Fireflies.ai receives generally positive feedback from users who appreciate its transcription accuracy of over 95% and automatic meeting integration capabilities. Users find it easy to use compared to other platforms and value its ability to provide meeting updates for sessions they cannot attend, along with features for organizing information from brain dumps. However, some reviews note that while the tool is solid overall, it has limitations and offers good customer support through live chat and email, though phone support is not available.

Granola users describe it as a must-have productivity tool that enhances focus during meetings by eliminating the need for manual note-taking. The platform receives high ratings with a 4.8 out of 5 score based on user reviews, with users praising its clean, simple interface and ease of use. The tool is available as a free option and appears to be positioned as a meeting productivity enhancement solution.

For more information, readers can explore these resources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Fireflies.ai operates as a cloud-based AI assistant that joins meetings via bot to record, transcribe, and summarize discussions across major platforms like Zoom and Teams. Users appreciate its ease of setup, accurate transcription quality, and quick delivery of action items and summaries after calls. However, some find the summaries too high-level and lose nuance, while transcription accuracy drops with heavy accents or technical jargon, and the interface can feel cluttered with excessive notifications.

Fireflies.ai works well for sales teams, large organizations, and users who need extensive platform coverage and don't mind a bot joining their calls. The tool offers a permanent free tier and strong CRM integrations, making it accessible for businesses focused on call analysis and team knowledge sharing. While it provides numerous integrations, the automation capabilities remain basic, primarily limited to logging notes to CRM systems rather than driving meaningful post-meeting workflows.

Granola takes a different approach as a Mac-based AI notepad that captures system audio without requiring bots in meetings. Users value its clean, Apple Notes-like interface and the ability to enhance their own brief notes with AI-generated structured summaries after meetings end. The main drawbacks include Mac-only availability, lack of mobile apps, and potential audio capture issues with certain meeting room hardware setups.

Granola suits individual professionals and Mac users who prefer discrete note-taking without meeting intrusion and want personalized, template-driven summaries. While it offers local processing and privacy benefits, it currently provides limited integrations beyond basic calendar sync and Notion export. Like Fireflies.ai, Granola focuses primarily on note generation rather than helping users act on meeting outcomes through robust automation or workflow integration.

Why users switch away from Fireflies.ai or Granola

Users switch away from Fireflies.ai due to transcription accuracy issues, particularly when dealing with heavy accents or technical jargon. Several G2 reviewers reported problems with misidentified speakers and missed slang, which can significantly impact the reliability of meeting records for teams that frequently work with diverse speakers or specialized terminology.

The summary quality presents another limitation that drives users to seek alternatives. Fireflies tends to generate high-level summaries that lose the original phrasing or tone of discussions. Users have expressed desire for more concise or nuanced summaries that better capture the specific context and nuances of their meetings rather than generic overviews.

Feature limitations on the free plan create barriers for users who need comprehensive functionality. Video recording is restricted to higher-tier plans, and the free version provides limited monthly meeting credits and summaries. Additionally, some users find the interface cluttered and report receiving too many email notifications, which can disrupt workflow efficiency.

Users switch away from Granola primarily due to platform limitations. The tool is currently Mac-only with no Windows support, which excludes a significant portion of potential users. Additionally, there are no mobile apps available yet, limiting access to notes and functionality when users are away from their desktop computers.

The pricing structure creates a barrier after the initial trial period. While Granola offers 25 free meetings, there is no ongoing free tier available. Users must commit to paid plans starting at $18/month for individual use, which may be cost-prohibitive compared to alternatives that offer permanent free options.

Integration capabilities are limited compared to other meeting tools. Granola provides only basic calendar sync and Notion export functionality, with HubSpot integration still in beta. The lack of extensive third-party integrations and absence of an automation engine restricts workflow connectivity that users may require for their existing business processes.

FAQs

Would Fireflies.ai work for in-person meetings? What about Granola?

Yes, Fireflies.ai works for in-person meetings through its mobile app, which can record in-person meetings and voice notes. Granola has partial support for in-person meetings - its Mac app can capture in-room audio locally, but there's no mobile app available yet (though it's listed as "coming soon").

Does either of these tools require a meeting bot to join the meeting?

Fireflies.ai requires a meeting bot - it sends an AI meeting assistant called "Fred" that joins as a bot participant in virtual meetings. Granola does not require a meeting bot - it runs on your computer and listens to meetings by capturing system audio without any meeting intrusion.

What do users say about the quality of transcriptions?

For Fireflies.ai, users generally report good transcription quality, even noting accuracy in other languages like Dutch. However, some users mention that transcription accuracy can decrease with heavy accents or technical jargon, and there are occasional issues with misidentified speakers or missed slang.

Users don't specifically comment on Granola's transcription quality in the available reviews, though they do praise the overall quality of the enhanced meeting notes it produces.

Do these tools help a user follow up with action items from the meeting? How so?

Both tools help with action items. Fireflies.ai delivers summaries and bullet-point action items within minutes after a call, and can automatically create tasks in tools like Asana and log notes to CRM systems.

Granola produces enhanced meeting notes with structured sections including "next steps" and offers an AI assistant that can help generate follow-up content, such as drafting email summaries of meetings.

Do these tools integrate with software like Hubspot, Salesforce, or Linear?

Fireflies.ai has extensive integrations, including native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, and dozens of other tools, plus Zapier connectivity.

Granola has limited integrations - it includes calendar sync and Notion export, with HubSpot integration currently in beta. No mention of Salesforce or Linear integrations.

Another alternative: Circleback

Circleback provides best-in-class AI-powered meeting notes and automations. We support over 100 languages and automatic participant identification in both in-person and online meetings.

• Automatically-identified and assigned action items

• AI-enabled search across all meetings

• Automations with 100+ app integrations

• Industry-leading security with SOC 2 Type II, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and HIPAA compliance

• Ability to capture both online and in-person meetings with desktop and mobile apps