Fellow vs Fireflies AI: Which Meeting Note Taker Is Better in 2026?

Fellow and Fireflies AI cover much of the same ground. Both can record without a visible bot, transcribe meetings, write summaries, extract tasks, search old conversations, and connect meeting data to other apps.

My pick for most teams is Fellow. Its botless recording keeps the audio available for playback and clips, its desktop app feels like a complete meeting workspace, and its task creation was more restrained in my side-by-side test.

Fireflies still makes sense if you want live AI help during calls, a more generous free transcription plan, or conversation intelligence for sales and customer-facing teams. This is not a case of one good product and one bad one. The decision comes down to what you need during the meeting and what you want to keep afterward.

Fast verdict

Choose Fellow if you want a meeting system that starts with a shared agenda and ends with assigned follow-up. It is also the better fit if bot-free audio playback and shareable clips matter to you.

Choose Fireflies AI if live transcripts, in-call AskFred prompts, sales assistance, and analysis across a large call library matter more than keeping replayable audio from every botless recording.

If neither product's workflow sounds right, see my broader guide to the best AI meeting note takers. For tools that keep bots out of the participant list, I also compared the best bot-free AI meeting note takers.

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Botless recording is the biggest difference

I do not like adding another bot to every call I join. Both Fellow and Fireflies now solve that problem with desktop apps for Mac and Windows, so old comparisons claiming Fireflies always needs a bot are out of date.

Fellow's botless mode captures system audio and keeps an audio recording beside the transcript and AI recap. In my test, I could play the recording inside the note, change playback speed, jump through automatic chapters, and turn a selected section into a clip.

Fireflies takes a different approach in its desktop system-audio mode. It creates the live transcript, notes, AI output, and post-meeting summary, but it does not save a separate audio or video file. Speakers also appear as generic labels rather than named participants.

This limitation is specific to that capture path. If the Fireflies Notetaker bot joins the meeting, or another media-retaining method captures the call, Fireflies can save recordings, identify speakers, provide playback, and create Soundbites.

Fellow is my recommendation because I want the botless workflow without giving up the source recording. Try Fellow here if that is the same tradeoff you care about.

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Fellow has the better desktop workflow

Fellow's desktop app is where I would actually want to work. Calendar, Library, meeting notes, clips, action items, global search, and Ask Fellow live together, so I can prepare for a call and manage the follow-up without treating the app as a recorder utility.

The Fireflies desktop app is more capable than a simple launcher. It can capture calls, browse meetings, open recaps, review transcripts and recordings, and show Tasks and Meeting Prep.

In the version I tested, however, Analytics, global AskFred, Voice Agent setup, Channels, and the Soundbites library still sent me back to the web experience or were not present in the desktop app. Meeting-level work was available, but the full Fireflies product was not.

If Fireflies already lives in a pinned browser tab, that may not bother you. I prefer native apps, so Fellow felt more coherent.

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Fireflies is better during a live call

Fireflies has the stronger live-assistance story. Its floating Live Assist panel can show the transcript as people speak, produce notes, run AI Skills, answer questions through AskFred, and provide prompts such as Catch Up, Summarize, Action Items, and Follow-up Questions.

I used Catch Up during my test to review the previous minute without interrupting the conversation. Fellow could answer questions across my meeting history and about the processed meeting afterward, but I could not question the active meeting in the same way during that test.

Fireflies Sales Assist can also surface knowledge-base answers and follow-up suggestions during customer calls. It requires the visible Fireflies Notetaker bot, though, so do not assume every live sales feature works in botless system-audio mode.

This is where Fireflies earns its place as a Fellow alternative. If you want the AI beside you while the meeting is happening, Fireflies gives you more to work with.

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Notes, summaries, and tasks

Both products turned my short Google Meet test into structured notes within seconds. Each produced an overview, topic sections, timestamps, and a transcript, although Fireflies used a longer default summary while Fellow's default was more concise.

Both let you change templates. Fellow also turns the note into a collaborative workspace with talking points, attendee contributions, and recurring-meeting history.

Fireflies has a real Tasks Feed with assignees, due dates, completion, reassignment, and project-tool connections.

The test exposed a difference in judgment. Fireflies invented several tasks from a meeting that contained no actual commitments. Fellow left the action-item section empty, which was correct.

That does not prove Fellow will always extract tasks more accurately, but I trusted its output more in this comparison. Creating work nobody agreed to can cost more time than it saves.

Fellow's tasks fit naturally inside the shared agenda, then roll into a separate Action Items view. Owners, due dates, completion status, and sync options for tools such as Asana, ClickUp, Jira, Linear, and Microsoft To Do make it useful for cross-functional teams.

