Gilbert vs Otter vs Fireflies: an honest comparison

We are often asked how Gilbert differs from Otter or Fireflies. It is a fair question. Here is an honest comparison, point by point.

Accuracy in French

This is the number one criterion for the French-speaking market, and it is where the gap is widest.

• Gilbert: 98.2%, on models trained natively for French, with sector vocabulary
• Otter: around 88 to 91%, solid in English, limited in French, with no professional vocabulary
• Fireflies: around 85 to 89%, with basic French support and many errors on technical terms

In a legal or financial conversation in French, the difference between 89% and 98% is enormous. At 89%, one word in ten is wrong. At 98%, the document is usable as it stands.

Hosting and sovereignty

• Gilbert: entirely in France, on OVHcloud, SecNumCloud certified, with proprietary models and no transfer outside the EU
• Otter: United States, on AWS, subject to the Cloud Act
• Fireflies: United States, on GCP and AWS, subject to the Cloud Act

For any organisation under the GDPR, working with sensitive data, or simply careful about confidentiality, this rules the others out.

Customising the deliverable

• Gilbert: templates you can shape per type of conversation. You define the structure, the sections and the format, so the write-up looks like yours rather than a generic one
• Otter: automatic summary, little customisation, a single format
• Fireflies: summary and action items, with limited customisation

How the audio is captured

• Gilbert: a desktop app that captures all system audio, plus a mobile app for in-person meetings. No bot joins the call
• Otter: a bot joins the call, visible to every participant
• Fireflies: a bot joins the call, visible to every participant

The bot is a recurring problem: it signals to everyone that the conversation is being recorded, which changes its dynamic. Gilbert works in the background, silently.

Speaker identification

• Gilbert: advanced diarisation, two to fifteen speakers, robust to interruptions, with name recognition
• Otter: good diarisation in English, limited in French
• Fireflies: reasonable diarisation, sometimes confused beyond four participants

Pricing

• Gilbert Discovery: free, 120 minutes a month
• Gilbert Pro: €24.90 a month, or €19.90 a month billed annually, for 30 hours of conversation a month
• Gilbert Business: €49.90 a month, or €39.90 a month billed annually, for teams, with bespoke templates, CRM integration and a custom model
• Otter Pro: $16.99 a month, billed annually
• Fireflies Pro: $18 a month, billed annually

The prices are comparable. The value delivered is not, particularly if you work in French.

Verdict

If you work mainly in English and sovereignty is not a concern, Otter and Fireflies are decent tools. If you work in French, if your conversations carry sensitive data, and if you expect deliverables you can genuinely use, Gilbert is in a different category.