Fireflies vs. Zoom AI Companion (Now Zoom Workplace AI) in 2026: Which Should You Choose?

Zoom runs a huge share of the world's meetings, and for most paid Zoom teams the AI now comes built in. In June 2026, Zoom retired the AI Companion brand and folded those capabilities into Zoom Workplace, where they now run as standalone features like Meeting Summary and My Notes, included at no added cost on a paid plan. Alongside that change, Zoom launched ZoomMate, a separate paid AI teammate for deeper automation. So the moment a team wants more than the built in basics, say meeting notes pushed into a CRM or workflows that reach outside Zoom, the bill climbs on top of what it already spends. That is the point where a dedicated AI Assistant like Fireflies is worth weighing against the Zoom stack. 

This guide gives a straight assessment of where each fits in 2026.

Verdict at a Glance

Zoom’s built in AI suits teams that meet almost entirely on Zoom and want meeting AI included in a plan they already buy. Fireflies earns the separate subscription for teams that meet across several platforms, work in more than 100 languages, or need automation and assistant features that reach past meetings into email, Slack, and CRM. The two run together without conflict, since Fireflies joins meetings on any major platform while Zoom’s AI keeps working inside Zoom.

The choice usually fits one of three cases.

• Choose Zoom’s built in AI if your team meets almost entirely on Zoom, your paid Zoom Workplace plan already includes it, and you want bundled meeting AI at no added cost without integrations beyond Zoom's own products.
• Choose Fireflies if your team meets across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and in person, works in 100+ languages, needs CRM and workflow automation through AI Skills, or wants assistant features beyond meetings through Voice Agents, Personal Assistant, the Email and Slack integrations.
• Use both if your team standardizes on Zoom’s built in AI for bundled coverage but adds Fireflies to capture meetings on other platforms, automate follow up across CRM and email, and run the wider workflows the included layer leaves out. The two coexist, since Fireflies works alongside it without replacing anything.

What Happened to Zoom AI Companion in 2026

Zoom retired the AI Companion name on June 22, 2026 and stopped using it across Zoom Workplace. The capabilities did not go away. Meeting Summary, My Notes, Chat Compose, and the rest now run as standalone features inside Zoom Workplace, each called by its own name, still included with paid plans.

In the same month Zoom launched ZoomMate, a paid AI teammate that searches across connected apps, automates cross app workflows, and turns conversations into documents and slides.

For a buyer, the old single product is now a three layer stack:

Fireflies vs. Zoom’s Built In AI Features: Side by Side Comparison

Here is how Fireflies vs Zoom built in AI features breaks down across the features that tend to decide the choice:

What Zoom’s Built in AI Does Well (Honest Assessment)

Zoom AI features come included with most paid Zoom Workplace plans at no added cost, which makes it the default option for teams that already run on Zoom and watch their budget. They live inside the tools those teams open every day, generating summaries and action items in Meetings, drafting replies in Mail, recapping threads in Team Chat, and pulling context from Phone and Whiteboard, with no third party setup to manage. There is no separate dashboard to learn and no bot that joins as an extra participant. The AI runs inside the Zoom client a team has already adopted, so the trip from turning it on to a first summary is short.

The included layer got more generous in Zoom's June 2026 reshuffle. A Workplace Pro seat now carries unlimited My Notes note taking across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and in person meetings plus meeting summaries, questions about what was discussed during and after a call, and the ZoomMate features Zoom includes with paid plans, basic AI queries, agentic search, and workflows confined to Zoom applications. The heavier work sits one tier up. The full ZoomMate license adds agentic search across connected tools, cross app workflows, and document and slide generation as a separate subscription. For a team whose work starts and ends inside Zoom, the included layer handles the daily basics well, and the paid tier is there when the work needs to leave Zoom.

Where Fireflies Outpaces Zoom AI Features

Zoom’s built in AI and Fireflies overlap on the basics of meeting notes. They diverge on the work a team does before and after the meeting. Three areas account for most of that distance, namely where each tool can capture, how much it automates, and how far it reaches beyond meetings into daily work.

What does Fireflies have that Zoom AI Features don’t?

Fireflies includes several capabilities in its standard paid plans that Zoom's built in AI does not cover.

• Transcription across 100+ languages with automatic language detection.
• A library of 200+ prebuilt AI Skills, including Autofill CRM, Deal Intelligence, and candidate scoring.
• Voice Agents that place and answer screening, discovery, and check in calls as part of the paid plans.
• File uploads that turn existing audio and video into searchable transcripts.
• Outbound integrations that push meeting data into Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and other CRM, dialer, and project tools without a separate license.

