# Granola review

Bot-free AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings that transcribes from the computer's own audio and turns rough notes into structured summaries, free or $14 per user per month.

By Noah — last updated & pricing verified October 26, 2026.

> Granola is an AI notepad for meetings from Granola, Inc., launched in May 2024. Instead of joining a call as a bot, the desktop app captures the computer's microphone and system audio while the user jots notes as sparse or detailed as they like. When the meeting ends, Granola merges those raw notes, the live transcript and the calendar event into structured notes, keeps the user's own words highlighted in black, and lets them trace any line back to the transcript. Before external meetings it can prepare a brief from the calendar and earlier conversations, and Granola Chat answers questions across all of a user's meetings or a shared team Space. Granola keeps transcripts but never audio, supports 31 languages on desktop and 17 on mobile, and runs on phones for in-person conversations. Notes can go to Slack, Notion and CRMs such as HubSpot, Attio and Affinity, or be queried from Claude and ChatGPT through Granola's MCP connector.

## Facts

- Website: https://granola.ai
- Pricing: Free tier · paid from $14/mo (verified )
- License: Freemium
- Platforms: macos, windows, ios, android
- Best for: people in back-to-back video calls who want AI-polished versions of their own notes without a recording bot joining the meeting
- Standout feature: Bot-free capture: Granola transcribes from the computer's own audio so nothing joins the call, and it builds each summary around the notes the user typed rather than producing a generic recap.
- Biggest weakness: Granola keeps no audio or video, so there is no recording to replay or clip, and it cannot transcribe uploaded files. Named speaker labels need per-app setup for Google Meet, Zoom or Teams; without it, transcripts only split speech into Me and Them. On the free plan, notes older than 30 days are hidden until you upgrade.
- Categories: [Transcription & summaries](https://findalternative.to/categories/transcription)

## Pricing snapshot

| Plan | Price | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Basic | $0/mo | Free; unlimited AI meeting notes with no transcription limit, but only the last 30 days of notes visible in the app; Slack integration, shared folders, templates and recipes; Chat on the automatic model only. |
| Business | $14/mo | Per user, billed monthly with no annual option; unlimited note history, Chat model selection, pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails, Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity and Zapier integrations, MCP for workspace notes and a personal API. |
| Enterprise | $35/mo | From $35 per user per month, monthly or annual contracts; SSO (for 50+ users) and SCIM, HIPAA-compliant workspaces, Salesforce integration, workspace-wide retention and sharing policies, usage analytics, audit API, model training off by default. |

## Pros and cons

- Pro: No bot joins the call: capture runs from the computer's microphone and system audio and works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles and in-person meetings on the phone app.
- Pro: The free plan has no transcription limit or meeting cap.
- Pro: Summaries are built around the user's own typed notes, and each line can be traced back to the transcript.
- Pro: An MCP connector and official connectors in Claude and ChatGPT let other AI tools query meeting notes; Business adds an API.
- Pro: Transcribes 31 languages on desktop and can switch between them mid-meeting.
- Con: No audio or video is saved, so meetings cannot be replayed, and recorded files cannot be uploaded for transcription.
- Con: The free plan hides notes older than 30 days, and Business is billed monthly only, with no annual discount.
- Con: Speaker names need per-app setup on desktop; otherwise the transcript only separates Me and Them.
- Con: Every active workspace member is a paid seat, mixed plan tiers in one workspace are not allowed, and SSO requires Enterprise with 50+ users.

## AI summary

- Granola's Basic plan is free with no transcription limit but shows only the last 30 days of notes.
- Granola Business costs $14 per user per month billed monthly; Enterprise starts at $35 per user per month.
- Granola transcribes from the device's audio without a meeting bot and does not store audio or video.
- Granola supports 31 transcription languages on desktop and 17 on mobile.
- Granola raised a $125M Series C at a $1.5bn valuation in March 2026.
- Granola's iOS app is rated 5.0/5 from about 14,600 US App Store ratings.
- Best for: People in back-to-back video calls who want AI-polished notes without a bot joining
- Pricing: Free Basic plan with 30 days of visible history; Business is $14/user/month billed monthly and Enterprise starts at $35/user/month.
- Top alternatives: Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Tactiq, Fathom, NoteGPT
- Limitation: No audio or video recordings are kept, and recorded files cannot be imported.
- Limitation: The free plan hides notes older than 30 days.
- Limitation: Named speaker labels need setup per meeting app; otherwise transcripts show only Me and Them.
- Limitation: No Linux app, and the web app at notes.granola.ai can only view and edit notes.

## Alternatives

4 vetted alternatives to Granola: https://findalternative.to/granola — top picks: Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, Tactiq

## Comparisons

- https://findalternative.to/compare/granola-vs-otter-ai

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