MeetWave vs Fireflies.ai
Fireflies.ai is a cloud-based meeting assistant and AI note taker (people also search for it as "fireflies ai notetaker" or "fireflies note taker," and occasionally misspell it as "firefly notetaker"). It records Zoom and Teams through its bot, Fireflies AI Notetaker — the one many people call "Fred" — and Google Meet in Chrome through a bot-free extension. MeetWave records Google Meet, Zoom and Teams web calls from a Chrome extension on any OS — including Linux and ChromeOS — with no desktop app, plus a Windows app for any meeting app's audio. Your meetings are never used to train AI models.
What is Fred from Fireflies?
"Fred" is Fireflies' meeting bot. It is invited through the address fred@fireflies.ai, and in the call it appears as "Fireflies.ai Notetaker"; paid plans can rename it (Fireflies help, checked 25 Sep 2026). The bot shows up in the participant list like any attendee. Fred from Fireflies: what it is and how to remove it.
Fireflies also has a Chrome extension that records Google Meet in Chrome without the bot; for Zoom and Teams it still uses the bot (Fireflies Chrome extension help, checked 25 Sep 2026). MeetWave records Google Meet, Zoom and Teams web calls from a Chrome extension on any OS — including Linux and ChromeOS — with no desktop app, plus a Windows app for any meeting app's audio. Your meetings are never used to train AI models.
In-Depth Comparison
Fireflies.ai and MeetWave are both AI-powered meeting tools, but they are built on fundamentally different philosophies about how meeting intelligence should work — and those differences show up in every aspect of the experience.
Fireflies.ai was designed around the concept of an AI meeting participant. When you connect Fireflies to a calendar or invite it to a call, its bot — Fireflies AI Notetaker, often nicknamed "Fred" — joins your meeting as a participant everyone can see. That visibility is the intended design, because Fireflies is built as a team-oriented tool where everyone knows the meeting is being captured. Fireflies has since added a Chrome extension that records Google Meet in Chrome without the bot; Zoom and Teams still go through the bot (checked 25 Sep 2026).
MeetWave was designed around a different premise: that you should be able to capture and understand your meetings without adding anyone to them. The MeetWave Chrome extension records web calls on any OS, and the Windows desktop app captures system audio from any meeting app. No bot is sent to your meeting and no external participant joins the call. Want everyone on the call to know? The Chrome extension can post a recording notice in the meeting chat — one switch in its settings. Leaving the attendee list alone matters in contexts where a bot would shift dynamics — job interviews, sensitive client conversations, performance reviews, or any situation where a bot presence would feel intrusive or inappropriate.
The cloud storage difference is equally significant. With Fireflies, every recording is uploaded to and stored in Fireflies' cloud infrastructure. Their servers hold your conversation data, indexed and searchable through their platform. This is convenient for team collaboration — anyone with access to the Fireflies workspace can search through past meetings, replay audio clips, and share transcripts. But it also means your meeting content — including confidential discussions, unreleased product plans, salary conversations, and client data — lives on a third-party server under Fireflies' retention policies.
Recordings are uploaded to your MeetWave account and transcribed on our servers; the audio, transcript and summary are stored encrypted in your account, so you can reopen them on any computer at app.meetwave.io.
On the AI analysis side, Fireflies produces a transcript of the meeting plus a basic summary and a list of action items. That output is useful, but it is essentially one-size-fits-all. The same format is generated whether the meeting was a sales discovery call, a technical architecture review, a job interview, or a quarterly business review.
MeetWave takes a different approach entirely. The platform offers more than 15 distinct summary types, each engineered for a specific professional context. A sales rep gets a structured brief with objections raised, next steps, and deal intelligence. A recruiter gets a candidate evaluation with competency signals and hiring recommendation. A consultant gets a structured deliverable with client pain points and recommended actions. A product manager gets feature requests extracted, prioritized, and mapped to themes. These are not cosmetic differences — the prompts, structure, and output format are purpose-built for the role and meeting type.
