Bot-free capture used to be the dividing line here. It is not anymore. Fireflies.ai offers botless recording through its Desktop App on Windows 10+ and macOS 12+, and so do Otter, Notta, Fathom, tl;dv and Grain. If you were choosing on “which one keeps the bot out of the call”, that question is settled.

The more useful question is what happens to the audio, and what happens after the meeting. Bot-free means no extra participant in the attendee list, not that the recording stays on your device. For agencies handling confidential client conversations that distinction still separates these tools, and Notta is the only option here with a supported local, on-device transcription mode.

Why People Choose Fireflies.ai

• Bot or botless from one product. The Desktop App captures meetings without a bot joining, on Windows 10+ and macOS 12+, with an on-screen indicator showing the notetaker is running. 
• The broadest raw language coverage here, with transcription in 100+ languages. 
• Voice Agents. An AI agent runs structured calls, asks preset questions and summarises afterwards, which suits screening interviews and lead qualification. Unique to Fireflies among these six. 
• AI Skills and AskFred. AI Skills run repeatable workflows from templates including BANT and MEDDIC, and AskFred answers questions about one meeting or across many, including live in-call via Live Assist. 
• Wide integration surface: 100+ integrations across CRM, ATS, project management, storage and collaboration, with thirteen CRM platforms including Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, Close, Copper, Freshsales, Affinity, Attio, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesflare, Zendesk Sell and StartDeliver. 

Where Fireflies Reaches Its Limits

• No documented local or on-device processing: botless capture still uploads audio to Fireflies’ cloud, addressing participant visibility rather than data residency. 
• Free plan storage is capped at 400 minutes across the whole team rather than per seat, making it a trial lane. 
• Advanced AI features draw on AI credits. Transcription, meeting notes, recap emails and template-based summaries are plan-covered and consume none, while AI Skills, Voice Agents, custom summary sections, Sales Assist, Autofill CRM, Slack Assistant queries and AskFred inside Live Assist do. 
• Plan credits are one-time on signup (20 Free, 20 Pro, 30 Business, 50 Enterprise), pooled across the team, and do not scale with seats. Paid users who run out mid-cycle are automatically subscribed to the next AI credits tier unless that setting is switched off. 
• HIPAA compliance is listed under Enterprise only. 
• In-person capture runs through the mobile app and browser-based web recorder, with no hardware recorder or Apple Watch path. 
• Outputs are summary-focused, so turning a conversation into a client-ready report or slide outline is manual. 

How to Evaluate a Fireflies Alternative for Client Meetings

This comparison is for consultants, agencies, sales teams and customer success professionals whose meetings involve people outside their own organisation. That context changes what matters.

• Data path, not just bot visibility. Does audio leave the device, and is there a local option for sensitive work? 
• Capture breadth. Check in-person, mobile and upload paths, not just scheduled video calls. 
• CRM depth and the plan it sits on. User caps often matter more than headline price. 
• Live multilingual handling. Bilingual transcription and real-time translation matter more on live international calls than raw language count. 
• What it produces afterwards: summaries, action items, cross-meeting recall and exports an account team can send. 
• Consent support and real cost. Recording indicators help with obligations no capture method removes, and per-seat pricing, credit metering and storage caps scale differently. 

