Fireflies vs tl;dv: which AI meeting assistant to pick

Fireflies.ai and tl;dv are both AI meeting assistants: a bot joins your video call, records it, writes a transcript and produces a summary. Based on the material available, Fireflies is the broader and cheaper-to-start option, covering more platforms and languages, while tl;dv is a leaner tool aimed at sales and customer-success teams on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. The best pick depends on your platforms, languages, CRM and how strict your privacy needs are.

Updated: November 2026

What each tool is

An AI meeting assistant (also called an AI notetaker) is software that joins or listens to your online meetings, turns the audio into text (a transcript) and uses AI to write notes, action items and answers to questions about what was said. Both tools in this guide do that, but they position themselves differently.

According to Fireflies' own comparison page, Fireflies presents itself as a general meeting-intelligence platform for sales, recruiting, operations and other teams, with search across your meeting history through an assistant called AskFred and a library of automations it calls AI Skills. The same page describes tl;dv as a sales-focused recorder built for revenue and customer-success teams, with emphasis on CRM updates, sales playbooks and coaching.

One honest caveat before going further: that page is written by Fireflies, so it naturally favours Fireflies, and its statements about tl;dv are a competitor's description. Treat the numbers below as a starting point and confirm the ones that matter to you on each provider's site, ideally with a trial on a real meeting.

Supported meeting platforms

Platform coverage is the first filter, because a notetaker that cannot join your calls is useless. Per the Fireflies page, its bot auto-records on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Webex, plus more than ten other conferencing platforms. The same page says tl;dv's bot records on Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams only, and that its desktop app can extend recording manually to other platforms, without the automatic bot joining.

In practice this means: if everyone in your company uses Zoom, Meet or Teams, both tools cover you. If you take calls with clients on Webex or other less common tools, Fireflies' wider list matters, and tl;dv would need you to start the recording yourself from the desktop app.

Transcription and languages, including Spanish

Fireflies says it transcribes in more than 100 languages, claiming 99% accuracy in English and 95% or more in the others, with automatic language detection and the ability to switch language mid-meeting. These are the vendor's own accuracy claims, and real accuracy depends on audio quality, accents, jargon and people talking over each other.

The same page says tl;dv transcribes in more than 30 languages on its default model, and that its Business plan adds a model called Whisper for higher quality and multi-language support. The page does not list individual languages, so if you work in Spanish, check that Spanish is supported on the plan you intend to buy, and run a test meeting with your own accents and vocabulary before committing. Multilingual teams, such as a Madrid office talking to a London one, are where the gap in coverage is most likely to show.

Summaries, search and AI features

Both tools generate AI summaries, according to the Fireflies page. The differences are in what happens afterwards.

• Fireflies: AI Skills (the page says 200+) that run after a call, such as extracting action items, filling CRM fields, flagging deal risks or pushing summaries to Slack. AskFred lets you ask questions across your meeting history, and, per the page, Slack threads, emails and CRM data. The page also mentions voice agents that run automated calls, which sit outside the core notetaking job.
• tl;dv: AI summaries and role-specific prompt templates. The Fireflies page says tl;dv has no equivalent of cross-meeting knowledge search, so verify that claim on tl;dv's own site if search across past calls is important to you.

Fireflies also notes that each AI Skill uses one AI credit per meeting it runs, so heavy automation can consume credits. That is a detail worth checking before you build workflows around it. In my opinion, most teams need only three things from this category: a reliable transcript, a summary with action items, and the ability to find what was said last month. Extra automation is nice but only valuable if someone actually maintains it.

CRM and app integrations

A CRM (customer relationship management system) is the database where sales teams track customers and deals; connecting a notetaker means call notes land in the right record automatically. Per the Fireflies page, Fireflies connects natively to Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive on paid plans, and lists more than 240 integrations including Notion, Asana, Jira, Slack and Greenhouse, plus access through an API, Zapier and MCP (a standard way for AI tools to connect to other software).

The same page says tl;dv has eight native CRM integrations, including HubSpot and Salesforce, and that all of them are limited to its Business plan. That is a pricing and packaging point, not a quality one: if CRM sync is the reason you are buying, check which plan unlocks it, because it changes the real cost.

Privacy, security and consent of the people recorded

Security certificates and consent are different questions. On certificates, the Fireflies page says both tools have SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance, that Fireflies also lists HIPAA and FERPA (US rules for health and student data) and ISO/IEC 42001, and that tl;dv does not list HIPAA or FERPA. It also says Fireflies does not use customer data to train AI models, and that tl;dv states the same. Verify these on each provider's security page, especially if you handle health, education or other regulated data.

