Updated 4 September 2026 · Independent comparison

Fireflies.ai vs Microsoft 365 Copilot:
which should you use?

Fireflies.ai and Microsoft 365 Copilot, side by side. Find the one that fits what you need to do.

Find your best fit

The 30-second answer

Fireflies.ai records, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built for business, finance & professional work.

Pricing, simplified

Start free. Upgrade when you need more.

1 of 2 have a free plan 0 of 2 prices re-read automatically · how we know No paid placement

The 30-second comparison

If you only read one section, make it this one. Rows where both sides say the same thing are left out — the point is where they differ. Where each row came from is listed underneath.

Fireflies.ai and Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side, with the better fit for each row.
CategoryFireflies.aiMicrosoft 365 CopilotBetter fit
What it's built forRecords, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel. Useful when the record of a call matters more than the call.Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has. The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.Microsoft 365 Copilot
Fit for business, finance & professional workStrong fitBuilt for thisMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Free planYes. Free forever plan: unlimited transcription, though the page marks that with an asterisk, plus limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage for the whole team and 20 AI credits, across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and others in more than 100 languagesNo. Paid from the start.Fireflies.ai
Cheapest way to pay$18 a month.$25.2 a month.Fireflies.ai
What the paid tiers cost
  • One person, from $18/month
  • Per seat, from $29/month
  • Enterprise, from $39/month
  • One person, from priced on request
  • Per seat, from $25.20/month
  • Enterprise, from $30/month billed yearly
Tie
What to watch out forRecording colleagues and customers has consent rules that vary by country and state. Settle that before switching it on across a team. The free plan holds 400 minutes of storage for the whole team, not per person, and Pro buys storage and features rather than AI credits — it carries the same 20 a month as the free tier.An add-on rather than a standalone purchase: the enterprise Copilot seat is $30 a user a month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence you must already hold, and Copilot Chat is only included if you already pay for an eligible subscription. Agents need an Azure subscription on top again.Tie
Made byFireflies.ai — San Francisco, US.Microsoft — Redmond, US.Tie

Neither leads on the 7 rows above: 2 each. The job decides it, not the table.

Too close to call

Fireflies.ai or Microsoft 365 Copilot

Neither leads on the rows above — the job decides it.

✓ Records, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel. ✓ You want to start without paying anything ✓ You want the cheaper paid plan, $18 against $25.2 ✓ Useful when the record of a call matters more than the call.
Choose Microsoft 365 Copilot instead if…

Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the better answer when the job is what it was built for rather than what the pick above does broadly.

✓ Records, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel. ✓ You want to start without paying anything ✓ You want the cheaper paid plan, $18 against $25.2 ✓ Useful when the record of a call matters more than the call.

How we know

Every row that separated these two, and where it came from. Nothing here is a hands-on test — if a line rests on a vendor’s own pricing page, it says so and links it.

The 4 rows that decided this page, with the source for each.
RowFavoursWeightWhere it came from
What it's built forMicrosoft 365 CopilotHow well it does the jobFrom this site’s own catalogue record for each product — compiled by hand, not imported. How a product gets listed
Fit for business, finance & professional workMicrosoft 365 CopilotHow well it does the jobBoth products are listed under business, finance & professional work in the catalogue, and this is the fit recorded against each listing. Everything listed under business, finance & professional work
Free planFireflies.aiHow well it does the jobFrom each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below.
Cheapest way to payFireflies.aiEverything elseFrom each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below.

The ratings

The category these two share. Business, Finance & Professional Work — both are listed there in the catalogue, and the fit recorded against each listing is a judgement made here, by hand.

The nine-category grid below. Derived from what each product is listed for, by one script, once per build — so the same pair always reads the same. It is a derivation, not a review.

What this is not

Neither product was run side by side to produce this page. Nobody was paid to appear on it and nothing here is ranked by commission.

To put the same question to both and read the answers yourself, run them side by side — that is a live test, and this is not.

Choose based on what you’re doing

All ten categories, including the ones where neither of these is the answer. These ratings are derived from what each product is listed for, not from running it — a rating here is a reading of the record, and the record is linked.

01

General-Purpose AI Assistants

Questions, brainstorming, explanations, everyday tasks, decision-making, general advice.

Fireflies.ai
Not a good fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fit
Best choice: Neither
02

Search, Research & Academics

Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.

Fireflies.ai
Not a good fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fit
Best choice: Neither
03

Writing, Communication & Language

Emails, reports, essays, editing, summarizing, translation, presentations.

