Using AI for meeting notes is getting more and more common, both on tech-savvy teams and in the broader business world. And for good reason. Taking meeting notes can be a time-consuming and manual task. And whoever is taking the meeting notes can’t really engage in the conversation because they’re too busy typing out everything that’s said. Talk about a waste of time.

One popular solution for AI meeting transcription is Fireflies.ai. This AI-powered tool delivers accurate meeting transcripts, but it’s not without its limitations. For starters, its 800-minute free plan limit (as of June 2026). And the “meeting summaries” read more like a chaptered story of the full meeting, not a concise summary.
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TLDR:

• Fireflies.ai stops at the transcript; tools like Spinach go further by filing tickets and assigning owners before the call ends
• Choose your alternative based on your team’s gap: analytics (Avoma), transcription accuracy (Otter), sales calls (Gong), or content editing (Descript)
• Gong focuses on sales conversations and may not fit teams looking for general collaboration support
• Spinach converts meeting discussions into Jira, Linear, Asana, Monday.com, ClickUp, or Trello tickets via native connectors, cutting 15-30 minutes of post-meeting admin per sprint ceremony

1. Spinach

Spinach is an AI Scrum Master built for engineering and product teams. It joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams call automatically, records and transcribes the conversation in real time, and converts that raw transcript into structured decisions, action items, and owners, delivered to your team before the next meeting starts. Where most AI meeting recorders stop at the transcript, Spinach closes the full loop: what was recorded, what was decided, and what happens next. For teams looking to run tighter scrum ceremonies, Spinach handles agenda facilitation, note-taking, and board updates in the same workflow.

Meeting summaries: One of the primary advantages of Spinach is its ability to generate concise meeting summaries. Instead of supplying you with a raw transcript, Spinach delivers key decisions and action items directly to your Slack channel. The summaries are organized into clear categories, making it easier to pull actionable insights from your meetings.

Action items: Spinach also excels in documenting action items. Following each meeting, a list of tasks along with their respective owners is sent out to the team via Slack. This clarifies responsibilities and makes sure everyone is aligned, whether they were present at the meeting or not.

Ticket creation: Spinach analyzes your meeting discussion and suggests new tickets with full meeting context. If a specific task or bug comes up, Spinach proposes a corresponding ticket; you can review and approve it directly in Slack, and it lands in Jira, Linear, or your other connected tool with the relevant context already attached.

Automatic recording and transcription

Spinach joins your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams call automatically, with no manual setup per meeting. It captures the conversation in real time, so the transcript is ready the moment the call ends. The mobile Quick Record feature handles in-person and hybrid audio through the same pipeline, so no meeting format is a blind spot.

AI-generated meeting notes and summaries

Spinach structures output around what matters: decisions, open questions, and next steps, delivered to Slack or Teams before the next meeting starts. No wall of transcript. Jason Oliver, Principal PM at EMCEE, called the summaries “much better than what we got from Otter” because they are “more specific to the Agile process.”

Action-item capture with owner assignment

Every action item Spinach extracts comes with an owner attached, and a structured list lands in Slack the moment the call ends. Capturing action items in the moment, instead of relying on post-meeting processing, is what keeps them from falling through the cracks. Spinach closes that gap.

Ticket creation and project management integrations

When a bug, task, or feature request comes up, Spinach surfaces a suggested ticket with full meeting context attached. Review and approve it in Slack; it lands in Jira, Linear, Asana, Monday.com, ClickUp, or Trello via native connectors, with no Zapier and no re-keying. That cuts the 15-30 minutes of post-meeting admin that compounds across every sprint ceremony.

Meeting and tool integrations

Spinach connects natively to Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco Webex. Summaries and action items route to Slack or Teams channels. On the project management side, native integrations with Jira, Linear, Asana, Monday.com, ClickUp, and Trello mean outputs land directly in the boards your team already works from.

If you’re looking for a smart meeting tool that goes way beyond transcription, Spinach offers a complete solution for managing your agile meetings and tasks.

2. Avoma

Transcription plus analytics

Avoma is an AI meeting assistant for teams that need more than a transcript.

Unlike Fireflies, it adds real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and keyword flagging, giving teams insight into the mood and focus of a meeting alongside the written record. If accurate transcription plus actionable analytics is the goal, Avoma covers both.

