Fireflies AI vs Microsoft OneNote: Which is Best for You in 2025?

by | Last updated Aug 19, 2025

Winner
fireflies
4.8
  • Transcription
  • Smart Search
  • Talk Time Tracking
  • Conversation Intelligence
  • Collaboration Tools
  • Free plan available
  • Paid Plans from $10
Runner Up
Microsoft OneNote best
3.5
  • Copilot
  • Sketch & Annotate
  • Collaboration
  • Voice Transcription
  • Note Education
  • Free Trial Available
  • Custom Pricing
Fahim AI 6 4 4

Are you tired of scrambling to remember important details from meetings or struggling to organize your notes?

Juggling meetings, taking notes, and trying to remember every important detail can be a real pain.

It’s a common problem for many of us, leaving us feeling stressed and unproductive.

Two major players stand out in the world: Fireflies AI vs Microsoft OneNote. 

Which one is the right fit to solve your unique challenges and boost your productivity?

Let’s find out!

Overview

We thoroughly tested both Fireflies AI and OneNote.

Our team used them for real-world tasks.

This helped us see how each tool performs daily.

Now, we can compare them fairly.

Fireflies
4.8out of 5

Fireflies.ai captures over 90% of spoken words in your meetings. Try it now!

Pricing: It has a free plan and also a paid plan starting at just $10/annually

Key Features:

  • Voice Commands
  • Search & Ask
  • Collaboration Tools
Microsoft OneNote CTA
3.5out of 5

Over 100 million are already using Microsoft OneNote to streamline notes

Pricing: It has a free plan. Custom Pricing Plans are Available.

Key Features:

  • Freeform Canvas
  • Handwriting Recognition
  • Microsoft 365 Integration

What is Fireflies AI?

Let’s talk about Fireflies AI.

It’s a smart tool for your meetings. It listens and takes notes for you.

Imagine never having to scribble during a call again.

It works with many meeting apps you already use. 

Also, explore our favorite Fireflies AI alternatives

What is Microsoft OneNote?

So, what about Microsoft OneNote? It’s like a digital notebook.

You can jot down ideas anywhere on the page. It’s very freeform.

You can draw, type, and even record audio.

Also, explore our favorite Microsoft OneNote alternatives

Microsoft OneNote homepage

Our Take

Microsoft OneNote CTA

Ready to get organized? Over 100 million people are already using Microsoft OneNote to streamline their notes. See why they’ve made the switch – join the millions who are boosting their productivity!

Key Benefits

OneNote has its special strengths:

  • Freeform Canvas: Write or draw anywhere. It’s like endless paper.
  • Handwriting Recognition: Converts notes to text. Great for pen users.
  • Deep Microsoft Integration: Works seamlessly with Office. Perfect for existing users.
  • Audio Recording: Embed voice notes directly. Capture meetings easily.
  • Web Clipper: Save web pages quickly. Keep research organized.

Pricing

Custom Pricing

Pros

  • Very easy to start.
  • Excellent for freeform notes.
  • Great pen and tablet support.
  • Seamless Microsoft ecosystem.
  • Reliable offline access.

Cons

  • Less structured than Notion.
  • Limited database functions.
  • Collaboration features are basic.
  • No built-in task management.
  • The user interface feels dated.

Feature Comparison

H2: Fireflies AI vs Microsoft OneNote Feature Comparison Fireflies is a specialized ai meeting assistant designed to automatically record and transcribe your meetings.

Microsoft OneNote, on the other hand, is a versatile digital note taker that helps you organize information and is part of the extensive microsoft office suite.

1. Core Functionality

  • Fireflies AI: The core purpose of Fireflies is to be an ai transcription tool that can automatically record and transcribe your online meetings. fireflies is an ai assistant built to improve productivity by automating the process of taking meeting notes.
  • Microsoft OneNote: OneNote is a digital note taker that onenote offers a wide variety of ways to create notes. It is a part of microsoft office applications and is designed to help onenote users gather and organize information in one place.