For a closer look at its wider workflow, read my Fellow AI review.

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Playback, clips, and sharing

Fellow wins this category for botless meetings because it retains the media needed to make a playable clip. I selected a moment from the transcript, saved it as a clip, and found it in the same Library as the full recap.

Fellow lets you restrict clip access to specific people, your workspace, or anyone with the link, so you can share the useful moment instead of the full call.

Fireflies calls its clips Soundbites. It can create them manually from a transcript, surface them with AI, download them as MP3 or MP4, and organize them into playlists.

Soundbites still depend on retained media. A Fireflies desktop meeting captured through botless system audio has no saved audio or video file, so there is nothing playable to cut afterward.

Both products support access-controlled external sharing, and Fireflies now supports password-protected links with expiration controls. The meaningful Fellow advantage is not that Fireflies can only share open links. It is that Fellow can make a playable clip from the botless workflow I prefer.

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Security, HIPAA, and AI training

Both vendors list SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA support, encryption, and commitments not to train AI models on customer meeting content.

Plan and setup matter. Fellow places HIPAA/BAA support, transcript redaction, advanced recording permissions, and deeper retention controls in its Enterprise package. Fireflies places its HIPAA/BAA configuration, private storage, custom retention, SSO/SCIM, audit logs, and Rules Engine on Enterprise.

Fellow can enforce recording restrictions, send disclosure emails, pause recording, and permanently redact transcript sections with corresponding media removal. Fireflies offers Enterprise modes that keep only a summary, a transcript without audio, or audio without the transcript.

A regulated team should compare the exact plan, BAA terms, retention mode, recording policy, and admin controls it needs.

Botless recording is not a consent bypass. Removing the visible participant changes the meeting experience, but you still need to follow the recording and disclosure rules that apply to your organization and location.

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Fellow vs Fireflies pricing and free plans

The free plans are not close. Fellow Free is best treated as a five-meeting evaluation, while Fireflies Free is an ongoing transcription tier with storage and feature limits.

Fireflies is the better free option if you want basic meeting transcription software and can live with those limits. Fellow becomes the better value for me once I am paying for the workflow, because the Fellow Team plan is cheaper and preserves the botless audio I want.

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Who should use each tool?

Choose Fellow if you:

• want bot-free recording with audio playback and clips;
• run recurring internal meetings around shared agendas;
• want tasks and assigned follow-up in the same workspace;
• prefer doing most meeting work in a desktop app; or
• need granular recording, redaction, and retention controls on Enterprise.

Choose Fireflies if you:

• want unlimited standard transcription on the free or paid tiers;
• need live transcripts, Catch Up, AskFred, or AI Skills during calls;
• care more about conversation intelligence and CRM workflows;
• want Sales Assist or Fireflies Voice Agents; or
• are comfortable using the web app for several broader features.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fellow better than Fireflies AI?

Fellow is better for my workflow because its botless recording keeps playable audio, it can create clips from that recording, and its desktop app combines agendas, recordings, AI, and tasks. Fireflies is better for live assistance, ongoing free transcription, and sales-oriented conversation intelligence.

Can Fireflies record without a bot?

Yes. The Fireflies desktop app can capture system audio on Mac and Windows without adding a visible meeting participant. That mode creates a transcript, notes, and summary, but it does not save an audio or video file or provide named speaker labels.

Is Fireflies AI free?

Yes. Fireflies Free includes unlimited transcription and standard AI summaries, subject to a two-hour meeting cap, retained-storage limits, and paid feature gates. Advanced actions such as AskFred and AI Skills use credits.

Is Fellow free?

Yes, but the free plan functions more like a trial for recording. Each user gets five lifetime meeting recordings, after which recording more meetings requires a paid plan.

Which is the better HIPAA-compliant AI note taker?

Both vendors advertise HIPAA support, but the relevant controls are plan-dependent. Fellow's Enterprise plan is attractive for recording restrictions, disclosure, and permanent redaction. Fireflies Enterprise is attractive for private storage and summary-only or transcript-only retention modes.

Can Fireflies Soundbites work with botless meetings?

Not when the meeting was captured through Fireflies desktop system-audio mode, because that path does not retain audio or video. Soundbites work when Fireflies has retained source media from another capture method.

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Which one should you choose?

Use Fireflies if live help, free transcription volume, or sales conversation analytics is the reason you are buying a meeting assistant. Its weaker botless media retention is a reasonable trade if you only need the transcript and summary.

For everyone else, I would start with Fellow. It gives you the cleaner desktop workflow, the replayable botless record, and a more controlled path from conversation to assigned work.

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