Fireflies.ai review
- Made by
- Fireflies.AI Corp.
- Founded
- 2016, by Krish Ramineni and Sam Udotong
- Headquarters
- San Francisco
- Free plan
- Yes: 400 minutes of storage, limited summaries, 20 AI credits a month
- Paid plans from
- $10/seat/month billed yearly, or $18 monthly (Pro)
- Platforms
- Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chrome extension; bot joins Zoom, Meet, Teams and more
- Languages
- 100+ for transcription (English primary, many in beta)
- Security
- SOC 2 Type II and GDPR on all plans; HIPAA on Enterprise
Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant for teams. Its bot, the Fireflies Notetaker, joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other calls to record and transcribe them, then writes summaries, action items and analytics that you can search or question with its AskFred assistant. It can also record without a bot through a desktop app or a Google Meet Chrome extension, and it now reaches into email, Slack and CRMs.
Fireflies ranks third in our best AI for meetings ranking, where it stands out for integrations and compliance. This review covers what each plan really gives you, how the AI credit system works, how Fireflies handles consent and training data, and the biometric privacy lawsuits it faces.
Fireflies is worth it for teams that want one meeting assistant wired into their CRM, Slack and project tools, with analytics and a full compliance checklist. Pro at $10 per seat a month billed yearly is one of the cheapest team plans in the category. It suits individuals less well: the free plan is small, Granola and Fathom score higher on note quality in our ranking, and heavy AskFred or AI Skills users will burn through the small monthly credit allowance.
Score breakdown
Best for
- Teams that want meeting notes pushed into CRMs, Slack and project tools
- Sales and support managers who want talk-time, sentiment and topic analytics
- Multilingual teams, with 100+ transcription languages
- Companies that need SOC 2 and GDPR, or HIPAA on Enterprise
Skip it if
- People who want the most polished meeting summaries
- Heavy AI chat users on Free or Pro, who will run short of AI credits
- Anyone who wants a large free archive (400 minutes of storage)
- Small healthcare teams that cannot justify Enterprise at $39 per seat, billed yearly
What we like
- Pro from $10 per seat a month billed yearly
- Bot, desktop app or Chrome extension, with consent notices on by default in bot-free mode
- Sentiment, talk-time and topic analytics from Pro
- Says customer data is never used for AI training
- Transcription in 100+ languages, plus file uploads
Watch out for
- AskFred, AI Skills and other AI extras draw on a small monthly credit allowance
- Free plan keeps only 400 minutes of storage and a few summaries
- HIPAA, SSO and custom retention only on Enterprise, billed yearly
- Faces Illinois biometric privacy (BIPA) class actions over voiceprints
- Summaries are more generic than Granola's or Fathom's
Key features, explained
Meeting bot and live notes
Connect your calendar and the Fireflies Notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and 10+ other platforms, or you can invite it to a single call. It records and transcribes, shows live notes during the meeting and sends a summary with an overview, notes and action items afterwards. Each recording can run 2 hours on Free and Pro, 3 on Business and 4 on Enterprise. Video capture starts on Pro.
Bot-free desktop app and Chrome extension
The Mac and Windows desktop app records system audio, so it works with Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp, FaceTime, phone calls and in-person meetings with no bot. Consent options are on by default: a spoken notice about 10 seconds after you start, a chat message on Mac and an 'AI Taking Notes' camera watermark. Bot-free mode saves no audio or video and labels speakers Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. A Chrome extension does the same for Google Meet.
AskFred and AI credits
AskFred answers questions about one meeting or all of them, and AI Skills turn calls into outputs such as candidate scorecards or bug reports. These, plus custom summary sections, soundbites, CRM autofill and voice agents, spend AI credits. Plans include 20 a month on Free and Pro, 30 on Business and 50 on Enterprise. Extra packs start at $5 for 50 credits a month.
Conversation analytics
From Pro, Fireflies detects topics, tasks, questions and sentiment, and shows each speaker's talk time. You can create topic trackers for words such as pricing or a competitor's name. Business adds conversation intelligence and team analytics for admins, which helps sales and support managers coach a team. Free users can search meetings but get none of the analytics.
Integrations, API and new agents
Paid plans unlock all of Fireflies' app and CRM integrations, including Slack and Zapier, and Fireflies says it connects to 100+ tools. API access is listed on every plan, with rate limits. In August 2026 Fireflies added an Email Assistant for Gmail and Outlook that drafts replies using meeting context, and in September it launched Voice Agents that run screening, discovery and support calls, both on all plans.
