Fireflies.ai review
AI meeting bot with the deepest integrations in its category, and a cancellation process reviewers call out by name
Unpaid review. We currently earn nothing if you sign up for Fireflies.ai — links here go straight to the vendor. We review it anyway because it's the honest answer, and scores never depend on commissions — how we test.
ToolsGavel verdict
Fireflies.ai backs its 4.8-to-4.9 G2 and Capterra scores with the deepest integration surface in this comparison, Zapier, an API, bulk upload and dialer support, aimed at teams that want meeting data flowing somewhere else automatically. The free plan's unlimited transcription for auto-joined meetings is real, though accounts opened on or after September 2026 get a tighter 3-meeting cap without that auto-join. Our score lands at 4.0 instead of closer to Trustpilot's 4.5 because of the cluster underneath it: 14% of 836 reviews, almost all describing the same cancellation friction, a greyed-out button, a missing billing tab, charges that kept coming anyway. Set a calendar reminder before any trial or free month ends.
Audited price: $10/mo billed annually , $18/mo month-to-month (advertised: $18/user/mo (Pro, billed monthly), $10/user/mo billed annually) — verified 2026-10-30.
Best for: Teams that want the deepest Zapier, API and dialer integrations in this category and don't mind a visible meeting bot by default (a bot-free desktop app exists), as long as they set a cancellation reminder before a trial or free month ends
What we liked
- The most consistent cross-platform review base in this comparison: 4.8 out of 5 from 727 reviews on G2, 4.9 out of 5 from 735 on Capterra, and 4.5 out of 5 from 836 on Trustpilot, all three platforms independently confirmed and all above 4.5 (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot)
- Free transcription is genuinely unlimited for any meeting the bot auto-joins through calendar sync, with no minute cap, for accounts that predate September 2026's tightened 3-meeting limit on non-auto-join use (fireflies.ai)
- The broadest integration and automation surface among the tools in this guide, including Zapier, a public API, bulk audio upload and dialer support, built for teams that want meeting data piped somewhere else (fireflies.ai)
- Pro's annual price, $10/mo per seat, undercuts Claap's $32/mo Pro tier by a wide margin for a broadly similar transcription and summary feature set (fireflies.ai/pricing, claap.io/pricing)
What to watch
- Billing and cancellation complaints make up the dominant one-star theme on Trustpilot, 14% of 836 total reviews, with recurring reports of a greyed-out cancel button, a missing billing tab during the cancellation flow, and charges that continued after a trial was cancelled a day early (Trustpilot)
- The free tier tightened on September 1, 2026: new signups who don't use calendar auto-join get just 3 transcriptions, a real cut from the fully unlimited free tier Fireflies used to advertise (fireflies.ai)
- Sign-up requires a Google or Outlook account, with no email-and-password option for teams that keep calendars elsewhere (fireflies.ai)
- Per-seat pricing on Business, $29/mo or $19 annually, adds up faster than a flat-fee tool once a team grows past a handful of seats (fireflies.ai/pricing)
How much does Fireflies.ai really cost?
| Advertised price | $18/user/mo (Pro, billed monthly), $10/user/mo billed annually |
|---|---|
| Real monthly cost, billed annually | $10/mo |
| Real monthly cost, month-to-month | $18/mo |
| Month-to-month premium | +80% over the annual-billing rate |
| The billing catch | 14% of 836 Trustpilot reviews describe a greyed-out cancel button and charges that continued after a cancellation request, so set a renewal reminder early. |
| Permanent free tier | Yes |
| Price last verified | 2026-10-30, against the live pricing page at fireflies.ai |
Model seats and billing cycles for Fireflies.ai in the true-cost calculator, or see every audited price in the Pricing Gap Index.
Price watch
Get an email if Fireflies.ai's price changes
We re-check Fireflies.ai's pricing on a schedule. If the price, the free plan or a verified deal changes, you get one short email. Nothing else.
Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant that auto-joins your calendar-synced calls as a visible bot (a bot-free desktop app also exists), transcribes them, and pipes the output into the widest integration set in this guide: Zapier, a public API, bulk audio upload and dialer support. Pricing runs free for 400 cumulative minutes of team storage, then $18 to $29 a month per seat ($10 to $19 billed annually), with Enterprise custom-priced for compliance and volume discounts. Fireflies.ai Corp is based in Miami, Florida, and the product keeps shipping: an Email Assistant launched in August 2026. Across G2, Capterra and Trustpilot, 727 to 836 reviews put it at 4.5 to 4.9 out of 5, though a specific, sizeable billing complaint pattern sits underneath that average, covered below.