Fireflies is heavily integration-focused. It connects to Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion, Slack, and other CRM and productivity tools, automatically pushing meeting data into your existing workflows. For sales teams running high volumes of customer calls through a CRM, this is genuinely valuable. MeetWave's integration story is currently more focused on export — PDF, Slack sharing links — with deeper integrations on the roadmap. If your workflow is built around automatic CRM sync, that is a real trade-off to consider.
In terms of who each tool is designed for: Fireflies is optimized for sales-heavy teams that want a shared meeting repository, CRM sync, and collaborative access to recordings. MeetWave is optimized for individual professionals who want deep AI insight, strong privacy guarantees, and a tool that works without changing how their meetings look and feel.
Where Fireflies users are going next. If you are shopping for a replacement, the reasons tend to fall into the same three buckets: per-seat pricing that scales awkwardly for a small team, a bot on Zoom and Teams calls that some clients object to, and a meeting library shared across the workspace. None of those are fixable by switching to another cloud-and-bot tool with the same architecture — they are architectural choices, not bugs. That is the gap MeetWave is built to close: no bot and no per-seat pricing. Stored encrypted in your MeetWave account. The tradeoff is scope: no mobile app, no CRM sync, and a native desktop app that is Windows-only — Mac and Linux users record web calls through the MeetWave Chrome extension instead.
Feature & Pricing Comparison
| Fact | MeetWave | Fireflies.ai |
|---|---|---|
| How it records | No bot joins your calls: the Chrome extension records web calls on macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS, and the Windows desktop app also captures system audio from any app. | Bot for Zoom and Teams; bot-free Chrome extension for Google Meet in Chrome onlychecked 25 Sep 2026 |
| Name in the participant list | No bot — nothing appears in the participant list. | Fireflies.ai Notetaker, invited through the address fred@fireflies.ai ("Fred"); renamable on paid planschecked 25 Sep 2026 |
| Apps | Chrome extension (macOS, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS) + native Windows desktop app; no mobile app. | Web dashboard, Chrome extension, bot for Zoom, Teams and Google Meetchecked 24 Sep 2026 |
| Free plan | 10h of recording analysis/month, 25 AI summaries/month | Unlimited transcription, 400 min of storage per team, 20 AI creditschecked 24 Sep 2026 |
| Cheapest paid plan | Pro $16.00/mo, or $11.00/mo billed annually (up to 5 prior meetings in memory; 20 on Pro+) | Pro $18/user/mo, or $10/user/mo billed annually (its own pricing page did not return figures; via Sonix)checked 24 Sep 2026 |
| Trains AI on your meetings? (its policy) | Your meetings are never used to train AI models. | Not stated on its public pages (pricing page did not return content on this check)checked 24 Sep 2026 |
Competitor facts are read from each vendor's own pages; dates show when. Found something out of date? Tell us.
Pricing Breakdown
Fireflies prices per seat across four tiers, so a growing team multiplies the bill even though the Free tier itself is unmetered on transcription. MeetWave has no per-seat pricing: each account is billed individually, with a single Pro tier and an uncapped Pro+ step above it -- see the facts table above for both sides current numbers.
Why Choose MeetWave
No bot on Zoom or Teams web calls either
Fireflies' bot-free extension covers Google Meet in Chrome only; for Zoom and Teams it sends its bot. MeetWave's Chrome extension records Google Meet, Zoom and Teams web calls with no bot.
Your data, in your account
Fireflies stores all recordings in their cloud. Stored encrypted in your MeetWave account.
Summaries, not just transcripts
MeetWave offers 15+ summary types customized by role. Get actionable briefs for sales, HR, consulting, and more — not pages of raw transcript.
No per-seat pricing, no bot
Fireflies charges per seat, so the bill grows with headcount. MeetWave Pro is a flat rate per account with no per-seat multiplier and no bot in the call — better AI summaries and stronger privacy at a comparable price.
