Does Fireflies also join live and ask questions?

No — Fireflies' bot records and transcribes, and its Live Assist feature offers real-time coaching to the meeting host, but the bot itself does not speak up or ask the room a clarifying question (fireflies.ai/pricing). Ava's facilitator personas do, live, as a named participant.

Is Fireflies cheaper than Ava?

It depends on team size. Fireflies charges per seat starting at $18/seat/month (or $10/seat/month billed annually) on its Pro tier (fireflies.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-13). That usually costs less than Ava's flat $39/month plan for a large team of light users, and more for a single heavy user, since Ava's price does not scale per seat.

Which meeting platforms does each one support?

Fireflies records Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and more, plus phone dialers and uploaded files (fireflies.ai/pricing, fireflies.ai). Ava supports Microsoft Teams and Zoom only, joining as an external guest.

Comparison

Ava vs Fireflies.ai

The short version

Fireflies.ai is a mature, broadly-integrated meeting recorder: it joins far more places than Ava does, transcribes in 100+ languages, and layers a general-purpose AI assistant (AskFred, plus 200+ optional 'AI Skills' templates) on top of the transcript. What it does not do is participate — its Live Assist feature coaches the human host in real time, but the bot itself does not ask the room a clarifying question. Ava's whole design is the opposite bet: a smaller, named participant who asks in the moment and writes role-specific documents instead of a general summary. Teams that need broad platform coverage, phone-call transcription, or a large per-seat rollout are usually better served by Fireflies; teams whose meetings need someone chasing an unowned decision live are the case Ava is built for.

Facts checked September 13, 2026. Pricing and features change — check their current pricing page before deciding.

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Where the two approaches differ

How each one behaves during the call

Fireflies.ai: Fireflies' bot joins to record and transcribe. Its Live Assist feature can surface real-time coaching prompts to the human host, but the bot itself does not speak up or ask the room a clarifying question (fireflies.ai/pricing, fireflies.ai).
Ava: Ava participates as a named guest who may ask a short clarifying question when something stays vague — while the person who knows the answer is still on the call.

If you want a recorder that never interjects, Fireflies is the safer default. If a meeting keeps leaving things vague, an agent that can ask in the room is the only way to fix that at the source rather than after the fact.

Pricing model and per-seat cost

Fireflies.ai: Fireflies charges per seat: $18/seat/month on Pro (or $10/seat/month billed annually), rising to $29/seat/month on Business (or $19/seat/month billed annually); Enterprise is $39/seat/month, billed annually only (fireflies.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-13).
Ava: Ava charges a flat $39/month (or $390/year) per account for a 120 hours pool of meeting time, regardless of how many people are on the call.

A larger team where most people use the tool occasionally will usually pay less per person with Fireflies' entry tier. A small team or a single heavy user running long meetings will usually do better on Ava's flat, pooled-minutes plan.

Depth of AI features vs. what's included

Fireflies.ai: Fireflies' AI Skills, Personal Assistant, Email Assistant, and Voice Agents are real, named capabilities, but they draw down a separate monthly pool of AI credits — 20/seat on Pro, 30/seat on Business, 50/seat on Enterprise — rather than being unlimited at that tier (fireflies.ai/pricing).
Ava: Every persona's full capture-tool set and document generation is included at the Pro price with no separate credit meter (18 personas total).

Teams that want one number to budget against will find Ava's model simpler. Teams that mostly want reliable transcription and only occasionally reach for an AI Skill may find Fireflies' credit model cheaper in practice.

Platform coverage

Fireflies.ai: Fireflies records Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and more, plus phone-dialer integrations (Aircall, RingCentral) and direct audio/video file upload (fireflies.ai/pricing, fireflies.ai).
Ava: Microsoft Teams and Zoom only, joining as an external guest via a pasted link — no tenant install or admin consent.

If your meetings live outside Teams and Zoom, or you need phone-call capture and file transcription, Fireflies covers ground Ava does not.

