AI solution · Granola · Operations

Granola

An AI notepad that combines your typed notes with meeting audio into structured, searchable records.

Independent overview by new Mantra · updated September 28, 2026

Category: Operations
Pricing: Free plan (AI notes, limited history, AI chat); Business $14/user/mo; Enterprise $35/user/mo
Implementation: Under 1 week
Adoption risk: Low
Integrates with: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Notion, HubSpot

If you spend the half hour after every call writing it up, Granola turns your own typed notes plus the meeting audio into a structured summary with action items — and no bot joins the call. The free plan is enough for a week of real meetings.

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What Granola does

Granola runs quietly in the background on your device and captures your meeting audio without joining the call as a bot. You type whatever you want during the meeting — a few words or full sentences — and Granola combines what you wrote with the audio to produce structured notes once the meeting ends. The result includes a summary, action items, and follow-ups, ready as soon as the call finishes.

Before each external meeting, Granola pulls together a brief from your calendar and past meeting history, showing you who is attending and what was discussed previously. During the meeting, you stay focused on the conversation rather than scrambling to capture everything. After the meeting, you can ask Granola's AI chat questions across all your past meeting notes — for example, what you committed to do across calls this week.

Granola works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other meeting platforms, as well as in-person conversations through its mobile app for iOS and Android. It also connects to solutions your team may already use, including Slack, Notion, and HubSpot.

Key capabilities

Bot-free audio capture

Granola uses your computer's audio to transcribe meetings without sending a bot into the call, so attendees are not interrupted and the experience stays private by default.

Merged notes and transcription

Whatever you type during a meeting is combined with the audio context to produce structured notes personalised to you, rather than a raw transcript.

Pre-meeting briefing

Granola syncs with your calendar and automatically prepares a brief before external meetings, surfacing attendee details and relevant history from prior conversations.

AI chat across meetings

A built-in AI chat lets you ask questions across all your past meeting notes, helping you recall decisions, commitments, and context without manually searching through records.

In-person and mobile capture

The iPhone and Android apps extend Granola to walking meetings, conferences, and phone calls, so notes aren't limited to video calls.

Integrations with common solutions

Granola connects to Slack, Notion, and HubSpot, and an MCP connector lets AI solutions you already use become aware of your meeting notes without copy-pasting.

Best for

People who move through several back-to-back meetings each day and need structured notes without manual write-up after each call.
Teams that want meeting records kept private by default, shared only when the user chooses to send them.
Individuals who need to recall past commitments, decisions, or context across many meetings using a searchable AI chat.
Small to mid-sized teams already using Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams who want notes without adding a visible bot to calls.
Professionals who also take notes in person — at conferences, on-site visits, or informal catchups — and want a single place to capture everything.

Worth knowing

The free plan limits access to notes older than 30 days; teams that need a full searchable history will need the Business plan at $14 per user per month.
Granola is currently available on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android — if your team works in a different environment, check compatibility before committing.
Audio capture relies on your device's computer audio, which means it works well for video calls but may be less reliable in noisy in-person settings without a phone.
Enterprise pricing sits at $35 per user per month; if meeting notes are a small, occasional need rather than a daily workflow, that cost may not be justified.
If your organisation requires a dedicated bot-based recording for compliance or legal reasons, Granola's no-bot approach may not meet those specific requirements without further verification.

How Granola compares

Meeting notetakers all transcribe and summarise. The real differences are whether a bot joins the call, whose notes you end up with, and how much is aimed at sales teams and CRM updates. Granola is the quiet, personal end: no bot, notes you shape as you type.

vs Fathom

Fathom records and summarises calls, syncs notes into Salesforce, HubSpot and Asana, and adds AI scorecards for coaching sales and customer-success teams, with a free plan for individuals and a bot-free desktop option. Granola is built around your own typed notes merged with the audio. Sales managers who want coaching data lean to Fathom; individual note-takers to Granola.

vs Otter.ai

Otter.ai produces a full real-time transcript with speaker identification, can join as a bot or record bot-free, and organises recordings in shared Channels, from free to $30 per user. Granola produces personal structured notes rather than a transcript-first record, with a brief before external meetings. Teams wanting a shared transcript archive may prefer Otter.ai.

vs Fireflies.ai

Fireflies.ai joins calendar meetings automatically, transcribes in 100+ languages and adds conversation analytics such as talk time and sentiment, from free to $19 per user (annual). Granola is quieter: no bot, notes you shape as you type. Pick Fireflies.ai for team-wide recording and analytics; Granola for private, personal notes.

vs Circleback

Circleback writes structured notes after each call, assigns action items to the relevant people and updates Salesforce or HubSpot, with a free plan and Pro from $15 per user a month (annual). Granola also produces action items but starts from what you type, has a free plan and adds in-person capture through its mobile apps. Choose Circleback for CRM-driven follow-up; Granola for your own notes.

Ready to see Granola in action?

Run the free plan through a week of real meetings and check the notes against what you would have written. Free limits access to notes older than 30 days, so if you need a full searchable history, Business is $14 per user a month.