Granola
Granola is a bot-free AI meeting notetaker that captures device audio and produces polished, editable notes with unlimited meetings on the free plan. The trade-offs are deliberate: no audio recording means transcription errors cannot be verified, model training is on by default on Free and Business, there is no data residency outside the US, HIPAA is Enterprise-only, and a July 2026 wiretap class action challenges the silent-capture model.
What is Granola?
Granola is an AI meeting notetaker built around a single architectural decision: it does not send a bot into your calls. Instead, it runs on your Mac, Windows PC, iPhone, or Android device and captures the audio your device is already playing or receiving. That means it works in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack Huddles, browser-based calls, FaceTime, and in-person conversations without needing platform-level bot permissions or appearing in the participant list.
The capture model is the product’s identity, and it is worth being precise about what it does and does not mean. “Bot-free” answers the question “does a stranger appear in the Zoom roster.” It does not answer “who hears the audio after you press record.” Granola’s own documentation states that audio is passed to a cloud transcription provider and that transcripts are stored on AWS in the United States. Audio is deleted after transcription on every plan, and no audio or video recording is retained. So the privacy benefit is real—there is no replayable recording sitting on a vendor’s disk—but the processing is cloud-based, not local. Users who chose Granola because they wanted a local processor, rather than because they disliked bots, should understand that distinction before deploying it for sensitive conversations.
The product’s output is not a raw transcript dump. Granola encourages users to type short anchors during the meeting—a name, a number, a phrase—and then enhances those anchors with the full transcript afterward. The enhanced notes follow a template, are editable like a Notion page, and highlight which words came from the user versus the AI. The result is a summary that reflects what the user cared about, rather than a generic recap. That design rewards a small amount of manual effort and is consistently cited as Granola’s strongest quality dimension in independent reviews.
Pricing is structured around history and admin control, not around meeting volume. The Basic plan is free forever with unlimited meetings and unlimited AI notes. What it restricts is history (30 days), integrations (Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, Affinity, Attio), advanced AI models, and full-history MCP access. Business at $14/user/month removes those constraints and adds pre-meeting briefs, follow-up email drafts, and a personal API. Enterprise at $35/user/month adds the governance layer: SSO, SCIM, workspace-wide training opt-out enforcement, audit API, HIPAA/BAA, and admin controls for MCP and integrations. Most teams discover after the fact that the feature they actually needed was history or admin control, not the notes themselves.
How does Granola work?
A user installs the desktop or mobile app, connects a calendar, and starts a meeting on any platform. Granola captures the device audio stream, sends it to a cloud transcription provider in real time, and generates a live transcript. During the call, the user can type notes or anchors. After the call, Granola combines the user’s typed input with the transcript and produces enhanced notes in a chosen template—1:1, customer discovery, hiring loop, stand-up, weekly team meeting, and others, or a custom template. The notes are editable, searchable, and can be organized into folders within Spaces (personal, team, or shared).
Granola also provides an “Ask Granola” chat interface for querying across meetings. On Business and Enterprise, chat can run across folders of meetings, enabling cross-meeting questions such as “what are the top feature requests from enterprise customers this month?” On Basic, chat is scoped to the auto model and the 30-day history window. An MCP server, launched in February 2026 and labeled beta in-app, allows Granola notes to be pulled into Claude, ChatGPT, and other MCP-compatible tools; on Basic, MCP access is limited to personal notes from the last 30 days. Business adds a personal API for building custom integrations.
The output workflow is deliberately lightweight. There is no audio or video playback, because no recording is stored. The transcript is the record, and the enhanced notes are the primary artifact. Slack integration auto-posts summaries to a channel on every plan. Business and Enterprise add pre-meeting briefs for external calls and drafted follow-up emails. The product is designed to keep the user’s attention on the conversation rather than on a recording widget, and the interface reflects that priority.