Comparison Table

Option	Bot-free capture	Data path	Capture breadth	CRM integration	Cost structure
Notta	Yes, Notta Desktop on Mac and Windows, 40+ apps	Cloud for bot and Bot-Free; local for Privacy Mode, subject to plan, OS, model and language	Bot, Bot-Free desktop, Privacy Mode, mobile, Apple Watch, Notta Memo, file and link upload, screen recording	7 CRMs on Business and above: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Zendesk Sell, Freshsales, Salesflare	Free 120 min/mo; Pro $8.17/mo; Business $16.67/user/mo, annual
Fireflies.ai	Yes, Desktop App on Windows 10+ and macOS 12+, with participant indicator	Cloud for all modes	Bot, Desktop App, Chrome extension, mobile, web recorder, file upload	13 CRMs including Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, Close, Copper, Freshsales	Free; Pro $10; Business $19; Enterprise $39 per seat/mo, annual
Otter.ai	Yes, desktop app on Mac 12.3+ and Windows 10+; plan tier not stated	Cloud	Bot, desktop app for Slack huddles and in-person, mobile, file import	Salesforce or HubSpot notes from Pro at 1 user; 5 on Business; unlimited on Enterprise	Free 300 min/mo; Pro $8.33; Business $19.99 per user/mo, annual
Fathom	Yes, but beta and Mac only	Cloud for both modes	Bot or bot-free capture, both from one app	Basic sync capped at 3 users per domain; field sync and Deal View on Business	Free; Premium $16/user/mo; Team $15; Business $25, annual
Grain	Yes, Desktop Capture on the Free plan	Cloud	Bot, Desktop Capture, AI Notepad, file import from Starter	HubSpot and Salesforce on Business	Free, 45 min per meeting and 30 day history; Starter $15/seat/mo; Business $29/seat/mo, annual
tl;dv	Yes, native Audio-only mode, no notetaker participant	Cloud	Bot or native bot-free desktop recorder for any audio your device plays	CRM integrations from Pro; field mapping on Business	Free; Pro $18 and Business $59 per seat/mo, annual

1. Notta

Best For: Consultants and agencies needing bot-free capture for routine client calls, a supported local option for confidential ones, and capture beyond video meetings.

Every tool here keeps a bot out of the call. What separates Notta is the tier below that. Notta Desktop provides standard Bot-Free capture on Mac and Windows across 40+ meeting apps, recording system audio and microphone input without adding a participant, though that audio is still uploaded encrypted for cloud transcription. Privacy Mode goes further: an installed offline model transcribes on the device itself, and records stay local.

Privacy Mode needs confirming rather than assuming. It requires a Pro, Business or Enterprise plan, runs only in Notta Desktop, needs an offline model installed locally, and covers English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Cantonese, extending to eleven languages via Apple Speech Analyzer on macOS 26 and later. It is app-wide rather than per-recording, and while active it pauses or limits cloud transcription, cloud AI summaries, cross-device sync and team collaboration. Within those scenarios the recording never leaves the machine, which none of the other five can offer.

Capture breadth is the second differentiator, because client work does not stay on video calls. Notta covers in-person conversations through its mobile apps, Apple Watch recording and Notta Memo, a pocket-sized recorder syncing into the same workspace, with direct file and link upload and screen recording on the paid plans. Language coverage follows the same logic: Fireflies leads on raw count, while Notta’s bilingual transcription in 23 languages and real-time translation in 80 work during the call rather than after it.

Features:

• Bot, Bot-Free desktop capture, Privacy Mode, mobile and Apple Watch recording, Notta Memo, file and link upload, screen recording 
• 58+ transcription languages, bilingual transcription in 23, real-time translation in 80 
• Notta Brain for cross-meeting Q&A and deliverables including reports, slide outlines, infographics, emails and tables, exporting to TXT, DOCX, XLSX, PDF, SRT and VTT 
• Seven CRM integrations on Business and above; SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, AES-256 

Pros:

• Only tool here with a supported local, on-device transcription mode alongside bot-free capture 
• Widest capture range, covering in-person and mobile conversations, not video calls alone 
• Bilingual transcription and real-time translation support live multilingual calls 
• Notta Brain produces client-ready deliverables in the formats client work needs 

Cons:

• Privacy Mode is conditional on plan, OS, model and language, and pauses cloud AI summaries and sync while active 
• Standard Bot-Free capture still sends audio to Notta’s cloud 
• Fireflies leads on raw language count, 100+ against 58+ 
• CRM sync requires Business, and the Free plan’s 120 minutes a month is tight for regular client work 
• No Voice Agents equivalent for autonomous structured calls 

2. Otter.ai

Otter is the most widely recognised name here, and it also has bot-free capture: the desktop app for macOS 12.3+ and Windows 10+ records without the Notetaker joining, across Slack huddles, Zoom, Google Meet and in-person conversations.

