Fireflies.ai vs Vexa (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Fireflies.ai: it is first in our ranking of AI meeting note takers, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.0.
Checked Oct 4, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Fireflies.ai grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Fireflies.ai
Meeting notetaker that records, transcribes and summarizes calls
Vexa
Open-source meeting bot API with real-time transcription
Which one is for you
Pick Fireflies.ai if
- Fits if your team wants every call transcribed and searchable in one place
- Works for sales or recruiting calls that need logging to a CRM or applicant tracker
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, since 400 minutes of storage is shared by the whole team and there are no downloads or video
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $18 a seat for Pro against $10 on the yearly plan
- Not for you if you lean on AI Skills and soundbites, as plans include a one-time credit allowance and packs start at $5 a month
- Watch out: every teammate added counts as a paid seat, and team analytics need Business at $19
- Watch out: the Business trial needs a card, and SSO, SCIM and HIPAA are Enterprise only at $39 a seat yearly
Pick Vexa if
- Fits if you are building meeting transcripts into your own product
- Works for developers who want to host the code themselves
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want summaries and action items, as the output is transcripts and a dashboard
- Skip it if you do not want to run code or servers, as it is developer-facing
- Watch out: API usage is $0.30 an hour for the bot and $0.20 more for transcription
- Watch out: the Individual seat includes one concurrent bot
- Tight if you need shared workspaces, which are described as early, self-hosted features
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAFireflies.aiVery good | 2.0GPAVexaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $10 a seat a month billed yearly, which is exactly the middle of this category, and $18 if you pay monthly. Conversation analytics need Business at $19, and every teammate you add counts as another paid seat. | COpen source is free only if you host it yourself. Hosted is $12 a seat a month, the middle, with usage at $0.50 an hour. |
| Free plan and trial | CTranscription is unlimited, but storage is 400 minutes for the whole team. AI summaries are limited too, and you can't download a transcript or record video. Dictation with Fireflies Talk is included free. | CNo free plan: new accounts get $2 of bot credit with no card, about 4 hours, and the open-source edition is self-hosted. |
| Features | ATwo things here its rivals don't do: notes come either from a bot in the call or from your computer's own audio with nothing showing in the meeting, and an MCP server hands your meeting history to Claude or ChatGPT. The rest is the full job, plus AskFred over old calls and free dictation into any app. | CMeeting bot API, real-time transcripts, an MCP server, webhooks, recording and a dashboard. It stops at the transcript, with no summaries. |
| Ease of use | A4.8 from about 5,200 App Store ratings, the top band. Connect your calendar and the notetaker joins your meetings without being asked. | DNo store rating on record. It is an API and a self-hosted edition, so it needs developer setup. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, connecting to Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Asana and dialers like Aircall, with an MCP server that opens your meetings to Claude and ChatGPT. | BWeb, an API and an MCP server, with Meet, Teams, Zoom, Claude Code and n8n. No desktop or phone app is listed. |
| Best for | teams that want every call searchable | an open-source meeting bot API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Fireflies.ai and Vexa. How we grade
Price against what you get
Fireflies.ai starts at $10 a month for each person and scores 4.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Vexa starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 2.0.
Fireflies.ai scores higher and starts $2 a month lower. Of the other AI meeting note takers on the chart, none scores higher than Fireflies.ai for less, and 34 score higher than Vexa for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Vexa is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Fireflies.ai also covers dictation and chat assistant.
- Vexa also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Fireflies.ai | Vexa | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $10 per seat / month, billed annually | $12 per seat / month |
| Free plan | Unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits. Transcript downloads and video recording need a paid plan. | Open-source edition, free to self-host with community support. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of the Business plan, once per account; a credit or debit card is required. | New accounts get $2 of free bot credit, no card needed, about 4 hours of transcribed meetings |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Fireflies.ai Corp. | Vexa.ai Inc. |
| Price read from | fireflies.ai | vexa.ai |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Fireflies.ai
- The Free plan stores 400 minutes per team, limits AI summaries and does not include transcript downloads or video recording.
- AI Skills, custom summary sections and soundbites draw on AI credits; plans include only a one-time allowance and extra packs start at $5 a month.
- Conversation intelligence starts on Business. SSO, SCIM and HIPAA compliance are Enterprise only, and Enterprise is billed annually.
