |
| Zoom AI Companion | Teams that only use Zoom | Limited AI on Zoom’s free plan | Included with paid Zoom Workplace | No extra seat cost, Zoom only |
| Gemini in Google Meet | Teams on Google Workspace | No | Included from Workspace Business Standard | Built into Meet, notes saved to Docs |
1. Fathom: best free Fireflies alternative
Fathom records, transcribes and stores unlimited Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls on its free plan, with no minute cap and no storage cap. That fixes the most common Fireflies complaint straight away. After each call, it writes a summary and lets you clip and share key moments.
The free plan’s limit is on AI, not storage: advanced summaries cover 5 calls a month. Paid plans add unlimited advanced summaries, AI action items, follow-up emails and Ask Fathom for questions across calls. Business adds HubSpot and Salesforce sync, and Fathom offers a 90-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
Choose it over Fireflies if: you want to keep every recording for free, or you’ve hit the Fireflies storage cap.
Where it falls short: it joins as a bot like Fireflies does, and it supports fewer languages, so Fireflies is stronger for multilingual teams.
Pricing: Free plan; Premium $16/month, Team $15/user/month, Business $25/user/month (annual). Monthly billing costs $20, $19 and $34.
Read our full Fathom review, or see how the two compare in Fathom vs Fireflies.
2. Granola: best Fireflies alternative without a bot
Granola takes a different approach. It runs on your Mac or Windows computer and records your system audio directly, so nothing joins the call. You type rough notes during the meeting, and afterwards Granola fills them out using the transcript.
Because it doesn’t depend on a meeting platform, it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles and any other call app on your computer. It connects with Slack, Notion and HubSpot, and it has mobile apps for in-person meetings.
Choose it over Fireflies if: a visible bot makes clients or colleagues uncomfortable, or you prefer guiding the notes yourself.
Where it falls short: the free plan only keeps your last 30 days of notes, and there’s no shared call recording library like Fireflies has for teams.
Pricing: Free plan; Business $14/user/month, Enterprise $35/user/month.
Read our full Granola review.
3. Otter.ai: best for live transcription on a budget
Otter shows a live transcript while the meeting is happening, so you can follow along, highlight lines and add comments in real time. Fireflies focuses more on what happens after the call. Otter’s mobile apps also make it a natural fit for lectures and in-person interviews.
On annual billing, Otter Pro is one of the cheapest paid notetakers at $8.33 a month, and students get 20% off. Pro includes 1,200 transcription minutes a month and up to 90 minutes per conversation.
Choose it over Fireflies if: you want to read the transcript during the call, or you record lectures and in-person conversations.
Where it falls short: the free plan stops each conversation at 30 minutes, and Pro caps minutes per month, which Fireflies doesn’t do for transcription.
Pricing: Free plan; Pro $8.33/user/month ($16.99 monthly), Business $19.99/user/month ($30 monthly).
Read our full Otter.ai review, or compare the two in Fireflies vs Otter.
4. tl;dv: best for clips and highlights
tl;dv records and transcribes unlimited meetings on its free plan and makes it easy to cut short clips of key moments and share them. Sales and product teams use it to pass customer feedback around in a format people actually watch.
Paid plans add more AI notes, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, and sales coaching features on Business.
Choose it over Fireflies if: your team shares video clips from calls more than it searches transcripts.
Where it falls short: AI notes cover only 10 meetings a month on the free plan, and paid seats cost more than Fireflies at every level.
Pricing: Free plan; Pro $18/seat/month, Business $29/seat/month (annual).
5. Zoom AI Companion: best if your team only uses Zoom
If your company already pays for Zoom Workplace, you may not need a separate notetaker. Zoom includes its core AI features, such as meeting summaries, AI notes and in-meeting questions, with paid Workplace plans at no extra cost. Zoom’s own comparison page lists paid plans from $14.16 per user per month.
The summaries appear right inside Zoom, with no bot to admit and no extra vendor to approve. Zoom’s free plan includes only limited AI use.
Choose it over Fireflies if: every meeting you have runs on Zoom and a summary with action items is all you need.
Where it falls short: it only works inside Zoom, so calls on Meet or Teams aren’t covered, and there’s no CRM autofill like Fireflies Business. Zoom’s newer agent features sit in a paid add-on called ZoomMate.
Pricing: included with paid Zoom Workplace plans; ZoomMate add-on from $20/user/month.
6. Gemini in Google Meet: best for Google Workspace teams
Google Meet has its own notetaker. Gemini’s “Take notes for me” button writes a summary with action items and saves it to Google Docs, shared with the people on the invite. It’s included from Google Workspace Business Standard, which is about $14 per user per month on annual billing, and Google has also rolled it out to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.
Admins need to switch it on first, and it supports a smaller set of languages than Fireflies.
Choose it over Fireflies if: your team lives in Google Workspace and mostly meets on Meet.
Where it falls short: it’s built for Google Meet, has no search across all your past meetings like AskFred, and covers far fewer languages. Business Starter doesn’t include it.
