10 AI notetakers compared on the things that decide a switch from Fireflies: whether the free plan is usable, what a seat costs on annual and monthly billing, whether a bot has to join the call, and what each vendor's own pricing page said on 14 September 2026.
10 tools compared · Last reviewed
Fireflies.ai is the notetaker that joins every calendar meeting as a bot, and its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Free with unlimited transcription and limited AI summaries, Pro at $10 per seat a month billed annually or $18 monthly, Business at $19 or $29, and Enterprise at $39 a seat billed annually only. People look elsewhere for three reasons: the bot is unwelcome in some rooms, the free plan's storage and summary limits push you to pay, and sales teams want CRM automation and coaching that Fireflies treats as extras.
The alternatives split by what bothered you. Fathom, Otter, Read AI, Fellow and MeetGeek are bot-based notetakers with different free plans. Krisp, Bluedot and Tactiq record without a bot. Avoma is the revenue-team platform. Circleback is for people who care most about the quality of the notes and the automations after them.
Every price here was read from the vendor's pricing page on 14 September 2026; every page in this list carried its prices in plain HTML. Otter's page showed promotional strike-throughs that day, and those are reported as promotions rather than as the price.
Fireflies works by sending a participant into the call. Krisp, Bluedot and Tactiq record from your device or browser instead, which matters for client calls, interviews and any room where a bot is not allowed.
Free means storage, not minutes
Fireflies Free transcribes without limit but caps storage and AI summaries. Fathom's free plan has no recording cap, Otter gives 300 minutes, Read AI measures 30 meetings, and Circleback includes API access at $0.
Sales teams outgrow it
CRM updates, coaching and forecasting are the job for Avoma, sold per recorder seat with viewers free, rather than something bolted onto a notetaker.
Cheaper seats exist
On 14 September 2026, Fellow Team was $7 a user, Tactiq Pro $8 and Krisp Core $8 on annual billing, against Fireflies Pro at $10. Circleback charges the same $15 monthly or yearly, which suits teams that will not commit for a year.
How we chose
We added Fathom, Read AI, Avoma, Krisp, Circleback, Bluedot and Tactiq to our directory, all with readable prices, and re-priced Otter, Fellow and MeetGeek, which were already listed, from the same day's reads. Three of the ten rank on Google for "fireflies alternatives" with their own pages, and the query's top ten is almost entirely vendor-written. Vendors we checked and could not price honestly are left out: tl;dv's pricing URL returned 404, Grain's pricing page carried placeholder text, Jamie and Spinach rendered no prices, Supernormal returned 403, Granola showed $14 and $35 per user without a billing term, and Sembly's pricing now describes a professional-services product. Notta, Transkriptor and TurboScribe are compared on our Otter alternatives page instead.
Best for: Individuals who want unlimited recordings and summaries for free
The free-first alternative. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Free forever, Premium at $20 a month or $16 billed annually, Team at $19 per user or $15 annually with a two-user minimum, and Business at $34 or $25, all with a 90-day guarantee. For one person, the free plan is the whole product.
Free tier: Yes — unlimited recordings, transcripts and summaries.
Watch out: Team plans need two users, and integrations on the free tier are thinner than Fireflies'.
Best for: The best-known notetaker, with a 300-minute free plan
The household name. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Pro at $16.99 per user a month billed monthly or $8.33 billed annually, and Business at $30 or $19.99 billed annually, alongside promotional strike-throughs that day that we treat as temporary. See our Otter alternatives page for the reverse comparison.
Free tier: Yes — 300 transcription minutes a month.
Watch out: The 90-minute meeting cap on Pro and the promotional pricing that comes and goes. Annual Pro at $8.33 is cheaper than Fireflies' $10; monthly at $16.99 is not.
Best for: Teams that want engagement metrics with their notes
The measured meeting. Live notes and engagement scores, plus search across meetings, email and chat. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Pro at $15 per user a month billed annually or $19.75 monthly, Enterprise at $22.50 or $29.75, and Enterprise+ at $29.75 or $39.75 with five licences minimum. It ranks second on Google for "fireflies alternatives" with its own page.
Free tier: Yes — 30 measured meetings a month.
Watch out: Video playback is not on Pro, and every licence in a workspace must be on the same plan.
Best for: Teams that run meetings with agendas and want notes attached to them
The meeting-management alternative. Agendas, action items and an AI notetaker in one product. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Team at $7 per user a month billed annually or $11 monthly, Business at $15 or $23 with unlimited AI notes, and Enterprise at $25 billed annually.
