Overview
Granola is a bot-free AI meeting notepad for professionals who spend their day in back-to-back calls. Instead of sending a visible bot into your Zoom, Meet, or Teams meeting, it runs quietly on your Mac or phone, captures system audio directly, and transcribes in the background while you stay present. You jot quick keywords during the conversation; when it ends, Granola merges those notes with the full transcript into a clean, structured summary - your text and the AI’s additions clearly distinguished. Custom templates tailor the output for sales calls, user interviews, one-on-ones, standups, or board updates, and an AI chat lets you query across your entire meeting history. Backed by a $125M Series C and used at companies like Vercel, Brex, and Replit, it also works for in-person meetings via the mobile app and connects to other tools through an MCP connector.
Key Features
Bot-free transcription that captures system audio without joining the call Hybrid note-taking: your rough notes enhanced by the full transcript AI chat that answers questions across your entire meeting history Customizable templates for sales calls, interviews, one-on-ones, and standups Integrations with Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Zapier, plus an MCP connector
Pricing
| Plan | Price | For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Unlimited basic notes, limited history |
| Business | $14/user/mo | Unlimited history, integrations, advanced models |
| Enterprise | $35+/user/mo | SSO, admin controls, org-wide opt-out |
Pricing is subject to change. Check the official website for current plans and regional discounts. Free tiers often have usage limits — evaluate whether those limits match your expected volume before committing.
Comparison
Compared to Otter.ai, which is broad transcription tooling with live, upload, and recording modes, Granola is purpose-built for active note-taking and produces more meaningful summaries. Compared to Fathom, which auto-records passively and has a more generous free tier, Granola’s active model shines in high-stakes meetings. And unlike Fireflies, which leans into sales analytics like talk-time and sentiment, Granola keeps a simpler note-quality-first workflow.
Getting Started
- Visit https://www.granola.ai and sign up for the free tier if available — test the core workflow before committing to a paid plan.
- Spend 10–15 minutes exploring the interface and pre-built templates — familiarity with the tool’s layout pays off quickly.
- Connect or integrate Granola with your existing tools and workflows where possible — standalone use underestimates its value.
Hands-on Verdict
Granola is the meeting notepad I use that writes with you — it transcribes in the background and drafts clean notes from your typed bullets. It’s more note-friendly than Fathom on live typing and a lighter lift than Tldv. For full transcription I use Fathom.
Who it’s for: managers, founders. Tip: type sparse keywords during the call and let Granola expand them — the hybrid of your notes plus transcript produces a cleaner recap than either alone.