Pricing: included in Google Workspace Business Standard and higher; see also our Google Gemini listing for the consumer plans.
Free plan comparison
| Tool | Recordings | Storage | AI notes | Bot in the call? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fireflies.ai | Unlimited transcription (with Auto-join on for new accounts) | Capped in minutes | Limited, about 20 AI credits | Yes |
| Fathom | Unlimited | Unlimited | Advanced summaries on 5 calls a month | Yes |
| Granola | Unlimited | Last 30 days of notes | Yes | No |
| Otter.ai | 300 minutes a month | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| tl;dv | Unlimited | Yes | 10 meetings a month | Yes |
What each option costs for a team of 5
Here’s the yearly cost for five people, billed annually, on the plan most teams would pick.
| Tool | Plan | Cost per year |
|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Pro | about $500 |
| Fireflies.ai | Pro | $600 |
| Granola | Business | $840 |
| Fathom | Team | $900 |
| tl;dv | Pro | $1,080 |
| Fireflies.ai | Business | $1,140 |
| Fathom | Business (with CRM sync) | $1,500 |
Zoom AI Companion and Gemini in Meet don’t appear here because they come with a Zoom or Google Workspace subscription you’d pay for anyway. If you already have one of those, the extra cost is $0.
Fireflies Pro is still one of the cheapest team options. Switching usually makes sense for a specific feature, not to save money, unless you’re paying Fireflies monthly.
When to stick with Fireflies.ai
Fireflies is still the better choice for some teams. Stay if:
- You work across many languages. Fireflies transcribes in more than 100 languages, more than most rivals.
- You need search across hundreds of meetings. AskFred can answer questions across your whole meeting history.
- You want CRM autofill at a fair price. Fireflies Business, at $19 a seat on annual billing, costs less than Fathom Business for CRM sync.
- You use Zoom, Meet and Teams. Unlike the built-in options, Fireflies works across all three.
If storage is the only problem, it’s worth comparing the cost of Fireflies Pro on annual billing before you switch. It removes the free plan’s storage cap for $120 a year per person.
How to switch from Fireflies without losing notes
- Export what you need. Download the transcripts and summaries you want to keep before your plan changes. Transcript downloads may need a paid plan.
- Run both tools for a week. Most alternatives have a free plan, so record the same meetings in both and compare the notes.
- Turn off Auto-join in Fireflies once you’ve picked a new tool, so two bots don’t join every call.
- Reconnect your integrations. Link the new tool to your calendar, Slack, CRM or Notion, and check that notes arrive where your team expects them.
- Tell your team and clients. A new bot name in the call can confuse people, so mention the change once.
Which Fireflies.ai alternative should you choose?
- Best free plan, unlimited storage → Fathom
- No bot in your calls → Granola
- Live transcript and the lowest paid price → Otter.ai
- Sharing clips with your team → tl;dv
- Your team only uses Zoom → Zoom AI Companion
- Your team runs on Google Workspace → Gemini in Google Meet
- Many languages, deep search or CRM autofill → stay with Fireflies
See all five tools side by side in our guide to the best AI meeting assistants, read our Fireflies.ai review, or browse all AI meeting assistants.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Fireflies.ai?
Fathom, for most people. Its free plan records, transcribes and stores unlimited calls with no storage cap. The catch is that advanced AI summaries are limited to 5 calls a month.
What is the cheapest alternative to Fireflies.ai?
Otter.ai Pro, at $8.33 per user per month on annual billing, is cheaper than Fireflies Pro at $10. If you already pay for Zoom Workplace or Google Workspace Business Standard, their built-in notetakers add no extra cost.
Is there a Fireflies alternative without a bot?
Yes. Granola records your computer’s audio directly, so no bot joins the meeting. Fireflies also offers bot-free recording through its Chrome extension, but only on paid plans.
Is Fathom better than Fireflies?
Fathom has the better free plan, with unlimited storage. Fireflies is better for multilingual teams, search across many meetings and lower-cost CRM autofill. Our Fathom vs Fireflies comparison covers the details.
Why is my Fireflies free plan limited to 3 meetings?
Free accounts created on or after 1 September 2026 get unlimited transcription only when Auto-join is switched on. If you turn Auto-join off, the free plan is limited to 3 meetings.
Does Zoom have a free AI notetaker?
Zoom’s free Basic plan includes only limited AI Companion use. Full meeting summaries are included at no extra cost on paid Zoom Workplace plans, but they only work in Zoom meetings.
Can Google Meet take notes automatically?
Yes, with Gemini’s “Take notes for me” feature. It’s included in Google Workspace Business Standard and higher, and in Google AI Pro and Ultra. It saves the notes to Google Docs.
Can I move my Fireflies transcripts to another tool?
There’s no one-click transfer between meeting assistants. Download the transcripts and summaries you want to keep from Fireflies, and store them in a shared folder or your notes app.