Free tier: Yes — 10 AI notes per user a month.
Watch out: Ten AI notes a month on the free plan runs out fast, and unlimited notes start on Business at $15.
Best for: Sales and CS teams that want CRM sync, coaching and forecasting
The revenue-team alternative. Notes and CRM automation, then conversation intelligence, deal risk and lead routing as add-ons. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Startup at $19 per recorder seat a month billed annually or $29 monthly, Organization at $29 or $39, and Enterprise at $39 annually with ten seats minimum.
Free tier: No — a 14-day trial; viewer seats are free on every plan.
Watch out: No permanent free plan, and the Organization card showed an unexplained $24 beside its prices.
Best for: People who cannot let a bot into the meeting, and noisy rooms
The bot-free alternative. Noise cancellation, recording and AI notes from your own device, plus accent conversion on Advanced. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Core at $16 per user a month billed monthly or $8 billed annually, and Advanced at $30 or $15.
Free tier: No — a 7-day free trial with no card.
Watch out: No permanent free plan was shown, monthly billing is double the annual rate, and notes are the second feature after audio.
Best for: Structured notes and automations with an API from the free plan
The structured-notes alternative. Accurate summaries, action items, automations and API, CLI and MCP access. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Pro at $15 per user a month, Business at $25 and Enterprise at $35, with the same figures on the monthly and yearly toggles.
Free tier: Yes — notes, action items, 30-day history and API access.
Watch out: No annual discount, and a smaller integration catalogue than Fireflies.
Best for: Bot-free recording on Google Meet with CRM or ATS sync
The quiet recorder. A browser extension and desktop app that record without a bot and send AI notes to Slack, Notion and CRMs. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Basic at $14 per user a month billed annually or $18 monthly for audio only, Pro at $20 or $25 with video, and Business at $32 or $39.
Free tier: Yes — five meetings for life.
Watch out: Five free meetings is a trial in all but name, and Basic caps recordings at one hour with no video.
Best for: The cheapest paid seat, transcribing live from a browser extension
The budget extension. Live captions and transcripts on Meet, Zoom and Teams with no bot, and AI notes on top. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Pro at $8 per user a month billed annually, Team at $16.67 for 1 to 20 users and Business at $29.17 for 20 to 200.
Free tier: Yes — 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits a month.
Watch out: Monthly-billing rates were not readable, AI credits are limited below Team, and there is no audio playback.
Best for: A cheap bot-based notetaker with a 14-day Business trial
The budget bot. Recording, transcription and summaries with CRM and Slack integrations. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Pro at $9.99 per user a month with 20 hours of transcription and $0.50 per extra hour, and Business at $17 with unlimited transcription.
Free tier: Yes — a free Basic plan with limited minutes.
Watch out: The page did not say whether those figures are monthly or annual billing; confirm before comparing with Fireflies' $10 annual seat.
Yes. Fathom is free with unlimited recordings and summaries; Otter gives 300 minutes a month; Read AI measures 30 meetings; Fellow includes 10 AI notes per user; Circleback and Tactiq have free plans with API access and 10 transcripts respectively; Bluedot gives five meetings for life; MeetGeek has a free Basic plan. Avoma and Krisp offer trials only. Fireflies Free itself has unlimited transcription with limited storage.
What is the cheapest Fireflies alternative?
On 14 September 2026, Fellow Team at $7 a user a month billed annually, then Tactiq Pro and Krisp Core at $8, and Otter Pro at $8.33, all on annual billing. Fireflies Pro is $10 a seat billed annually or $18 monthly.
Which alternative does not use a bot?
Krisp records from your device, Bluedot from a browser extension or desktop app, and Tactiq transcribes live captions in the browser. None of them appears in the participant list.
Which alternative is best for sales teams?
Avoma, for CRM automation, coaching and forecasting sold as add-ons with free viewer seats. Read AI adds engagement metrics; Fathom Business adds AI scorecards at $25 a user on annual billing.
What does Fireflies cost?
Free with unlimited transcription and limited AI summaries; Pro $10 per seat a month billed annually or $18 monthly; Business $19 or $29; Enterprise $39 per seat billed annually only, as listed on 14 September 2026.
Will my Fireflies transcripts move?
Export transcripts and recordings as text and audio before cancelling; the alternatives search imported files but do not import a Fireflies workspace, its channels or its integrations, which you rebuild in the new tool.
