Fireflies alternative for GDPR-conscious teams

A good Fireflies alternative for GDPR-conscious teams keeps a bot out of the call and survives a review by your data protection officer. Check three things before you switch: a DPA under Art. 28 GDPR, where data is stored and processed, and deletion periods. If you need EU hosting, look at Jamie and tl;dv. If you want bot-free capture and team notes, look at Reline.

We make Reline, so read this as a vendor’s comparison. For the broad overview of every tool, see our German GDPR check of AI meeting assistants. This page answers one question: what replaces Fireflies, and what should you watch when you switch? Every fact about Fireflies, Jamie and tl;dv comes from their own pages (as of October 2026) and is linked.

Fireflies is a mature product, and plenty of teams are happy with it. In the German-speaking market, though, the reasons to switch are usually the same four.

By default, Fireflies sends its notetaker, Fred, into Zoom, Google Meet or Teams as a participant. Customers, candidates and colleagues see it in the participant list, and someone often asks who is taking notes. Fireflies now also offers ways around the bot: per its help center, a Chrome extension for Google Meet and a desktop mode. Per Fireflies, that bot-free desktop mode saves no separate audio or video file; a replayable recording needs the bot.

In Germany, secretly recording a non-public conversation is not a question of etiquette but potentially a crime. Section 201 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) makes the unauthorised recording of another person’s non-publicly spoken words punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine. In practice: get the consent of everyone in the meeting before you record. That applies to Fireflies, to Reline and to every other tool. Whether a bot is visible or capture happens locally does not change the duty.

According to Fireflies’ own security FAQ, all data is stored and processed in US cloud infrastructure by default. With Private Storage, which the pricing page lists only on Enterprise, content can be stored in the EU; per the same FAQ, it is still processed in the United States. For transfers, Fireflies names the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. That is a recognised route, but many data protection officers prefer EU processing where it is available.

Then there is the DPA. According to Fireflies’ help article on its Data Processing Addendum, Fireflies acts as a processor for Business and Enterprise customers. The article does not mention Free or Pro in that context, and the published DPA itself (last updated 6 March 2026) names no plans at all. If you use Fireflies Pro for customer calls, settle that before your next audit.

This checklist puts Fireflies and Reline side by side. It does not replace your own assessment, but it shows the questions your data protection officer will ask.

To be straight about it: on data location Reline is no better than Fireflies, since both process in the USA. Reline wins on the bot, on keeping the recording without a bot, and on a DPA that is expressly part of the agreement on every plan. Fireflies wins on formal certifications and offers EU storage on Enterprise.

Three alternatives cover the usual reasons to switch. Prices come from each vendor’s pricing page (as of October 2026) and can change.

Reline captures your microphone and system audio locally on your computer: no participant joins and no join notice appears. Live transcription (60+ languages), AI summaries and storage then run in our cloud. You get the full transcript, the kept recording and a Notion-style notepad your team edits together. Notes are private by default, with five permission levels per note and folder, and the interface is fully available in German. The honest caveat: Reline offers no EU data residency and has no SOC 2.

Jamie records without a bot and, on its pricing page, lists "Hosted in EU & GDPR compliant" and no model training on your data for every plan; ISO 27001 is listed and SOC 2 Type II is marked "pending". Note that the pricing page lists DPAs only on Enterprise, and the Free plan caps meetings at 30 minutes. Jamie fits when EU hosting is the hard requirement.

tl;dv offers both routes: a bot that records meetings even when you are not there, or capture straight from your device with no extra participant. Its German website says data is hosted and stored in the EU, and tl;dv claims SOC 2 compliance. tl;dv fits when your team still wants a bot now and then but needs EU hosting. The pricing page does not mention a DPA, so request it from tl;dv directly.

Stay with Fireflies if you want a bot to record every calendar meeting automatically, even ones you skip, if you need HIPAA, SSO and SCIM (Enterprise, per the pricing page), or if your sales team runs on conversation analytics and CRM integrations. With Private Storage, Enterprise content can be stored in the EU. Then check the processing location and the works council question anyway.

1. Bring in your data protection officer early: DPA, record of processing activities and, if needed, a data protection impact assessment.
2. Inform the works council and agree whether a works agreement is needed.
3. Prepare a notice for participants. Reline publishes a notice for meeting participants at reline.so/participants for exactly this.
4. Export the Fireflies transcripts and notes you want to keep, then import the Markdown files into Reline one at a time from a note’s ••• menu. There is no bulk or folder import.
5. Turn off the bot’s automatic joining of calendar meetings in Fireflies so Fred stops showing up.
6. Once you have switched, delete the Fireflies account. Per Fireflies, meeting data is then irreversibly deleted within 30 days.