What Fireflies is for
Fireflies joins a Zoom, Teams or Google Meet call the moment your calendar shows a scheduled meeting, the same calendar-auto-join model other bot-based tools use. The Mac and Windows desktop app is the exception: its Take Notes mode reads system audio off your device and no bot joins. Once a call ends, it transcribes the recording, generates an AI summary and action items, and lets you search across every past meeting with AskFred, Fireflies’ built-in AI assistant. Free and Pro cover individuals and small teams signing up with a Google or Outlook account only; there’s no plain email-and-password option. Business adds team analytics and private channels, and Enterprise brings BAA/DSA compliance for regulated industries plus volume pricing at 50 or more seats.
What each plan includes
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Free-tier cap | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | 400 min team storage, cumulative, never resets; unlimited if the bot auto-joins (3 transcriptions only for non-auto-join signups from Sept 2026) | Basic recording, transcription, AI summaries, AskFred search |
| Pro | $18/mo | $10/mo | Per-seat AI credits with rate limits | Advanced exporting, Zapier, audio-file transcription |
| Business | $29/mo | $19/mo | Unlimited storage, 30 AI credits/mo | Video up to 3 hrs, conversation intelligence, team analytics, private channels |
| Enterprise | Annual only | $39/mo | Custom retention | BAA/DSA compliance, 50+ seat volume discounts |
The free plan’s “unlimited transcription” headline only holds if the Fireflies bot actually auto-joins through calendar sync. A tightening that took effect September 1, 2026 caps non-auto-join usage at 3 meetings for newer signups, worth knowing if you read an older review promising unlimited free transcription.
The cancellation complaints
Fireflies’ Trustpilot score, 4.5 out of 5 from 836 reviews, looks strong until you break down the one-star share: 14%, roughly 117 reviews, cluster tightly around one theme. Reviewers report a cancel button described as greyed out, a billing tab reportedly missing from account settings during the cancellation attempt, and charges that continued after a cancellation request, in one case after canceling a trial a full day before it ended. One account-lockout case stands out: a user who lost access to the email tied to their account contacted support twice about cancelling, got no response either time, and kept getting billed regardless. None of this shows up in the G2 (4.8/5, 727 reviews) or Capterra (4.9/5, 735 reviews) averages, which skew toward people still actively using the product day to day rather than people trying to leave it. Read both halves before entering a card, and if you do sign up, set a cancellation reminder for several days before renewal, not the night before.
Where it pulls ahead
The integration list is where Fireflies pulls ahead of everything else in this guide. Zapier, a public API, bulk audio-file upload and dialer support give it a real edge for teams piping meeting data into a CRM or data warehouse rather than just reading notes back. Pro’s annual price, $10 a seat, also undercuts Claap’s $32 Pro tier by a wide margin for a broadly similar transcription-and-summary feature set. By default the bot is visible on the call, so everyone can see Fireflies joined and no one has to guess whether a recording is happening, something some buyers will actively prefer over audio-only capture tools. If you’d rather not have a bot, the desktop app’s Take Notes mode records system audio without one, at the cost of generic Speaker 1 and Speaker 2 labels.
Who should buy it
Fireflies fits teams that already live inside Zapier or want meeting transcripts flowing into a CRM or dialer automatically, and that are comfortable with a visible bot joining calendar-synced calls (or with the desktop app’s bot-free mode and its generic speaker labels). It’s a weaker fit for solo users on a tight budget who don’t need those integrations. Pricing depends on how you pay: Granola Business is $14 a seat monthly, against Fireflies Pro at $18 monthly or $10 billed annually, and Granola skips the bot entirely. Fathom gives more away for free. Compare all four side by side, plus Otter.ai as the category’s longest-running option, in Best AI Meeting Note Takers. Whatever you pick, read the cancellation flow before you pay, not after.
