Vowen vs Fireflies.ai.
Capture meetings without a bot.
Fireflies sends an AI notetaker into your calls to record and summarize them. Vowen captures meetings on your own machine — with an on-device option — and does dictation and voice commands too, on Mac and Windows.
Free forever for dictation. Mac and Windows. No account required.
At a glance. The short version.
Fireflies.aiVowenWhat Fireflies.ai does well. Credit where it is due.
Deep meeting integrations
Fireflies connects to Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams and pushes notes into CRMs, Slack, and Notion — great for sales and ops teams that live in those tools.
Searchable team knowledge base
It stores every meeting in a shared, searchable workspace with AI chat across past calls, which helps when a whole team needs one source of truth.
Full comparison. Everything, side by side.
| Feature | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms & capture | ||
| Mac & Windows desktop app | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| Captures meeting without a bot joining | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| On-device transcription | Fireflies.aiCloud | Vowen |
| Works offline | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| Scope & features | ||
| System-wide dictation | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| Meeting transcription & summaries | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| Speaker identification | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| Voice commands / actions | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| CRM / Slack / Notion integrations | Fireflies.ai | VowenSome |
| Custom vocabulary | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| AI & pricing | ||
| Bring your own AI key | Fireflies.ai | Vowen |
| Free plan | Fireflies.aiLimited minutes | VowenFull dictation + AI |
| Paid model | Fireflies.aiSubscription / seat | Vowen$49 one-time |
Considering other options too? See all Fireflies.ai alternatives.
Corrections
Setting the record straight.
A few comparison sites describe Vowen inaccurately. Here is what is actually true.
- Vowen captures the meeting on your own device, so no visible bot has to join the call to record it.
- Vowen can transcribe entirely on-device, so sensitive calls never have to be uploaded to a server.
- Vowen isn't meeting-only — the same app does system-wide dictation and voice commands in any app.
- Vowen is a one-time purchase with a free tier, not a per-seat monthly subscription.
Common questions.
Still deciding? Ask us anything.
Is Vowen a good Fireflies.ai alternative?
Yes — especially if you want to capture meetings without a bot joining the call, keep audio on-device, and use one tool for dictation as well as notes. Vowen runs on Mac and Windows with a free tier and a one-time upgrade. Fireflies remains strong if you need its deep CRM and workspace integrations.
What's the difference between Vowen and Fireflies?
Fireflies is a cloud meeting assistant whose AI bot joins your calls to record and summarize them. Vowen is a local-first desktop app that captures the meeting on your own machine, can transcribe on-device, and also handles system-wide dictation and voice commands.
Does Fireflies or Vowen keep my meetings private?
Fireflies processes audio in the cloud. Vowen can transcribe entirely on-device, so the audio stays on your machine, and it only sends text to an AI model when you explicitly enable cloud AI with your own key.
Does Vowen join my calls like Fireflies' bot?
No. Vowen captures the meeting audio locally on your computer, so participants don't see a separate notetaker bot appear in the call.
Try Vowen.
Free to install. No account needed. See if it fits your workflow.