The 5 Best Fireflies.ai Alternatives in 2026
Fireflies is a capable bot-based notetaker for teams, but it assumes every conversation is a scheduled video call. If you want a recorder that works on your phone, captures calls without a bot in the room, or handles in-person conversations, these are the alternatives to look at.
Windows
ChromeThe common threads in Fireflies-alternative searches: the bot joining every call feels intrusive with clients, mobile recording is an afterthought, and anything that isn’t a scheduled video meeting — a phone call, an interview across a table — falls outside what it can capture.
1. Wave — best overall Fireflies alternative
Wave covers the bot-based workflow Fireflies users know — a calendar assistant that joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams — and adds the capture paths Fireflies lacks:
- Mobile-first recording. iPhone, Android, and Apple Watch apps that treat recording on the go as the primary path, not an add-on.
- No-bot desktop capture. Wave Desktop on Mac and Windows records mic + system audio directly — nothing joins the call.
- Phone Bridge. Record incoming and outgoing calls on iPhone and Android with both sides transcribed and summarized.
- One searchable archive. Every recording gets speaker labels, an AI summary, action items, and a chat you can ask questions.
Free plan: 30 minutes of recording per month; paid plans from$80 a year or $15 a month. Full head-to-head: Wave vs Fireflies.ai.
2. Otter.ai — best-known bot alternative
Otter is the most established name in the category, with real-time transcription, a meeting bot, and web and mobile apps. It shares Fireflies’ core shape — bot-and-web, built around scheduled meetings — so it fixes taste and polish complaints more than capture-surface ones. See our Otter alternatives guide if you’re weighing both.
3. Fathom — best free plan for video calls
Fathom’s free tier is hard to beat for pure video-call recording with clean summaries. Like Fireflies, it’s video meetings only — no phone, no in-person — but if budget is the reason you’re switching, start here.
4. tl;dv — best for clipping and sharing moments
tl;dv records Zoom and Google Meet calls with a free tier and is strong at timestamping, clipping, and sharing meeting moments with people who weren’t there. It stays within the video-call-only boundary.
5. Granola — notes without a meeting bot
Granola works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Its notepad workflow enhances the notes you type with a transcript. It also supports outbound phone-call notes on iPhone. It does not keep the audio for later replay. Granola
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Wave | All conversation types across every device | Free plan capped at 30 min/month |
| Otter.ai | Established bot-and-web workflow | Same bot-centric limits as Fireflies |
| Fathom | Free video-call recording | Video meetings only |
| tl;dv | Clipping and sharing meeting moments | Video meetings only |
| Granola | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | No saved audio to replay |
The bottom line
If Fireflies’ bot model works for you and you just want a different flavor of it, Otter, Fathom, or tl;dv will feel familiar. If the model itself is the problem — meetings without calendar invites, calls where a bot isn’t welcome, conversations that happen in person — Wave is the alternative that actually changes what gets captured.
