Fireflies.ai vs Read AI

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Entry price: Fireflies.ai from $10/mo, Read AI from $15/seat/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Both have one
Best fit: Fireflies.ai: Sales and success teams who want call notes landing in the CRM by themselves · Read AI: Sales and customer-facing teams who want engagement and sentiment read-outs after every call
Platforms: Fireflies.ai: Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Slack app · Read AI: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Slack app

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Fireflies.aiMeeting recorder that files notes into your CRM

Read AIMeeting, email and message summaries in one feed

Side by side

Fact	Fireflies.ai	Read AI
Category	Meeting Assistants	Meeting Assistants
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$10/mo	$15/seat/mo
Public API	Yes	Yes
Trust score	89 / 100	91 / 100
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API, Slack app	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Slack app, API
Company	Fireflies.ai Corp.	Read AI, Inc.
Launched	2016	—
Last verified	Sep 6, 2026	Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

Fireflies.ai

Unlimited transcription on the free tier is the hook and it is genuinely unlimited — the meter sits on storage and AI credits, which is where any team of real size ends up on a paid seat.

Pros

Transcription minutes are unlimited on every tier, including Free
API access is not paywalled — it starts on the free plan
Pro at $10/seat undercuts most rival meeting assistants
Storage becomes unlimited from the $19 Business tier

Cons

Monthly billing is about 1.8x the annual rate on Pro and 1.5x on Business
AI credits, not transcription, are the real ration — 20 a month on both Free and Pro
Free storage is 400 minutes for the entire team, not per person
Enterprise is annual-only at $39/seat

Read AI

The free tier is unusually generous on breadth — meeting coach, engagement scores, cross-tool search — and stingy on depth, with only five transcripts a month, so it works as a trial rather than a long-term free plan. Pay for Pro if you live in back-to-back calls and want the same assistant reading your inbox and Slack; stick with a cheaper transcriber if all you want is notes.

Pros

Covers meetings, email and messaging in one assistant with cited answers across all three
Native desktop and mobile apps plus a Chrome extension, not only a web dashboard
Public API, webhooks, Zapier, MCP connectors and CRM integrations for getting data out
Engagement and sentiment metrics that most transcribers do not attempt
SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR and HIPAA claims, with training on customer data off by default

Cons

Free tier caps transcripts, reports and live notes at five a month
Audio and video playback only from the $22.50 Enterprise tier, which needs five licences
No refunds, card-only billing, and every licence in a workspace must be on the same plan
Engagement and sentiment scoring on colleagues raises consent questions in some workplaces

Which one fits

Choose Fireflies.ai if you need

Sales and success teams who want call notes landing in the CRM by themselves
Distributed teams searching across months of past meetings
Developers pulling meeting data out through an API on any plan

Choose Read AI if you need

Sales and customer-facing teams who want engagement and sentiment read-outs after every call
People drowning in meetings, email and Slack who want one searchable feed
Workspaces that want SSO, SCIM and HIPAA on the top tier