now recording vs fireflies.ai

The structural difference: cloud service vs. on-device

Most feature comparisons between meeting tools miss the architectural decision that drives everything else. Fireflies.ai is a cloud service. To capture a meeting, its notetaker bot (Fred) joins the call as a visible participant, or the Fireflies app records on your machine — either way, the audio is sent to Fireflies' servers, where transcription, speaker identification, and AI summarization happen. Your recordings live in Fireflies' cloud, which is why storage minutes (400 on the free plan, 8,000 per seat on Pro) are the real billing axis even though transcription itself is unlimited.

now recording inverts this. The Whisper speech-recognition model runs directly on your device — on WebGPU in your browser, or in the iOS app. Recording, live transcription in 29 languages, speaker identification, and the high-accuracy polish pass all execute locally. There is no bot, no calendar connection, and no audio upload. Because it captures whatever your microphone and system audio hear, it works identically with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or an in-person conversation — there is nothing to integrate.

This difference cascades into everything else on this page: pricing (no cloud GPU bill to pass on), privacy (no server to subpoena or breach for audio), and limitations (no video recording, fewer cloud-powered team features).

Privacy: where does your audio actually go?

With Fireflies, your meeting audio is recorded and processed on Fireflies' infrastructure. The company publishes security documentation and offers HIPAA compliance on its Enterprise plan ($39/seat/month, billed annually, as of June 2026), which is a meaningful commitment. But structurally, a recording of your conversation exists on someone else's servers, governed by their retention policies, their security posture, and their terms of service. Every attendee's voice is in that recording, whether or not they use Fireflies.

With now recording, audio never leaves your device — not for transcription, not for speaker identification, not for storage. This is not a policy promise; it is an architectural property you can verify: open your browser's DevTools network tab during a recording and observe that no audio is transmitted. There are no audio files on now recording's servers because the product has no mechanism to upload them.

One precise caveat, because honesty requires it: when you request an AI summary, the transcript text (never the audio) is sent to an LLM API to generate the summary. If you skip AI summaries, nothing leaves the device at all. Pro's cloud backup and cross-device sync also handle transcript text only — audio is never synced or stored server-side. If your meetings involve legal, medical, financial, or otherwise sensitive conversations, this distinction — text you choose to send vs. audio that is always uploaded — is the most important line in this comparison.

Pricing compared (as of June 2026)

Fireflies Pro costs $18/month, or $10 per seat per month billed annually. Business is $29/month or $19/seat/month annually, and Enterprise is $39/seat/month, annual billing only. These prices are per seat, so a five-person team on Business annual pays $95/month. Source: fireflies.ai/pricing, verified June 12, 2026.

now recording Pro costs $8/month, or $5/month billed annually, with a 7-day free trial. Pro adds unlimited AI summaries, cloud text backup and cross-device sync, full-text search across meetings, and public share links. An "Ask your meetings" AI Q&A feature is in development but not yet shipped — do not buy on its account.

The price gap is not generosity; it reflects cost structure. Fireflies pays for cloud transcription, audio storage, and video processing on every meeting. now recording's transcription runs on your hardware, so the marginal cost of a recorded meeting is near zero, and the subscription mainly covers AI summaries and text sync.

Free tiers compared

Fireflies' free plan advertises unlimited transcription, and that is technically accurate — but storage is capped at 400 minutes per team. Once you hit roughly seven hours of stored meetings, old recordings have to go to make room. For a team with daily standups and weekly syncs, that is a few weeks of history. The free plan also excludes video recording and limits AI summaries.

now recording's free tier has no recording or transcription cap: unlimited recording, unlimited live transcription in 29 languages, on-device speaker identification, the high-accuracy polish pass, and Markdown export — all without an account. Because transcripts are stored on your own device, there is no storage meter to run down. The free limits that do exist are on AI summaries: 3 per month without an account, 10 per month signed in.

If your goal is a free tool you can use indefinitely without hitting a wall, the storage model is the deciding factor. If your goal is to trial a team-wide cloud workflow before paying, Fireflies' free plan is a reasonable on-ramp to its paid tiers.

What Fireflies does better

Fireflies is the stronger product for revenue teams and managers who live in other tools. It offers deep integrations — CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, plus Slack, Notion, and task managers — so call notes flow into existing systems automatically. now recording has no integrations; you get Markdown export and public share links, and anything beyond that is manual.

Fireflies records video on paid tiers (2-hour limit on Pro, 3-hour on Business, 4-hour on Enterprise), which matters if you review demos, share clips, or need to see screen shares in context. now recording does not capture video at all.

Fireflies is also more mature as a team platform: conversation intelligence, talk-time analytics, team workspaces, admin controls, SSO and SCIM on Enterprise, and 100+ transcription languages on paid plans versus now recording's 29. Its mobile apps are more established than now recording's newer iOS app, and there is no Android app for now recording at all. If you need any of these, Fireflies is the better choice and the higher price is justified.

What now recording does better

Privacy is the headline: audio is processed and stored only on your device, with no bot in the meeting and no server-side recordings. For regulated industries, client-confidential work, or simply meetings where a visible "Fred" joining the call would change the conversation, this is a category difference, not a feature difference.

Friction is the second advantage. The web version requires no install, no account for the free tier, no calendar access, and no per-platform setup — it works with any meeting software, or no meeting software, because it captures locally. Fireflies requires an account, and its bot workflow generally involves calendar connection and meeting invitations.

Cost is the third. At $8/month ($5 annual) versus $18/month ($10 annual), now recording Pro is less than half the price for the individual-user core: unlimited transcription, unlimited AI summaries, search, sync, and sharing. What you give up for that price — video, integrations, team analytics — is real, and the previous section lists it without hedging.

frequently asked questions

Does now recording really never upload my audio?

Yes. Transcription, speaker identification, and the accuracy polish pass all run on your device — Whisper on WebGPU in the browser, or in the iOS app. You can verify this in your browser's DevTools network tab while recording: no audio leaves the machine. The one exception involves text, not audio: if you request an AI summary, the transcript text is sent to an LLM API. Pro's backup and sync also handle text only. Audio is never stored on now recording's servers.

Is Fireflies' free plan actually unlimited?

Transcription is unlimited, but storage is capped at 400 minutes per team (as of June 2026, per fireflies.ai/pricing). After about seven hours of stored meetings, you must delete old recordings or upgrade. now recording's free tier stores transcripts on your own device, so there is no storage cap; its free limits apply only to AI summaries (3/month without an account, 10/month signed in).

Will meeting participants see a bot join the call?

With Fireflies, usually yes — its notetaker bot (Fred) joins as a visible participant. With now recording, no: it captures audio locally on your device, so nothing joins the meeting. In either case, you remain responsible for complying with consent and recording-notification laws in your jurisdiction.

Does now recording work with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams?

Yes — and with any other meeting software, phone call on speaker, or in-person conversation. Because it records locally from your device's audio rather than joining the meeting, there is no per-platform integration, nothing to install on the web version, and no calendar access required.

Which one records video?

Only Fireflies. Its paid tiers record video with per-meeting limits: 2 hours on Pro, 3 on Business, 4 on Enterprise (as of June 2026). now recording captures audio and produces transcripts only. If you need video replays or screen-share review, choose Fireflies.

What happens to my meetings if I cancel my subscription?

With now recording, your transcripts live on your device, so canceling Pro ends sync, search across meetings, and unlimited AI summaries, but your local data stays yours and free recording and transcription continue. With Fireflies, your recordings live in its cloud and are governed by its plan limits and retention policies — downgrading to free puts you back under the 400-minute storage cap.