- Every teammate added to a workspace counts as a paid seat on paid plans.
Vexa
- It is developer-facing; the output is an API, transcripts and a dashboard rather than polished summaries.
- API usage is billed per bot-hour: $0.30 for the bot and $0.20 more for transcription.
- The Individual seat includes one concurrent bot.
- Shared workspaces and agents are described as early, self-hosted features.
Key features
Fireflies.ai
- Notetaker bot or bot-free capture
- Invite the Fireflies notetaker to a call or let it auto-join meetings on your calendar. The desktop app can instead take notes from device audio with no bot in the meeting.
- Transcripts and AI summaries
- Every plan includes unlimited transcription, and paid plans add unlimited AI summaries with an overview, notes and action items. Fireflies lists support for 100+ languages.
- AskFred and Live Assist
- AskFred is an AI assistant for questions about meeting content. In the desktop app, a floating Live Assist pane shows notes, the transcript and AskFred during the call.
- Fireflies Talk dictation
- Hold a key and speak to dictate text into any app from the desktop app. Fireflies says this is free and unlimited on every plan, including Free.
- Conversation intelligence
- Business and Enterprise add analytics on team and individual conversations. Free and Pro do not include them.
- Integrations and MCP server
- Connects to CRMs, project tools, applicant tracking systems and dialers such as Aircall and RingCentral. An MCP server exposes meeting data to assistants like Claude and ChatGPT.
Vexa
- Meeting bot API
- One API call sends a bot into Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Zoom; the transcript is fetched over REST.
- Real-time transcripts
- Transcripts arrive while the meeting is running, with speaker names, over WebSocket, in the language set for each meeting.
- MCP server
- Claude Code, Codex and other MCP clients can read live meeting data through the Vexa MCP server.
- Webhooks and recording
- Signed events fire when a meeting starts, ends or fails, and meeting audio is stored and fetched over the API.
- Self-hosting
- Deploy with Docker Compose, Kubernetes or OpenShift and run your own transcription model so audio stays on your network.
- Dashboard
- An open-source web dashboard shows bots, transcripts and meetings, and can be forked and customized.
Plans
Fireflies.ai
Free$0
Unlimited transcription and limited AI summaries, with 400 minutes of storage per team and 20 AI credits.
Pro$10
per seat / month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly)
Unlimited AI summaries, 8,000 minutes of storage per seat, video recording, and transcript and recording downloads.
Business$19
per seat / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
Unlimited storage plus team and individual conversation intelligence.
Enterprise$39
per seat / month, billed annually only
Adds SSO and SCIM, HIPAA and FERPA compliance, with volume discounts as the team grows.
Vexa
Open source$0
Apache 2.0 licensed; you host it yourself on your own infrastructure, with community support.
Individual$12
per seat / month
One person and their agents over MCP; one concurrent bot, unlimited meetings and 12-month audio storage.
Build on Vexa$10
one-time top-up, used as you go
Pay as you go for the API with unlimited bots; $0.30 per bot-hour, $0.50 with real-time transcription.
EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosted in your own cloud with dedicated support, volume pricing and a security and data-residency review.
Ways to pay less
Fireflies.ai
- Annual discount
Save up to 44% with annual billing
Fireflies' pricing page says annual billing saves up to 44%: Pro is $10 instead of $18 per seat a month, and Business is $19 instead of $29.
- Education
10% off paid plans for students
Fireflies' help center lists a 10% discount on Pro, Business or Enterprise for students, on monthly or yearly plans. It is claimed by emailing support from a school address.
- Nonprofit
10% off paid plans for NGOs and nonprofits
The same help article lists a 10% discount on Pro, Business or Enterprise for NGOs and non-profit organizations, requested by emailing support from the organization's email domain.
Vexa
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Fireflies.ai or Vexa?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Fireflies.ai is cheaper to start with: $10 a month for each person, against $12 a month for each person for Vexa. Fireflies.ai starts at $10 per seat / month, billed annually, and Vexa starts at $12 per seat / month.
Which has a free plan, Fireflies.ai or Vexa?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Fireflies.ai and Vexa have a free plan.
Which platforms do Fireflies.ai and Vexa run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Fireflies.ai lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.