Pricing note: Free costs $0 and covers 400 minutes of storage, a cumulative cap that never resets monthly (Fireflies' pricing blog calls it 400 minutes per team; its help center has described it per seat, so assume the lower figure), plus unlimited transcription for meetings the Fireflies bot auto-joins through calendar sync. Accounts created on or after September 1, 2026 get a tighter free tier: just 3 meeting transcriptions without calendar auto-join. Pro runs $18/mo per seat, or $10/mo billed annually, and adds advanced exporting, Zapier and audio-file transcription. Business, Fireflies' most-promoted tier, runs $29/mo per seat or $19/mo annually, and adds video recording up to 3 hours, conversation intelligence, team analytics and a shared API rate pool. Enterprise is $39 per seat per month, billed annually only, with BAA/DSA compliance and volume discounts at 50-plus seats (the pricing page itself shows no price and says to contact Fireflies above 50 members). Sign-up runs through Google or Outlook only; there's no plain email-and-password option. Fireflies also has a bot-free option: the desktop app (Mac, Windows) has a Take Notes mode that captures system audio without a bot joining, and the Chrome extension works without a bot on Google Meet. Bot-free recordings label speakers only as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2, and Fireflies says the responsibility to get consent stays with you. Refunds are narrow: per the help center, a full refund needs a subscription active 7 days or less with 3 or fewer meetings (monthly) or 20 or fewer (annual), annual plans get no pro-rated refunds, and AI Credits are non-refundable.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Fireflies.ai cost?
Free covers $0 with 400 minutes of cumulative team storage and unlimited transcription for meetings the bot auto-joins via calendar sync, though accounts created on or after September 1, 2026 get only 3 transcriptions without that auto-join. Pro runs $18/mo per seat, or $10/mo billed annually, and adds Zapier, advanced exporting and audio-file transcription. Business, the most-promoted tier, runs $29/mo per seat or $19/mo annually, with video recording up to 3 hours and team analytics. Enterprise is $39 per seat per month, billed annually only.
Is Fireflies.ai hard to cancel?
Reviewers describe real friction. Fourteen percent of Fireflies' 836 Trustpilot reviews are one-star, and the dominant complaint across them is billing and cancellation: a cancel button reported as greyed out, a billing tab reportedly missing from account settings during the cancellation flow, and multiple accounts charged after a trial was cancelled a day before it ended. If you sign up, mark the renewal date and cancel with time to spare rather than on the deadline.
Does a bot join the call with Fireflies, or is it bot-free?
A visible bot by default, with a bot-free option. Fireflies auto-joins your calendar-synced Zoom, Teams or Meet calls as a named participant, so everyone can see it's there. Its desktop app for Mac and Windows can also record without a bot, using a Take Notes mode that captures your device's system audio, and the Chrome extension is bot-free on Google Meet. In bot-free mode speakers show as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2, and Fireflies leaves consent to you. If you want an always-visible recorder, stick with the bot; if you don't want one on the call, use the desktop app.
Does Fireflies offer refunds?
Only in narrow cases. The help center allows a full refund if a monthly subscription is 7 days old or less with 3 or fewer meetings logged, or an annual one is 7 days old or less with 20 or fewer meetings. Annual plans get no pro-rated refunds, and AI Credits are non-refundable. Other Fireflies help pages say only that refunds depend on timing and usage, so ask support before you rely on one.
Does Fireflies.ai have a genuinely free plan?
Yes, with one recent catch. Free gives 400 minutes of cumulative team storage, a cap that never resets monthly, and unlimited transcription for any meeting the bot auto-joins through your calendar. Since September 1, 2026, new signups who skip calendar auto-join are capped at just 3 transcriptions, a real tightening from the fully unlimited free tier Fireflies used to advertise.
How does Fireflies.ai compare to Fathom or Claap?
Fireflies wins on integrations and review volume: Zapier, an API, bulk upload and 727 to 836 reviews averaging 4.5 or higher across three platforms. Fathom counters with a more generous permanently-free tier and a lower annual price. Claap targets sales teams specifically with CRM auto-fill, at roughly double Fireflies' entry price.
Bottom line
Fireflies.ai backs its 4.8-to-4.9 G2 and Capterra scores with the deepest integration surface in this comparison, Zapier, an API, bulk upload and dialer support, aimed at teams that want meeting data flowing somewhere else automatically. The free plan's unlimited transcription for auto-joined meetings is real, though accounts opened on or after September 2026 get a tighter 3-meeting cap without that auto-join. Our score lands at 4.0 instead of closer to Trustpilot's 4.5 because of the cluster underneath it: 14% of 836 reviews, almost all describing the same cancellation friction, a greyed-out button, a missing billing tab, charges that kept coming anyway. Set a calendar reminder before any trial or free month ends.
Compare Fireflies.ai
Alternatives in AI Meeting Note Takers
AI meeting notes without a bot in your calls
Real-time noise cancellation for live calls across any app, not a fix for files you've already recorded
Bot or bot-free meeting notes at a low seat price, backed by a review base too thin to call a track record