Languages and file uploads
Fireflies transcribes 100+ languages and detects the language automatically, though its FAQ says English is the main supported language and many others are in beta. Business adds a multi-language mode for calls that switch between languages. You can upload MP3, MP4, WAV and M4A files; on Free each upload is capped at 100 MB and 150 minutes and uses a transcription credit.
Where Fireflies.ai ranks
Our scores come from our category rankings, where each tool is scored 0–10 on weighted criteria against its rivals.
| Ranking | Listed as | Position | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best AI for Meetings | Fireflies.ai | #3 of 8 | 8.3 |
What users say about Fireflies.ai
Business users rate Fireflies highly: 4.9 on Capterra from 735 reviews and 4.5 on Trustpilot from 813. The iPhone app scores 4.8 from about 5,100 ratings and the Android app 4.7 from about 7,200. Reviewers praise accurate transcripts across Zoom, Meet and Teams, useful summaries and action items, searchable archives and wide language support. The complaints centre on limits and the bot. AI credits run out quickly, the free plan's storage fills fast, and speaker labels slip with accents, background noise or people talking over each other. Some Trustpilot reviewers describe support handled by bots and a cancellation process that pushes other plans, and a few report important meetings that failed to record.
Users praise
- Accurate transcripts across the main meeting platforms
- Useful summaries and action items
- Search across months of meetings
- Wide language support
Users complain about
- Not enough AI credits on lower plans
- Free storage fills quickly
- Speaker mix-ups with accents and cross-talk
- Automated support and a pushy cancellation flow
- Occasional meetings that fail to record
| Review site | Rating | Reviews | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capterra | 4.9/5 | 735 | 2026-09 |
| Trustpilot | 4.5/5 | 813 | 2026-09 |
| Apple App Store (US) | 4.8/5 | 5,137 | 2026-09 |
| Google Play (US) | 4.7/5 | 7,246 | 2026-09 |
Ratings are third-party aggregates and change over time. They are context, not part of our score.
Fireflies.ai has four plans. Free covers meeting transcription with 400 minutes of storage, limited AI summaries and 20 AI credits a month. Pro costs $10 per seat a month billed yearly or $18 monthly, with unlimited summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat and video recording. Business costs $19 per seat billed yearly or $29 monthly and adds unlimited storage, conversation intelligence and team analytics. Enterprise costs $39 per seat a month, billed yearly only, and adds HIPAA, SSO, SCIM and custom data retention.
On top of the seat price, AskFred, AI Skills and other AI extras run on AI credits, so heavy users may need credit packs. Prices are in US dollars as shown on Fireflies' pricing page on 25 September 2026.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Pro | $10/seat/month billed yearly, or $18/seat/month monthly |
| Business | $19/seat/month billed yearly, or $29/seat/month monthly |
| Enterprise | $39/seat/month, billed yearly only |
Full Fireflies.ai pricing breakdown, hidden costs and money-saving tips
Consent, privacy and the BIPA lawsuits
How people know Fireflies is there. In bot mode the Fireflies Notetaker joins as a visible participant, and you can invite it to chosen meetings instead of letting it join everything on your calendar. Pro and Business customers can pay to rename the bot, so keep the name obvious. In bot-free desktop mode Fireflies plays a spoken consent notice, posts a chat message (Mac only) and adds a camera watermark, all on by default. You can switch them off, but then informing people is back on you.
What happens to your data. Fireflies' privacy policy (updated 6 March 2026) says it does not use personal information for AI training and contractually bars its vendors from doing so, with zero data retention for meeting content at those vendors. It also says voice characteristics are extracted by service providers only for transcripts and are not used to identify people. Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS in transit. SOC 2 Type II and GDPR cover every plan; HIPAA compliance, private storage, custom retention and a transcript-and-summary-only mode are Enterprise features.
The lawsuits. In December 2025 Katelin Cruz filed a proposed class action, Cruz v. Fireflies.AI Corp., in the US District Court for the Central District of Illinois. She says she joined an Illinois nonprofit's online meeting where the Fireflies bot created a voiceprint of her through its speaker recognition feature, without the written notice and consent that Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) requires. A second BIPA case, Parrinello v. Fireflies.AI Corp., was filed in the Northern District of California. These are allegations, and the coverage we reviewed did not include a response from Fireflies.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- June 2025: Fireflies reached a $1 billion valuation through a tender offer. It says it has been profitable since 2023 and has not raised new capital since 2021. It also launched Talk to Fireflies, a voice assistant for calls.
- December 2025: the Cruz BIPA class action was filed in Illinois.
- March 2026: Fireflies updated its privacy policy, restating that it does not train AI on personal information.