Capture across the platforms your team actually uses

Fireflies captures and transcribes meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and GoToMeeting, records calls on dialers like Dialpad, captures in person conversations, and transcribes audio and video files uploaded after a meeting ends. 

Zoom has closed part of this gap, since My Notes now takes notes on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and in person without adding a bot to the call. The breadth is where Fireflies still pulls ahead. It records phone and dialer conversations, turns uploaded audio and video into searchable transcripts, and runs in 100+ languages with automatic detection, where Zoom tops out at 46 languages for My Notes transcription and 33 for meeting summaries. For teams whose calls and meetings are spread across tools, that wider coverage is the reason to add Fireflies on top of Zoom.

AI Skills and workflow automation

Fireflies ships with 200+ prebuilt AI Skills that run after a meeting. Autofill CRM writes call details into Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive, Deal Intelligence flags risks and next steps for sales teams, candidate scoring ranks interviews for recruiters, and other Skills draft follow up emails. Teams can also build custom Skills for their own steps.

Zoom's answer is split across tiers. Paid Workplace plans include workflows that run inside Zoom applications only, and automation that reaches outside Zoom, into a CRM or a project board, sits in the full ZoomMate license at $20 per user each month. Fireflies bundles that outward push into its standard plans across 100+ integrations. A sales or recruiting team that wants meeting data landing in outside systems without manual entry gets that at no extra tier in Fireflies.

The 2026 AI Assistant suite

Outside the meeting itself, Fireflies works as the #1 AI Assistant for meetings, email, Slack, CRM, and work, and the rest of its suite reflects that. Live Assist surfaces answers and prompts during a call, and its Sales Assist capability draws those answers from a team's own knowledge base. Voice Agents place and answer calls for screening, discovery, and check ins in 30+ languages. The Personal Assistant runs a Daily Digest of meetings and messages, a Task Manager that tracks action items across sources, and Meeting Prep briefs before each call. AskFred answers questions across meetings, email, Slack, and CRM in one place, with each answer linked back to its source. The Email Connector drafts replies, and the Slack Connector recaps threads and delivers notes.

Zoom's AI reaches past meetings too, and its deeper reach into third party tools comes with the paid ZoomMate license. Fireflies runs across whatever stack a team already has.

Honest Comparison: Transcription, Languages, and Accuracy

Both publish transcription numbers, in different forms. Fireflies states 99% accuracy for English and 95% for other languages. In its Zoom AI Performance Report 2025, Zoom reported a 6.57% transcript word error rate across all meetings, which translates to about 93% word accuracy. That was the lowest error rate among the platforms it tested. However, it’s important to note that the two figures come from different tests, so this is a read on what each company publishes, not a head to head on identical audio.

On language breadth the numbers split by feature on the Zoom side. My Notes supports 46 languages for real time transcription and note taking, and meeting summaries support 33 languages per Zoom's support documentation as of mid 2026. Fireflies transcribes in 100+ languages with automatic detection, more than double Zoom's widest figure.

Integrations and Workflow Automation

Fireflies and Zoom AI Companion approach integrations from opposite directions, so a raw app count would mislead more than it informs. Zoom's App Marketplace lists a large catalog, and most of those apps point inward, letting other tools schedule, join, or appear inside Zoom. Fireflies works the other way around. Its core job is to send meeting context outward, into the CRM, Slack, email, project tools, and dialers a team already runs, across 100+ integrations. For a buyer, the useful question is where the meeting's output should live, inside one platform or flowing into the systems where the rest of the work happens.

On CRM, both tools can move call data into a pipeline, but they package it differently. Fireflies includes Autofill CRM and Deal Intelligence in its standard paid plans, writing call details, next steps, and risk flags into Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive automatically after a meeting. Zoom reaches comparable depth through Zoom Revenue Accelerator, a separate sales product that connects to Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Gainsight, and Slack and updates CRM fields on its own. The capability exists on both sides. The difference is that Fireflies bundles it into the subscription, while matching it on Zoom means buying Revenue Accelerator on top of a Zoom plan.

Routing into Slack, email, and project tools follows the same pattern. Fireflies uses the Slack Connector to recap threads and deliver notes, and the Email Connector to draft replies and follow up messages, as a standard part of the assistant. Zoom AI Companion can send meeting summaries to Slack and draft follow up emails inside the bundled tier, while agentic retrieval from tools like Google Drive and OneDrive sits in the paid ZoomMate plan, so the older idea that Zoom keeps everything inside its own walls no longer holds. The practical gap is reach and packaging, not whether Zoom can route at all.

For custom automation, both platforms expose a developer API and a Model Context Protocol server, so engineering teams can wire their own connections to either one. Fireflies also documents prebuilt paths through Zapier and n8n for teams that prefer no code automation. A team standardizing its workflows around outside systems gets more of that wiring already built with Fireflies, while a team whose processes live inside Zoom may not need it.