2. Meeting Automation

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies is built to schedule meetings and automatically join them. You can invite fireflies to your calendar events on google meet or other services, and it will record meetings and provide a transcript.
  • Microsoft OneNote: While you can record a meeting in OneNote as an audio recording, it lacks the automation capabilities to automatically record and transcribe an entire meeting. It is not an ai meeting assistant in the same way.

3. AI & Notetaking

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies is an ai notetaker and ai voice assistant that uses ai powered technology to analyze voice conversations and provide a summary. It is an ideal tool for small teams to get valuable insights and create content from a meeting.
  • Microsoft OneNote: OneNote has limited AI functionality, but its ocr technology and math assistant are useful. It is a powerful note taker for capturing handwritten notes with drawing tools, which you can later convert to text.
  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies has an ai powered search that allows you to find key moments from audio files and voice conversations. It helps you to quickly answer questions and locate key topics discussed from past calls.
  • Microsoft OneNote: OneNote has strong search features that enables users to find text inside handwritten notes and files you’ve attached. Its optical character recognition helps you find anything you’ve added to a notebook, which is a great valuable feature.
Fireflies

5. Analytics & Insights

  • Fireflies AI: The platform provides deep conversation intelligence to measure performance and analyze meetings. It can track speaker talk time, identify key topics, and provide other key metrics that help you coach teammates and identify objections on sales calls.
  • Microsoft OneNote: While you can use OneNote to organize information, it does not provide the same level of analytics. It is a tool for co workers to collect information, not to analyze the depth of a conversation.

6. Integrations & Accessibility

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies integrates with several video conferencing apps like google meet and microsoft teams to send meeting notes to your favorite collaboration apps. It has a chrome extension to easily record meetings on other platforms.
  • Microsoft OneNote: As part of the microsoft office suite, OneNote has powerful integrations with microsoft apps like microsoft word and powerpoint. It also has a useful web clipper and browser extension to save web pages directly to your notebooks.

7. Collaboration & Sharing

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies is great for team collaboration and team transcribe. It helps small teams stay aligned and allows you to share instant transcripts and meeting recaps. You can also create soundbites from the most memorable moments.
  • Microsoft OneNote: OneNote allows for real-time collaboration with other onenote users. You can share notebooks and pages and organize information together, which is a key part of the microsoft 365 teams plan.

8. Accessibility & Platforms

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies is easily accessible via its web app, browser extension, and integrations. It works across different platforms and allows you to capture video and audio easily.
  • Microsoft OneNote: There is a version of onenote for almost every platform, including a desktop version for windows and mac, as well as mobile apps for android and other mobile devices. It has a simplified version on the web and multiple devices sync.
Microsoft OneNote voice transcription

9. Task Management

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies helps with internal processes by identifying and summarizing action items from a transcript. This helps to streamline follow-up tasks for your team.
  • Microsoft OneNote: OneNote has good basic task management features. You can create a to do list with custom tags to help you organize your tasks.

10. Pricing & Plans

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies has a free version that generates transcripts and a paid plan that unlocks advanced features. The onenote cost varies depending on the plan.
  • Microsoft OneNote: OneNote is free to use, but to get more storage and premium features, you need a paid subscription to microsoft 365. The onenote cost is bundled in your microsoft account and subscription.

11. General & Support

  • Fireflies AI: Fireflies offers email support and regularly provides bug fixes. Its user interface is designed to be straightforward for new users and help with other topics that need to be tracked.
  • Microsoft OneNote: The microsoft support and onenote support community are robust. microsoft offers customization options and a variety of custom templates to help new users get started.

What to Look For When Choosing an AI Note-Taking Tool?

When choosing a tool, the most important insights often lie in what each platform prioritizes.

The key is to determine if your priority is meeting automation or a flexible workspace for all your thoughts.

