Sujith S

Posted on Mar 7

Meetily: The Open-Source, Self-Hosted Alternative to Fireflies.ai

#opensource #productivity #discuss #devto

Introduction

AI-powered meeting assistants have transformed how teams transcribe, summarize, and organize meeting notes. While solutions like Fireflies.ai offer cloud-based services, some teams prefer self-hosted alternatives for greater control, data privacy, and flexibility.

Meetily is an open-source, privacy-first, and self-hosted alternative that allows users to transcribe and summarize meetings locally, ensuring full data ownership. Developed by Zackriya Solutions, Meetily is currently in pre-release and evolving based on community feedback and user needs.

1.1K GitHub Stars
360+ Downloads
Growing Open-Source Community

🔗 GitHub: Meetily AI Meeting Assistant

🌐 Website: Meetily Official Site

📌 Latest Release: Check Here

🔗 Discord: Join Our Channel

Why Consider a Self-Hosted Alternative to Fireflies.ai?

Fireflies.ai is a widely used AI meeting assistant for transcribing and summarizing meetings, integrating with platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. However, some users seek alternatives due to:

Data Privacy & Compliance – Cloud-based storage may not be ideal for sensitive data.
Subscription-Based Pricing – Paid plans start at $10 per seat/month, scaling up to $39 per seat/month for enterprise features.
No Self-Hosting Option – Some teams prefer on-premise solutions for better control and customization.
Limited AI Model Customization – Fireflies.ai provides built-in AI summarization, but does not allow users to choose their own Large Language Models (LLMs).

Meetily addresses these concerns by providing a free, open-source, and self-hosted solution that runs locally on your hardware.

Meetily vs. Fireflies.ai: A Quick Comparison

Feature	Meetily (Self-Hosted & Open-Source)	Fireflies.ai (Cloud-Based SaaS)
Data Privacy	100% Local & Open-Source	Cloud-Based (Third-Party Storage)
Cost	Free (Self-Hosted) / Paid (Hosted Option)	Starts at $10/month per user
Customization	Fully Customizable AI Models	Limited Customization
LLM Summarization	Local LLMs (Ollama, Llama 70B) or API Support	Fireflies AI Summaries
Platform Support	Windows, Mac OS	Cloud-Based, No Local Execution
Best For	Self-hosting, privacy-conscious users	Teams that don’t require full data control

Both Fireflies.ai and Meetily offer great transcription and summarization features, but Meetily is an excellent choice for teams looking for a self-hosted and privacy-focused AI meeting assistant.

Meetily's Key Features

1. Privacy-First & Self-Hosted

Unlike Fireflies.ai, Meetily runs locally on your system, keeping meeting data private.

2. Free & Open-Source

Licensed under MIT, Meetily is completely free for self-hosted users, with no subscription fees.

3. Real-Time Transcription

Uses Whisper.cpp, one of the most advanced speech-to-text AI models, for high-accuracy transcriptions.

4. AI-Powered Meeting Summaries

Supports both:

Local LLMs (Ollama, Whisper.cpp)
External AI APIs (Claude, Groq, Llama 70B)

5. Works on Windows & Mac OS

Meetily runs locally on desktops without requiring an internet connection.

6. No Auto-Join Meeting Bots

Unlike Fireflies.ai, Meetily does not require bots to join meetings, making it more privacy-friendly.

Pre-Release 0.0.3: Added Windows Support

A new release is available!

What's New?

Windows Support: Fixed audio capture issues on Windows
Improved Error Handling: Better error handling and logging for audio devices
Enhanced Device Detection: More robust audio device detection across platforms
Windows Installers: Added both .exe and .msi installers
Transcription quality improved
Bug fixes and UI improvements

About Zackriya Solutions

Meetily is developed by Zackriya Solutions, a technology company specializing in AI-powered solutions, open-source development, and privacy-first applications.

The company focuses on building AI-driven productivity tools, automation solutions, and MVP development services for startups and enterprises.

Learn more at Zackriya Solutions.

How to Install Meetily (Pre-Release Guide)

Frontend Installation

Windows Installation

Download the latest version from GitHub Releases.
Windows may warn about running an untrusted app. Click More info → Run anyway.
To bypass this warning:
- Right-click on the installer (.exe)
- Select Properties
- Check Unblock at the bottom of Properties

Option 1: Using the Setup Executable (.exe) (Recommended)

Download meeting-minutes-frontend_0.1.0_x64-setup.exe and install.

Option 2: Using the MSI Installer (.msi)

Download meeting-minutes-frontend_0.1.0_x64_en-US.msi and install.

macOS Installation

Download dmg_darwin_arch64.zip, extract it, and open meeting-minutes-frontend_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg.
Drag meeting-minutes-frontend.app to Applications.
Run in Terminal:

xattr -c /Applications/meeting-minutes-frontend.app

How to Contribute to Meetily

Fork the Repository
Create a New Branch (git checkout -b feature-name)
Make Your Changes
Commit & Push Your Changes
Create a Pull Request to the devcontest branch

Introducing Subscription – Hosted Backend Option

For those who don’t want to self-host, Meetily will offer a hosted backend option to allow users to run the service 24/7 without managing infrastructure.

Why Subscribe?

No need for self-hosting – We handle everything for you.
Scalability – Run the service continuously without infrastructure management.

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