Fireflies.ai Alternatives 2026: 5 Options, 4 Free
Fireflies.ai alternatives: Otter.ai, Fathom, Read AI, tl;dv and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Voice AI & Transcription
Verdict:Fireflies records calls, transcribes them and writes summaries. Most people who leave it want a cheaper paid tier or a free plan that lasts. Start with the free allowances, which are concrete. Otter Basic gives 300 transcription minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, a fixed budget you can measure against your call volume. Fathom's free plan has unlimited recordings and call summaries, with some features held back, so it is the better pick for heavy use on a zero budget. Read AI caps its free plan at five meeting transcripts a month and meetings of one hour, which suits an occasional user, not a daily calendar. If you need paid seats with a predictable bill, tl;dv Pro is $18 per seat a month on annual billing. Avoma has no free plan, only a 14-day trial before a $19 per recorder seat Startup plan. Our data does not include Fireflies' own paid prices, because those did not load, so check its pricing page before you compare. Before switching, confirm that the people on your calls accept a recording bot, since that matters more than the monthly figure.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Free (Basic: 300 monthly transcription minutes, 30 minutes per conversation); paid from $8.33 per user/month, billed annually (Pro; $16.99 monthly) | Web browser | Small teams wanting a fixed free allowance | Docs only |
| Fathom | Free (unlimited recordings and call summaries; some features limited); paid from $15 per user/month, billed annually (Team, 2-user minimum) | Web browser | Heavy call volume on a zero budget | Docs only |
| Read AI | Free (5 meeting transcripts per month, meetings up to 1 hour) | Web browser | Occasional meetings on a free plan | Docs only |
| tl;dv | Free; paid from EUR 18 per seat/month, billed annually (Pro; EUR 29 billed monthly) | Web browser | Paid per-seat recording with highlights | Docs only |
| Avoma | Paid from $19 per recorder seat/month, billed annually (Startup; $29 monthly) | Web browser | Paid teams with a trial before purchase | Docs only |
| Gong | See pricing page | Web browser | Revenue Intelligence | Docs only |
| Granola | Free (Basic plan at $0 with limited meeting history (30 days per the comparison table)); paid from $14 per user/month, Business; billing term not stated | macOS, Windows, iOS | Meeting notes | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want a fixed free allowance to test before paying (Otter.ai is the pick)
- You want unlimited free call summaries (Fathom is the pick)
- You record only a few short meetings a month (Read AI is the pick)
- You want paid per-seat billing with recordings (tl;dv is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Fireflies.ai features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Fireflies.ai today: Free (Fireflies.ai pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Fireflies.ai alternatives
Fireflies' pricing page lists Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise without prices, and names storage, AI credits and transcripts as free-plan limits without giving figures. Video recording is a Business feature, App and CRM integrations and advanced export need Pro or Business, and SSO, SCIM and audit logs are Enterprise-only. Every teammate added to the workspace counts as a paid seat, and API, dialer and bulk upload transcription are rate limited.
Otter.ai
Compared with Fireflies.ai: Free Basic plan allows 300 transcription minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, a fixed budget you can measure. Pro is $8.33 a month on annual billing. You gain a clear free cap and lose Fireflies' integrations, which our data does not cover.
Price: Free (Basic: 300 monthly transcription minutes, 30 minutes per conversation); paid from $8.33 per user/month, billed annually (Pro; $16.99 monthly) (Otter.ai pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Small teams wanting a fixed free allowance.
Fathom
Compared with Fireflies.ai: Free plan gives unlimited recordings and call summaries, with some features limited. Team is $15 per user a month on annual billing. Against Fireflies you gain unlimited free summaries and give up the features the free tier withholds.
Price: Free (unlimited recordings and call summaries; some features limited); paid from $15 per user/month, billed annually (Team, 2-user minimum) (Fathom pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Heavy call volume on a zero budget.
Worth knowing: Monthly billing is $19 on Team.
Read AI
Compared with Fireflies.ai: Free plan covers five meeting transcripts a month, with meetings up to one hour. Pro has no single stated price on our data. You trade Fireflies' larger scope for a free start, but five transcripts is tight for a daily calendar.
Price: Free (5 meeting transcripts per month, meetings up to 1 hour) (Read AI pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Occasional meetings on a free plan.
tl;dv
Compared with Fireflies.ai: Free plan exists, though its limits are not shown with numbers. Pro is $18 per seat a month on annual billing. Compared with Fireflies you get a predictable per-seat bill, and you lose the ability to size the free tier in advance.
Price: Free; paid from EUR 18 per seat/month, billed annually (Pro; EUR 29 billed monthly) (tl;dv pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Paid per-seat recording with highlights.
Avoma
Compared with Fireflies.ai: No free plan, only a 14-day trial, then Startup at $19 per recorder seat a month on annual billing. Viewers are free. Versus Fireflies you pay from the start, which suits teams that want paid seats and a set bill.
Price: Paid from $19 per recorder seat/month, billed annually (Startup; $29 monthly) (Avoma pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Paid teams with a trial before purchase.
Worth knowing: 14-day trial; viewers are free.
Other popular options (paid)
Gong
Compared with Fireflies.ai: Revenue-intelligence platform rather than a plain meeting notetaker. Pricing is custom quote only, with per-user licenses plus a platform fee, and no free plan, unlike Fireflies' free tier.
Price: See pricing page (Gong pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Granola
Compared with Fireflies.ai: Basic plan is free with 30 days of meeting history in its comparison table; Business is $14 per user per month, with the billing term not stated on the page.
Price: Free (Basic plan at $0 with limited meeting history (30 days per the comparison table)); paid from $14 per user/month, Business; billing term not stated (Granola pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- You want a fixed free allowance to test before paying: Otter.ai
- You want unlimited free call summaries: Fathom
- You record only a few short meetings a month: Read AI
- You want paid per-seat billing with recordings: tl;dv
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Otter.ai, Fathom, Read AI, tl;dv, Avoma: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Fireflies.ai. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai, Fathom, Read AI, tl;dv, Avoma, Gong, Granola. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.