Granola
AI notepad for back-to-back meetings, no bot needed
Granola is the best pick for execs who want private, bot-free meeting notes. $14/user/month Business tier gives you advanced AI and integrations. Skip if you need free unlimited transcription or live captioning for absent attendees.
- Executives and managers in back-to-back meetings
- Sales teams preparing for client calls
- Individual contributors wanting private AI notepad
- Teams valuing privacy over verbatim transcripts
- Teams needing free unlimited transcription (Basic tier limited)
- Users who want a bot to record verbatim transcripts for absent attendees
- Organizations requiring on-premise deployment
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Skip Granola if you need free unlimited transcription or live captioning for absent attendees.
Going past 25 meetings per month on the Basic tier requires upgrading to Business at $14/user/month.
Granola's free tier is generous for light use (25 meetings/month). Business at $14/user/month is competitive with Otter.ai Pro ($16.99/month) and Fireflies Pro ($18/month), especially with MCP and advanced integrations. Enterprise at $35/user/month is pricier but includes SSO and admin controls, which larger teams need.
In short
Granola — AI notepad for back-to-back meetings, no bot needed. Best for Executives and managers in back-to-back meetings, Sales teams preparing for client calls, Individual contributors wanting private AI notepad. Free to start; paid plans from $14/mo.
What's new in Granola
Checked 12 days agoAcross the latest 4 updates: 2 feature updates, 1 launch and 1 news mention.
Granola for Android is here!
Granola for Android released, enabling note-taking on Android phones.
New: Briefs prepare you for your next meeting as you join
Briefs feature added to Mac and Windows: shows meeting context before joining.
Granola Chat just got smarter
Granola Chat rebuilt as agentic with faster search, inline citations, and Recipes.
Granola raises $125M to put your company's context to work
Granola raises $125M; launches Spaces, APIs, MCP updates, and enterprise controls.
Viability Score
How likely is Granola to still be operational in 12 months? Based on 4 signals — momentum (how recently it shipped), wrapper dependency, revenue model, and web presence.
Last calculated: July 2026
How we score →Key Features
- AI meeting notes from computer audio
- Pre-meeting Briefs with attendee context
- AI Chat with agentic search across notes
- Inline citations in Chat responses
- Recipes for automated workflows in Chat
- Granola MCP connects notes to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor
- Works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams
- Syncs with Google Calendar and Outlook
- Private by default; selective sharing
- Delete specific transcript portions
- Sign in with Microsoft for Teams/Outlook
- Available on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
- Spaces with team Chat and enterprise controls
- Advanced integrations: Attio, Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Affinity, Zapier
- Multi-language support
About Granola
Granola is an AI notepad that captures meeting notes, action items, and memory by running on your computer audio without a bot joining your calls. Designed for busy executives, sales teams, and individual contributors, it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and any meeting app. Granola generates clean notes, action items, and follow-ups instantly after each meeting, and provides pre-meeting Briefs that summarize attendees, past discussions, and key context. It syncs with Google Calendar and Outlook, and offers an AI Chat with agentic search across your notes, Team Space, and shared documents. In March 2026, Granola raised $125M to build Spaces with team Chat, personal/enterprise APIs, and MCP updates. It also introduced Granola MCP in February 2026, connecting meeting notes to Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor. Granola is privacy-first—it never participates as a meeting participant—and focuses on enhancing your own notes rather than transcribing everything verbatim. Available on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. Compared to Otter.ai or Fireflies, Granola is more private and less intrusive, but lacks live transcription for absent attendees.
