Notabium vs Fireflies.
Fireflies built a business on the bot model. It is convenient. It is also a participant everyone sees and a recording everyone notices. Here is where Notabium fits, and where Fireflies still wins.
The 60 second answer
- Pick Fireflies if your team is heavy in CRM workflows, you want a bot that auto joins every meeting in your calendar, and you are okay with the bot being visible to every participant.
- Pick Notabium if you want recording without a bot by default, you want the audio on your machine, and you want bot mode as a Pro+ feature you opt into per meeting rather than the default.
Fireflies' approach
Fireflies' core product is a calendar bot called Fred. You connect your Google or Microsoft calendar and Fred joins every meeting matching your rules. The audio is captured by the bot, sent to Fireflies' servers for transcription, and the result lands in your Fireflies dashboard. CRM integrations push the summary into Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever you use.
This is great when it works. The friction is the bot. Every meeting attendee sees "Fred" or "Fireflies Notetaker" in the participant list. In external sales calls, customer interviews, and any meeting with people outside your company, that bot is a conversation point and sometimes a deal blocker.
Notabium's approach
Notabium runs on your laptop. The audio is captured there, transcribed there, summarised there (or via your own API key). Nothing about the meeting itself changes. No participant added, no recording notice, no link to your CRM unless you trigger it.
If you want a bot for meetings you cannot attend, Pro+ bot mode does that. The bot is opt in per meeting, identifies itself in the participant list, and routes through Meeting Baas. You can also schedule it for recurring meetings (always record the Monday standup) without forcing the bot into every other meeting on your calendar.
Pricing
| Fireflies Pro | Fireflies Business | Notabium Pro | Notabium Pro+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $18 | $29 | $12 | $24 |
| Yearly (effective monthly) | $10 | $19 | $8 | $16 |
| Free tier transcription | 800 min lifetime | 800 min lifetime | unlimited | unlimited |
| Bot included | always on | always on | no (opt in) | yes, 20 hrs/mo |
Where Fireflies wins
- Calendar driven automation. Once configured, Fred joins everything. You do not have to think about it.
- CRM integrations. Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, all mature.
- Voice search across many meetings. Their "AskFred" is genuinely useful for sales teams.
Where Notabium wins
- No bot by default. Most meetings stay normal.
- Audio stays on device by default.
- Two thirds of the price at the entry tier.
- Video share links. Loom workflow built in.
- Per template AI routing. Different model per meeting type, locked to local for therapy/legal/medical.
Related: vs Otter · vs Granola · vs Fathom