The short answer
Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant that records Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls, either through its Fireflies Notetaker bot or bot-free through its Mac and Windows desktop app, then writes summaries, action items and searchable notes in more than 100 languages. The free plan includes 400 minutes of storage. For accounts created on or after 1 September 2026, unlimited free transcription only applies while auto-join is switched on. Fireflies says meeting content is never used to train AI models.
| Made by | Fireflies.ai, United States (San Francisco, remote-first) |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: 400 minutes of storage, recordings up to 2 hours, 20 AI credits a month, all integrations; transcript downloads need a paid plan |
| Models | Not published; Fireflies names OpenAI and Anthropic among AI vendors under zero data retention |
| Best at | Searchable meeting notes in 100+ languages, CRM updates, bot-free desktop capture |
| Shows sources | Answers and summaries link back to the meeting transcript |
| Team plans | Business and Enterprise; Private Storage and HIPAA BAA on Enterprise |
| Your data | Fireflies says meeting content is never used to train AI models, on any plan it describes |
What Fireflies.ai is now
Fireflies.ai records your calls and turns them into transcripts, summaries with an overview, detailed notes and action items, and a searchable archive. It supports Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, the Aircall and RingCentral dialers, in-person conversations through its mobile app and uploaded audio or video files, and it detects more than 100 languages automatically.
There are now two ways to capture a meeting. The classic way sends the Fireflies Notetaker bot into the call. The newer way is Take Notes in the Fireflies desktop app for Mac and Windows, which captures your computer's audio so no bot joins. It works with Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Discord and phone calls. The trade-offs: no audio or video file is saved, speakers appear as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2 rather than by name, and you cannot switch to the bot mid-meeting.
Fireflies has also grown beyond meetings. In August 2026 it added an email feature that organises your inbox and drafts replies. On 29 September 2026 it launched Fireflies Talk, voice dictation that types into any app on the Mac and Windows desktop apps (press Fn on a Mac or Ctrl and Win on Windows). Talk is included on every plan, including Free, and Fireflies says it does not keep the recordings and stores dictation transcripts locally. Around these sit AI Skills (more than 200 of them), Live Assist for real-time suggestions, Tasks, conversation analytics such as talk time and sentiment, and the Fireflies MCP server, which connects your meetings to Claude, ChatGPT and Devin.
The plans and the new free plan rule
Fireflies has four plans: Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise. The Free plan gives 400 minutes of storage across recordings, uploads and dialer calls (Fireflies' free plan guide says per seat, its pricing page says per team), recordings of up to 2 hours each, 20 AI credits a month for AskFred, Soundbites and AI Skills, and all integrations. Downloading transcripts needs a paid plan.
The important change is for new free accounts. For accounts created on or after 1 September 2026, unlimited transcription applies only while Auto-join calendar meetings is switched on (Home, then Settings, then Meeting Settings). Switch it off and you are limited to three meeting transcriptions. Accounts created earlier keep their previous limits.
Pro removes the monthly limits on the bot and Chrome extension and adds 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, video recording, transcript downloads, the Email Assistant and CRM integrations. Business adds unlimited storage, conversation intelligence and team analytics. Enterprise adds SSO and SCIM, a rules engine, Private Storage, a super admin role and HIPAA compliance, with a HIPAA business associate agreement available with Private Storage. See Fireflies' pricing page for current prices.
What Fireflies is best at
Meetings in many languages
With more than 100 languages and automatic detection, Fireflies is a strong pick for international teams. A sales team that runs calls in Spanish, German and Portuguese can keep one searchable archive.
Getting meetings into the rest of your tools
Fireflies connects to more than 100 tools, including Gmail, Outlook, Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Notion, Greenhouse and Lever. After a discovery call, the summary and next steps can land in the CRM and the team channel without anyone copying notes.
Recording without a bot
Some clients dislike seeing a bot in the participant list. Take Notes on the desktop app avoids that, while still playing an audio consent message by default, which is a better balance than silent recording.