Behind the Verdict
Granola gets a lot right by solving a real pain: taking notes without inviting a bot to your calls. It captures context from your computer's audio and prepares Briefs before meetings—a time-saver for execs in back-to-backs. The recent $125M raise and launch of Spaces with team Chat and MCP show they're expanding beyond a personal notepad into a team knowledge tool. We'd reach for this when privacy matters and you want AI that enhances your own notes rather than transcribing every word. The Chat feature with agentic search across notes is genuinely useful for recalling past decisions. Where it bites: the Basic tier limits meeting history and integrations, so serious users need to pay. And it doesn't record verbatim transcripts for absent colleagues—if that's your workflow, Otter.ai or Fireflies fit better. Compared to Otter.ai, Granola feels more polished and executive-focused: Briefs are a standout feature Otter lacks. Ultimately, Granola wins on UX and privacy, but pricing adds up for larger teams.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Granola actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
Back-to-back meetings all day, needs quick notes and follow-ups without distraction.
Outcome: Granola runs silently on laptop, generates notes and action items instantly after each meeting. Pre-meeting Briefs prep you for the next call. Saves 30+ minutes per day on manual note-taking.
Preparing for a client call with past context and capturing next steps.
Outcome: Granola Brief shows past discussion points and deal stage. After the call, Granola creates notes with action items that can be shared to Slack or HubSpot via integration.
Using meeting notes in coding workflows via MCP.
Outcome: Granola MCP connects meeting notes to Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor. Can query action items from standups directly in your IDE, or generate follow-up tasks from notes.
Use Cases
- Enhancing rough notes from sales discovery calls with full context and next steps.
- Turning user interview notes into structured templates with key takeaways and quotes.
- Keeping track of action items from 1-on-1s and team standups without manual follow-up.
- Using AI Chat to quickly recall decisions and budgets from past meetings with citations.
- Integrating meeting notes into developer workflows via MCP for task automation.
- Preparing for meetings with Briefs that summarize previous discussions and priorities.
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-07-14
Limitations
- Free tier offers limited meeting history and basic AI notes.
- Business tier ($14/user/month) unlocks unlimited notes, advanced AI models, and integrations.
- Enterprise tier ($35/user/month) adds SSO, admin controls, and priority support.
- Granola uses computer audio locally and does not require a meeting bot.
as of 2026-06-30
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Granola tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Basic
$0 per user per month
Ideal for
Individual users wanting a taste of AI meeting notes with a 25-meeting monthly limit.
What this tier adds
Free entry point with limited meeting history and no advanced AI models.
Business
$14 per user per month
Ideal for
Small teams or power users needing unlimited notes, advanced AI, and integrations with Slack, Notion, HubSpot.
What this tier adds
Adds unlimited meeting history, advanced AI thinking models, MCP integration, and API access compared to Basic.
Enterprise
$35 per user per month
Ideal for
Large organizations requiring SSO, admin controls, and org-wide security policies.
What this tier adds
Adds SSO, enterprise-grade security, usage analytics, auto-deletion periods, and admin controls over sharing compared to Business.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Granola's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Granola's free tier is generous for light use (25 meetings/month). Business at $14/user/month is competitive with Otter.ai Pro ($16.99/month) and Fireflies Pro ($18/month), especially with MCP and advanced integrations. Enterprise at $35/user/month is pricier but includes SSO and admin controls, which larger teams need.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Granola — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Desktop setup takes about 2 minutes: download, grant microphone and calendar permissions. First meeting notes appear instantly after the meeting ends. iPhone app syncs with desktop account seamlessly. Full value (Briefs, Chat, MCP) is available within your first few meetings.
Switching to or from Granola
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From Otter.ai: Export transcripts as text, then manually archive in Granola. Granola's MCP can index past notes if imported.
- →From Fireflies: Similar approach—export notes and transcripts, import into Granola's shared folders or Team Space.
- ↗To Notion: Use Granola API (Business/Enterprise) to sync notes to Notion via integration.
- ↗To Obsidian: Use Granola export to Markdown (via API or manual copy-paste) and store locally.
Integrations
Resources & Guides
- Resourcedocs.granola.ai
Granola API
Granola API documentation. Programmatic access to meeting notes, transcripts, and AI summaries.
- Resourcegranola.ai
Blog - News and product insights from Granola HQ
Read our latest insights on building in the AI space, team productivity, and the future of work. Learnings and updates from the Granola team.
Official links
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