Looking for a Fireflies.ai alternative? Retext records notes without a bot, transcribes and summarizes them on your Mac, and turns the useful parts into snippets.
Retext is a Fireflies.ai alternative if you want no bot in your meetings, transcripts and summaries made on your Mac, and notes that become snippets. If you need calendar auto-join, speaker labels or CRM sync, Fireflies.ai does more.
Fireflies is a team meeting recorder: it joins calls from your calendar, hears every side, names speakers when its bot attends and syncs notes to your CRM. Retext never uses a bot and keeps transcription and summaries on your Mac, but it records only your microphone and has no calendar or integrations. Choose Fireflies to record a team's calls, and Retext for private notes that feed your snippets.
No meeting bot, ever: nobody else on the call sees a recorder join
Transcription and summaries run on your Mac, not a server
Save as Snippet: a note's summary or action items become a ;trigger
Audio is deleted once the transcript is ready, unless you keep it
Snippets, dictation and autocomplete in the same app
| Feature | Retext | Fireflies.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Transcripts & Summaries | ||
| Bot-Free Recording | ||
| Both Sides of a Call | ||
| Calendar & Auto-Start | Not available | |
| Speaker Labels | Not available | |
| CRM & App Integrations | ||
| Privacy & Local Storage | ||
| Snippet Expansion | Not available | |
| Cross-Platform |
| Product | Pricing Model | Price | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retext | Freemium | Recording, on-device transcription and summaries come with every plan. See the pricing page. | Notes on your Mac, plus 5 snippets |
| Fireflies.ai | Freemium | Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise plans per seat; prices aren't shown on their pricing page | Free plan with fewer transcription credits than Pro; limits aren't shown on their pricing page |
Migration difficulty: medium
Fireflies lets you download transcripts and recordings, with more export options on Pro and up, and it has an API. Retext doesn't import notes, so keep your Fireflies archive and start fresh in Retext. Save the summaries and follow-ups you reuse as snippets.
Retext records notes without a bot, transcribes and summarizes them on your Mac, and turns the useful parts into snippets. Fireflies is a team meeting recorder: it joins calls from your calendar, hears every side, names speakers when its bot attends and syncs notes to your CRM. Retext never uses a bot and keeps transcription and summaries on your Mac, but it records only your microphone and has no calendar or integrations. Choose Fireflies to record a team's calls, and Retext for private notes that feed your snippets.
A bot joins your meetings unless you pay for bot-free recording; Free storage runs out at 400 minutes per team; Bot-free recordings don't name speakers.
Yes. Fireflies.ai's free option: free plan with fewer transcription credits than Pro; limits aren't shown on their pricing page. Paid: Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise plans per seat; prices aren't shown on their pricing page.
Yes. Retext's free plan includes notes on your Mac, plus 5 snippets. Recording, on-device transcription and summaries come with every plan. See the pricing page.
Fireflies.ai is the better choice for teams that want every call recorded and searchable, sales and support teams that sync calls to a CRM and capturing phone calls as well as video calls.
Fireflies lets you download transcripts and recordings, with more export options on Pro and up, and it has an API. Retext doesn't import notes, so keep your Fireflies archive and start fresh in Retext. Save the summaries and follow-ups you reuse as snippets.
Download Retext, turn on Notes in Settings, and click Record Note. Your transcript and summary are written on your Mac.
Sources
Fireflies.ai, checked October 28, 2026: Fireflies pricing · Fireflies pricing explained · Fireflies: record without a bot
Prices and features change. Check each vendor's site before you buy.