Side by side

Capability	Fireflies.ai	Ava
Meeting platforms	Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, +10 more, plus phone dialers and file upload	Microsoft Teams and Zoom only
Entry-level paid price	$18/seat/month (Pro), or $10/seat/month billed annually	$39/month or $390/year, flat — not per seat
Per-meeting recording cap	2 hours on Free and Pro, 3 hours on Business, 4 hours on Enterprise	No fixed per-meeting cap; the whole call counts toward the plan's 120 hours pool per billing period
AI feature gating	Deeper AI features (AI Skills, Personal/Email Assistant, Voice Agents) consume a separate pool of AI credits: 20/seat (Pro), 30/seat (Business), 50/seat (Enterprise)	No separate credit meter — a persona's full tool set is included at the plan price
Specialisation	One general assistant (AskFred) plus 200+ optional 'AI Skills' templates layered on top	18 purpose-built personas, each with its own orientation questions, capture tools, and output documents
Real-time behaviour	Live Assist gives the human host real-time coaching prompts; the bot does not ask the room a question on its own initiative	Asks clarifying questions live, in the moment, as a named participant
Language support	100+ languages with auto-detection (fireflies.ai)	English by default; non-English personas are supported but force a different transcription provider
Pricing	Usually per seat per month — check their current pricing page	60 minutes within 30 days, no credit card, all 18 personas. Then $39/month or $390/year · 120 hours per billing period. Video avatar +$149/month.

Pick Fireflies.ai when

Your team is on Google Meet, needs phone-call transcription, or wants file-upload transcription — Fireflies covers all three and Ava covers none of them.
You are rolling this out to a large team where most people will use it lightly, and a per-seat entry price undercuts a flat per-account plan.
You want an AI assistant that reaches into email- and workflow-style tasks (Personal Assistant, Email Assistant, Voice Agents) beyond the meeting itself.
You need 100+ language transcription coverage in a single tool.

Pick Ava when

You want an agent that asks a clarifying question live, in the room, rather than only coaching the human host or summarising after the fact.
You want role-specific output — a BRD-lite, an ADR pack, a MEDDIC scorecard — instead of one general-purpose summary plus optional add-on skills.
You'd rather pay one flat price for a pooled block of meeting time than track a per-seat fee plus a separate AI-credit meter.
IT will not approve a tenant install or bot invite, so joining as an external guest is the only viable route.

Where Ava falls short

Worth knowing before you spend the trial on her. None of this is on a roadmap promise — it is how she behaves today:

Microsoft Teams and Zoom only — no Google Meet or Webex support today.
She joins as a visible, named participant, and you are responsible for telling the room she is there.
Facilitator personas speak during the call. For client-sensitive meetings use the silent scribe personas instead.
Artifacts are structured first drafts built from what was said — review and edit them before they go to a client.
Billed by meeting time rather than per seat, so heavy weekly use runs into the plan's time cap.
The on-screen video avatar is a paid add-on (+$149/month) and bills for the whole time it is visible.

Which persona replaces what you have

The comparison changes depending on the meeting. These are the personas most relevant here:

See all 18 personas

Common questions

Does Fireflies also join live and ask questions?: No — Fireflies' bot records and transcribes, and its Live Assist feature offers real-time coaching to the meeting host, but the bot itself does not speak up or ask the room a clarifying question (fireflies.ai/pricing). Ava's facilitator personas do, live, as a named participant.
Is Fireflies cheaper than Ava?: It depends on team size. Fireflies charges per seat starting at $18/seat/month (or $10/seat/month billed annually) on its Pro tier (fireflies.ai/pricing, fetched 2026-09-13). That usually costs less than Ava's flat $39/month plan for a large team of light users, and more for a single heavy user, since Ava's price does not scale per seat.
Which meeting platforms does each one support?: Fireflies records Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and more, plus phone dialers and uploaded files (fireflies.ai/pricing, fireflies.ai). Ava supports Microsoft Teams and Zoom only, joining as an external guest.

Try it on a real meeting

60 minutes within 30 days, no credit card, all 18 personas. Paste a Teams or Zoom link into the dashboard, pick a persona, and see what comes back — no tenant install and no admin consent needed.

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