Pricing

Avoma has no permanent free plan; a 14-day trial is the only no-cost entry point. Paid plans start at $19/seat/month (Startup) and scale to $39/seat/month (Organization), billed monthly; annual billing brings prices down. Sales add-ons (conversation intelligence, CRM sync) stack on top and can push real per-seat cost much higher.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Real-time transcription paired with sentiment analysis, beyond a written record
• Keyword flagging surfaces recurring themes and topics across meetings
• Stronger analytics layer than Fireflies for teams tracking meeting patterns over time

Cons:

• No free plan; 14-day trial only, a higher commitment barrier than Fireflies or Otter
• Starts at $19/seat/month, which adds up quickly for larger teams
• Doesn’t auto-file tickets into project management tools the way Spinach does

Avoma is an AI tool that could be a good option for teams who require high-quality transcription services. Unlike Fireflies, Avoma has a broader range of features that include real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and keyword flagging. It goes beyond just recording your conversations by adding a layer of analytics to your meetings.

Avoma is a good alternative to Fireflies because it brings you the best of both worlds: accurate transcriptions along with actionable analytics. Teams can review what was discussed and also gain insights into the mood and focus of the meeting. Important details get recorded and analyzed, helping teams refine their communication strategies more effectively.

3.  Otter

In the transcription space, Otter is a name that you’ve likely heard. It’s particularly known for its high-accuracy AI-powered transcriptions, making it an attractive alternative to Fireflies. Unlike Fireflies, Otter improves the meeting experience by providing real-time transcriptions, allowing immediate modifications during discussions. It also includes features such as speaker identification and a searchable database of past transcripts. As an alternative to Fireflies, Otter excels in its adaptability; it can be used for both live and post-meeting transcription.

4. Gong

Gong is another tool in the market for those in search of alternatives to Fireflies. It offers transcription services but tends to focus more on sales conversations. The tool is designed to capture customer interactions across multiple platforms and transcribe them for later analysis. Gong also brings in analytics to help dissect customer calls, a feature that could be useful for specific departments within a company.

As an alternative to Fireflies, Gong does provide basic transcription services, along with additional analytics functionalities. However, its primary focus on sales interactions may not make it the best fit for all teams. The tool can transcribe meetings and conversations, but its utility may be limited if you’re looking for something more versatile and centered around team collaboration instead of sales analysis.

5. Airgram

Airgram serves as a straightforward and efficient transcription tool designed to support teams in documenting their meetings. It offers real-time transcription services, integrates with several popular conferencing platforms, and allows for easy sharing of transcripts with team members. The tool aims to make the transcription process as smooth as possible, allowing teams to focus more on the meeting content instead of worrying about note-taking.

As an alternative to Fireflies, Airgram stands out for its ease of use and straightforward functionality. While it may not have an expansive set of features, it provides a solid, focused experience for teams primarily concerned with accurate and timely transcriptions. If you’re looking for a no-frills, reliable transcription service, Airgram is a viable option.

6. Descript

Descript offers a somewhat different approach to meeting transcriptions, focusing on creating an editable “audio word processor” that allows you to manipulate audio files as if they were text documents. This is useful for teams that want to have more control over their transcribed content, whether for the purposes of documentation or content creation. The tool also supports multi-track editing, making it easier to manage meetings with multiple participants.

While Descript doesn’t specialize solely in meeting transcriptions, its broader range of features could be beneficial for teams that require a fuller content creation suite in addition to their transcription needs. Overall, it serves as a versatile alternative to Fireflies, especially if your team is looking for more than just a one-dimensional solution.

7. Tl;dv

Tl;dv is a tool designed to make meetings more manageable by offering video summaries, transcription services, and various collaboration features. It suits teams who often find themselves juggling multiple meetings and need an efficient way to document those sessions. While transcription is part of what Tl;dv offers, it also converts meetings into action items so discussions produce concrete next steps.

In comparison to Fireflies, Tl;dv offers a more expansive set of features beyond mere transcription, adding value for teams that need a versatile tool for their meetings. If you’re in search of an alternative that provides more than just transcriptions, Tl;dv could be an option worth considering.

What you should do next

Now that you've read this article, here are some things you should do:

1. You should check out our library of meeting agenda templates for every type of meeting.
2. Check out Spinach to see how it can help you run a high performing org.
3. If you found this article helpful, please share it with others on Linkedin or X (Twitter)