Use Cases
- Individuals in back-to-back meetings who need contextual notes within a 30-day window and do not want a bot appearing in every call
- Sales and customer-success teams using Business to sync meeting notes to HubSpot, Affinity, or Attio and query across a folder of customer calls
- Hiring loops and 1:1s where a consistent note template and searchable history reduce administrative overhead
- In-person conversations and mobile-only meetings, captured through the iPhone or Apple Watch app, where bot-based tools cannot join
- Teams that want to pull meeting context into Claude or ChatGPT through MCP, accepting the beta status and the history limitations of their plan tier
- Organizations that need workspace-wide training opt-out enforcement, SSO, audit logs, and a HIPAA BAA, which are available on Enterprise
Pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
| Plan | Price | Billing | Included usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | per user / month | Unlimited AI meeting notes and unlimited meetings. 30 days of meeting history. AI chat across meetings (auto model). Templates, Recipes, shared folders, Slack integration, People & Companies views. MCP access limited to personal notes from the last 30 days. Model training opt-out available in personal settings. No Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, Affinity, or Attio integrations. No advanced AI thinking models. No pre-meeting briefs or follow-up emails. No API access. | — |
| Business | $14 | per user / month | Everything in Basic plus unlimited meeting history. Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, Affinity, and Attio integrations. Advanced AI thinking models for complex queries across meeting folders. MCP with personal and public workspace notes (full history, not just 30 days). Personal API access. Pre-meeting briefs and follow-up emails. Centralized billing and user management. No SSO, SCIM, workspace-wide training opt-out enforcement, HIPAA BAA, or audit API. | — |
| Enterprise | $35 | per user / month | Everything in Business plus SSO (Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace SAML, JumpCloud, Auth0) for workspaces of 50+ users. SCIM provisioning. Organization-wide model training opt-out enforced by admin. Workspace-wide sharing settings and retention/auto-deletion policies. HIPAA-compliant workspaces with a BAA (desktop/laptop apps only). Audit API. Admin controls for MCP, API, and integrations. Usage analytics. Priority support. MDM and Intune app wrapping on iOS. | — |
Common Limitations
- No audio or video recording means transcription errors cannot be verified · Granola deliberately does not retain audio or video. Audio is sent to a cloud transcription provider in real time, then deleted after transcription on every plan. The privacy rationale is coherent, but the operational consequence is that if a transcript mishears a number, a product code, a name, or a reference, there is no recording to replay. Independent testing found that transcripts often miss numbers and codes, and that accuracy degrades in noisy or overlapping-speech conditions. In a multilingual test, the notes summary remained coherent while the underlying transcript contained gibberish in places—and because there was no audio, those errors could not be checked or corrected against the source. For use cases where precise wording matters—journalism, legal intake, clinical notes, financial compliance—the absence of a replayable record is a structural limitation, not a settings issue.
- Model training is on by default on Free and Business, and opt-out is per-user · Granola trains its models on de-identified conversation data by default. Users can opt out in Settings under Data and sharing, and the option is listed as a Basic feature, but independent reviewers report that the setting is not prominent and that onboarding does not prompt users to review it. On Business, each user must opt out individually; there is no admin-enforced workspace-wide opt-out until Enterprise. The practical failure mode is a team deploying Business seats and assuming that a privacy-conscious admin has protected everyone, when in fact every seat still needs to be configured. For organizations with contractual or regulatory data-handling obligations, the default-on posture is a configuration risk that must be actively managed, not a feature that can be trusted to be off.
- July 2026 wiretap class action tests the silent-capture model · A class action filed in the Northern District of California on July 30, 2026 (No. 3:26-cv-07926) alleges that Granola intercepted Microsoft Teams and Zoom communications without the knowledge or consent of non-user participants. Because Granola does not send a visible bot into the meeting, the other participants have no platform-level indication that transcription is occurring. The complaint argues that this combination—silent capture plus default training—violates wiretap law. Granola's defense may lean on one-party consent and the absence of a criminal or tortious purpose, but the litigation is active, and it puts the product's core capture model under legal scrutiny. The practical takeaway is not that Granola is unlawful, but that users should treat participant disclosure as a mandatory workflow step rather than an optional courtesy, and that legal teams should review the posture before enterprise-wide deployment.
- No data residency outside the US, and no HIPAA on Free or Business · All Granola data is stored on AWS in the United States. There is no EU, UK, Canadian, or Australian residency option at any price. Granola offers a GDPR DPA with standard contractual clauses through a UK entity, so this is a residency limitation rather than a compliance gap, but for organizations with data-sovereignty requirements it is a hard boundary that no plan tier removes. Separately, HIPAA compliance and a BAA are available only on Enterprise, and the BAA currently covers the desktop and laptop apps only—not mobile or the Apple Watch app. Free and Business accounts should not be used to store protected health information. Organizations in healthcare, education (no FERPA), or regulated industries should plan for Enterprise or choose a different vendor.
- Device-audio capture degrades speaker attribution compared with per-channel bots · Because Granola records a mixed device audio stream rather than separate per-participant channels, identifying who said what is inherently less precise than a bot that joins the meeting and captures each participant’s audio separately. Desktop speaker labeling has been reported as limited to “Me” and “Them” in independent testing; live diarization is not available on the desktop app. Granola has added a Speaker tags setting that helps, and the iPhone app performs better on in-person capture, but the structural trade-off remains. For meeting notes where “who committed to what” is the central question—sales calls, hiring loops, multi-party negotiations—this is a material accuracy limitation that should be tested against the team’s actual meeting patterns before rollout.
