AI TranscribeAI Transcribe vs Fireflies: meeting bot or phone-first?
Fireflies is a meeting assistant first: its bot joins Zoom, Meet and Teams calls, and a web dashboard holds your team’s conversation archive. AI Transcribe is the opposite shape — everything happens on your iPhone.
TL;DR: Fireflies’ free plan advertises unlimited transcription, and the catch is storage: around 400 minutes per team (as of July 2026) before old transcripts squeeze out new ones, plus a 150-minute-per-file upload cap. Great for scheduled team calls; awkward for personal recordings. AI Transcribe handles files up to 3 hours with summaries, translations and to-dos in the app.
At a glance
| AI Transcribe | Fireflies | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | iPhone recordings & files | Meeting bot + team dashboard |
| Live recording | Yes, up to 2 h | Joins video calls; mobile records in person |
| File import | Audio & video, up to 3 h | Yes, max 150 min per file |
| Free tier | Trial (1 h/day limit) | Unlimited transcription, ~400 min storage/team |
| Paid | Pro, weekly or annual | Pro $10/mo annual ($18 monthly) |
| Speaker labels | Yes | Yes, with talk-time analytics |
| AI tools on transcript | 15+ | AI credits system (20/mo free) |
Choose Fireflies when…
- Your meetings are scheduled video calls and you want a searchable team archive.
- Talk-time analytics and CRM integrations matter.
Choose AI Transcribe when…
- Recordings happen in the room, on your phone — lectures, interviews, voice memos, WhatsApp audio.
- A 150-minute file cap is too small (imports run to 3 hours).
- You want the transcript summarized and translated in the same app, without a web dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fireflies really unlimited on the free plan? Transcription minutes, yes — but storage is capped (~400 min/team as of July 2026) and AI summaries burn limited monthly credits.
Can Fireflies transcribe without joining a meeting? Yes, via file upload (150 min/file max) — the workflow just assumes the web dashboard is home base.