When Fireflies.ai Might Be Better
Fireflies.ai is worth considering when your primary workflow is built around CRM integration. If your sales team uses Salesforce or HubSpot and you need meeting notes, action items, and deal intelligence to flow automatically into those systems without manual copy-paste, Fireflies has mature, well-tested connectors that MeetWave does not currently match.
If team collaboration on meeting content is essential — meaning multiple colleagues need to search, replay, and comment on past recordings from a shared workspace — Fireflies' cloud-first architecture is genuinely well-suited for that. Their shared meeting library lets an entire sales org access call recordings and transcripts centrally.
Fireflies also has a mobile app, which is useful if you frequently take calls on your phone and want those captured. MeetWave has no mobile app today — its surfaces are the Windows desktop app, the Chrome extension for web calls, and the app.meetwave.io dashboard.
Finally, if you want live, real-time transcription appearing on screen while a meeting is in progress — not just a post-meeting summary — Fireflies supports that. MeetWave currently focuses on post-meeting analysis and does not offer real-time transcription.
When MeetWave Is the Better Choice
MeetWave is the stronger choice whenever a bot in your Zoom or Teams calls would be a problem. This matters more than it might initially seem. In client-facing calls, a visible bot can create an uncomfortable dynamic — especially with clients who are privacy-conscious or unfamiliar with AI tools. In job interviews, candidates may feel guarded knowing a bot is transcribing the conversation. In any sensitive discussion — performance reviews, salary negotiations, executive conversations — introducing a visible AI participant changes the tone.
Recordings are uploaded to your MeetWave account and transcribed on our servers; the audio, transcript and summary are stored encrypted in your account, so you can reopen them on any computer at app.meetwave.io.
If you want AI that actually understands your meeting rather than just transcribing it, MeetWave's 15+ role-specific summary types make a measurable difference. Getting a structured sales brief with deal intelligence is meaningfully more useful than getting a transcript with a generic summary appended. The same applies across every role MeetWave supports: the output is engineered for how you will actually use it, not just for completeness.
Role-based customization also lets MeetWave adapt to the specific type of professional you are and the kind of meeting you just had. You are not receiving the same template every time.
And with no per-seat multiplier versus Fireflies' per-seat pricing, MeetWave delivers a deeper AI analysis experience at a comparable price — without a bot in the call.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Fred bot in Fireflies?
"Fred" is the bot Fireflies sends into meetings. It is invited through the address fred@fireflies.ai, joins as "Fireflies.ai Notetaker" and can be renamed on paid plans (Fireflies help, checked 25 Sep 2026). The bot shows up in the participant list like any attendee. For Google Meet in Chrome, Fireflies also offers a bot-free extension. MeetWave has no bot at all: its Chrome extension and Windows app record from your own computer.
Does Fireflies store my data in the cloud?
Yes. Fireflies stores all recordings, transcripts, and meeting data in their cloud infrastructure. This enables team collaboration features like shared libraries and CRM sync, but it means your meeting content — including confidential business discussions — lives on Fireflies' servers under their data retention and privacy policies. Recordings are uploaded to your MeetWave account and transcribed on our servers; the audio, transcript and summary are stored encrypted in your account, so you can reopen them on any computer at app.meetwave.io.
Can I switch from Fireflies to MeetWave?
Yes. Switching is straightforward — MeetWave is a standalone desktop app (with a Chrome extension for web calls) and does not require any migration from Fireflies. You can install MeetWave and start using it immediately for future meetings. Your historical Fireflies recordings will remain in your Fireflies account until you choose to delete them. MeetWave starts building your meeting history in your MeetWave account from the first recording you make in the app. There is no data import process required to begin using MeetWave.
Which is cheaper, Fireflies or MeetWave?
They are priced comparably for a single user. The real difference is the model: Fireflies is priced per seat, so a five-person team pays five times the sticker price, while MeetWave has no per-seat pricing — each individual account includes 40 hours of analysis per month, with unlimited analysis on Pro+. No bot joins the call on MeetWave either.
