Fireflies.ai vs tl;dv Comparison 2026
Fireflies joins a call and hands back a transcript with a summary and action items, free forever with unlimited transcription capped by 400 minutes of team storage, then $10 a month billed annually per seat. tl;dv records and transcribes in more than 30 languages with no cap on recording or transcription at all, even free, metering only the AI layer at 10 meetings of notes and 10 questions, then $18 a seat a month billed annually. tl;dv gives away more of the capture. Fireflies is the cheaper paid plan once the AI layer is what you actually want.
Meeting notes that write themselves
Recordings and notes from every call, free to start
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Fireflies.ai | tl;dv | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $18 | From $18 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Fireflies.ai
Meeting notes that write themselves
Fireflies joins a call, records it, and hands back a transcript and a summary with the action items pulled out, which turns a sponsor call into a record you can search later. The free plan gives unlimited transcription and an API, which is unusually generous. Storage is what it rations, and the free tier's 400 minutes covers a few weeks at most.
Only on this side
- Covers ai content tools
tl;dv
Recordings and notes from every call, free to start
tl;dv records Zoom, Meet and Teams calls, transcribes them in more than thirty languages and writes the notes, with the recording and the transcription uncapped even on the free plan. What the free plan meters is the AI on top: ten meetings of notes and ten questions. Paying removes that ceiling and adds templates, action items and a search across every transcript. This is aimed at calls rather than at published audio, so a podcaster wants a transcription service instead.
Our note
Stay on free until the ten AI-note meetings run out, because the capture is identical and most people discover they only want notes on a fraction of their calls. Compare against Grain on the free tiers rather than the paid ones: the two draw the free line in different places and which suits you depends on whether your calls are long or many.
Why people weigh these two
- tl;dv instead of Fireflies.ai
- tl;dv records every call and writes the notes, free to start and $18 paid, with clipping built around the recording.
- Fireflies.ai instead of tl;dv
- Fireflies.ai writes meeting notes automatically from $18 with a free tier.
Which one should you pick
Pick Fireflies if the AI summaries and action items are what you are paying for, at a lower annual price of $10 a month per seat. Its free tier is already generous on transcription itself, bounded by storage rather than call count.
Pick tl;dv if you take a lot of calls and want unlimited recording and transcription for nothing, since capture is uncapped even on the free plan. Paying is specifically about the AI layer once the ten free AI-note meetings a month run out. It is built around meetings rather than published audio, so a podcaster recording for release wants a proper recording tool instead.
Common questions
- Which is cheaper?
- Fireflies, on the annual-billed figures both quote: $10 a month per seat against tl;dv's $18. tl;dv does not publish a separate monthly-only price the way Fireflies does.
- Which free plan gives more room?
- tl;dv, on raw capture: recording and transcription are unlimited even on the free plan, in more than 30 languages. What it meters instead is the AI layer, 10 meetings of notes and 10 questions a month. Fireflies rations differently, by 400 minutes of team storage rather than a call count.
- Which one is built for podcasters publishing audio, rather than call notes?
- Neither, really, though tl;dv says so about itself directly: it is built around meetings and sounds like it, so a podcaster recording for publication wants a dedicated recording tool. Fireflies is also meeting-focused, aimed at a searchable record of calls rather than published audio.
- When should I stay on tl;dv's free plan rather than paying?
- Until the ten AI-note meetings a month run out, by its own guidance, since the capture itself stays identical whether you pay or not. Most people discover they only want AI notes on a fraction of their calls, worth checking before upgrading either tool.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.