The best Fireflies.ai alternative in 2025: A detailed comparison

Fireflies.ai vs. Sally – The Better AI Meeting Assistant for 2025?

In today’s business world, AI meeting assistants like Fireflies.ai can help teams optimize meetings, generate transcripts, and uncover valuable insights. However, many companies encounter challenges when using Fireflies, especially regarding data protection and specific functionalities.

That’s where Sally comes in - a powerful, GDPR-compliant alternative that offers clear advantages in several key areas. In this article, we compare Fireflies.ai vs. Sally to help you decide which assistant best suits your needs in 2025.

You can read shorter article that compares Fireflies.ai vs Sally here.

1. Data Protection: A Clear Win for Sally

Fireflies.ai: Privacy Concerns

Fireflies.ai is hosted in the United States, which poses potential challenges for European companies striving to comply with strict GDPR regulations. This raises concerns for any business operating in the EU or handling sensitive customer data.

Another potential issue is the use of sentiment analysis, which is often seen as problematic under EU data protection law. For privacy-conscious organizations, this could lead to legal and compliance risks. Here is a case why sentiment analysis raises questions about data security.

Sally: Fully GDPR-Compliant and Secure

Sally, on the other hand, is hosted in the EU and meets all GDPR requirements. It also deliberately avoids sentiment analysis to ensure full privacy protection. For companies where data security and legal compliance are top priorities, Sally is clearly the better choice.

2. Transcription & Recording: Quality vs. Real-Time

Fireflies.ai: Real-Time Transcription & Language Reach

Fireflies.ai offers real-time transcription (only for Google Meet). One strong point is its support for 69+ languages, making it suitable for globally distributed teams. It removes filler words, recognizes speakers, and allows for custom vocabulary.

It also supports transcription of video and audio files, even for meetings where the user was not present.

Sally: Post-Meeting Summaries & Nuanced Recognition

Sally does not provide real-time transcription, but instead focuses on high-quality meeting summaries after the fact. With support for 35+ languages, it also goes further by recognizing German dialects and linguistic nuances.

Sally also offers filler word removal, speaker identification, and tools to edit, browse, and assign tasks based on transcripts. Like Fireflies, it can transcribe external audio/video files and participate in meetings automatically.

3. Integrations & Automation: Sally Goes Further

Fireflies.ai: Solid Integration Options

Fireflies.ai integrates with major video platforms, Gmail, Google Calendar, Calendly, and CRMs. It also connects with Zapier, making task automation relatively easy.

Sally: Broader Integration + Power Automate

Sally matches all of Fireflies’ integrations — and adds more. It also  integrates with Microsoft Power Automate, unlocking powerful automation workflows. Of course, Zapier is also supported.

While both platforms send summary emails, Sally also offers meeting preparation features, providing a significant edge in meeting efficiency.

Both platforms have sufficient integration possibilities.

4. Conversation Intelligence: Basic vs. Advanced

Fireflies.ai: Foundational Analytics

Fireflies offers basic AI-powered insights, including keyword detection and topic tracking. It helps identify conversation flow and key moments.

Sally: Deep-Dive Analytics

Sally takes analytics much further, offering insights into:

• Speaking time shares
• Conversation dynamics
• Communication patterns
• Automatic detection of questions and objections

These features enable deeper optimization of team communication and decision-making processes.

5. Coaching Features: Tracking Performance

Fireflies.ai: Basic Playbooks

Fireflies offers playbooks to guide meeting flow (especially for sales) and detect objections, helping improve call quality.

Sally: Coaching + Performance Tracking

Sally also supports playbooks, but goes further with automatic performance tracking, especially for sales, customer, and internal meetings. In addition, Sally includes punctuality analysis, helping teams make better use of their time.

Conclusion: Which Tool Should You Choose in 2025?

Both Fireflies.ai and Sally are strong AI meeting assistants with valuable features.

• If your team works internationally and requires real-time transcription and broad language coverage, Fireflies.ai may be a better fit.
• However, Sally excels in data protection, integration flexibility, and deep analytics, with advanced coaching features, Power Automate support, and unmatched GDPR compliance.

For companies that prioritize privacy, automation, and meeting intelligence, Sally is the stronger Fireflies.ai alternative in 2025.

‍