Introduction

Choosing the right tool for taking notes in meetings is crucial for your business. It can help you work more efficiently and get more done. At Circleback, we understand this need and strive to provide the best solution. In this article, we'll compare Circleback and Fireflies.ai to help you understand the unique strengths of each.

Overview of Circleback

At Circleback, we're committed to making your meetings more actionable and efficient. We record your virtual meetings and provide detailed, customizable summaries. With a clean and simple design, advanced search features, and an integrated feature for follow-up emails, we aim to streamline your meetings and help your team stay on track.

Overview of Fireflies.ai

Fireflies.ai is another tool in this space. It joins your meetings, takes notes, and provides insights. With many integrations and features, Fireflies.ai offers a comprehensive solution for managing meetings. It's also cheaper, with a free plan and a starting price of $18/month compared to Circleback’s $25/month.

Feature Comparison

Let's look at the main features of Circleback and Fireflies.ai:

1. Cost: Fireflies.ai is has a starting price of $18/month vs Circleback at $25/month.

2. Quality of Notes: At Circleback, we provide detailed, customizable summaries of your meetings. This means you get all the information you need without having to read through long transcripts or listen to long recordings. Fireflies.ai also gives you meeting notes. Some users find them a bit short, but they come with extra features like talk time analysis.

3. Design: We pride ourselves on Circleback's simple, clean design. Fireflies.ai has more features in its design, which some users find too busy, but others might like because it gives them more insights.

4. Follow-Up Email: Both Circleback and Fireflies.ai send follow-up emails. Our email at Circleback includes all the information from the meeting so everyone has the information they need post-call. Fireflies.ai's email sends users to their website for all the information, creating more steps.

5. Search Features: At Circleback, we offer great search features for finding information from past meetings. Our search works like ChatGPT where you can ask questions like "what did Moody say his budget & top challenges were?" or "who told me they wanted campaign optimizations by Friday?” Fireflies.ai also has a search feature, which some users find a bit better than basic search but not as advanced as they would like.

Data Storage: A Key Consideration

For businesses, especially those in Canada, where data is stored can be a big factor in choosing a meeting management tool. This is because of rules and privacy laws that say certain types of data must be stored within the country.

Fireflies.ai currently stores data only in the United States. While this may be fine for many businesses, it could be a problem for Canadian companies that need to make sure their data is stored within Canada.

In contrast, at Circleback, we offer data storage in both the United States and Canada. This flexibility lets us meet the needs of more businesses, including those in Canada that have specific data storage requirements.

Who Should Use Which Tool?

Fireflies is a good fit for larger organizations and teams, as well as for individuals who prefer having an audio recording.

Circleback is better for more agile teams, including project managers, salespeople, agencies, investors, and administrative staff at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees.

Unique Benefits of Using Circleback

At Circleback, we offer benefits that go beyond just taking meeting notes. Here's how we can make a real difference in your day-to-day work:

1. Save Time: With our detailed, changeable summaries, you don't have to spend time reading through long transcripts or listening to long recordings. Plus, our automatic follow-up emails save you the work of putting together and sending out meeting notes yourself.

2. Stay Focused: By recording and summarizing your meetings, we let you stay fully involved in the meeting instead of being distracted by taking notes. This can lead to better discussions and decisions.

3. Move Projects Forward: Our summaries highlight action items, helping to make sure that everyone knows what they need to do next. This can help keep projects moving forward and stop tasks from being forgotten.

4. Increase Accountability: Our automatic follow-up emails serve as a record of what was talked about and agreed on during the meeting, helping team members stay accountable.

5. Find Information Easily: With our great search features, you can quickly find the information you need from past meetings. This can be especially helpful when you need to remember a specific discussion or decision.

6. Change Your Summaries: Our meeting assistant lets you change your summary and email in any way you want, giving you control over how your meeting information is shared.

Conclusion

Both Circleback and Fireflies.ai offer useful features for taking meeting notes, each with their own strengths.

If you value detailed notes, a clean design, and effective follow-up emails, Circleback could be the right choice for you.

If you're looking for a cheaper solution with more ways to work with other tools and extra features like talk time analysis, Fireflies.ai could be a great fit.

The best way to find out which tool is better for you is to try them both.