Granola
AskZyro PickGranola is an elegant, bot-free AI meeting notepad that combines a user's own rough notes with the meeting transcript to create clear, personalised summaries, actions and follow-up material.
Best for
Founders, managers, consultants, product teams and professionals who attend frequent meetings but do not want a visible AI bot joining every call.
Skip it if
You need permanent access to free meeting history, retained audio or video recordings, detailed sales-call analytics, healthcare compliance or a tool that can attend meetings without you.
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Independently researched · Pricing checked 31 July 2026 · 17-minute read
The 30-second verdict
Granola is one of the most thoughtfully designed AI meeting note-takers available.
Unlike Fathom, Otter and Fireflies, Granola does not normally join a meeting as a visible bot. It runs locally on the user's device and captures microphone and system audio. This means it can work with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddles and almost any other meeting application without adding an unfamiliar participant.
Read our full verdict ↓Collapse ↑
Granola is also designed around notes rather than recordings. Users can write as much or as little as they want during a conversation. After the meeting, Granola combines those rough notes with the transcript to create a clearer, more personalised record.
The result feels more like a well-organised human notepad than a generic transcript summary.
Granola can identify actions, create follow-up emails, answer questions about previous meetings and prepare users for future calls with pre-meeting Briefs. Its mobile applications extend the experience to in-person conversations and phone calls.
Privacy is another important difference. Granola says audio is held only temporarily for transcription and then deleted. Meeting notes are private by default, although users remain responsible for notifying participants before using the service.
The free Basic plan allows unlimited meeting notes, but notes older than 30 days cannot be viewed or worked with unless the user upgrades. Business costs $14 per user per month and provides unlimited history, integrations, API access and more advanced AI models. Enterprise costs $35 per user per month.
Granola is not suitable for every organisation. It is not currently HIPAA compliant, does not hold NHS DSP Toolkit accreditation and stores cloud data in the United States. It also lacks the detailed conversation analytics offered by Fireflies or dedicated sales platforms.
For people who value excellent summaries, privacy by default and a bot-free experience, however, Granola is arguably the most pleasant AI meeting notepad to use.
1.0
Output quality
1.0
Ease of use
1.0
Value for money
Reviewed by AskZyro Editorial Team · 31 July 2026
Awaiting image
Product screenshot — Granola in use — coming soon.
What is Granola?
Granola is an AI notepad designed for meetings, calls and spoken conversations. It listens to the microphone and system audio on a compatible device, creates a transcript and uses that information to improve the user's own notes. Granola describes itself as an AI notepad rather than an AI notetaker. The distinction reflects how the product is intended to be used. A traditional AI notetaker typically joins the meeting, records everything and generates a generic summary afterwards. Granola provides a personal workspace where the user can write observations, questions and reminders while the AI captures the broader context. After the meeting, Granola can enhance those notes into a structured record containing main discussion points, decisions, action items, owners, deadlines, open questions, follow-up requirements and relevant context. The user's original notes influence what Granola emphasises. If the user writes down a particular concern or idea, the finished record can preserve and expand upon it. Granola is available on macOS, Windows, Android and iOS. It also provides an Apple Watch experience for capturing notes and conversations on the move. It can work with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddles, other meeting software, in-person conversations, phone calls, voice memos and audio playing through the computer. Granola does not need a specific integration with every meeting application because it captures audio locally from the device. A user downloads Granola and signs in with a Google or Microsoft account. Granola connects with the account's cloud calendar and reads basic meeting information such as the title, time and attendees. It can then display upcoming meetings and notify the user when one is about to begin. When the meeting starts, the user clicks to begin taking notes. Granola captures the user's microphone, system audio from the computer, calendar context and any notes written by the user. No separate bot enters the call. During the conversation, the user can concentrate fully or write rough notes inside Granola. These notes do not need to be complete sentences. They can consist of names, questions, fragments or reminders. When the meeting finishes, the user clicks End. Granola processes the temporary transcript and enhances the notes into a more organised format. Audio is not retained as a permanent recording. Granola says it is temporarily cached during transcription and deleted once processing is complete. The completed note is private by default. The user can then edit it, change its format, ask questions, extract actions, draft a follow-up email, create a project plan, share it with selected colleagues, add it to a shared folder or send it into another application.
What you can do with Granola
Take notes without a meeting bot
Granola captures audio directly from the user's device without an additional participant joining the call, making it less intrusive on client calls.
