Fireflies covers every platform and has real transcription quality — but its privacy record is the roughest in the category, built on persistent voiceprints and a bot that is hard to be rid of.
| Fireflies.ai | TinyScribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Bot joins your call | Joins your call | None — never joins your call |
| Processing | Cloud transcription with voiceprint-based speaker identification | Transcription on-device, summaries via Apple Private Cloud Compute |
| Account required | required | None |
| Training on your data | opt-out | None |
| Price | $10/mo (limited free tier free) | $49.99 one-time (Free for 30 meetings) |
| Cost over 3 years | $360 | $49.99 |
| Platforms | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | macOS 27+, Apple silicon |
Prices checked August 2026.
Transcription happens on your Mac using Apple's SpeechAnalyzer — fully on-device, fully offline. Summaries are the one thing that leaves your Mac: they go through Apple's Private Cloud Compute, where Apple states nothing is stored and nothing is used for training.
There is no bot. TinyScribe only captures what happens on your own Mac — no meeting invite, no third party joining your call to listen in.
TinyScribe is a one-time purchase, not a subscription: $49.99 once, free for the first 30 meetings, no recurring bill.
When Fireflies is the better choice: your team needs a bot that joins Zoom, Meet, and Teams equally, or you need CRM/Slack integrations TinyScribe doesn't offer. TinyScribe never fingerprints a voice across sessions.
See how TinyScribe stacks up against other Fireflies.ai alternatives: Best Fireflies.ai alternatives for Mac