Privacy, Security, and Data Policy

Data handling is where Fireflies draws its clearest line. Fireflies is direct about training. "Fireflies.ai does not use customer data to train any AI models. Your personal data is never used to train AI models. Users own their data." On retention, Fireflies adds, "We impose a zero-data retention policy for meeting content with our AI vendors." Zoom states that it does not use customer communication content to train its own or third party AI models, so neither Fireflies nor Zoom AI features train on a customer's meetings. What Fireflies leans on is the pairing of that zero data retention policy with explicit customer ownership of the data.

On certifications, both tools clear the standards most buyers screen for. Fireflies holds SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance across every plan, including Free, with HIPAA compliance and FERPA available at the Enterprise level, the former tied to a signed business associate agreement. Zoom carries a wide set of attestations, including SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, and FERPA support, alongside ISO and government frameworks. For a compliance team, the certification checklist rarely decides this comparison, since both sides pass it. The separation comes from how each handles retention and ownership after a meeting is processed.

For teams with stricter requirements, Fireflies offers private storage and custom data retention as Enterprise controls, so a regulated organization can keep its data held separately and set how long transcripts persist. Residency, isolation, and encryption options usually live in enterprise plans on both sides and depend on configuration, so a security team evaluating either tool should confirm the specifics for its own region and policy before committing.

Pricing, Honest Cost Comparison

For most paid Zoom teams the basics are already covered, which sets the bar Fireflies has to clear. A Zoom Workplace Pro seat runs $14.16 per user each month billed annually, and it now includes unlimited My Notes note taking across Zoom, third party platforms, and in person meetings, plus meeting summaries and the ZoomMate features (basic AI queries, agentic search, and workflows inside Zoom). A team that only needs summaries and notes has no gap to pay for, and adding Fireflies would be an additional per seat cost on top.

The bill changes when the team wants the meeting to go somewhere. Automation that reaches outside Zoom, agentic search across tools like Salesforce and Google Drive, and generated documents and slides all sit in the full ZoomMate license at $20 per user each month, or $200 per user each year, on top of the Workplace seat. Deep CRM sync for sales teams sits in Zoom Revenue Accelerator, another separately priced product, and AI voice agents live in the Zoom Virtual Agent and Contact Center stack, priced separately again. The pattern is consistent. Zoom includes the capture layer and sells the action layer.

Fireflies prices the two layers together. The Pro plan at $10 per seat each month billed annually includes the capture (every major platform, 100+ languages, file uploads) and the action (200+ AI Skills, Autofill CRM, the Personal Assistant, and Voice Agents, which use dynamic AI credit pricing based on the complexity and length of each call). Business at $19 and Enterprise at $39 add tiers on top, and a free plan covers light use. For the capability a team actually adds Fireflies for, the comparison is $10 against Zoom's $20, and against roughly $34 per seat once the Workplace plan underneath is counted.

Two scenarios show where each side wins. A sales team of 10 that meets across Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams and wants call notes landing in the CRM gets the whole job from one Fireflies Pro plan, where the Zoom route prices the same automation at double per seat before the base plan. A team of 50 that meets only on Zoom and needs summaries and action items is already served by what its Workplace plan includes, and adding anything would be spend without a need. The deciding question is whether the work ends at the summary or starts there.

When to Use Both Together

The two are not a strict either or choice. Plenty of teams that run mostly on Zoom keep the built in AI features as the default for their Zoom meetings and add Fireflies for the work that happens everywhere else. The two run side by side without conflict, since Fireflies captures meetings on any platform while Zoom's AI keeps handling the Zoom calls it already covers.

This setup makes sense when a team lives mostly in Zoom but still hits the edges the included layer does not reach. A company might run internal standups on Zoom and let Meeting Summary handle them, then rely on Fireflies for client calls on Google Meet, sales calls on a dialer, and interviews in 30+ languages. Fireflies routes that meeting context into the CRM, Slack, and email a team already uses, and its AI Skills, Voice Agents, and Personal Assistant handle the automation that would otherwise need the paid ZoomMate license.

Framed this way, Fireflies is an addition rather than a rip and replace. A team keeps the Zoom AI features it already pays for and spends extra only on the reach and automation it actually needs. For most organizations that run on Zoom and are evaluating Fireflies, that additive path is the realistic one.

Decision Framework: Which Should You Choose?

The choice usually comes down to where a team meets and how far its work travels after the call. These six cases cover most situations.

