Aside vs Fireflies
Fireflies is a cloud notetaker for teams, with a bot by default, a bot-free desktop app and Live Assist during calls. Aside is a Mac app for your own calls that transcribes on your Mac.
Which should you choose?
Choose Fireflies if…
- You need many languages: it lists more than 100.
- You want CRM sync, dialers and a large catalogue of integrations.
- Your team wants topic trackers, talk-time analytics and conversation intelligence.
- You use Windows, iPhone, Android or the web.
- You want search and AskFred across every meeting, and answers from a sales knowledge base.
Choose Aside if…
- You want the call transcribed on your Mac, with the audio never uploaded.
- You want guidance from your own goals and the answers you prepared.
- You want speaker names suggested in bot-free recordings, not Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.
- You want to keep the audio file of each call.
Side by side
| Fireflies | Aside | |
|---|---|---|
| How it records | A bot joins by default. The desktop app and the Chrome extension (Google Meet only) record without one. | No bot. Records your microphone and the sound your Mac plays. |
| Where transcription happens | In the cloud. | On your Mac, with an on-device speech model. Audio is never uploaded. |
| The audio afterwards | The bot-free desktop app keeps only the transcript and summary, not an audio file. | Saved in a folder you choose, with playback of both sides. |
| Notes during the call | Live transcript with speaker names, and live AI notes. | Press ⌃⌥N in any app to type a note. It lands in the transcript at the moment you started typing. |
| Live guidance during the call | Live Assist: built-in prompts, AskFred answers about the call, past meetings or the web, and answers from a knowledge base for sales reps. | Optional. Goals you set fill in as dots, one line suggests your next move, and answers you prepared appear when the topic comes up. Paid plan. |
| After-call write-up | Summaries with action items, clips, topic trackers, sentiment and talk-time analytics. | A summary, the goals you reached, next steps and a follow-up email to copy. Paid plan. |
| Speaker names | Names from the meeting platform. Bot-free desktop, mobile and uploaded recordings show Speaker 1, Speaker 2. | Suggested from clues in the call, like a name said aloud, with the reason shown. Voices you’ve confirmed before are named for you, and you can undo it. |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, web and a Chrome extension. | Mac only (Apple silicon, macOS 14.2 or later). |
| Languages | More than 100. English is primary; most others are in beta. | English plus 24 European languages. |
| Integrations | HubSpot, Salesforce, Affinity and other CRMs, dialers, and a claimed 100+ apps. | None yet. |
| Search or ask across meetings | Global search and AskFred across meetings. | Not yet. |
| AI training on your data | Its privacy policy says meeting content isn’t used to train AI models. | Nothing you record or write is used to train AI models. |
| Price | Pro is $18 per seat a month, or $10 a month billed yearly. | $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, for guidance and write-ups. |
| Free plan | Yes. For accounts made since 1 Sep 2026, unlimited transcription needs calendar auto-join; otherwise 3 meetings. | Yes. Recording, notes and transcripts. |
Fireflies prices are from its pricing page on 8 Oct 2026.
What Fireflies is
Fireflies is a cloud AI notetaker built for teams, especially in sales and recruiting. Its notetaker joins calls as a visible participant by default. A desktop app records without a bot, and Live Assist works during the call.
Where Fireflies is stronger
Fireflies covers a wide range of languages, meeting apps, phone dialers and integrations. Teams get search across every meeting, analytics on topics and talk time, and Live Assist answers drawn from a sales knowledge base. Its privacy policy says meeting content isn’t used for AI training.
Where Aside differs
Aside transcribes on your Mac and never uploads audio. Fireflies transcribes in the cloud. Aside also keeps each call’s audio, so you can play it back, and suggests speaker names in every call, where Fireflies’ bot-free recordings fall back to numbered speakers.
Help during the call
Live Assist answers questions you ask. Aside works from what you wrote before the call: your goals fill in as you cover them, one line suggests the next move, and your own answers appear when the topic comes up.
Questions
Can Fireflies record without a bot?
Yes. Its desktop app records without a bot, and its Chrome extension does on Google Meet. The bot is the default.
Which one transcribes on my computer?
Aside. It runs an on-device speech model on your Mac. Fireflies transcribes in the cloud.
Is Aside built for teams?
Not yet. Aside is for your own calls on your Mac. It has no shared workspace, integrations or search across meetings today.
Does Aside work on Windows?
No. Aside is a Mac app for Apple silicon Macs. Fireflies runs on Windows, the web and mobile.
Last checked 8 Oct 2026. Products change, so check each company’s pages before you decide.
Sources
Facts about Fireflies come from its own pages, read on 8 Oct 2026.