Fireflies.ai alternatives: 4 open-source picks
Fireflies.ai costs $18/mo — $216 a year. These 4 alternatives replace it for $0, led by Meetily, OpenWhispr and Speakr. All 4 are open source. License, stars and last commit checked by hand on 2026-08-29. No trials, no crippled tiers.
Privacy-first AI meeting note taker for macOS and Windows that transcribes and summarizes meetings entirely on your own machine — no bots joining calls, no cloud.
licenseMIT
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
One installer records meetings without a bot, labels speakers, summarizes them and keeps the archive searchable.
licenseMIT
runsyour machine or their cloud
installInstall the signed macOS DMG, Windows EXE or Linux package, grant audio/accessibility permissions and choose local, cloud or BYOK processing
enginesLocal Whisper via whisper.cpp; NVIDIA Parakeet and Nemotron via sherpa-onnx; local LLMs via llama.cpp; BYOK OpenAI, Groq, xAI, Mistral, Tinfoil, OpenRouter, Corti, Anthropic/Google and OpenWhispr Cloud
dataNotes and history in local SQLite with recordings/model caches in app directories; optional sync uses OpenWhispr Cloud/Neon PostgreSQL, while cloud or BYOK audio goes to the selected provider
the catch vs Fireflies.aiIt lacks Fireflies' mature managed bot and team analytics, while reliable capture depends on desktop audio permissions and routing.
setupMeeting capture needs OS audio permissions and a model download or cloud/API choice; macOS also needs Accessibility and Screen Recording/System Audio permission
facts verified 2026-08-11
A polished self-hosted call archive with transcription, summaries, search and chat; zero subscription, nonzero server.
licenseAGPL-3.0
runsyour server
installDownload the example Docker Compose and .env, add transcription/text-model credentials or endpoints, set the admin account and run docker compose up -d
enginesASR via self-hosted WhisperX, OpenAI transcription, Mistral Voxtral, AssemblyAI, VibeVoice or custom endpoints; LLMs via any OpenAI-compatible endpoint including OpenRouter, OpenAI, Gemini, LocalAI or Ollama
dataSQLite in the mounted instance directory, audio in mounted uploads or S3-compatible storage, and optional auto-exports such as Markdown and SRT files
the catch vs Fireflies.aiIt has no managed calendar bot or automatic conferencing integrations; capture, uptime and every external integration are yours to operate.
setupDocker is mandatory for the easy path, and the operator must supply API keys or deploy a separate GPU ASR container plus reverse proxy/TLS
facts verified 2026-08-11
State-of-the-art speech-to-text you can run locally — the engine behind most transcription startups.
licenseMIT
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
What each one is, in full: Meetily · Whisper
last updated 2026-08-29 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
how to choose a Fireflies.ai alternative
Easiest to get running
Meetily — a one-click install, no server to maintain.
Most proven
Whisper, with 75,000 GitHub stars — the largest community of the 4, which usually means more answers when something breaks.
Needs real ops to self-host
Speakr is capable but expects someone to run a server, updates and backups. Budget for that before choosing it.
what you give up by leaving Fireflies.ai
- native meeting bot reliability
- integrations with CRM/project tools
- team permissions
- shared topic tracking
- compliance controls
None of the picks above covers all of it. The full verdict says which gaps matter.
Fireflies.ai alternatives at a glance
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meetily | MIT | one-click install | self-hosted, web | 26,000 | 2026-08 |
| OpenWhispr | MIT | one-click install | macos, windows, linux | 5,223 | 2026-08 |
| Speakr | AGPL-3.0 | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 3,600 | 2026-07 |
| Whisper | MIT | docker to self-host | self-hosted, web | 75,000 | 2026-08 |
why people still pay for Fireflies.ai
They pay because the bot reliably appears, captures, files, and shares notes across the whole team. If none of that applies to you, any pick above saves $216 a year.
questions about switching from Fireflies.ai
Is there an open-source alternative to Fireflies.ai?
Yes: Meetily, OpenWhispr, Speakr and 1 more. Every tool on this page is open source: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Can open source really replace Fireflies.ai?
Our verdict is YES. Whisper (75k stars), Meetily (26k stars), OpenWhispr (5k stars) are mature open-source replacements for Fireflies.ai — self-host with docker and stop paying $18/mo. The full verdict, and what you give up by switching, is at caniopensourceit.online/fireflies-ai.
What is the easiest open-source Fireflies.ai alternative to set up?
Meetily — a one-click install, no server to maintain.
What is the most popular open-source Fireflies.ai alternative?
By GitHub stars, Whisper (75,000). Meetily is next with 26,000.