Write as much or as little as you want
Users can write detailed observations, add only a few keywords, record questions, note personal interpretations, or write nothing and rely more heavily on meeting context.
Generate enhanced notes
Granola organises the discussion into polished notes with headings, bullet points, decisions, risks and actions that can be edited like a normal document.
Apply custom templates
Create formats for client discovery calls, sales meetings, candidate interviews, product research, one-to-one meetings, project updates, board meetings, customer feedback, design critiques or investor calls.
Create pre-meeting Briefs
Prepare for external meetings with attendee information, previous meeting context, recent decisions, unresolved actions and relevant customer or company context.
Extract action items
Identify what was personally agreed, actions assigned to colleagues, customer commitments, deadlines, unresolved decisions and follow-up questions.
Draft follow-up emails
Turn meeting notes into a follow-up message recapping the conversation, confirming decisions and listing next steps.
Ask questions with Granola Chat
Question meeting history about promises, pricing concerns, launch decisions, overdue tasks, or request summaries, reports and project plans.
Use Recipes
Create reusable instructions for weekly action lists, customer interview comparisons, account summaries, product request extraction, management updates or standard follow-up emails.
Record meetings in almost any application
Works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddles and other software playing audio through the computer.
Key features
Bot-free meeting capture
Granola records microphone and system audio locally without joining the meeting as a participant.
AI-enhanced notes
Rough notes are combined with meeting context and rewritten into a structured record.
Personalised summaries
The user's own notes influence what the final output emphasises.
Calendar synchronisation
Granola connects with Google or Microsoft calendars and detects upcoming meetings.
Pre-meeting Briefs
External meetings can receive a preparation note containing previous context and relevant information.
Granola Chat
Users can ask questions across individual meetings or wider note history.
Recipes
Reusable AI instructions automate recurring analysis and follow-up tasks.
Custom templates
Different meeting types can produce different note structures.
Action extraction
Granola identifies tasks, commitments and next steps.
Follow-up email generation
Notes can be transformed into an email draft.
Project-plan generation
A conversation can become a structured project outline.
Multi-language support
Granola supports transcription and notes across multiple languages.
Speaker tags
Users can label speakers to improve the readability of transcripts and notes.
Desktop applications
Native applications are available for macOS and Windows.
Android and iOS applications
Mobile apps capture in-person conversations and provide access to meeting notes.
Apple Watch support
Granola offers an Apple Watch experience for portable capture and note access.
Voice memos
Spoken ideas can be converted into structured notes.
Private-by-default notes
Other team members and administrators cannot automatically view a user's private notes.
Sharing controls
Notes can be shared privately, with the company or through a public link.
Shared folders
Selected notes can be organised and accessed collaboratively.
People and companies
Granola can organise conversation history around attendees and organisations.
Advanced AI models
Business users receive access to more capable AI reasoning models and features.
Integrations
Business includes Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity and Zapier connectivity.
MCP integration
Authorised meeting notes can be accessed by compatible AI applications.
API access
Business users can build custom workflows.
Centralised billing
Business provides team billing and user management.
Enterprise SSO
Enterprise organisations with eligible deployments can configure single sign-on.
Organisation-wide retention controls
Enterprise administrators can set automatic transcript-deletion periods.
Sharing restrictions
Enterprise administrators can restrict public links and API access.
Organisation-wide training opt-out
Enterprise administrators can prevent team data being used for Granola's model improvements.
