Do I need a bot to record with Fireflies?

Bot joins meetings, or no-bot desktop capture

Can Epilude meeting notes stay fully local?

Choose local transcription and local summaries separately. Local summaries need a 16GB+ Apple Silicon Mac and are slower and less capable than cloud summaries. Cloud summaries send transcript text even when audio was transcribed locally.

Does Epilude identify every speaker by name?

No. It distinguishes your microphone from other participants and supports manual labels. Do not rely on automatic named identification.

Choose the capture mode, then compare the meeting workspace.

Compare Epilude Notetaker and Fireflies for meeting capture, transcription, summaries and where your notes are processed.

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The short answer

Fireflies offers both bot and no-bot capture. Epilude captures directly on Mac and organizes notes locally. Compare what each Fireflies capture mode saves, then decide whether a team cloud workspace or a local notes library fits your day.

Documentation reviewed September 30, 2026. This is a comparison of documented features, not a hands-on quality benchmark. Plans and availability can change.

Epilude vs Fireflies

Feature
Bot-free capture	Microphone and system audio on Mac	Bot joins meetings, or no-bot desktop capture
Transcription	Cloud default or local on Apple Silicon	Cloud service
Summaries	Cloud default; local requires separate selection and 16GB+ Apple Silicon	Cloud service
Notes and exports	Editable summaries, citations, decisions/actions; Markdown and PDF	Team workspace and integrations; saved media depends on capture mode
Speakers	Your side vs others, with manual labels	Bot can label names; no-bot capture uses generic labels
Other voice workflows	Dictation and Narrator	Meeting workspace; other workflows not assessed
Epilude plans	$12/month billed annually ($144/year). $59 Pay Once for supported local features, with one year of updates.	Free and paid plans; recording, storage and team limits vary

Bot-free capture

Epilude: Microphone and system audio on Mac
Fireflies: Bot joins meetings, or no-bot desktop capture

Transcription

Epilude: Cloud default or local on Apple Silicon
Fireflies: Cloud service

Summaries

Epilude: Cloud default; local requires separate selection and 16GB+ Apple Silicon
Fireflies: Cloud service

Notes and exports

Epilude: Editable summaries, citations, decisions/actions; Markdown and PDF
Fireflies: Team workspace and integrations; saved media depends on capture mode

Speakers

Epilude: Your side vs others, with manual labels
Fireflies: Bot can label names; no-bot capture uses generic labels

Other voice workflows

Epilude: Dictation and Narrator
Fireflies: Meeting workspace; other workflows not assessed

Epilude plans

Epilude: $12/month billed annually ($144/year). $59 Pay Once for supported local features, with one year of updates.
Fireflies: Free and paid plans; recording, storage and team limits vary

Features checked 2026-09-30. “Not established” means the reviewed sources do not confirm support; it is not a claim that a feature is absent.

Key differences

A bot is optional

Fireflies has desktop no-bot capture. It is inaccurate to treat the whole product as bot-only.

Saved media depends on capture

Fireflies documents audio/video recordings for bot capture; its no-bot route saves transcripts and notes instead. Speaker labels also differ between those routes.

Processing and destination

Epilude offers a local library and separate transcription/summary choices. Fireflies suits a cloud workspace integrated with team workflows.

Where Fireflies is the better pick

Fireflies is the better fit for teams that want meeting material in a shared cloud workspace and integrations. Choose the capture route deliberately: recording and speaker behavior are not identical.

Choose Epilude if

You want a Mac notes library with Markdown and PDF exports
You want separately configurable local transcription and summaries
You also use Dictation or Narrator

Choose Fireflies if

You want team integrations and a cloud meeting workspace
You need a choice of bot and desktop capture

Writing, meeting notes and reading in one Mac app

Choose where each step runs

Local Dictation needs Apple Silicon; full local AI Cleanup needs 16GB+. Cloud Actions still sends selected text and instructions. Notetaker defaults to cloud transcription and summaries. To keep both local, choose each separately; local summaries need a 16GB+ Apple Silicon Mac and are slower and less capable. Narrator’s EP-1 voice generates speech locally; cloud voices send text. Fetching links uses the network, and web sharing uploads text and audio.

Data handling Local summary tradeoffs Narration sharing

Try each workflow

The trial includes 1,000 dictation words, 10 meeting notes and 5 minutes of cloud narration, with independent allowances, no card and no time limit. Pro is $12/month billed annually ($144/year), including 60 cloud-voice minutes per calendar month. Pay Once is $59 for supported local features on Apple Silicon and includes one year of updates; ongoing cloud use requires a trial or Pro entitlement. Local voice generation is unmetered.

Compare plans and hardware requirements