Does MeetWave have CRM integrations like Fireflies?
Not currently in the same depth as Fireflies. MeetWave supports export to PDF and sharing links, with Slack integration available. Native CRM integrations with platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot are on the roadmap but not yet released. If automatic CRM sync is essential to your workflow today, Fireflies has a clear advantage in that area. If you primarily need deep AI analysis and a bot-free recording, MeetWave is the stronger choice.
Is Fireflies better for sales teams?
Fireflies has advantages for teams that are heavily invested in Salesforce or HubSpot and need automatic meeting-to-CRM data flow. The shared meeting library also works well for sales managers who want to review call recordings from their reps. However, MeetWave still serves sales professionals well through its dedicated sales call summary type, which extracts objections, buying signals, next steps, and deal intelligence in a structured format. If the priority is analytical depth and privacy rather than CRM automation, MeetWave is competitive for sales use cases.
Does MeetWave work with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Because MeetWave captures system audio directly from your operating system rather than integrating with each platform individually, it works with any meeting platform that plays audio through your computer — including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and any other video conferencing tool. There is no per-platform integration to configure. If you can hear the meeting through your speakers or headphones, MeetWave can capture it.
What happens to my recordings in MeetWave if I cancel my subscription?
Your meeting summaries and data stay in your MeetWave account, so canceling your subscription does not delete your existing meeting history. You retain access to everything already recorded. On the free plan, new recording is limited to 10 hours and 25 summaries per month.
Does Fireflies offer a free trial of its paid plans?
Fireflies offers a free tier with unlimited transcription but capped storage and AI credits, rather than a time-limited trial of its Pro or Business plans. MeetWave offers a 14-day free trial of the full Pro plan, including all 15+ summary types, 40 hours of analysis per month, and role-based customization — no credit card required to start.
Can other meeting participants tell when MeetWave is recording?
Not through a bot: MeetWave records from your own computer, so nothing is added to the participant list. Want everyone on the call to know? The Chrome extension can post a recording notice in the meeting chat — one switch in its settings. Either way, you are always responsible for complying with consent and recording disclosure laws in your jurisdiction. Many regions require that at least one party (you) be aware of the recording, which is satisfied by your own use of MeetWave, but multi-party consent laws vary — check the rules that apply to your location and use case.
What is Fireflies AI pricing?
Fireflies AI pricing runs Free (unlimited transcription, but 400 minutes of storage per team) through Pro, Business, and Enterprise, each billed per seat. MeetWave Pro has 40 hours of analysis per month, no per-seat fees, and no bot in the call; Pro+ is unlimited, also billed per individual account rather than per seat.
Fireflies or Firefly, which is the correct name?
Fireflies. The product and company are named "Fireflies.ai," and it is sometimes referred to as the "Fireflies AI note taker" or "Fireflies AI notetaker." "Firefly notetaker" is a common misspelling, not a separate product — there is no meeting tool called Firefly. If you searched for "firefly notetaker" and landed here, you were almost certainly looking for Fireflies.ai.
The Verdict
Fireflies.ai is a mature, well-integrated meeting capture platform that excels for sales teams running high volumes of CRM-connected calls. If collaborative meeting repositories, Salesforce sync, and mobile access are central to your workflow, Fireflies delivers on those capabilities.
MeetWave is the better choice for professionals who prioritize bot-free recording, having their data in their own account, and genuinely intelligent AI analysis over raw transcription. Bot-free recording of Zoom and Teams web calls as well as Google Meet, the depth of role-specific AI summaries, and the flat individual pricing make MeetWave the stronger tool for individual contributors who take confidentiality seriously and want meeting intelligence that is actually tailored to how they work.
For most professionals who are not running a CRM-integrated sales operation, MeetWave offers meaningfully better AI output and stronger privacy at a comparable price — with no per-seat fees and no bot.