CRM sync is no longer Enterprise-gated: synced Salesforce or HubSpot notes start at Pro at one user, five on Business and unlimited on Enterprise, though Otter Sales Notetaker and Assist live coaching still require Enterprise. The constraint for client work is metering. Free stops at 300 minutes a month with a 30 minute per conversation cap and three lifetime file imports, and Pro allows 1,200 minutes with no rollover and a 90 minute per meeting ceiling.

Features:

• Bot-free desktop recording on Mac and Windows, plus bot capture for Zoom, Teams and Meet 
• Otter AI Chat within and across meetings, with monthly query limits of 20, 50 and 200 by plan 
• Salesforce or HubSpot synced notes from Pro, with per-plan user caps 

Pros:

• Bot-free capture that also covers Slack huddles and in-person conversations 
• Basic CRM sync starts at Pro rather than Enterprise, lowering the entry point 
• Familiar to many clients, which reduces friction when disclosing a notetaker 
• Business joins up to 3 concurrent meetings, useful for back-to-back calls 

Cons:

• Plan availability for botless recording is not stated on the pricing page 
• No local or on-device processing option 
• Pro CRM sync is capped at one user, limiting it for teams 
• Hard minute caps with no rollover, plus the 90 minute per meeting limit on Pro 
• Workspace size caps of 5 billed users on Pro and 25 on Business 

3. Fathom

Fathom offers a choice between bot and bot-free capture from one app, and unusually that choice exists even on the Free plan. The bot-free mode is a Mac-only beta, and neither mode processes audio locally. Its free tier is the most generous here for pure capture, with unlimited recordings, transcription and storage, though advanced summaries sit on Premium and account-wide Ask Fathom is a beta with limited lookback on team calls. CRM behaviour needs reading carefully: basic sync, pushing summaries into your CRM, is capped at three users per domain on the plans that include it, while field sync into named fields, Deal View and coaching metrics require Business.

Features:

• Choice of bot or bot-free capture, with bot-free in beta for Mac 
• Unlimited recordings, transcription and storage on all plans including Free 
• Basic CRM sync capped at 3 users per domain; field sync, Deal View and AI scorecards on Business 

Pros:

• Bot-free capture on the Free plan, rare in this category 
• Strongest free tier here for unlimited recording and storage 
• Field-level CRM mapping on Business goes beyond a basic notes push 

Cons:

• Bot-free mode is a Mac-only beta, not a mature cross-platform feature 
• No local or on-device processing, since both modes rely on Fathom’s cloud 
• The three users per domain cap on basic CRM sync constrains team rollout 

4. Grain

Grain approaches client meetings differently. Rather than optimising for a full transcript, it is built around short shareable clips of specific moments, an objection, a pricing question, positive feedback, pushed into a CRM record. Desktop Capture is included on the Free plan, so bot-free recording costs nothing, though that tier caps meetings at 45 minutes and keeps 30 days of history. CRM integration sits on Business, alongside AI coaching, trackers and team interaction metrics.

Features:

• Desktop Capture on Free, plus bot recording and AI Notepad with live notes and clip creation 
• Shareable video clips, with trackers monitoring keywords across conversations 
• HubSpot and Salesforce integration, AI coaching and team interaction metrics on Business 

Pros:

• Bot-free Desktop Capture at no cost 
• Video clips of real client moments beat transcripts for internal training 
• HubSpot and Salesforce arrive on the same tier rather than being split 

Cons:

• 45 minute meeting cap and 30 day history on Free 
• CRM integration, coaching and analytics all require Business 
• Clip-first workflow fits poorly if written client documentation is the goal 

5. tl;dv

tl;dv ships a native bot-free desktop recorder, an explicit choice between an Audio-only mode with no notetaker participant and a standard bot mode. Because it captures whatever your device plays, it reaches beyond the major platforms to Slack huddles and other calls a bot cannot join, which matters more since Google Meet tightened how it handles third-party bots. On languages it supports 30+, the narrowest coverage here rather than the widest.