• If your team meets only on Zoom and already pays for a Zoom Workplace plan, the built in AI features are enough, and adding a second tool is spend without a need.
• If your team meets across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex, choose Fireflies, which captures all of them and keeps notes consistent wherever the meeting happens.
• If you need workflow automation like CRM autofill, candidate scoring, or follow up drafts, choose Fireflies for its 200+ prebuilt AI Skills, where automation that reaches outside Zoom requires the ZoomMate license at $20 per user each month.
• If you run global teams working across 10 or more languages, choose Fireflies and its 100+ language coverage, since Zoom tops out at 46 languages for My Notes transcription and 33 for meeting summaries.
• If you want assistant capabilities that reach past meetings, such as Voice Agents, the Personal Assistant, and richer email and Slack routing, choose Fireflies, which bundles them where Zoom spreads the equivalents across ZoomMate, Revenue Accelerator, and its Contact Center products.
• If a lot of your work happens in person, at sales calls, client visits, or conferences, both can capture it, so choose Fireflies when you also need that audio routed into your CRM and follow up on mobile, and stay with Zoom's built in notes if a stored summary is all you need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Zoom AI Companion free?

Zoom AI Companion is free for most paid Zoom users, and that stays true after Zoom retired the name in June 2026 and folded the features into Zoom Workplace. Paid Workplace plans include them at no extra cost. Zoom Basic users get a limited free version that caps AI note taking at three uses a month, and My Notes sells standalone at $10 per user each month for people without a paid license.

Does Zoom AI Companion work in Google Meet or Teams?

Zoom AI Companion's My Notes feature now takes notes on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, as well as in person, without adding a bot to the call. Earlier versions captured only Zoom meetings, so older comparisons are out of date.

Is Fireflies better than Zoom AI Companion?

Whether Fireflies is better than Zoom AI Companion depends on how a team works. For a group that meets only on Zoom and wants summaries and action items, Zoom's built in AI features are often enough. For teams that meet across platforms, work in many languages, or need automation and assistant features beyond meetings, Fireflies does more. The better tool is the one that matches where the work happens.

What's the difference between Fireflies and Zoom AI Companion?

The main difference between Fireflies and Zoom AI Companion is scope. Zoom AI Companion now runs as built in AI features inside Zoom Workplace, doing its work within Zoom's own products, while Fireflies is an AI Assistant that captures meetings on every major platform and routes the output into CRM, email, and Slack.

Can Zoom AI Companion transcribe uploaded files?

Zoom AI Companion cannot transcribe uploaded files. Its transcription works on Zoom cloud recordings, so a local file saved after a meeting cannot be processed later.

Does Zoom AI Companion support multiple languages?

Yes, Zoom AI Companion supports multiple languages, with counts that vary by feature. My Notes handles 46 languages for real time transcription and note taking, and meeting summaries support more than 36.

Is Zoom AI Companion HIPAA compliant?

Yes, Zoom lists HIPAA support among its attestations for eligible plans, and that covers the AI features formerly branded AI Companion.

Why would I pay for Fireflies if I already have Zoom AI Companion?

Paying for Fireflies alongside Zoom's included AI buys reach and automation the built in features do not cover. Fireflies captures meetings on every major platform in 100+ languages, runs 200+ AI Skills like CRM autofill and candidate scoring, and adds Voice Agents and a Personal Assistant. Matching that on Zoom means separate products such as ZoomMate at $20 per user each month or Revenue Accelerator.

Can I use Fireflies and Zoom AI Companion in the same meeting?

Yes, you can use Fireflies and Zoom AI Companion in the same meeting without issue. Zoom's built in AI can summarize the Zoom call while Fireflies captures, transcribes, and routes the same meeting into your CRM, Slack, and email. Many teams that rely mostly on Zoom keep the included features as the default and add Fireflies for cross platform coverage and automation.

Which has better transcription accuracy?

Fireflies publishes the higher figure, 99% for English and 95% for other languages. Zoom reports accuracy as an error rate. In its Zoom AI Performance Report 2025, Zoom logged a 6.57% transcript word error rate, about 93% word accuracy. The two numbers come from different tests, so both transcribe at a high standard.

Conclusion

Zoom's built in AI, which absorbed the retired AI Companion brand in 2026, is a strong included layer for teams that live inside Zoom. It captures Zoom meetings, summarizes them, answers questions, and reaches Google Meet, Teams, and in person through My Notes, all at no extra cost on a paid Workplace plan. Fireflies is the choice for teams that meet across more platforms, work in 100+ languages, need automation through AI Skills, or want assistant features across email, Slack, and CRM without adding paid tiers like ZoomMate. Many teams run both, keeping Zoom's included AI as the default and adding Fireflies for the reach it does not cover. If your work runs past Zoom and past a basic summary, start with Fireflies' free plan and test it against your own meetings.