Comparison

Oaken Notes vs Fireflies.ai

Q: Is Fireflies.ai private?

Fireflies.ai processes meeting audio in the cloud using AWS and GCP infrastructure in the United States. While Fireflies states they do not use personal information for AI model training, audio and transcripts are stored on their servers by default. Oaken Notes processes everything on your Mac — audio never leaves your device.

Q: Does Fireflies.ai use a bot in meetings?

Yes. Fireflies sends a bot called 'Fireflies.ai Notetaker' (fred@fireflies.ai) that joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams meetings as a visible participant. A desktop app offers 'botless' recording via system audio capture, but the default and most common mode uses a bot. Oaken Notes always captures system audio directly — no bot ever joins.

Q: Can I use Oaken Notes without creating an account?

Yes. Oaken Notes requires no account, no email address, and no sign-up. Download the app and start recording. Fireflies.ai requires Google or Microsoft account sign-in and calendar access to use its features.

Q: Which is cheaper — Oaken Notes or Fireflies.ai?

Oaken Notes Free includes unlimited meetings and transcription with 25 AI enhancements per month. Oaken Notes Pro is $9.99/month. Fireflies.ai's free tier limits you to 800 minutes of storage. Fireflies Pro costs $10/month (annual) or $18/month (monthly), with additional AI credit costs for advanced features.

Both transcribe and summarize your meetings with AI. Fireflies.ai sends a bot and uploads audio to the cloud. Oaken Notes keeps everything on your Mac.

The key difference

Fireflies.ai sends a bot named "fred" to join your meetings as a visible participant, records the call, and processes audio in the cloud (AWS/GCP). Oaken Notes captures audio from your Mac's system audio — no bot joins, and all processing happens on-device with Apple Intelligence.

Feature Comparison

	Oaken Notes	Fireflies.ai
Audio processing	On-device	Cloud (AWS/GCP)
Meeting bot	None	fred joins call
Account required	No	Yes
Data used for AI training	Never	No (per policy)
Works offline	Yes	No
Free tier transcription	Unlimited	800 min storage
Apple Intelligence	Yes	No
Conversation intelligence	No	Talk-time, sentiment, topics
Platforms	macOS	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
CRM integrations	No	Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive

Privacy & Data

Fireflies.ai processes audio in the cloud using AWS and GCP infrastructure in the United States. Their privacy policy (updated March 2026) states they do not use personal information for AI model training and contractually prohibit vendors from doing so. Fireflies offers configurable recording modes — summary-only or transcript-only — where audio is deleted after processing. Enterprise customers can opt for private storage. However, by default, audio, transcripts, and summaries are stored on Fireflies' cloud servers.

Oaken Notes takes a fundamentally different approach: there are no servers. Audio is processed on your Mac using Apple Intelligence and WhisperKit (on-device Whisper via CoreML). Transcripts and notes are stored locally in a SQLite database. Nothing is transmitted, uploaded, or shared — ever. No configurable modes or enterprise tiers are needed because the architecture itself guarantees privacy.

Pricing

Oaken Notes

Free — $9.99/mo

Free: unlimited meetings & transcription, 25 AI enhancements/mo
Pro: $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr — unlimited AI, iCloud sync

Fireflies.ai

Free — $39/mo

Free: 800 min storage
Pro: $10/mo annual ($18/mo monthly) + AI credits
Business: $19/mo annual ($29/mo monthly)
Enterprise: $39/mo annual

Note: Fireflies.ai charges additional "AI credits" for advanced features like AskFred AI chat. These credits are consumed per-use and may add to the total cost beyond the base plan price.

When to Choose Fireflies.ai

Fireflies.ai is a good fit if you need conversation intelligence (talk-time analysis, sentiment tracking, topic detection), multi-platform support across all major operating systems, team-wide meeting search with AskFred AI, or deep CRM integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. Its 100+ language transcription and extensive API make it well-suited for large, cross-platform sales and customer success teams.

When to Choose Oaken Notes

Choose Oaken Notes if you don't want a bot joining your calls, don't want your audio uploaded to the cloud, and don't want to manage yet another SaaS account. Oaken Notes is built for privacy-conscious professionals on macOS who want simple, reliable meeting transcription that works offline and never sends data anywhere. No minute caps on the free tier, no AI credit costs, no surprises.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fireflies.ai private?

Fireflies.ai stores audio, transcripts, and summaries in the cloud (AWS/GCP) by default. Their March 2026 privacy policy states they don't use personal data for AI training. However, your meeting content does pass through cloud infrastructure and subprocessors. Oaken Notes processes everything on your Mac — nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Does Fireflies.ai use a bot in meetings?

Yes. By default, Fireflies sends a bot called "Fireflies.ai Notetaker" ([email protected]) that joins your meetings as a visible participant. The desktop app offers a "botless" mode that captures system audio, but the standard and most-used approach involves the bot. Oaken Notes always captures system audio directly — no bot ever joins.

Can I use Oaken Notes without creating an account?

Yes. Oaken Notes requires no account, no email, and no sign-up. Download and start recording. Fireflies.ai requires Google or Microsoft account sign-in and grants the app access to your calendar.

Which is cheaper — Oaken Notes or Fireflies.ai?

Oaken Notes Free gives you unlimited meetings and transcription with 25 AI enhancements per month. Fireflies Free gives you 800 minutes of storage. Oaken Notes Pro ($9.99/mo) is comparable to Fireflies Pro ($10/mo annual), but Fireflies charges additional AI credits for features like the AskFred AI assistant, which can increase the effective cost.

Does Fireflies.ai work offline?

No. Fireflies.ai requires an internet connection for transcription and AI features since audio is processed in the cloud. Oaken Notes works fully offline using Apple Intelligence and WhisperKit for on-device transcription.