Comparisons
The best Fireflies alternatives in 2026
Fireflies is the budget bot workhorse. People switch when they want accuracy they can verify, exports without upgrading, or an app that isn't team-ops-shaped. The field:
Canto records the client lunch, the site walk and the voice note as readily as the Teams call its bot joins. Transcription accuracy leads the public benchmarks across 99 languages, everything lands in a knowledge base that answers with citations, and exports work on every plan. Free for 300 minutes a month.
02 Granola
Granola is a beautifully designed AI notepad that listens to your computer's audio and blends your typed notes with a transcript-informed summary. It runs on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, and by design it discards the recording.
Best for: Note-takers who want polished AI meeting notes and don't need the audio
Main limitation: Doesn't keep your audio, and can't ingest a recording you already have
03 Grain
Grain records video meetings with a bot, and computer audio without one, then turns them into clips, highlights and CRM insights. Everything runs from a desktop or a browser, so it suits revenue teams reviewing calls more than recording on the move.
Best for: Sales teams that live on video clips and CRM sync
Main limitation: Capture needs a laptop in the room; there's no mobile recorder
04 Otter.ai
Otter is the veteran of the category: live transcripts, meeting bots, enterprise agents and formal compliance, with a large installed base. Its transcription is tuned for English and stops at six languages.
Best for: English-speaking teams already inside Otter's ecosystem
Main limitation: Six transcription languages, and no published accuracy figures
05 Plaud
Plaud sells wearable AI recorders: press the button, get a transcript and summary in the app. The hardware is genuinely nice, and a desktop app now captures online meetings too. It all starts with buying a device.
Best for: People who want a physical recorder with a real button
Main limitation: You have to buy, charge, and carry the device
At a glance
Questions people ask
What's the best Fireflies alternative for in-person recording?
Canto: phone, Apple Watch, and widget recording with the same AI pipeline as its meeting bot, so nothing has to be opened first.
What's the best Fireflies alternative with verified accuracy?
Canto. It cites independent public benchmarks with per-language results rather than quoting an in-house percentage.
Is there a Fireflies alternative without bots?
Granola and Plaud's desktop app both capture computer audio without a bot, and Grain's Desktop Capture does the same. Canto records locally on your devices, with the bot strictly optional.
Try the recorder that never misses a word.
Free for 300 minutes a month, with benchmark-leading transcription, summaries, search, and chat included.