FIREFLIES VS RECAPRO
The European Fireflies alternative that keeps your meetings sovereign
Fireflies processes your recordings on US servers and is bound by the CLOUD Act. Recapro transcribes in France or directly on your servers, with no visible bot, and works offline.
Why look for a Fireflies alternative?
Six structural reasons European teams switch, verifiable on Fireflies’ own documentation.
Data processed in the USA
By default, Fireflies stores and processes your transcripts on Google Cloud and AWS in the US. The "Private Storage" EU option is reserved for Enterprise customers, and even then, processing remains on US infrastructure.
Bound by the CLOUD Act
Fireflies, Inc. is a US company: under 18 U.S.C. § 2713 (CLOUD Act 2018), it can be compelled to disclose your data to US authorities, regardless of where it is physically stored.
Visible bot in meetings
The Fireflies Notetaker bot joins Zoom / Teams / Meet as a visible participant. The "no-bot" mode exists only via the Desktop app, with limitations (no speaker identification, no Sales Assist).
No offline mode
Fireflies requires an internet connection: transcription is processed server-side. For field teams (sales reps, insurance experts, lawyers in external meetings), airplane mode is a blocker.
No real on-premise
Fireflies does not offer an installation on your own servers. The "Private Cloud" announced in their roadmap remains a Fireflies-managed environment, and is not yet available in production.
No documented French accuracy
Fireflies advertises 95% accuracy in English under optimal conditions. No public benchmark by language is published for French, whereas Recapro is natively optimized for French accents and business vocabulary.
Recapro vs Fireflies: the decision matrix
Functional comparison verified against public sources (April 2026).
Where is data stored and processed?
Installed on customer infrastructure, no vendor dependency
18 U.S.C. § 2713, applies to any US company
No virtual participant in the meeting
Two distinct recordings smartly merged
Where is data stored and processed?
Installed on customer infrastructure, no vendor dependency
18 U.S.C. § 2713, applies to any US company
No virtual participant in the meeting
Two distinct recordings smartly merged
Fireflies "Private Storage" EU option is reserved for Enterprise customers (Bring Your Own AWS S3 / GCS bucket). Processing remains in the US. Source: guide.fireflies.ai, Data storage & transfer.
Fireflies "no-bot" mode: Desktop app only, no speaker identification. Source: guide.fireflies.ai, Record without a bot.
Fireflies pricing: $18/user/month (Pro monthly) or $10/user/month (annual). Source: fireflies.ai/pricing, verified April 2026.
What Recapro does that Fireflies does not
Six structural differences.
100% France hosting
Vendée datacenter, Paris replication for high availability. No data leaves France, on every plan.
On-premise on your servers
Recapro installs directly into your infrastructure (Kubernetes, dedicated server, even air-gapped). Published 6-tier grid: Cloud Team €22.90/user/month (€17.90 annual) or Fortress from €199/mo, no Enterprise quote.
Works in airplane mode
Local transcription on smartphone, even without network. Sync to your server or our cloud happens automatically when connectivity returns.
No bot in meetings
Recapro records from the participant’s mobile app, no "virtual participant" visible. Ideal for in-person meetings (lawyers, experts, sales) where Fireflies is unusable.
Private / public debrief mode
Two distinct recordings: the shareable summary for your client, and your personal memory (impressions, strategy, weak signals). Recapro merges them intelligently. No equivalent on the market.
Transparent fixed pricing
Cloud Team €22.90/user/month (€17.90 annual) or Fortress from €199/mo, published 6-tier grid. No ’Enterprise quote’, no hidden fees. You know what you pay before signing.
Migrate from Fireflies to Recapro in 3 steps
No data loss, no service interruption. Our team handles the transition.
Export from Fireflies
Download your transcripts from Fireflies (.txt or .docx, available in the dashboard). Keep your audio files too if you want to reprocess them.
Import into Recapro
Drag and drop your files into Recapro. Our AI re-analyzes and structures your historical summaries in Recapro format (sections, action items, decisions).
Gradual switch
For 30 days, run Recapro alongside Fireflies. Once your team is trained (1 hour on average), turn off Fireflies. No long-term commitment with us.
Our partner NoBullshit Conseil supports the rollout (audit, CRM integration, training). Migration support included for teams of 10+ users.
Pricing
Three tiers. Same sovereignty.
Choose the level of isolation adapted to your criticality.
Fortress
Physical server installed on your premises (or on your existing servers). A single Sovereign Shield subscription, whatever the hardware tier.
~130 W max, about the same as a desktop PC left on. ≈ €210/year of electricity.
For 1 to 10 users
For 11 to 30 users
For 31 to 60 users
For 61 to 90 users
Custom configuration for large teams. Response within 24h.
Subject to compatible performance. Prior technical assessment.
Minimum 10 seats billed, i.e. EUR199/month: a 3-person firm pays the same Shield as a 10-person one. Above 10 seats, billing is strictly per seat.
