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Granola

Freemium
ai note takermeeting summarytranscriptionproductivitymacosprivacy focusedmeeting assistantaction itemssales intelligence

Granola is a privacy-first AI note-taker for macOS that records, transcribes, and summarizes your virtual meetings locally, operating discreetly without a bot to give users full control over their data.

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Granola is an AI-powered desktop application designed to capture and summarize insights from virtual meetings. It primarily serves professionals and teams who need an efficient way to document key discussions and action items without manual note-taking. Unlike web-based competitors, Granola runs locally on a user's Mac and does not send a visible bot into the meeting, preserving the natural flow of conversation. Its core value proposition is a privacy-centric architecture, processing audio on-device to create editable, verifiable summaries that users can trust. This approach provides the time-saving benefits of AI summarization while addressing common concerns around data privacy and the intrusiveness of meeting bots.

Pros

  • Privacy-first architecture with local, on-device audio processing.
  • Operates discreetly without a bot joining the call, feeling less intrusive to participants.
  • Generates high-quality, editable summaries and action items that users can verify against the transcript.
  • Works offline to record meetings, as it is a native desktop application.
  • Supports a wide range of meeting platforms by capturing system audio (e.g., Zoom, Google Meet, Teams).
  • Automatic speaker identification to differentiate who said what.

Cons

  • Currently available only for macOS, excluding Windows and Linux users.
  • Lacks a dedicated mobile app for reviewing notes on the go.
  • As a local application, it can consume more CPU and battery resources than cloud-based services.
  • Limited real-time collaboration features compared to web-based alternatives like Otter.ai.

Key features

  • AI-powered meeting summaries
  • Automated transcription with speaker labels
  • Local-first recording and processing
  • Editable notes and action items
  • Search across all past conversations
  • Privacy controls for redacting information
  • One-click sharing to Slack, Notion, Jira, and more
  • Background operation with any meeting application

Integrations

SlackNotionJiraGoogle DocsZoomGoogle MeetMicrosoft TeamsLinear

Target audience

Professionals who frequent virtual meetings, including sales teams, user researchers, product managers, engineers, and team leads seeking automated, private note-taking.

Ratings & Reviews

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Key Metrics

Founded

2023

Headquarters

San Francisco, USA

Pricing Tiers

Free

For individuals getting started. Includes unlimited local recordings, 5 AI summaries (total), and basic sharing.

Free

Pro

For professionals and teams. Includes unlimited recordings, unlimited AI summaries, search across all conversations, and team workspaces.

$24/mo

Frequently Asked Questions

Top Alternatives to Granola

Fathom

A good free alternative for those who don't mind a bot joining the meeting as a participant to provide live transcription and automated summaries.

Otter.ai

A strong choice for users who prioritize real-time transcription and collaborative note-editing within a mature, web-based platform.

Fireflies.ai

Ideal for teams needing deep analytics and extensive CRM integrations, as its bot joins meetings to transcribe and analyze conversation data.

Read.ai

An alternative focused on meeting analytics, providing real-time engagement scores and post-meeting reports in addition to transcripts and summaries.

Ready to get started?

Join thousands of users and see how Granola can transform your workflow today.

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