Pricing
Checked 31 July 2026| Plan | Price | Best for | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | Unlimited meeting notes, 30-day accessible history, Granola Chat, shared folders, templates, multilingual support, individual training opt-out, desktop and mobile apps | Trying Granola and taking recent meeting notes |
| Business | $14/user/mo | Unlimited notes and history, advanced AI models, integrations (Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity, Zapier), MCP, API access, centralised billing, user management | Individuals and small teams |
| Enterprise | $35/user/mo | Business features plus SSO, security controls, usage analytics, retention policies, sharing restrictions, organisation-wide training opt-out | Larger organisations |
Basic
$0
Best for: Unlimited meeting notes, 30-day accessible history, Granola Chat, shared folders, templates, multilingual support, individual training opt-out, desktop and mobile apps
Includes: Trying Granola and taking recent meeting notes
Business
$14/user/mo
Best for: Unlimited notes and history, advanced AI models, integrations (Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity, Zapier), MCP, API access, centralised billing, user management
Includes: Individuals and small teams
Enterprise
$35/user/mo
Best for: Business features plus SSO, security controls, usage analytics, retention policies, sharing restrictions, organisation-wide training opt-out
Includes: Larger organisations
Strengths, limitations & watch-outs
What it does brilliantly
- No visible meeting bot
- Works with almost any meeting application
- Excellent AI-enhanced notes
- Combines human observations with AI context
- Notes are private by default
- Audio recordings are not permanently retained
- Clear, focused interface
- Strong post-meeting summaries
- Useful action extraction
- Follow-up email generation
- Pre-meeting Briefs
- Granola Chat
- Search across meeting history
- Custom note templates
- Reusable Recipes
- Windows support
- macOS support
- Android and iOS applications
- Apple Watch support
- In-person meeting capture
- Voice memos
- Phone-call workflows
- Calendar integration
- Shared folders
- Useful Business integrations
- MCP connectivity
- API access
- Competitive Business pricing
- Unlimited notes on the Free plan
- SOC 2 Type II certification
- Individual training opt-out
Where it falls short
- Free history is limited to 30 days
- It does not retain audio recordings for later verification
- It does not retain video
- It cannot join meetings without the user
- It lacks Fireflies' detailed conversation intelligence
- It lacks Otter's audio-synchronised transcript playback
- It does not provide extensive sales forecasting
- Cloud data is stored in the United States
- EU and UK data residency are unavailable
- It is not HIPAA compliant
- It cannot sign a Business Associate Agreement
- It lacks NHS DSP Toolkit accreditation
- It is not FERPA compliant
- SSO can require at least 50 Enterprise seats
- Free and Business data may be used for internal model improvements unless the user opts out
- Business administrators cannot opt everyone out centrally
- Notes and transcripts are retained indefinitely unless deleted or controlled through Enterprise
- Speaker attribution can require manual correction
- Language support is less clearly documented than Fireflies
- Capturing system audio requires device permissions
- It can continue transcribing if the user forgets to end the meeting
- No retained audio means disputed wording cannot be checked inside Granola
- It is unsuitable for clinical or patient-sensitive conversations
What to know before paying
- Basic allows unlimited notes but provides only 30 days of accessible history.
- Business is required for a permanent searchable meeting archive.
- Granola does not store full audio recordings.
- Granola cannot replay an exact moment in the same way as a recording-based tool.
- The user must be present and start the note-taking session.
- The absence of a bot does not remove the need to notify participants.
- Cloud notes and transcripts are stored on AWS servers in the United States.
- UK and EU data residency are not currently available.
- Free and Business users should manually disable model-improvement use if required.
- Historical anonymised data may already have been used before a user opts out.
- Enterprise provides an organisation-wide training opt-out.
- Enterprise SSO may require 50 or more seats.
- Granola is not suitable for protected health information or NHS clinical consultations.
- It is not FERPA compliant for regulated student records.
- Check language performance using real meetings before company-wide deployment.
- Review integration permissions before exposing meeting notes to other AI services.
- Users should click End promptly when a meeting finishes.
Privacy & data
Granola differs from many competitors because it does not retain the meeting audio. The application captures microphone and system sound locally. Audio is temporarily cached for transcription and then deleted from Granola's systems and relevant third-party services once the transcription process is complete.
Granola retains the resulting transcript and meeting notes. Its documentation states that notes are private by default, workspace administrators cannot view private individual notes, audio recordings are not retained, data is encrypted at rest and in transit, Granola holds SOC 2 Type II certification, it complies with GDPR and UK GDPR, it provides a Data Processing Addendum with EU and UK Standard Contractual Clauses, Granola acts as the processor while the customer acts as controller, users can request a portable copy of personal data, users can delete their account and associated information, Google and Microsoft handle authentication, and Granola does not manage user passwords directly.
All cloud data is stored on AWS infrastructure in the United States. Granola currently offers no UK, EU, Canadian or Australian data-residency option.
Granola also says anonymised Free and Business data may be used for its own model improvements by default. Individual users can opt out through their data-and-sharing settings. External model providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic are contractually prevented from training on Granola customer data. Enterprise administrators can apply an organisation-wide model-training opt-out.