Consent is on you, not the tool. Recording laws differ by country and, in some places, by state, and some require every participant to agree. A bot that appears in the participant list is a visible signal, but that is not the same as permission. My practical advice, framed as general good practice rather than legal advice:

• Tell people before the meeting that a recording and transcript will be made, and say why.
• Let guests object, and be ready to turn the bot off or take notes by hand.
• Avoid recording sensitive conversations such as HR cases, legal matters or medical details unless you have a clear basis and a policy.
• Decide who can see transcripts and how long they are kept.

Fireflies says its Recording Rules let you always record meetings from a given email domain or skip meetings whose title contains a word such as "confidential". Rules like that are useful, but automatic joining across a whole calendar can also record things you did not intend, so review the defaults.

Free and paid plans

The prices below are as stated on Fireflies' comparison page, which lists both vendors' plans. Because that page is written by Fireflies, check tl;dv's figures on tl;dv's own pricing page.

• Free: Fireflies is $0 with unlimited transcription and transcript storage. tl;dv is $0 with lifetime limits that never reset: full AI notes for the first 10 meetings, 10 AI prompts in total, and recordings kept for three months.
• Pro / Individual: Fireflies is $10 per user per month billed annually, or $18 month-to-month. tl;dv is $18 per seat per month billed annually, or $29 month-to-month.
• Business / Team: Fireflies is $19 per user per month billed annually, or $29 month-to-month. tl;dv is $29 billed annually, or $39 month-to-month.
• Enterprise: Fireflies is $39 per user per month billed annually. tl;dv is custom.

The page also says video recording is included from Fireflies' Business plan upward, while tl;dv includes it on its free plan. If you want to keep video, not just text, that point matters.

Side-by-side summary

Prices checked in November 2026 on the pages cited; they change often, check the provider's page before you pay.

How to choose

Start from your constraints, not from the feature lists:

1. Platforms. List every tool your team and clients use for calls. Anything beyond Zoom, Meet and Teams favours Fireflies.
2. Languages. Test your real languages, Spanish included, on a trial meeting. Do not rely on a headline number.
3. Where notes should go. If they must land in a CRM, find the cheapest plan that includes that connector on each tool.
4. Regulated data. If you need HIPAA or FERPA, the Fireflies page lists them for Fireflies and not for tl;dv; confirm in writing with the provider.
5. Volume. tl;dv's free plan has lifetime limits, so it works as a trial rather than a permanent free tier. Fireflies' free tier is more generous on transcription.

Limits and risks to keep in mind

No notetaker is a perfect record. AI transcripts mishear names, numbers and technical terms, and summaries can drop nuance or state something as agreed when it was only floated. Read the summary before it goes to a client, and treat it as a draft.

There are also social risks. People speak more guardedly when they know a bot is listening, and a bot that joins automatically can surprise external guests. Stored transcripts become a data-protection responsibility: who can search them, and what happens when someone leaves the company? Finally, remember that much of the comparison data here comes from one vendor, so independent testing on your own calls is the only reliable way to settle close calls.

How to get started

Pick one recurring, low-risk meeting, such as a weekly team sync, and run both free plans on it for two weeks. Announce it to participants first. Compare the transcripts for accuracy in your language, check whether the summaries capture decisions and owners, and see how easy it is to find a past topic. Only then connect a CRM or other apps, and only then decide whether a paid plan earns its seat price.

Verdict by use case

These are my recommendations, based only on the facts above.

• Multilingual or international teams: Fireflies, given the larger stated language coverage, but test your language first.
• Calls on Webex or other platforms: Fireflies, since tl;dv's bot is limited to three platforms.
• Regulated sectors (health, education): Fireflies looks closer to your needs on listed certifications; verify them directly.
• Sales team on Zoom, Meet and Teams: either works; tl;dv fits if coaching and playbooks matter and you are happy to pay for its Business plan to get CRM sync. Fireflies offers CRM sync at a lower stated plan.
• Tight budget: Fireflies' free plan and lower entry price, with tl;dv's free plan best treated as a trial.
• You want to keep video recordings for free: tl;dv, per the page.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fireflies better than tl;dv?

Fireflies' own page says yes, but it is a biased source. On the facts it lists, Fireflies covers more platforms, languages and integrations at a lower entry price, while tl;dv is narrower and aimed at sales. Which is better for you depends on your platforms, languages and CRM.

Do both support Spanish?

Fireflies says it supports more than 100 languages and tl;dv more than 30, but the page does not name them. Confirm Spanish on each provider's language list and test it with your own meetings.

Do I need permission to record a meeting?

Often yes. Rules vary by country and region, and some require everyone's consent. The safe habit is to tell participants in advance, give them a chance to object and follow your organisation's policy. Ask a lawyer if you are unsure.

Can I use the free plans for a whole team?

Probably not for long. tl;dv's free plan has lifetime limits and, per the page, no team access. Fireflies' free plan offers unlimited transcription, but features such as CRM sync and video recording need paid plans.