Fireflies is a popular notetaker with a long list of integrations. But its free plan keeps 400 minutes of storage per team and gives only "Limited" AI summaries, per its pricing page. Past that, you pay per seat, every month.
Off Grid AI Desktop (OGAD) Pro takes the same notes on your own computer. No bot, no storage cap, one payment. The transcript and summary are written on your machine and stay on your disk.
Get Pro for $79.99 once · Download Off Grid AI
Off Grid AI and Fireflies side by side
| Off Grid AI Pro | Fireflies.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| How it joins calls | Records your computer's audio; no bot | Fireflies Notetaker bot, or the desktop app without one |
| Where meetings are kept | Your disk | Your Fireflies account; Enterprise can choose a private storage location |
| Storage | Your disk, no cap | Free: 400 minutes per team. Pro: 8,000 minutes per seat |
| AI summaries | All included | Free: limited. Pro and up: unlimited |
| Your data trains their models | No | "We don't train on it by default" |
| Price | $79.99 once, or $7.99 a month | Pro $10 a seat a month billed yearly, or $18 monthly |
| Computers | Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux | Mac and Windows apps, plus web, iOS and Android |
Checked 30 October 2026 against Fireflies' pricing and security pages and its desktop app guide. Off Grid AI's price is a limited-time lifetime offer, down from $119.
What it costs over three years
| 1 year | 3 years | |
|---|---|---|
| Fireflies Pro, billed yearly | $120 | $360 |
| Fireflies Business, billed yearly | $228 | $684 |
| Off Grid AI Pro, lifetime | $79.99 | $79.99 |
Fireflies prices are per seat. OGAD Pro is per person, and one key covers up to 5 of your devices.
The bot, and the bot-free mode
By default, Fireflies sends its Notetaker bot into your Zoom, Meet or Teams call. Fireflies now has a desktop app for Mac and Windows that records system audio without the bot. Its help guide says that mode "does not save audio or video files". You get the transcript and summary in your Fireflies account.
OGAD never joins the call either. It sees that a Zoom, Teams or Google Meet call has started and records two tracks: the call's audio and your microphone. For a meeting in a room, press Record meeting. The difference is where the work happens. With local models, the recording never leaves your computer.
What you get after the call
When you stop, a local Whisper model writes the transcript. A local text model then writes:
- a summary of the call,
- the decisions made,
- the follow-ups, with who owes what.
Fireflies counts AI work in credits; its pricing page lists 20 AI credits on the free and Pro plans. OGAD has no credits. You can ask about a call as often as you like, because the model runs on your hardware.
Meetings are one part of Pro
Fireflies is a meeting service. Off Grid AI Pro covers your working day on your own hardware:
- Memory. Screens, meetings, mail and documents in one local memory you can search and ask.
- Actions you approve. Replies and issues through Gmail, Linear, Jira and Notion. Nothing runs without your yes.
- God, your chief of staff. A morning brief, meeting prep with last time's notes, and what people owe you.
- Reflect. Time by project, app and person, without timers.
- Vault, Clipboard and Sync. Encrypted secrets, a searchable clipboard, and your devices in sync without a server.
When Fireflies is the better pick
Fireflies is built for teams. It has shared channels, team analytics, conversation intelligence and a large set of integrations. It records on any laptop because its servers do the work, and it has phone apps. OGAD needs a computer that can run a speech model; most Apple silicon Macs and recent PCs can, and the app shows which models fit.
If your sales team needs shared call libraries and CRM sync, Fireflies does that well. If you want your own calls private and paid for once, use OGAD. Also see how OGAD compares with Otter, Fathom and Granola.
Switch in ten minutes
- Download OGAD for Mac, Windows or Linux.
- Get Pro and enter your key in the app.
- In Models, download a transcription model and a text model.
- Allow microphone and screen-audio access, then join a short test call.
- Open Meetings and check that both voices reached the transcript.
Tell the people in the call that you're recording, as you would with any notetaker.
FAQ
What is a cheaper Fireflies.ai alternative?
Off Grid AI Desktop Pro records and summarizes meetings on your own computer. On 30 October 2026 it costs $79.99 once for lifetime access, a limited-time price, or $7.99 a month. Fireflies Pro is $10 a seat a month billed yearly, or $18 month to month.
Can Fireflies record without its bot?
Yes. The Fireflies desktop app for Mac and Windows can record system audio without the bot. Its help guide says that mode does not save audio or video files. Off Grid AI never uses a bot.
Does Fireflies train on my meetings?
Fireflies' security page says it does not train on customer meeting data by default. Off Grid AI does not train on your meetings; with local models they never leave your computer.
How much storage does the Fireflies free plan include?
The Fireflies pricing page lists 400 minutes of storage per team on the free plan. Off Grid AI stores meetings on your own disk, so the only limit is your disk space.
Does Off Grid AI work with Zoom, Teams and Google Meet?
Yes. Off Grid AI Desktop detects Zoom, Teams and Google Meet calls and records the call audio and your microphone as two tracks. For an in-person meeting, press Record meeting.
Get Off Grid AI Pro and keep every call on your own disk.
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