QuietScribeA private, on-device Fireflies.ai alternative for Mac
Fireflies.ai captures meetings by sending a bot to join the call and storing everything in its cloud. If you'd rather your conversations never leave your machine, QuietScribe records and transcribes on your Mac — same automatic notes, no bot, no upload.
The core difference: no bot, no cloud copy
Fireflies.ai works through a meeting-assistant bot ("Fred") that joins your calls and records to your cloud workspace, where storage is metered in minutes per seat. To Fireflies' credit, it does not train its AI on your data by default and holds GDPR and SOC 2; HIPAA, private storage and custom retention are reserved for the Enterprise plan.
QuietScribe takes a different approach entirely: it captures your Mac's microphone and system audio locally and runs open-source models (whisper.cpp and Gemma) on-device. Nothing joins your call, and no meeting content is uploaded for processing — the strongest privacy posture is simply not sending the data anywhere.
QuietScribe vs Fireflies.ai at a glance
| QuietScribe | Fireflies.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Processing | On your Mac (local) | Vendor cloud |
| Audio uploaded | No | Yes, via bot |
| Bot in the meeting | None | Fred bot joins |
| Trains AI on your data | Never (not uploaded) | No, by default |
| Free tier | Free private beta | 800 min storage/seat, no AI summaries |
| Paid pricing | $10/mo, one Mac | $10 Pro / $19 Business / $39 Enterprise (per user, annual) |
| Storage / minutes | Unlimited, on your disk | 8,000 min/seat Pro; unlimited on Business |
| HIPAA / private storage | On-device by design | Enterprise plan only |
| Note destinations | Obsidian, Apple Notes, Notion | In-app, CRM, integrations |
| Platforms | macOS (Apple Silicon) | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome |
| Team & CRM features | No | Yes |
Based on Fireflies.ai's publicly listed 2026 pricing and policies; details can change — confirm on fireflies.ai.
Choose QuietScribe if…
- You want meetings kept on your own device, with no bot appearing in the call.
- You want a flat price for one Mac and unlimited recording, not per-seat plans.
- You keep notes in Obsidian, Apple Notes or Notion as Markdown you control.
Stick with Fireflies.ai if…
You need a shared team workspace, CRM push, conversation analytics, mobile and web access, or Windows support across many seats. QuietScribe is intentionally a single-Mac, single-user tool focused on privacy.
Try the private, local alternative — free beta
See also: Otter.ai alternative · Private AI meeting notes overview