Fireflies.ai
Not a good fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fit
Best choice: Neither
04

Coding, Data & Technical Work

Programming, debugging, data analysis, spreadsheets, math, engineering, technical research.

Fireflies.ai
Bad fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fit
Best choice: Neither
05

Business, Finance & Professional Work

Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.

Fireflies.ai
Good fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Built for this
Best choice: Microsoft 365 Copilot
06

Image & Design

Image generation, photo editing, logos, graphics, product design, advertising creatives.

Fireflies.ai
Bad fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fit
Best choice: Neither
07

Video

Video generation and editing, clipping, subtitles, avatars, animation and motion capture.

Fireflies.ai
Bad fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fit
Best choice: Neither
08

Audio, Voice & Music

Voice generation, transcription, music, dubbing, sound cleanup and podcast production.

Fireflies.ai
Bad fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fit
Best choice: Neither
09

Marketing & Content Creation

Social media, SEO, advertising, copywriting, content ideas, scripts, brand development.

Fireflies.ai
Not a good fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fit
Best choice: Neither
10

Productivity, Automation & Personal Life

AI agents, workflows, scheduling, meetings, organization, shopping, travel, personal finance.

Fireflies.ai
Not a good fit
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fit
Best choice: Neither
Pick Fireflies.ai if

Records, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel.

San Francisco, US
Records, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel.
You want to start without paying anything
You want the cheaper paid plan, $18 against $25.2
Useful when the record of a call matters more than the call.
Pick Microsoft 365 Copilot if

Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.

by Microsoft
The job is mainly business, finance & professional work
Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
It is built for business, finance & professional work
The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.

Pricing, simplified

The plans people actually compare, read from each vendor’s own page.

PricingSimple, up-to-date plan overview.
Fireflies.aiby Fireflies.ai
Free version
Fireflies.ai
Yes — Free plan availableFree forever plan: unlimited transcription
Microsoft 365 Copilot
No — paid from the startPaid from the start
Individual plans
Fireflies.ai
Pro $18 / month$10 / month (annual)
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat —
Business plans
Fireflies.ai
From $29 / user / monthFrom $19 / user / month (annual)
Microsoft 365 Copilot
From $25.20 / user / monthFrom $21 / user / month (annual)Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot, Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot
Enterprise
Fireflies.ai
From $39 / user / month
Microsoft 365 Copilot
From $30 / user / month (annual)Microsoft 365 Copilot, the enterprise seat
View full details
Interactive

Tell us what you use AI for

Pick your main job and the verdict below changes to match. Every answer is on the page already, so this works as a reader, not a lookup.

The verdict for that job
Evenly matched
Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is built for business, finance & professional work; Fireflies.ai does it well without it being its focus; only Fireflies.ai has a free plan; Fireflies.ai is cheaper to start paying for, $18 against $25.2.
7 rows compared

Frequently asked questions

Is Fireflies.ai or Microsoft 365 Copilot better?

Neither leads on the 7 rows above: 2 each. The job decides it, not the table. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built for business, finance & professional work; Fireflies.ai does it well without it being its focus; only Fireflies.ai has a free plan; Fireflies.ai is cheaper to start paying for, $18 against $25.2. Fireflies.ai: Records, transcribes and searches meetings, then pushes the summary into a CRM or a channel. Useful when the record of a call matters more than the call. Microsoft 365 Copilot: Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has. The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.

Is Fireflies.ai or Microsoft 365 Copilot cheaper?

Fireflies.ai — paid plans start at $18 a month against $25.2 a month.

Do Fireflies.ai and Microsoft 365 Copilot both have free plans?

Fireflies.ai does — Free forever plan: unlimited transcription, though the page marks that with an asterisk, plus limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage for the whole team and 20 AI credits, across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and others in more than 100 languages. Microsoft 365 Copilot does not.

What should I watch out for?

Fireflies.ai: Recording colleagues and customers has consent rules that vary by country and state. Settle that before switching it on across a team. The free plan holds 400 minutes of storage for the whole team, not per person, and Pro buys storage and features rather than AI credits — it carries the same 20 a month as the free tier. Microsoft 365 Copilot: An add-on rather than a standalone purchase: the enterprise Copilot seat is $30 a user a month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence you must already hold, and Copilot Chat is only included if you already pay for an eligible subscription. Agents need an Azure subscription on top again.

Read more

Fireflies.ai

What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.

Best AI for Business

Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.