User reviews of Fireflies.ai indicate it is considered a solid transcription tool with over 95% accuracy that automatically joins and transcribes virtual meetings. Reviews highlight that it has good customer support through live chat and email, though phone support is not available. Users find it easier to use compared to other similar platforms and utilize it for various purposes including breaking down brain dumps, getting meeting updates, and general meeting assistance, with the platform maintaining a 4.2 rating based on 184 reviews.

Read.ai user reviews reveal significant concerns about the platform's security and user control features. Users report that the service continues to join calls without approval even after account deletion, raising privacy and security issues. The platform has received a notably low 1.7 rating from 61 reviews, with many users reportedly leaving the service due to these ongoing problems.

For more detailed information about these platforms, readers can explore 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Fireflies.ai offers a straightforward AI meeting assistant that joins calls via bot to record, transcribe, and summarize discussions across major platforms. Its strengths include ease of setup, reliable transcription quality, and quick post-meeting summaries with action items. However, users report that summaries can be too high-level and transcription struggles with accents or technical jargon, while integrations remain basic despite covering popular tools.

Read.ai positions itself as a more comprehensive meeting copilot, providing not just transcription but also engagement analytics, sentiment analysis, and real-time insights. It offers advanced features like speaker balance metrics, attention scores, and cross-meeting AI search capabilities. The tool's complexity can overwhelm users with a cluttered interface, while its limited free tier and higher pricing may deter smaller teams.

Fireflies.ai suits teams seeking simple, reliable meeting documentation without complexity, particularly those prioritizing ease of use and cost-effectiveness. Small businesses, sales teams, and individuals who want basic transcription and summaries will find it most valuable. Read.ai targets organizations focused on meeting optimization and analytics, appealing to larger teams, consultants, and managers who need deeper insights into meeting dynamics.

Both tools offer standard integrations but lack sophisticated automation engines that could truly streamline post-meeting workflows. While they excel at capturing and summarizing meeting content, neither provides robust mechanisms for automatically executing the action items or decisions they identify. Users often find themselves manually transferring insights to other systems, limiting the tools' ability to fully transform meeting productivity.

Why users switch away from Fireflies.ai or Read.ai

Users switch away from Fireflies.ai due to limitations in transcription accuracy, particularly when dealing with challenging audio conditions. The platform struggles with heavy accents and technical jargon, with several users reporting issues where speakers are misidentified or slang terms are missed during transcription. This impacts the reliability of the core functionality that users depend on for meeting documentation.

The AI-generated summaries provided by Fireflies.ai often lack the nuance and conciseness that users require for effective meeting follow-up. Users report that the summaries tend to be high-level and occasionally lose the original phrasing or tone of discussions, making them less useful for capturing the specific details and context that occurred during meetings.

Feature limitations on the free tier drive users to seek alternatives that offer more comprehensive functionality without requiring paid upgrades. The free plan restricts access to advanced features like video recording, which is only available on higher-tier plans, and limits monthly meeting credits and summaries. Additionally, some users find the interface cluttered and receive excessive email notifications, creating usability friction in their daily workflow.

Users switch away from Read.ai primarily due to its restrictive free tier that limits users to only 5 meetings per month with full notes. This constraint forces users to upgrade to paid plans much earlier than with competitors that offer more generous free allowances, making it less accessible for individuals or small teams testing the platform.

The complex and cluttered user interface creates a steep learning curve that deters users seeking straightforward meeting transcription tools. With numerous features including notes, analytics, engagement metrics, and search functions all competing for attention, some users find the platform "confusing" and less time-saving than expected, preferring simpler alternatives that focus on core transcription functionality.

Privacy concerns around consent and meeting etiquette drive users to seek alternatives, particularly after warnings in forums like Reddit about the boundary issues of joining others' meetings with Read.ai without explicit permission. Additionally, the higher pricing structure, with Pro plans at $19.75 per user monthly and Enterprise at $29.75, positions Read.ai at the expensive end of the market, deterring cost-conscious small teams.

FAQs

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

Yes, both tools work for in-person meetings. Fireflies.ai has a mobile app that can record in-person meetings and voice notes. Read.ai also supports in-person meetings through its iOS app, which can capture in-person/offline meetings with one tap.

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. Read.ai does not require meeting bots - it records virtual meetings via cloud or extension, and can capture offline audio via its mobile app.

What do users say about the quality of transcriptions?

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

For Read.ai, users consider the summaries "smart" and appreciate that it captures questions asked and topics discussed effectively. The tool supports real-time translation and works well across 16+ languages.

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

Yes, both tools help with action item follow-up. Fireflies.ai delivers summaries and bullet-point action items within minutes after a call, and can auto-log notes to CRM systems and create tasks in tools like Asana.

Read.ai generates reports with key points and action items after meetings, and has an AI "Copilot" that provides summaries and auto-syncs notes to CRM systems. It can also automatically send meeting summaries to Slack and sync with documentation tools.

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

Yes, both offer extensive integrations. Fireflies.ai has dozens of native integrations including HubSpot, Salesforce, and Slack, plus Zapier connectivity.

Read.ai also has robust integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Confluence, Jira, Notion, and Slack, among others.

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