A Fireflies.ai alternative without a bot in the call

Notey never joins a call: it records your microphone and your Mac's audio as two tracks, transcribes them on the Mac, and keeps the recording on your disk.

So the choice is less about bots than it used to be. It is about where the work happens and what you need around it. Fireflies is a cloud service with over a hundred integrations, apps on every platform and team features. Notey is a Mac app that does its recording and transcription locally and sends only transcript text, only when you ask for AI notes.

This comparison describes Fireflies from its own website and help centre as of September 2026. Check Fireflies' site for the current state before deciding.

At a glance

How each one captures a meeting

Fireflies has two modes. With the bot, you invite fred@fireflies.ai to a meeting or let it join the meetings on your calendar, and it records as a participant. Without the bot, the desktop app "captures your meetings and calls using your computer's system audio", and its help centre lists Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Discord and others among the calls it detects. (Fireflies: record without a bot)

The two modes are not equivalent. Fireflies says its system-audio mode "does not save separate audio or video files", and that features which rely on the bot, including speaker identification, are not available in it. It also documents ways to tell participants they are being recorded in that mode, such as a chat message or a watermark on your camera.

A bot in the call is visible to everyone and can be refused by the host or blocked by an organisation's policy. How meeting bots work explains the mechanics.

Notey records your microphone and the sound your Mac plays as two separate tracks, so it knows your side from theirs without a bot and without learning voices. It notices calls in Zoom, Teams, Slack, FaceTime and in Chrome, Safari, Arc and Edge when the browser uses the microphone, and asks on a floating button; nothing is saved until you press Allow. Any other app can be recorded with the Start button. Notey shows a red dot and a timer to you, not to the call, so telling people you are recording is up to you.

Where your data goes

Fireflies

• Location: "By default, your data is stored and processed in Fireflies' secure cloud infrastructure in the United States (AWS and GCP)." Stored content includes audio and video recordings. (Fireflies: data storage)
• Choice of region: Fireflies' security page describes Private Storage for enterprise customers, who can choose where data is kept.
• Training: Fireflies says your data is never used for AI training. (Fireflies security)

Notey

• Audio stays on your Mac. It is never uploaded, including for transcription.
• Transcription happens on the Mac, with Apple's on-device speech recognition.
• AI notes send transcript text, never audio, to Notey's service and on to OpenAI as a processor, when you ask or when a meeting ends if write-ups are on. Not used for training, not retained by Notey. (Notey's privacy policy)

If your contracts or clients rule out a third party storing meeting recordings, Notey's model fits and a cloud service does not. If your organisation already approves Fireflies' cloud, its central storage is what makes its search, sharing and integrations work.

Where Fireflies is stronger

• Integrations. Fireflies lists over a hundred, including HubSpot and Salesforce, Slack, Notion, applicant tracking systems such as Greenhouse and Lever, dialers such as Aircall and RingCentral, and cloud storage. (Fireflies integrations) Notey has none.
• Platforms. Windows, web and phone as well as Mac. Its desktop app supports macOS 12 and later. Notey needs Apple silicon and macOS 26.
• Teams. Shared workspaces and admin controls. Notey has no sharing.
• Certifications. Fireflies' security page states GDPR, SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA certification. Notey makes no such claim.
• Languages. Fireflies says English is its primary language, with Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and many others in beta. Notey's live transcription covers ten languages; its after-meeting improvement is English only.

Where Notey is different

• Nothing leaves the Mac to record or transcribe. With no account, nothing leaves at all.
• The audio is kept, as two tracks, so you can replay any line. You and the other side are told apart by track in every meeting, on any app.
• No bot, ever, so there is nothing for a host to admit or an IT policy to block.
• AI output is labelled. Everything the AI wrote says so; your edits are marked.

Pricing

Fireflies has a free plan and paid plans; see its pricing page. Notey's recording, transcription and search are free with no account, and AI notes are paid by the hour; see Notey's pricing.

Which one fits

Fireflies is likely the better fit if:

• you want notes delivered into a CRM, an ATS or Slack automatically;
• your team shares meetings in one workspace;
• you work on Windows or a phone as well as a Mac;
• you need a vendor with the certifications Fireflies lists.

Notey is likely the better fit if:

• a bot in the call is blocked or unwelcome, and you want the audio kept too;
• your clients' conversations must not be stored by a third party;
• you want recording and transcription to work with no account and no network;
• you want each side of the call on its own track.

For the wider field, see the best AI notetakers for Mac, or bot-free meeting notes for why the capture method matters.

Frequently asked questions

Can Fireflies record without a bot?

Yes. Fireflies' help centre describes recording without a bot from its desktop app, using your computer's system audio, and its pricing page lists recording from the Chrome extension without the bot.

Does Fireflies keep audio when it records without a bot?

According to Fireflies' help centre, its system audio mode does not save separate audio or video files, and some features that depend on the bot, such as speaker identification, are not available in that mode.

Where does Fireflies store meeting data?

Fireflies says data is stored and processed by default in its cloud infrastructure in the United States, on AWS and GCP, and that enterprise customers can choose where data is stored. Notey stores recordings and transcripts on your Mac.

Does Notey integrate with a CRM like Fireflies does?

No. Notey has no integrations. You export notes as Markdown and the transcript as plain text, and paste them where you need them.