Savory vs Fireflies, without the strawman.
Fireflies is the archetypal meeting bot: it joins the call as a participant, records in the cloud, and offers a deep team workspace on top. Savory is the architectural opposite.
The key differences
Bot or no bot
Fireflies sends a notetaker bot into the participant list. Savory captures the call on your Mac with no bot in the room.
Where the audio lives
Fireflies stores recordings in its cloud. Savory processes audio on device and never stores it.
What it is built around
Fireflies is a team conversation-intelligence pipeline. Savory is a private, people-centric notebook for the meetings you actually attend.
| Privacy and architecture | Savory | Fireflies |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription runs on your device | Yes | No |
| Audio never stored, anywhere | Yes | No |
| Works fully offline | Yes | No |
| No bot joins the call | Yes | No |
| Speaker separation / diarization | Yes | 1Yes (see note 1) |
| Identifiers scrubbed before any AI summary | Yes | No |
- 1Fireflies and Otter separate speakers in their cloud, and capturing a call for them means a bot in the room. Savory separates speakers on your device, with no bot.
| People and follow-through | Savory | Fireflies |
|---|---|---|
| A page per person, not a pile of meetings | Yes | Partial |
| Two-way action-item ledger, per person | Yes | No |
| Relationship cadence and last met, automatic | Yes | No |
| More than a meeting recorder | Savory | Fireflies |
|---|---|---|
| Unified Google and Apple calendar, record any event | Yes | No |
| Built-in Markdown notebook (Notes mode) | Yes | No |
| Separate academic space for lectures (Student mode) | Yes | No |
| Where cloud tools still win | Savory | Fireflies |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-device sync | Yes | Yes |
| Team sharing and workspaces | No | Yes |
| Windows and web apps | No | Yes |
Reflects publicly documented behavior as of July 2026. Corrections welcome via the contact page.
Where each tool wins
Where Savory wins
- No bot ever joins the call; capture happens quietly on your Mac.
- Audio is processed on device and never stored anywhere.
- Every meeting rolls up onto the pages of the people who were in it.
- Works offline, with identifiers scrubbed before any AI summary.
Where Fireflies wins
- Team conversation intelligence, analytics, and CRM sync.
- Runs on Windows and in a browser, not only on Apple hardware.
- Shared team workspaces and admin controls.
Pricing, side by side
The Savory app is free. Here is what each plan includes.
Savory
- Free$0the whole app on your device, forever
- Pro$19.99 a monthAI summaries and action items, first 30 days free
No card to use the app. Cancel Pro anytime.
Fireflies
- Free$0400 minutes of storage per team
- Pro$18 per seat a monthvideo and 8,000 minutes per seat
- Business$29 per seat a monthunlimited storage and team analytics
Fireflies pricing as observed July 2026. Tell us if it has changed.
You do not have to switch to find out
No import, no migration, no lock-in. Run Savory alongside Fireflies and keep whichever earns the habit.
1Download Savory, free
The whole app on your Mac, no card. Nothing to cancel later.
2Record your next real meeting
Capture happens on your device, with no bot in the room and nothing uploaded.
3Keep Fireflies as long as you like
Nothing to export and nothing to migrate. Run both until Savory has earned the switch.
Savory vs Fireflies, answered straight
Not with Savory. It captures the call on your Mac with no bot in the participant list. Fireflies sends a notetaker bot into the meeting.
Not with Savory. Audio is processed on device and never stored. Fireflies keeps recordings in its cloud.
No. Savory starts fresh from your next meeting on. Your Fireflies history stays in Fireflies.
Fireflies is built around team conversation intelligence and CRM sync. Savory is built around your own people library on your own hardware.
No. Transcription and organization run offline.
Try the private one first. It's free.
If the architecture argument lands, the download settles it.
Free forever · 30-day Pro trial · macOS 26+ and iOS 26+