- August 2026: Email Assistant arrived for Gmail and Outlook, on every plan including Free.
- September 2026: Voice Agents launched on all plans with usage-based credits. Fireflies says it now has 20 million+ users across 1 million+ organisations.
- Desktop app: now available to everyone, it records system audio without a bot on Mac and Windows.
Team features compared
| Fireflies.ai | Fathom | Otter.ai | Granola | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest team seat | $10/seat/month billed yearly (Pro) | $15/user/month billed yearly (Team, 2+ users) | $8.33/user/month billed yearly (Pro, up to 5 users) | $14/user/month (Business) |
| Conversation analytics | From Pro | Coaching metrics on Business | Keywords and speaker talk time | None |
| HIPAA | Enterprise | Signed BAA on Enterprise | Enterprise add-on | Enterprise |
| SSO | Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise (100-user minimum) | Enterprise (50+ users) |
As listed on each vendor's pricing page on 25 September 2026. Read our Fathom, Otter.ai and Granola reviews.
- Turn off auto-join for HR, one-to-one and other sensitive meetings, and invite the bot only where you need notes.
- If you buy the bot-rename add-on, keep a name that makes clear an AI is recording, so guests are not surprised.
- Leave the bot-free consent notices switched on. If you turn them off, tell people yourself at the start of the call.
- Check AI credit use after your first month, and switch off the automatic credit upgrade in Settings if you want a fixed bill.
- Set topic trackers for competitor names, pricing and common objections so the analytics flag the calls worth reviewing.
Fireflies.ai alternatives
Jargon explained
- AI credits
- Units Fireflies uses to meter AI features such as AskFred and AI Skills. Each plan includes some every month, and you can buy more.
- Voiceprint
- A digital pattern of someone's voice that software can use to recognise who is speaking. Illinois law treats it as biometric data.
- BIPA
- Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, which requires written notice and consent before a company collects biometric data such as voiceprints.
- Conversation intelligence
- Analytics that measure what happens in calls, such as talk time, sentiment and topics, often used to coach sales and support teams.
- SSO
- Single sign-on: employees log in with their company account, so IT controls access in one place.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fireflies.ai free?
Yes. The free plan transcribes meetings and includes 400 minutes of storage, limited AI summaries and 20 AI credits a month. See our Fireflies pricing page.
Can Fireflies record without a bot?
Yes. The desktop app for Mac and Windows records system audio, and a Chrome extension captures Google Meet, with no bot. Bot-free mode does not save audio or name speakers.
Does Fireflies use my meetings to train AI?
Fireflies says it does not use personal information for AI training and contractually bars its AI vendors from doing so.
Is Fireflies HIPAA compliant?
Fireflies lists HIPAA compliance on its Enterprise plan, which costs $39 per seat a month and is billed yearly only.
What is the Fireflies lawsuit about?
Two proposed class actions claim Fireflies' speaker recognition created voiceprints of meeting participants without the written consent that Illinois' BIPA law requires. The claims have not been proven.
How many languages does Fireflies support?
More than 100 for transcription, with automatic language detection. Fireflies says English is its main language and many others are in beta.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from public information. Vendor figures are labelled as vendor claims.
- Fireflies pricing (Fireflies.ai)
- Fireflies privacy policy (Fireflies.ai)
- Fireflies security (Fireflies.ai)
- AI credits pricing and overview (Fireflies Knowledge Base)
- What's included in the Fireflies Free plan (Fireflies Knowledge Base)
- How to record meetings without a bot on the Fireflies desktop app (Fireflies Knowledge Base)
- Fireflies reaches $1 billion valuation (Fireflies.ai)
- Fireflies hits $1B valuation, launches AI-powered voice assistant for meetings (AfroTech via Yahoo Finance)
- Fireflies.ai launches Email Assistant (GlobeNewswire)
- Fireflies launches Voice Agents (GlobeNewswire)
- AI meeting assistants and biometric privacy: lessons from the Fireflies.AI lawsuit (The National Law Review)
- AI note-taking tools, silent recording and the consent problem (The National Law Review)
- Fireflies reviews (Capterra)
- Fireflies.ai reviews (Trustpilot)
- Fireflies: AI notetaker (Apple App Store)
- Fireflies: AI notetaker (Google Play)
- Otter.ai pricing (Otter.ai)
- Fathom pricing (Fathom)
- Granola pricing (Granola)
- Read AI pricing (Read AI)
- Avoma pricing (Avoma)
- Meetily pricing (Meetily)
- ZoomMate AI assistant (Zoom)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (Microsoft)