  • Core Functionality: The main difference is the specialization. The fireflies.ai notetaker is designed to transcribe meetings and give you a summary of the meeting data. In contrast, OneNote’s core functionality is a digital notebook where you can use a simple text box to write notes, handwrite notes, or use its basic word processing features.
  • Data Handling & Storage: Consider where your data lives and how you can get to it. OneNote uses cloud storage, and the free version has a limit on monthly uploads. You can access onenote from its dedicated windows version and android version, and it works with a variety of other apps like google docs. Also, check the tool’s export options to ensure you can easily move your data.
  • AI vs. Organization: Fireflies uses AI to summarize key moments and track topic tracking to help you find important moments from your calls. OneNote’s strength is its organizational structure, which allows you to use multiple notebooks to organize your thoughts. It is important to decide if you need advanced AI analysis or a simple, accessible way to organize information.

Final Verdict (Our Pick)

So, which tool wins?

It depends on what you need most.

If you have many meetings, Fireflies AI is the best choice.

It transcribes, summarizes, and lets you search spoken words.

This saves a lot of time. You won’t miss important details.

But if you need a flexible digital notebook, Microsoft OneNote is better.

It’s great for all kinds of notes. You can type, draw, and add pictures.

It’s perfect for personal organizing and group projects.

We tested both tools. Our pick is based on real-world use.

We know what helps people be productive.

More of Fireflies

We’ve compared Fireflies AI with other tools. Here’s how it stands out against some popular alternatives.

  • Fireflies vs Sembly: Fireflies offers superior meeting analytics and digital workspace features, while Sembly excels at task delegation.
  • Fireflies vs Notion AI: Fireflies is a dedicated AI meeting assistant, while Notion AI is a versatile tool for notes and project management.
  • Fireflies vs ClickUp: Fireflies focuses on deep conversation analysis, whereas ClickUp offers robust and highly customizable project management.
  • Fireflies vs Capacities: Fireflies is for meetings and Capacities is for building a knowledge base with interconnected notes.
  • Fireflies vs Taskade: Fireflies excels at meeting transcription, while Taskade is a strong all-in-one platform for team projects.
  • Fireflies vs Notejoy: Fireflies automates meeting notes, whereas Notejoy is a simple, real-time collaborative note-taking app.
  • Fireflies vs Notta: Fireflies offers extensive integrations and conversation intelligence; Notta stands out with multilingual transcription and templates.
  • Fireflies vs Craft: Fireflies is a dedicated AI meeting assistant, while Craft is a powerful tool for document creation and organization.
  • Fireflies vs MeetGeek: Fireflies offers broad language and platform support, while MeetGeek provides advanced customization and templates.
  • Fireflies vs Mem AI: Fireflies is for meeting capture and analysis; Mem AI focuses on connecting your personal notes automatically.
  • Fireflies vs Evernote: Fireflies handles meeting automation, while Evernote is a classic note-taking app with new AI features.
  • Fireflies vs Microsoft OneNote: Fireflies automates meeting transcription, while OneNote offers a freeform canvas for flexible note-taking.

More of Microsoft OneNote

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Fireflies AI replace my current note-taking app?

Fireflies AI is great for meeting notes and transcriptions. It’s not a full replacement for a general note-taking app like OneNote, Evernote, Apple Notes, or Google Keep. It specializes in spoken content within your workspace.

Does Fireflies AI work with Microsoft Teams?

Yes, Fireflies AI integrates well with Microsoft Teams. It can join your Teams meetings to record and transcribe them. This feature makes it very convenient for users of Microsoft’s communication platform.

How does Fireflies AI compare to other AI-powered tools?

Fireflies AI focuses strongly on meeting transcription and AI-powered summaries. Other AI tools might offer different features like advanced text generation or data analysis. Fireflies.ai excels in automating meeting workflows and extracting action items.

Is OneNote better for collaborative work than Fireflies AI?

OneNote generally offers more robust collaborative features. Multiple users can edit notes simultaneously in a shared workspace. While Fireflies AI allows sharing transcripts, its primary function isn’t real-time, shared note-taking in the same way.

What unique features does Fireflies AI offer compared to a traditional note-taking app?

Fireflies AI offers unique features like automatic meeting transcription, speaker identification, and AI-generated summaries. It also helps in quickly identifying key action items from conversations, which traditional note-taking apps don’t do automatically.