Everything in Cloud Tailored, plus:
- Server installed on your premises (or your own servers)
- Air-gap: AI 100% disconnected from the internet
- No data ever leaves
- Hardware & commissioning included
- Fit for legal, medical, defense and finance
- Priority 24/7 support
Fireflies.ai
Competitor
/user/month
- • Hosted on Google Cloud + AWS, USA
- • Unlimited transcription
- • Visible bot in meetings (no-bot mode Desktop only)
- • No offline mode
- • No on-premise
- • EU storage Enterprise plan only
- • English support
* Fair Use Policy: Usage is limited to 10 hours of audio processing per day per user, in compliance with working time legislation.
All prices are shown excluding tax (excl. VAT); VAT applies at the prevailing rate. Offers reserved for business customers.
"From" refers to the price of the first tier or the standard configuration, actually available; the final price depends on your configuration and the number of seats.
Fortress hardware is a fixed asset generally depreciable over 4 years; VAT is in principle recoverable, subject to your own accounting and tax regime (general information, not tax advice).
Your templates and your lexicon follow you from Cloud Tailored to Fortress.
At equal headcount, Recapro is ~$25/month more than Fireflies Pro, the gap pays for legal sovereignty, on-premise included, and offline mode. See Recapro pricing details.
Recapro fits regulated industries
Where Fireflies is unusable (CLOUD Act, sensitive data, field mode).
Comparing several tools at once? See our global comparison with Recapro vs Otter.ai, Tactiq, Dicte.ai, Plaud, Pocket and Leexi.
Nearby comparisons
- Recapro / Happyscribe Happyscribe is 100% cloud (AWS + Heroku, EU datacenter), with no on-premise or HDS, and a notetaker that joins the meeting as a visible bot. Recapro installs on-premise on a box in France, self-hosts its AI (whisper.cpp, vLLM, pyannote) and records with no bot, up to air-gap mode. See the comparison
- Recapro / Plaud PLAUD LLC (Delaware) requires buying a physical device ($149-189) plus an AI subscription, with data stored on AWS Oregon. Recapro = mobile app only, hosted in France or on-premise, Cloud Team from €22.90/user/month (€17.90 annual) or Fortress from €199/mo, all-in. See the comparison
- Recapro / Pocket Pocket (Open Vision Engineering Inc., YC W26) requires a $99-199 physical microphone for in-person conversations. No native Zoom/Teams support. Recapro captures both in-person AND video calls from the mobile app, hosted in France or on-premise. See the comparison
Fireflies vs Recapro: frequently asked questions
01
Is Fireflies GDPR compliant?
Fireflies declares GDPR compliance via two mechanisms: self-certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF) and Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs Modules 2 and 3) embedded in the DPA. However, as a US company, Fireflies remains subject to the CLOUD Act (18 U.S.C. § 2713) which can override these mechanisms when US authorities issue a subpoena. For a strict legal team or a sector under professional secrecy, France hosting (Recapro) eliminates that legal exposure. Source: Fireflies DPA (March 2026).
02
Does Fireflies use my transcripts to train its AI models?
According to Fireflies’ Privacy Policy, Fireflies explicitly states "We do not use personal information for AI model training" and applies a zero-day retention policy with its sub-processors. Recapro applies the same policy: no customer data is used to train our models, and on-premise guarantees that your audio never leaves your infrastructure.
03
Does Recapro have a meeting bot like Fireflies?
No. Recapro records from the participant’s mobile app, no "virtual participant" appears in the attendee list. This is a structural difference that makes Recapro usable in physical meetings (notaries, insurance experts, field sales) where Fireflies is unusable.
04
Is there a real on-premise version of Fireflies?
No. Fireflies offers Private Storage (Bring Your Own AWS S3 or GCS bucket), reserved for the Enterprise plan, but processing remains on Fireflies’ US infrastructure. The ’Private Cloud’ mentioned in their roadmap is not yet generally available. Recapro provides a real installation on your servers (including air-gapped) from €199/month (1-10 seat tier), published price.
05
Does Recapro work without an internet connection?
Yes. Recapro transcribes locally on smartphone, even in airplane mode. Sync to your server (sovereign cloud or on-premise) happens automatically when connectivity returns. Fireflies does not offer this mode: the mobile app can record but requires a connection for server-side transcription.
06
Can I import my Fireflies transcripts into Recapro?
Yes. Fireflies allows you to export your transcripts as .txt or .docx. Recapro accepts these files on import and re-analyzes the content to produce a structured summary in Recapro format (sections, action items, decisions). History migration is included for teams of 10+ users.
07
How does Recapro pricing compare to Fireflies?
Recapro Cloud Team: €22.90/user/month (€17.90 annual) or Fortress On-Premise from €199/mo all-inclusive (sovereign cloud or on-premise, offline mode, private debrief mode). Fireflies Pro: $18/user/month (monthly) or $10/user/month (annual); Business $29; Enterprise $39/user/month (annual) on quote. Recapro pricing details.
08
How is this different from your global comparison?
This page is a head-to-head comparison Recapro vs Fireflies. To see Recapro positioned against the entire market (Otter.ai, Tactiq, Dicte.ai, Plaud, Pocket, Leexi), see our global comparison.
Ready to take back control of your meeting notes?
Free plan, 2h/month. Migration from Fireflies supported. No commitment.
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