7 Best Granola Alternatives for AI Meeting Notes in 2026

What is the best Granola alternative?

With Granola, you type rough notes during a call, no bot joins, and afterward the app turns your shorthand and the transcript into clean meeting notes. It now runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, and Apple Watch, and it raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in March 2026.

People still go looking for something else, usually for one of these reasons: the free plan only shows your last 30 days of notes, Business costs $14 per user per month with no annual discount, your data may help train Granola’s own models unless you opt out, there’s no EU hosting option, and nothing runs offline. Some want an assistant that speaks up during the meeting instead of waiting to be asked.

This guide compares seven apps like Granola against those reasons, using each vendor’s own pricing pages and documentation.

Granola alternatives at a glance

Prices are per user. We last checked every vendor page on October 18, 2026, so confirm them before you buy.

Why do people look for a Granola alternative?

Most people who leave Granola point to one of the gaps below, and knowing which one is yours rules out most of the list.

Free history runs out after 30 days. Granola’s Basic plan only shows the last 30 days of notes in the app. Older notes stay stored, but you need a paid plan to get back to them (Granola billing docs).

Business is billed monthly only. It’s $14 per user per month and is billed monthly only, so there’s no annual saving for individuals or small teams.

Your data can train Granola’s models by default. Granola says anonymized data from Basic and Business users may be used to improve its own models unless you switch off “Use my data to improve models for everyone” in settings. Enterprise is opted out by default (Granola model training docs).

No EU residency or offline mode. Granola hosts data on AWS in the US and doesn’t offer EU or UK residency. Transcription and summaries run through external providers, so there’s no fully offline AI workflow.

Live help waits for your question. Granola Chat answers questions during a meeting, which is useful. But you have to stop and type a question while you’re also trying to listen.

There’s no audio to replay. Granola deletes the audio after transcription. That’s a privacy plus for many people, and a dealbreaker for anyone who needs to replay a quote.

What should you look for in a Granola alternative?

Start with the gap that sent you looking, then check:

1. Capture method. Does a bot join your calls, or does the app listen on your device like Granola? Bot-free capture also works for in-person meetings and phone calls.
2. When the help arrives. After the meeting, when you ask during it, or on its own while the conversation is still happening.
3. Where processing happens. Cloud by default, on your device by default, or a choice. Check transcription and analysis separately.
4. What happens to your data. Whether the vendor trains on it by default, where it’s stored, and whether audio is kept.
5. Real cost for your use. Free-plan limits, monthly versus annual prices, and which features sit behind the higher tiers.

The 7 best Granola alternatives

Hedy is our product.

1. Hedy: best for live suggestions you don’t have to ask for

Hedy is an AI meeting coach that listens on your own device and helps during the conversation, then produces the transcript, summary, notes, and to-dos afterward. Like Granola, it never sends a bot to your call. It captures audio on your phone or computer, so it works the same way in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, phone calls, and in-person meetings (why no bot matters).

Granola’s live help waits for you to type a question. Hedy’s Automatic Suggestions surface questions to ask, gaps in the discussion, and points worth clarifying on their own, while you can still act on them. In a sales call where a budget objection comes up twice, or an interview where a follow-up matters, you don’t have to stop listening to get help.

Speech recognition runs on your device by default. Hedy doesn’t use session data to train AI models, and its inference partners can’t either. If you want nothing to leave your hardware, the opt-in Local AI Processing mode moves the entire pipeline on-device, including summaries, notes, chat, and live suggestions, and it works offline. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs, Windows PCs with a capable GPU, iPhone 15 Pro and later, and M-series or A17 Pro iPads. New users can also choose EU data residency at signup, with EU AI processing in Sweden. Hedy has completed an independent SOC 2 Type I examination and a HIPAA assessment.

Topics group sessions by client, project, course, or health journey, with prep notes and chat across past sessions. Transcripts carry real speaker names worked out from the conversation, and you can edit them.

Hedy runs on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, web, and Apple Watch, and you can capture on one device and follow along on another.

Pricing. Free for 5 hours a month, including the first 30 minutes of Automatic Suggestions in each session. Pro is $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year (about $8.33 a month) and adds unlimited sessions, 120 minutes of Automatic Suggestions per session, Topics, imports of past recordings, sharing, and API access (pricing). Hedy Team costs the same per seat for 2 to 200 people.

Watch out for. Cloud AI analysis is the default because it’s faster and a step ahead in quality, so the fully local mode is something you switch on. The free plan is smaller than Fathom’s. Hedy doesn’t record video, and CRM sync goes through Zapier, n8n, webhooks, or the API rather than built-in connectors.

Choose Hedy if the meeting itself is the hard part and you want help while it’s happening, on any device, with a private option you control. For a detailed head-to-head, see Hedy vs Granola.

2. Jamie: best for bot-free notes processed in Europe

Jamie works much like Granola: no bot, audio captured from your device, notes generated after the meeting. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android, and handles both online and in-person meetings.

Jamie processes and stores data in Europe (the EEA, Switzerland, or the UK) and says neither it nor its model providers train on customer data. It holds ISO 27001 certification, with SOC 2 Type II listed as pending. Its Sidekick feature answers questions about the current meeting while it’s still running.

Pricing. The free plan gives 10 AI notes a month with a 30-minute cap per meeting. Plus is $29 a month or $24 a month yearly, with 20 notes a month and meetings up to two hours. Unlimited notes start at Pro, $55 a month or $46 a month yearly.

Watch out for. Audio uploads to Frankfurt for transcription and summaries run through cloud model APIs, so it isn’t an offline tool. Unlimited use costs considerably more than Granola Business.

