Fireflies AI alternatives for Mac, with no bot and no auto-join

For a Fireflies AI alternative that never joins a call by itself, Koi records your Mac only when you say yes, and keeps the transcript and a video of the screen there. Fathom has a bigger free plan, Otter and tl;dv suit teams, Granola AI and Jamie take notes with no bot, and MacWhisper stays local.

Fireflies AI (fireflies.ai, the meeting assistant, not the insect) is a team note taker: its bot joins Zoom, Meet, Teams and more, and a desktop app and a Chrome extension record without it. It has CRM sync, file uploads, a team library and transcription in 100+ languages, with English first and many in beta, on its pricing page.

We make Koi, so it's first below. It does less than Fireflies for a team: no speaker names beyond You and Them, no CRM, no shared library, no file uploads, no free plan, and Mac only. Facts about the others are from their own sites, checked October 16, 2026.

• Your sales or ops team needs calls in the CRM without anyone copying them over.
• You upload recordings and files to transcribe, not just live calls.
• You want every speaker named, and a library the whole team can search.
• You want your notes on the web and on your phone, not just one Mac.
• Free is enough: transcription with 400 minutes of storage per team.

Fireflies also now offers free dictation in its desktop app, called Talk. If that and team notes are all you need, it's hard to beat on price.

The fresh complaint is joining. Fireflies has 4.5 out of 5 from 856 reviews on Trustpilot, so most people are happy. But a review from October 7, 2026 says the Mac desktop app kept trying to join every call on Google Meet, Zoom and WhatsApp even with auto-join off, and another from October 3 describes a “0 meetings left” upgrade prompt after three meetings. One or two reviews aren't proof, but they match a common worry: a note taker that decides for you.

The rest comes from Fireflies' own pricing page:

• Free storage is 400 minutes per team, and Pro's is 8,000 minutes per seat. Unlimited storage starts on Business.
• Free AI summaries are limited.
• Video is unclear: the pricing cards list video recording on Pro, but the FAQ calls it a Business feature, at $29 a seat a month or $19 yearly.
• Every call goes to Fireflies' cloud to become text.

From each company's own site, checked October 16, 2026.

Fireflies is built for a team that shares its calls. Koi is built for one person who wants to keep theirs. That decides most of it.

Fireflies wins on named speakers, the team library, CRM and Zapier sync, file uploads, the web and phone apps, more languages and a free plan. Koi wins on where things live and who decides: the transcript is made on your Mac, the video of every call is kept there on every plan, nothing joins or starts without you, and nothing from a recording goes online unless you ask for it. Koi also does dictation in any app, an In person mode for meetings in the room, and live captions of the other side in your language on macOS 26 and later.

It depends on where you and the others are, and some places require everyone to agree. Fireflies' bot shows up in the participant list. Koi doesn't announce itself to the call, so ask at the start. This isn't legal advice.

Courts are starting to weigh in on note takers. Brewer v. Otter.ai, a proposed class action filed in August 2025, alleges Otter's Notetaker recorded people without their consent, per NPR. It's an allegation, not a ruling, but it's a good reason to say “mind if I record this?” whatever app you use.

• Nothing joins, nothing starts without you, and the video stays on your Mac? Koi.
• A bigger free plan, with video? Fathom.
• Team transcripts and CRM sync, with a bot-free app? Otter.
• No bot ever, notes in your words? Granola AI.
• Free video recording with EU storage? tl;dv.
• Files and meetings transcribed on your Mac? MacWhisper.

Every bot-free option is in our best AI note takers for Mac. To try Koi, Pro starts with a 3-day trial: see the plans.