tl;dv vs Fireflies.ai 2026: Features, Pricing, Verdict

The short answer: Choose Fireflies.ai if you want the broadest integrations, 100+ languages and the cheaper paid entry ($10 per seat per month billed annually). Choose tl;dv if you want EU data hosting, clip sharing and sales-coaching agents, and a free plan that keeps recordings for 3 months. Both join calls with a bot by default and both now offer a bot-free mode; if you want no bot and no vendor cloud for transcription, Hedy is the alternative to look at.

The two tools used to be easy to tell apart: tl;dv was the clip-sharing recorder and Fireflies was the sales-analytics platform. That is no longer true. tl;dv has added AI agents, multi-meeting analysis and sales coaching, and Fireflies has added live notes. This comparison uses the product facts we re-checked against each vendor’s documentation on October 14, 2026. For a scorecard across all 13 of our rating criteria, see the tl;dv vs Fireflies.ai comparison.

At a glance

The bot experience

Both tools default to a virtual participant that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, shows up in the attendee list and records the call. For internal meetings that is usually a non-issue. For external calls, it is worth telling the other side in advance, because some people speak more guardedly once a recording bot is in the room.

Both now offer ways around it. tl;dv has a botless recording mode. Fireflies has a bot-free Chrome extension for Google Meet and a bot-free desktop app. In both cases the bot is still what you get unless you change the setup, and both process audio in the vendor’s cloud either way.

AI features

tl;dv now goes well beyond summaries and highlights. Its AI agents run after a meeting and can draft follow-ups, update deals in HubSpot or Salesforce and create tasks. Multi-meeting intelligence aggregates analysis across hundreds of calls, and sales coaching scores reps against MEDDIC, BANT and SPIN playbooks. Clip sharing, its original selling point, is still there: highlight a moment, cut a clip and send a link.

Fireflies.ai offers topic detection, action items, sentiment and talk-time analytics, search across your whole meeting history and AskFred for questions about any meeting. It also shows live notes during the call. Advanced AI features draw on a metered AI credit pool on top of the seat price, so heavy users should check what their plan includes.

On raw capability the two are closer than the old “simple versus deep” framing suggests. Our ratings give both the same score for AI analysis and for integrations. The difference is where the features sit: tl;dv’s sales-intelligence stack is on its Business tier ($29 per user per month annual), while Fireflies’ CRM sync is available from its paid plans.

Integrations and languages

Fireflies has the longer integration list: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Slack, Notion, Asana, Trello and more, plus an API. tl;dv covers Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce and others, and includes an MCP server, API and webhooks from Pro.

Language coverage is a cleaner decider: Fireflies supports 100+ languages (some in beta), tl;dv 30+.

Pricing

Compare annual with annual. Fireflies Pro is $10 per seat per month billed annually or $18 monthly; its Business plan is $19 annual or $29 monthly. tl;dv Pro is $18 per user per month billed annually or $29 monthly, and Business is $29 annual or $39 monthly. Fireflies is cheaper at each paid step, but its AI credit system means heavy AI use can cost more than the seat price suggests.

On free plans, tl;dv is the more generous: unlimited recordings and transcription plus AI notes for 10 meetings, though recordings are deleted after about 3 months. Fireflies’ free plan limits transcription and storage.

Privacy and data handling

This is where the two differ most, and the old “identical architecture” line missed it. Both are cloud tools, and both say they do not train AI on your meetings. But tl;dv keeps recordings in the EU, which matters for GDPR-minded teams, while Fireflies runs on a US cloud and is named in Illinois biometric privacy (BIPA) litigation, where a motion to dismiss is pending. Our consent rating is 3 for tl;dv and 2 for Fireflies. For a wider look at who trains on what, see Do AI note takers train on your data? and our fact sheet.

Consider Hedy if you do not want a bot or a vendor cloud

If the deciding factor is what happens to the conversation rather than which dashboard you prefer, neither tool is built for that. Hedy captures system audio on your own computer, so no bot joins the call and it works with any meeting app. Speech recognition runs on your device, and on supported hardware the AI does too, so nothing has to leave your machine. It also records in-person meetings from a phone or Apple Watch and gives live coaching suggestions during the call. The trade-off is integrations: Hedy has no native CRM connector and reaches Salesforce or HubSpot through Zapier, its API or webhooks. See Fireflies.ai vs Hedy or the bot-free note takers guide.

Which should you choose?

Choose Fireflies.ai if: you run a sales or customer-facing team that wants CRM sync, 100+ languages and the lowest paid entry price. See our best note takers for sales teams and sales team guide.

Choose tl;dv if: you need EU hosting, want clip sharing for product or research work, or want sales-coaching scorecards and CRM agents and can budget for the Business tier.

Choose neither if: a bot in the call or cloud processing is a problem for your meetings. Start with the privacy guide. Also see Otter.ai vs Fireflies.ai and Fathom vs Fireflies vs Otter.