Where Fireflies falls short
- The free plan pushes auto-join. New free accounts get unlimited transcription only if the bot auto-joins calendar meetings, which is exactly the setting that makes consent hardest to manage.
- 400 minutes of storage fills fast. That is fewer than seven one-hour meetings before you need to delete or upgrade.
- Bot-free notes are thinner. No saved audio and no speaker names make bot-free transcripts harder to check later.
- AI credits are separate from transcription. Heavy use of AskFred and AI Skills uses a monthly credit allowance on top of your plan.
For a side-by-side view, read Otter vs Fireflies.
Recording consent: the rules and the settings
Recording laws differ by place: some require only one party to know, others require every participant to agree. Fireflies puts the responsibility on you. Its guide says that if you disable a consent or notification option, you are responsible for informing participants and complying with recording laws. Treat every meeting as if everyone must agree, and use these settings:
- Email participants before the meeting. Go to Settings > Compliance Notification and switch on the toggle that notifies participants with your message. Attendees get an email one hour before the meeting with a link to decline; if anyone clicks it, Fireflies will not join or capture the meeting. You can edit the text, and admins can apply it from the Team tab.
- Pin a chat notice. In the same section, enable Meeting chat notification. It posts that Fireflies has joined, with a privacy link and commands to pause or remove it.
- Respect Zoom's consent pop-up. On Zoom, a recording consent pop-up appears when the Notetaker asks to record, and Fireflies does not join if a participant declines.
- Keep desktop consent signals on. In the desktop app, Settings > Meeting Preference > Recording has Play audio consent message (a spoken notice about 10 seconds after Take Notes starts), the Fireflies Watermark camera badge and a Meeting Chat Message (macOS only). All three are on by default; leave them on.
- Think before switching on auto-join. If you turn it on for the free plan's unlimited transcription, pair it with the pre-meeting email so nobody is recorded without warning.
Privacy and where your data goes
Fireflies says meeting content, meaning audio, video, transcripts and summaries, is never used to train any AI models, internally or externally. Its AI vendors, including OpenAI and Anthropic, work under a zero data retention policy: they do not store data after processing and do not train on it. Fireflies lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 42001 and GDPR compliance, and offers a HIPAA business associate agreement and a FERPA data sharing agreement, with Private Storage limited to Enterprise. There is no training toggle to find because the policy applies by default.
Which plan suits whom
Free suits trying Fireflies or occasional calls, as long as you are comfortable with auto-join. Pro suits individuals with daily calls who want video recording, transcript downloads and CRM integrations. Business suits teams that need unlimited storage, conversation intelligence and shared analytics. Enterprise suits healthcare, education and other regulated teams that need Private Storage and signed agreements. Fireflies is not the right pick if you need named speakers without a bot in the call. See more options in our meeting assistant alternatives guide and the Fireflies lesson.
Prompts to copy
Meeting recap for people who missed it
Write a recap of this meeting for [team] who were not there. Start with the three decisions that matter most, then next steps with owners and dates, then open questions. Under 200 words, and quote the transcript for any number or date.
You get: A recap absent colleagues will actually read
Objections from sales calls
Across my calls with prospects in the last [number] days, list every objection about price, timing or competitors. Group similar objections, count how often each came up and quote one example of each.
You get: A ranked list of real objections with examples
CRM note in a fixed format
From this call, write a CRM note with these fields: pain points, budget, decision makers, timeline, competitors mentioned, next step and date. Write 'not discussed' for any field that did not come up.
You get: A consistent CRM note with gaps marked
Translate and summarise
This meeting was held in [language]. Summarise it in English with the decisions, action items and any figures mentioned. Keep names and product terms in their original form.
You get: An English summary of a meeting held in another language
What I promised
List everything I personally promised or agreed to do in this meeting, with the exact wording and any deadline. Then draft a short message confirming those commitments to [name].
You get: Your own to-do list and a confirmation message
Weekly themes across meetings
Look at all my meetings from this week. Give me the five themes that came up most, the people who raised each one and one quote per theme. End with one thing I should act on next week.
You get: A weekly view of what keeps coming up