Last updated: 2026-10-03
Granola, launched in May 2024, is a bot-free AI notepad for meetings. It records your microphone and computer audio instead of joining the call, then merges what you typed with the transcript into structured notes. It runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, and it saves no audio recording of the call.
About Granola
Granola is an AI notepad for meetings from London-based Granola, Inc. Chris Pedregal, who sold his earlier startup Socratic to Google, and Sam Stephenson, formerly of Ideaflow, founded it in March 2023. The company announced a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation in March 2026, after a $43 million round in May 2025 that valued it at $250 million. Its pitch is a plain notes window that does the transcript work in the background, listed in the AI meeting assistants group.
It works differently from a recorder bot. Granola captures your microphone and your computer's system audio, so nothing joins the video call as a participant, and you press start yourself because it never auto-joins or auto-records. You type as much or as little as you like during the meeting. When it ends, Granola merges your notes with the transcript into structured notes, shaped by templates and Recipes. It keeps the transcript and your notes but not the audio.
Afterwards, Chat answers questions across your past meetings, Spaces give a team a shared notes area with access controls, and Business plans add pre-meeting briefs and drafted follow-up emails. An MCP server and an API let AI apps such as Claude query your meeting history, with an official connector for ChatGPT too. The March 2026 announcement also names Lovable, Replit, Manus, v0 and Bolt.new as official connectors. Business integrations push notes into HubSpot and Notion, or onward through Zapier workflows.
Under the hood it relies on outside providers: Deepgram plus AssemblyAI for transcription, and language models from OpenAI plus Anthropic, with Chat described as running on the latest Claude, GPT and Gemini models. The vendor says those third parties may not train on your data. Granola itself trains on anonymized data unless you opt out in Settings, and Enterprise workspaces have training off by default.
It is the better fit for people who write their own notes and dislike a bot in the room. It is the wrong fit when you need to replay a call, because no audio is stored. Teams that want recordings are better served by Fathom, or by tl;dv, since their plans are built around recorded meetings.
Pricing
ai/pricing, read on 3 October 2026. Basic is free and keeps 30 days of meeting history. Business is $14 and adds unlimited history, chat model selection, pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails, API access and integrations with Attio, Notion, HubSpot, Affinity and Zapier.
Enterprise is $35 and adds SSO, SCIM, usage analytics, support for HIPAA-compliant workspaces and workspace-wide admin controls. 5% of each subscription to Stripe Climate. ai](/hub/tools/firefliesai), then Timeless.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic (Free) | Free | AI meeting notes with no cap on notes taken, Meeting history limited to the last 30 days, AI chat within and across meetings on the Auto model, Shared folders, custom templates, Recipes and multi-language support, Slack integration, speaker tagging and per-user training opt-out |
| Business | $14/mo | Unlimited meeting notes and history, Chat with model selection, Pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails and a workspace dictionary, Integrations with Attio, Notion, HubSpot, Affinity and Zapier, API access and MCP for personal and public workspace notes, Centralized billing and user management |
| Enterprise | $35/mo | Everything in Business, SSO and SCIM group provisioning, Support for HIPAA-compliant workspaces and an audit API, Workspace-wide training opt-out, auto-deletion and sharing controls, Usage analytics and admin controls for MCP, API and integrations, Priority support |
Key Features
- Bot-free audio capture: Records your microphone and computer audio on macOS and Windows, so no bot joins Zoom, Meet or Teams, and you press start yourself.
- Your notes plus the transcript: Merges what you typed with the live transcript into structured notes, shaped by custom templates and saved Recipes.
- Chat across meetings: Answers questions about one meeting or your whole history, and Business and Enterprise users can pick which model answers.
- Spaces and shared folders: Gives every user a Team Space plus private My Notes, with folders inside Spaces and access controls over who sees what.
- MCP server and API: Lets Claude, ChatGPT and other AI apps query your notes through MCP, with a personal API on Business and an enterprise API on Enterprise.
- Briefs and follow-up emails: Builds a calendar-synced brief before external meetings and drafts the follow-up email afterwards, both on Business and above.
- Mobile and Apple Watch apps: Captures in-person meetings and phone calls from iPhone and Android, with an Apple Watch app for starting a note from the wrist.
Pros
- G2 reviewers rate it 4.7 out of 5 across 36 reviews and Product Hunt reviewers 4.8 across 56, praising setup that needs no tinkering and a follow-up chat that turns notes into drafts.
- No bot joins the call and no audio is stored, so attendees see no extra participant and the vendor holds no recording of the conversation.
- The vendor lists SOC 2 Type II certification and a data processing agreement on every plan, including the free one.
- Note-taking is uncapped on the free plan; only the history you can view is limited, so light users never have to pay to keep capturing.
Cons
- It stores no audio, so you cannot replay a moment or re-run a transcript, and one G2 reviewer reports name errors that need fixing by hand before notes are shared.
- On plans below Enterprise, Granola trains on anonymized customer data by default, so privacy-minded users must opt out in Settings.
- The security page names only US-hosted AWS storage and offers no region choice, which can matter to teams with data-residency rules.
- A G2 reviewer wanted to connect more than one calendar for personal and work calls, and capture is manual rather than automatic.
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- Third parties such as OpenAI and Anthropic may not train on customer data. Granola trains on anonymized data by default and users can opt out in Settings; Enterprise workspaces have training off by default (granola.ai/security, read 3 October 2026).
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II · GDPR with a data processing agreement · support for HIPAA-compliant workspaces on Enterprise
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Granola actually cost?
Granola has three plans priced per user per month on its pricing page as of 3 October 2026: Basic is $0, Business is $14 and Enterprise is $35. Granola positions Business for individuals and small teams, and it is where the API, integrations and unlimited history start. Enterprise costs two and a half times as much per seat as Business and is mainly about SSO, SCIM and admin controls.
Can you use Granola without paying?
Yes. Basic has no cap on how many notes you take, but it shows only the last 30 days of meeting history, and the vendor says older notes need an upgrade to view and work with. Chat on Basic runs on the Auto model only, and the MCP connection reads only your personal notes from the last 30 days. Briefs, follow-up emails and API access are not included.
What are Granola's closest competitors?
Fathom is the nearest match when recordings matter, because its free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcriptions. Otter.ai suits people who are happy to work within a minute allowance, with a free tier of 300 monthly minutes. Fireflies.ai includes video recording and unlimited storage from its Business tier, and tl;dv leans toward sales teams with multi-meeting insights and CRM features.
What separates Granola from Fathom?
Granola keeps your own typed notes at the centre and stores no audio, while Fathom's plans are built around recordings you can replay. Choose Granola if attendees object to a bot or you prefer writing your own notes, and choose Fathom if you expect to go back and listen to calls. Granola has no audio replay at all, which is the deciding limit for compliance and coaching work.
How do you get started with Granola?
Download the app from granola.ai for macOS, Windows, iOS or Android and sign in with a Google Workspace or Microsoft account, which also connects your calendar. Press start when a meeting begins, because Granola never records on its own, then type whatever notes you want while it transcribes. When the call ends it merges your notes with the transcript, and you can ask Chat about the meeting straight away.
Top Alternatives
- Fathom: Pick Fathom if you want a free plan built around unlimited recordings you can replay, since Granola stores no audio.
- Otter.ai: Pick Granola if you would rather not track a minute allowance, since Otter.ai's free tier is capped at 300 minutes a month.
- Fireflies.ai: Pick Fireflies.ai if you want stored video and unlimited storage on its Business plan; pick Granola if you want notes without recordings.
- tl;dv: Pick tl;dv if you run sales calls and want multi-meeting insights and CRM features on its Business plan.