- The 30-day history cap is enforced at the API and MCP layer, not just the UI · The Basic plan’s 30-day history limit is not a display constraint that a workaround can bypass. Independent testing connected the MCP server on a free account and found that listing meetings returned nothing past 30 days, folder listing errored as a paid feature, and workspace notes were excluded. The cap is enforced at the data-access layer. This matters for anyone planning to build a workflow on top of Granola’s MCP server: the free tier is not a viable foundation for an integration that needs historical context. The Business plan removes the cap, but the MCP server itself is labeled beta in-app, with usage terms that “may vary” and that are not stated on the pricing page or in the documentation.
Key Features
- Bot-free capture from device audio across Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex, Slack Huddles, FaceTime, and in-person conversations
- Enhanced notes that blend typed anchors with the full transcript, editable like a Notion page
- Templates for 1:1s, customer discovery, hiring, stand-ups, and custom formats
- Ask Granola chat across meetings, scoped by plan tier and history window
- Recipes for post-call actions
Granola vs. Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, and Fathom
This comparison uses official pricing pages and independently published reviews available as of November 2026. It focuses on structural differences that determine capture method, free-plan viability, history retention, and data-handling posture—not on declaring which tool writes the best notes. The four products occupy different positions: Granola is bot-free with unlimited free meetings but a 30-day history cap; Otter is a bot-based platform with minute-metered free access; Fireflies is a high-volume team tool with storage-based free limits; Fathom pairs a bot with an unusually generous free recording allowance. The cost and privacy profiles diverge, and those are the dimensions this comparison prioritizes.
| Tool | Positioning | Key differences | Best fit | Pricing note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granola Official pricing plans comparison Security and privacy FAQ (HIPAA/BAA scope) Independent review documenting no audio playback and training default | A bot-free AI meeting notetaker that captures device audio, produces polished editable notes, and sells history and admin control rather than meeting volume. | The only bot-free capture model among the four: no participant joins the call, which means it works across any platform and in-person conversations without bot support. The free plan is unlimited meetings with a 30-day history cap, not a minute meter. No audio or video is retained, so transcription errors cannot be verified against a recording. Model training is on by default on Free and Business; Enterprise adds workspace-wide opt-out enforcement and a HIPAA BAA. No data residency outside the US. A July 2026 wiretap class action tests the silent-capture model. | Individuals and teams that dislike meeting bots, work across multiple platforms including in-person conversations, and can accept a 30-day history window on the free plan or pay $14/user/month for unlimited history and integrations. | Basic $0 (unlimited meetings, 30-day history, no integrations, limited MCP). Business $14/user/month (unlimited history, integrations, API, pre-meeting briefs). Enterprise $35/user/month (SSO, SCIM, workspace-wide training opt-out, HIPAA/BAA, audit API). Per-user billing; no minute metering. |
| Otter.ai TechRepublic 2026 comparison (Otter free limits and paid entry) Otter pricing overview (independent, documents $8.33 annual entry) | A bot-based AI meeting assistant with live transcription, search, and a minute-metered free tier, positioned as the value pick for English-speaking teams. | Otter sends a bot into meetings or uses a desktop app for live transcription. The free plan is capped at 300 minutes per month, with a 30-minute per-conversation limit and only the 25 most recent meetings stored—a hard minute meter rather than Granola’s unlimited-meetings-with-history-cap model. Paid plans start at $8.33/user/month billed annually, lower than Granola Business. Otter retains audio and video recordings on paid plans, which enables playback and verification that Granola cannot provide, but also means a recording archive exists where Granola deliberately avoids one. Otter does not have Granola’s bot-free cross-platform flexibility for in-person or arbitrary browser-based calls. | English-first teams that want the lowest paid entry point, are comfortable with a bot joining calls, and need audio/video playback to verify transcripts rather than a bot-free capture model. | Basic free: 300 minutes/month, 30 minutes per conversation, 25 most recent meetings stored. Pro $8.33/user/month billed annually. Business $19.99/user/month annual. Enterprise custom. Minute-metered free tier; paid plans raise the cap. |