Features:

• Native bot-free desktop recorder alongside standard bot capture 
• Sales coaching, playbook monitoring, AI objection handling and unlimited multi-meeting AI insights on Business 
• CRM integrations from Pro, with CRM field mapping on Business 

Pros:

• Bot-free capture is a native, promoted mode, not a workaround 
• Captures conversations outside the major platforms, including Slack huddles 
• Coaching and deal insights approach dedicated sales intelligence tooling at lower cost 

Cons:

• 30+ transcription languages is the narrowest coverage here 
• No local or on-device processing option 
• Free plan caps AI meeting notes, queries, and multi-meeting reports at 10 uses each 

When Fireflies Is Still the Right Choice

Fireflies fits teams whose priorities match what it does distinctively well. Voice Agents has no equivalent here for running structured calls autonomously, its 100+ languages lead on raw coverage, AI Skills is built for templated extraction against BANT or MEDDIC on repeated meeting types, and its 100+ integrations and thirteen-platform CRM list are the broadest here.

Notta is stronger when the deciding factors differ: when audio has to stay on the device rather than reach any vendor’s cloud, when client conversations happen in person as often as on calls, when live bilingual transcription or translation matters during the meeting, or when the meeting has to become a client-ready document without a manual rewrite.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is bot-free capture still a reason to switch away from Fireflies?

Not on its own. Fireflies has botless recording through its Desktop App, and Otter, Notta, Fathom, tl;dv and Grain all have bot-free modes. The meaningful differences now are where audio is processed, how many capture methods a tool supports, and what it produces afterwards.

Is bot-free capture the same as private or confidential capture?

No, and conflating the two is the most common mistake here. Bot-free means no additional participant in the attendee list. The audio is usually still uploaded to a vendor’s cloud for transcription and AI processing, which is how Fireflies’ Desktop App, Otter’s desktop app, Fathom’s bot-free mode and Notta’s standard Bot-Free mode work. Only local processing, such as Notta’s Privacy Mode on supported plans, platforms, models and languages, keeps audio on the device.

Do I still need consent to record if no bot joins the call?

Yes. Removing the bot removes no legal, contractual or organisational obligation. Recording laws vary by jurisdiction and many require consent from all parties, and client contracts and employer policies may add their own. Fireflies’ desktop documentation makes users responsible for local recording laws and for notifying participants, which is why its app shows an indicator during botless capture, and Otter’s documentation says the same. Confirm the law and client policy, disclose that you are recording, and treat this as guidance rather than legal advice.

What should I check before relying on a local processing mode?

Confirm it is supported for your setup. Notta’s Privacy Mode depends on plan, operating system, installed model and language, so verify all four before a confidential engagement, and check what it switches off, since cloud AI summaries and sync pause while it runs. Test on a low-stakes call first.

Conclusion

Bot-free capture is no longer a point of difference. Fireflies has it, and so does every alternative above, so choosing on that basis means choosing on a feature everyone ships.

What still separates them is narrower. Fireflies is strongest if Voice Agents, raw language breadth, templated AI Skills or the widest integration and CRM catalogue are what you need. Notta fits the combination client-facing work tends to demand: a supported local processing mode for engagements where audio cannot leave the device, capture extending to in-person and mobile conversations, live bilingual transcription and real-time translation, CRM sync across seven platforms on Business, and Notta Brain turning conversations into the reports, emails and documents an account team has to produce anyway.