Granola explicitly says it is not currently designed for patient-sensitive or clinically confidential information. It is not HIPAA compliant, cannot sign a Business Associate Agreement and does not hold NHS DSP Toolkit accreditation. It should not be used as an informal substitute for an approved NHS ambient-scribing platform.
Granola's bot-free design creates a particular transparency risk. Other participants will not see an AI bot in the meeting. Unless the user tells them, they may have no obvious indication that audio is being transcribed. Granola states that users are responsible for obtaining permission and strongly recommends informing everyone that AI-enhanced notes are being created.
Commercial use
Granola is designed for professional meetings and business workflows. It is particularly suitable for client calls, product meetings, project updates, sales discovery, investor conversations, management meetings, user research, consultancy, recruitment and internal planning.
Organisations remain responsible for transcript accuracy, participant notification, sharing permissions and data retention.
Because Granola does not retain audio, a user cannot always return to the original recording to resolve a disputed phrase. Important contractual or legal decisions should therefore be documented and confirmed separately.
Alternatives to Granola
| If you need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited free recording history | Fathom | Unlimited individual recordings, transcripts and storage |
| Live transcription and audio playback | Otter.ai | Synchronised transcript and retained recording |
| Conversation intelligence | Fireflies.ai | Sentiment, topic tracking and team analytics |
| Multilingual meetings | Fireflies.ai | More than 100 supported languages |
| Enterprise sales forecasting | Gong | Deeper revenue intelligence and deal analysis |
| Native Microsoft workflows | Microsoft Teams Copilot | Notes and recaps inside Microsoft 365 |
| Approved clinical scribing | Specialist healthcare platform | Granola is not designed for patient-sensitive information |
| Summarising an existing transcript | AskZyro | Creates summaries, actions, plans and follow-up messages |
If you need…
Unlimited free recording history
Choose
Why
Unlimited individual recordings, transcripts and storage
If you need…
Live transcription and audio playback
Choose
Why
Synchronised transcript and retained recording
If you need…
Conversation intelligence
Choose
Why
Sentiment, topic tracking and team analytics
If you need…
Enterprise sales forecasting
Choose
Gong
Why
Deeper revenue intelligence and deal analysis
If you need…
Native Microsoft workflows
Choose
Microsoft Teams Copilot
Why
Notes and recaps inside Microsoft 365
If you need…
Approved clinical scribing
Choose
Specialist healthcare platform
Why
Granola is not designed for patient-sensitive information
If you need…
Summarising an existing transcript
Choose
AskZyro
Why
Creates summaries, actions, plans and follow-up messages
More productivity tools to consider:
Fathom
Productivity
AI meeting assistant for automatic transcripts, summaries, action items and searchable conversation insights.
Fireflies.ai
Productivity
AI meeting assistant for transcription, summaries, conversation intelligence and automated workflows in more than 100 languages.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Productivity
AI assistance across Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Teams, grounded in your organisation's Microsoft 365 data.
Otter.ai
Productivity
AI meeting assistant for live transcription, automated summaries, searchable conversations and action items.
Frequently asked questions
What is Granola?+
Granola is a bot-free AI meeting notepad that combines a transcript with the user's own rough notes to create structured summaries and actions.
Is Granola free?+
Yes. Granola Basic allows unlimited meeting notes but restricts access to notes older than 30 days.
How much does Granola cost?+
Business costs $14 per user per month. Enterprise costs $35 per user per month. Basic is free.
What happens to free Granola notes after 30 days?+
Free users must upgrade to view and work with meeting notes older than 30 days. Granola describes this as a history-access limit rather than immediate deletion.
Does Granola join meetings as a bot?+
No. Granola runs on the user's device and captures microphone and system audio without adding another participant.
Can Granola record without people knowing?+
Granola does not display a meeting bot, but users are responsible for informing participants and obtaining any required permission.
Does Granola record audio?+
Granola temporarily processes audio for transcription but says it deletes the audio after transcription is complete. It does not retain a permanent recording.
Can I replay a Granola meeting?+
Granola focuses on transcripts and enhanced notes rather than permanent audio or video playback.
Does Granola work with Zoom?+
Yes. It captures device audio and can therefore work with Zoom without joining as a bot.
Does Granola work with Google Meet?+
Yes. Granola works with Google Meet through local system-audio capture.
Does Granola work with Microsoft Teams?+
Yes. It can transcribe supported Teams conversations without appearing as an additional participant.
