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
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Recapro
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Fireflies.ai
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Default hosting
Where is data stored and processed? |
France | USA |
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100% EU storage on every plan
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Real on-premise (your servers)
Installed on customer infrastructure, no vendor dependency |
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Outside CLOUD Act jurisdiction
18 U.S.C. § 2713 — applies to any US company |
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Offline mode (airplane)
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Recording without visible bot
No virtual participant in the meeting |
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Native mobile app (iOS / Android)
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Private / public debrief mode
Two distinct recordings smartly merged |
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AI optimized for French
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Pro plan price / user / month
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€39 | $18 |
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On-premise price published
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€39 | N/A |
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, not marginal upgrades.
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). Fixed published price: €39/user/month — 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
€39/user/month, on-premise included. 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: Recapro vs Fireflies
Fireflies pricing verified on fireflies.ai/pricing (April 2026).
Recapro
- Sovereign France cloud OR on-premise on your servers
- Unlimited transcription (all languages)
- Unlimited offline mode
- Private/public debrief mode
- No long-term commitment
- Migration support included (10+ users)
- French-language support team
Fireflies.ai
- •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
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.
Fireflies vs Recapro: frequently asked questions
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).
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.
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.
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) at €39/user/month, published price.
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.
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.
How does Recapro pricing compare to Fireflies?
Recapro: €39/user/month all-in (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.
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.
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