AGCAI Generated, Human Reviewed

Fireflies.ai review

AI meeting assistant that joins your calls via a bot, records and transcribes conversations, and generates AI summaries with action items. Works across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. Free tier with 800 minutes storage; Pro from $10/user/month on annual billing.


Fireflies is positioned between Otter.ai (individual transcription) and Gong (enterprise revenue intelligence). Its differentiators are broad integration coverage — 50+ tools including Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Zapier — and a searchable conversation database that lets you find specific moments across all past meetings. The Business plan adds video recording and CRM sync, features that are the primary reason sales teams choose it over cheaper alternatives.


Automatic meeting recording

A Fireflies bot joins calls automatically based on your calendar. Visible to all participants — ‘Fireflies has joined’ appears in the meeting.

AI transcription

Real-time speech-to-text in 69+ languages. Speaker identification included.

AI summaries and action items

Post-meeting AI summaries with bullet points, action items, and topic tracking generated automatically.

Smart search

Search across all past meeting transcripts by keyword, topic, or speaker. Filter by meeting type, participant, or date range.

AskFred AI assistant

Ask questions about meeting content in natural language — ‘What were the action items from the Monday call?’ Powered by Perplexity AI with web search.

CRM integration

Sync meeting summaries and action items directly to Salesforce and HubSpot records. Business plan and above.


AI credits hidden cost: Most AI features — AskFred, advanced summaries, smart highlights, action item detection — consume monthly AI credits. Pro gets 20 credits/month, Business gets 30. Heavy users burn through these quickly. Additional credits cost ~$5 for 50 ($0.10 each). This is frequently cited as the tool’s most frustrating limitation. Factor it into real-world cost estimates.

Free

$0/mo

800 minutes total storage. Limited AI credits. Good for testing only — fills up in 6 weeks of regular meetings.

  • 800 min total storage
  • Limited transcription credits
  • 69+ language support
  • 3 public channels
  • Basic integrations only
  • No video recording

Business

$19/user/mo annual

Unlimited storage, video recording, conversation analytics, CRM sync. $29/month monthly.

  • Unlimited storage
  • Video recording
  • Conversation intelligence
  • CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot)
  • Advanced analytics
  • 30 AI credits/month
  • Annual: $19/month

Enterprise

$39/user/mo annual

Private storage, SSO, SCIM, HIPAA, dedicated account manager.

  • Everything in Business
  • Private storage
  • SSO + SCIM
  • HIPAA compliance
  • Custom data rules
  • Dedicated account manager
  • 50 AI credits/month

Ethics assessment — summary

Fireflies’ primary ethical concern is the meeting bot model: a visible bot joins calls and records everyone in the meeting, including participants who may not have consented to being recorded. Hosts can enable or disable recording, but all participants see the bot. In jurisdictions with two-party or all-party consent requirements for recording (including several US states and EU member states), it is the meeting organiser’s responsibility to ensure compliance before recording. Fireflies stores meeting data on AWS and Google Cloud infrastructure in the US. No documented AI training on private meeting content without consent.

A full Ethics Score review is in the Ethical AI Reviews queue.


Sales teams with CRM workflowsBusiness plan for CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot) and conversation analytics. Pro is not enough — CRM sync is Business-only.
Individual professionalsPro at $10/month annual for unlimited transcription and searchable meeting history. The 20 AI credits/month cap is manageable for moderate use.
Teams with high AI feature usageFactor in credit top-up costs. Heavy AskFred and summary users may pay $10-20/month extra in credit packs on Pro.
Regulated industries (healthcare, legal)Enterprise for HIPAA compliance and private storage. Verify recording consent requirements in your jurisdiction before deployment.

QUESTIONS

Is Fireflies.ai free?

Yes. The free plan includes automatic meeting recording, transcription, and basic AI summaries. It is limited to 800 minutes of total storage — roughly 6 weeks of regular daily meetings before it fills up. The free tier also has limited AI credits, which restricts how often you can use AI summaries and the AskFred assistant.

What are AI credits in Fireflies?

AI credits are consumed by most AI features: AskFred, advanced summaries, smart highlights, and action item detection. Pro plan includes 20 credits/month; Business includes 30. Once exhausted, these features pause until the next billing cycle or you buy add-on packs at $5 for 50 credits (~$0.10 each). This is the most frequently cited hidden cost in Fireflies reviews.

Does Fireflies record video?

Video recording is only available on the Business plan ($19/user/month annual) and above. Pro and Free plans record audio only. If video recordings are a requirement, Business is the minimum viable plan.

How does Fireflies compare to Otter.ai?

Both are AI meeting note-takers at similar price points (both ~$10/month annual for the individual paid tier). Fireflies has broader integration coverage (50+ tools vs Otter’s fewer) and better cross-meeting search. Otter has more polished note formatting and no bot that visibly joins meetings. Fireflies is the better choice for sales teams with CRM needs; Otter for individual note quality.