Does Granola work with Slack Huddles?+
Yes. Granola can capture audio from Slack Huddles and other meeting applications running on the device.
Can Granola record in-person meetings?+
Yes. Its desktop and mobile applications can capture in-person conversations.
Can Granola take notes from phone calls?+
Its mobile applications are designed to support on-the-go conversations and phone-call workflows. Exact capture behaviour depends on the mobile platform and permissions.
Does Granola have a Windows application?+
Yes. Granola is available for Windows.
Does Granola work on Mac?+
Yes. Granola supports macOS 13 or later and recommends macOS 14.2 or above.
Does Granola have an Android app?+
Yes. Granola is available for Android.
Does Granola have an iPhone app?+
Yes. Granola provides an iOS application.
Does Granola work on Apple Watch?+
Yes. Granola offers an Apple Watch experience.
Can Granola identify action items?+
Yes. Granola can extract actions and commitments from a meeting.
Can Granola draft follow-up emails?+
Yes. It can transform meeting notes into a follow-up email draft.
What are Granola Briefs?+
Briefs prepare users for external meetings with attendee information, previous conversation context and unresolved actions.
What is Granola Chat?+
Granola Chat lets users ask questions and generate outputs using information from one or more meeting notes.
What are Granola Recipes?+
Recipes are reusable instructions for recurring tasks such as creating weekly action lists or analysing customer interviews.
Does Granola support different languages?+
Yes. Granola provides multi-language support, although organisations should test their specific language and accent requirements.
Can Granola integrate with Notion?+
Yes. Notion integration is included with Business.
Does Granola integrate with Slack?+
Yes. Slack integration is available on Business.
Does Granola integrate with HubSpot?+
Yes. HubSpot is one of Granola's Business integrations.
Can Granola connect to ChatGPT?+
Yes. Granola's MCP connector can make authorised notes available to compatible ChatGPT experiences.
Does Granola connect to Claude?+
Yes. Granola supports compatible Claude workflows through MCP.
Does Granola have an API?+
Yes. API access is included with Business and can be controlled by Enterprise administrators.
Is Granola secure?+
Granola holds SOC 2 Type II certification and encrypts data in transit and at rest. Cloud data is stored in the United States.
Is Granola GDPR compliant?+
Granola says it complies with GDPR and UK GDPR and provides a Data Processing Addendum containing relevant Standard Contractual Clauses.
Does Granola use meeting notes for AI training?+
Anonymised Free and Business data may be used for Granola's internal model improvements by default. Users can opt out. Enterprise administrators can disable this organisation-wide.
Does OpenAI train on Granola data?+
Granola states that third-party providers including OpenAI and Anthropic are contractually prohibited from training on its customer data.
Is Granola HIPAA compliant?+
No. Granola is not currently HIPAA compliant and cannot sign a Business Associate Agreement.
Can the NHS use Granola for patient appointments?+
Granola says it is not designed for patient-sensitive or clinically confidential information and does not hold NHS DSP Toolkit accreditation.
Is Granola FERPA compliant?+
No. Granola says it is not currently FERPA compliant.
Where does Granola store data?+
Granola stores cloud data on AWS servers in the United States. UK and EU data residency are not currently available.
Is Granola legal in the UK?+
It can be legal when used transparently and in compliance with UK data-protection rules. Participants should be informed before transcription begins.
Is Granola better than Fathom?+
Granola is better for people wanting personalised, bot-free notes and no retained audio. Fathom is better for users wanting full meeting recordings, searchable transcripts and unlimited free history.
Is Granola better than Otter.ai?+
Granola provides a cleaner bot-free experience and more polished personal notes. Otter is better for live transcription, audio playback, accessibility and file imports.
Is Granola better than Fireflies.ai?+
Granola is simpler and more personal. Fireflies is more suitable for multilingual teams, CRM automation and detailed conversation analytics.
Is Granola Business worth it?+
Business is worth considering for frequent users who need access to notes older than 30 days, advanced AI models, integrations, MCP and API access.
Can AskZyro summarise Granola notes?+
Yes. Paste Granola notes into AskZyro to create another summary, extract actions, draft a client message or turn the discussion into a structured project plan.
Reviewed by AskZyro Editorial Team
We assess AI tools for output quality, ease of use, pricing, practical value and limitations. Where possible, we test tools directly and verify product and pricing details with the provider.
Last reviewed: 31 July 2026
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