| Fireflies.ai TechRepublic 2026 comparison (Fireflies free limits and paid entry) Fireflies pricing overview (independent, documents $10 annual entry) | A bot-based meeting assistant built for high-volume teams, with unlimited transcription on the free plan but a team-wide storage cap and credit-based AI features. | Fireflies’ free plan offers unlimited transcription but limits storage to 400 minutes per team in total and gates AI summaries behind credits (20 AI credits on Free, with some plans offering 3 AI summaries per month). The paid entry is $10/seat/month billed annually, lower than Granola Business. Fireflies sends a bot into meetings and retains recordings, enabling playback and verification that Granola lacks. It is stronger for high-volume teams that need a searchable recording archive across many meetings; Granola is stronger for individuals who want bot-free capture and unlimited meeting notes without a minute meter, accepting the 30-day history cap on the free tier. | High-volume teams that generate many meetings per month, need a shared recording archive, and are comfortable with a bot-based capture model and credit-gated AI summaries. | Free: unlimited transcription, 400 minutes team storage, 20 AI credits (some plans: 3 AI summaries/month). Pro $10/seat/month billed annually ($18 monthly). Business and Enterprise custom. Storage and AI credits are the binding constraints, not meeting minutes. |
| Fathom Fathom free vs premium official help page TechRepublic 2026 comparison (Fathom free plan and paid entry) | An AI meeting assistant with an unusually generous free plan: unlimited recordings and transcriptions, with advanced AI summaries limited to the first 5 calls per month. | Fathom’s free plan includes unlimited recordings, unlimited transcriptions, and unlimited storage, with advanced AI summaries capped at the first 5 calls per month. This is a different free-tier structure from Granola’s: Fathom gives away recording and storage generously but gates the AI layer, while Granola gives away unlimited AI notes but caps history at 30 days and retains no audio. Fathom supports bot-based capture as well as a Mac desktop bot-free mode and iOS in-person capture, so it offers more capture flexibility than Otter or Fireflies but less cross-platform breadth than Granola. Paid plans start at $15/user/month billed annually for Team, higher than Granola Business’s $14. | Individuals and small teams that want unlimited recording and transcription on a free plan and are willing to accept limited advanced AI summaries, or that need a mix of bot-based and bot-free capture with recording playback. | Free: unlimited recordings, transcriptions, and storage; advanced AI summaries limited to 5 calls/month. Team $15/user/month billed annually. Business $25/user/month annual (2-user minimum). Higher entry than Granola Business, but the free tier includes recording playback. |
Comparison checked against official product information on 2026-11-04. Features and pricing may change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Granola really free?
Yes, the Basic plan is free forever with unlimited meetings and unlimited AI meeting notes. It is not a time-limited trial. The constraint is history: Basic retains only 30 days of meeting history, and that cap is enforced at the MCP and API layer, not just in the interface. Basic also excludes integrations with Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, Affinity, and Attio, advanced AI models, pre-meeting briefs, and full-history MCP access. For an individual who needs notes within a 30-day window, Basic is genuinely usable; for a team building an institutional archive, Business at $14/user/month is the practical floor.
Does Granola record audio?
No. Granola deliberately does not retain audio or video recordings. Audio is sent to a cloud transcription provider in real time and deleted after transcription on every plan. The benefit is that there is no replayable recording stored on a vendor’s servers. The cost is that if the transcript mishears a number, a product code, or a name, there is no recording to replay and verify against. Independent testing found that transcripts often miss numbers and codes, and that accuracy degrades in noisy or overlapping-speech conditions. If verbatim verification matters, Granola’s no-audio design is a structural limitation.
Does Granola train on my meeting data?
Yes, by default on Free and Business plans, using de-identified conversation data. Users can opt out in Settings under Data and sharing, and the option is listed as a Basic feature. On Business, every user must opt out individually; there is no admin-enforced workspace-wide opt-out until Enterprise. Enterprise adds an organization-wide training opt-out that an admin can enforce for all seats. For teams with contractual or regulatory data-handling obligations, the default-on posture is a configuration risk that must be actively managed.
Is Granola HIPAA compliant?
Only on Enterprise, and only with a signed BAA. Free and Business plans should not be used to store protected health information. The BAA currently covers the Granola desktop and laptop apps only—not the mobile or Apple Watch apps. Granola also does not offer EU, UK, Canadian, or Australian data residency; all data is stored on AWS in the United States. Organizations in healthcare, education, or other regulated industries should verify the Enterprise coverage against their specific compliance requirements before deployment.
What is the July 2026 class action about?
A class action filed in the Northern District of California on July 30, 2026 (No. 3:26-cv-07926) alleges that Granola intercepted Microsoft Teams and Zoom communications without the knowledge or consent of non-user participants. Because Granola does not send a visible bot into the meeting, other participants have no platform-level indication that transcription is occurring. The complaint argues that silent capture plus default training violates wiretap law. Granola may defend on one-party consent grounds, but the litigation is active. The practical takeaway is that users should treat participant disclosure as a mandatory workflow step, and legal teams should review the posture before enterprise-wide deployment.
Alternative Tools
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