Choose Jamie if European data handling is the main reason you’re leaving Granola and you’re happy with notes after the meeting.

3. Otter: best for team transcripts with audio playback

Otter is one of the longest-running AI transcription tools. It can send a meeting bot or record directly from its Mac and Windows desktop app without one, and it also captures in person on iPhone and Android.

Otter keeps the audio, so you can replay any moment of the transcript. AI Chat answers questions against the live transcript during a meeting, and Otter also advertises Live Assist coaching prompts.

Pricing. The free plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes per conversation, and access to your 25 most recent conversations. Pro is $16.99 a month or $8.33 a month yearly, with 1,200 minutes a month. Business is $30 a month or $19.99 a month yearly.

Watch out for. Otter transcribes six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese. It says it trains its own models on de-identified recordings and transcripts, and it hosts data in the US.

Choose Otter if you need a searchable team archive with playback and your meetings are in one of its supported languages. More detail in Hedy vs Otter.

4. Fireflies: best for sales teams and CRM sync

Fireflies is built for teams that want every call recorded and pushed into the tools they already use. It offers a meeting bot as well as bot-free capture from its Mac and Windows desktop app and Chrome, plus mobile apps for in-person recording.

Fireflies keeps audio, and video on Pro and above, and syncs notes to HubSpot, Salesforce, and other tools. It supports 100+ languages. Its Live Assist promises “real-time suggestions, coaching, and answers during meetings,” and AskFred answers questions about the current call. Fireflies says it doesn’t train on customer meeting data.

Pricing. Free includes limited summaries and 400 minutes of storage. Pro is $18 a month or $10 a month yearly. Business is $29 a month or $19 a month yearly.

Watch out for. Data is stored and processed in the US by default. Enterprise customers can store data in the EU, but Fireflies’ own documentation says that data is still processed in the US. Storage and credit limits take some reading to understand.

Choose Fireflies if you run sales or customer calls and want recordings, conversation analytics, and CRM updates in one place. See also Hedy vs Fireflies.

5. Fathom: best free plan

Fathom is the usual answer when someone asks for a free AI note taker. Its free plan includes unlimited recordings, storage, and transcription, with advanced summaries on five calls a month and standard summaries after that.

Fathom records by default through a meeting bot, which keeps audio and video. Bot-free capture is in beta on Mac. A live summary updates during the meeting, and Fathom also has an iPhone app for in-person recording.

Pricing. Free, then Premium at $20 a month or $16 a month yearly. Team plans start at $19 per user a month, or $15 yearly, with a two-user minimum.

Watch out for. There’s no Android app, bot-free capture is Mac-only for now, and Fathom’s privacy policy allows training its own models on de-identified meeting content depending on account settings.

Choose Fathom if cost is the main reason you’re leaving Granola and a bot joining your calls doesn’t bother you. More in Hedy vs Fathom.

6. Notion AI Meeting Notes: best if your team lives in Notion

Notion AI Meeting Notes puts the transcript and summary straight into a Notion page. On Mac and Windows it captures your microphone and system audio without a bot. On mobile and in the browser it uses the microphone only, which suits in-person conversations.

Your meeting notes live next to your docs, projects, and databases, with no second app to check. Notion says customer data isn’t used for training by default.

Pricing. Meeting Notes needs Notion’s Business plan, $24 per user a month or $20 a month yearly, or Enterprise.

Watch out for. Notion’s help center says Meeting Notes isn’t supported offline, and it lists 16 languages, with speaker labels in English only. We couldn’t find a documented way to ask questions about a meeting while it’s still running.

Choose Notion AI Meeting Notes if your team already pays for Notion Business and you want notes where the rest of your work lives.

7. Anarlog: best for a do-it-yourself local setup

Anarlog, formerly called Hyprnote, is a community-built desktop notepad for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Like Granola, it captures your microphone and system audio without a bot and lets you type notes alongside the transcript.

You can run it entirely offline once you set up local models. Anarlog’s docs put it this way: “To transcribe, summarize, and chat offline, configure local models before you disconnect”. During recording, suggested prompts can recap the last five minutes or suggest a next question. You also choose how long audio is kept, from not at all to forever.

Pricing. Free for on-device transcription and your own models or API keys. Pro is $14 a month or $140 a year.

Watch out for. You’re responsible for choosing and configuring models, and built-in local transcription depends on your platform. Anarlog says it doesn’t claim SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA. Mobile apps are in beta.

Choose Anarlog if you’re comfortable setting up local models and want a free, offline notepad on a desktop computer. For a broader look at offline tools, see our guide to local AI meeting assistants for Mac.

How do Granola alternatives compare on price?

For a solo user paying yearly, Hedy Pro and Otter Pro both work out to about $8.33 a month, compared with $14 a month for Granola Business. Notion only makes sense on price if you’re already paying for Business.

Which Granola alternatives are the most private?

The tools below differ on four privacy questions at once: training, where data lives, whether audio is kept, and whether anything works offline.

Bot-free and private aren’t the same thing. A bot-free app can still upload every second of audio to a cloud service. If you want the meeting to stay on your own hardware, check transcription, analysis, and storage separately. Our guide to using AI meeting notes privately walks through how to verify each step, and the GDPR comparison covers EU data protection in more depth.

When should you stay with Granola?

Granola is a good product, and switching costs you time. Stay if:

• Your notes are the deliverable and you like starting from your own shorthand.
• Your team has built its workflow around Granola’s shared folders, templates, and integrations with Notion, HubSpot, Attio, or Affinity.
• You want bot-free capture across Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, and Apple Watch, and you’re fine with cloud processing.
• Not keeping audio is a feature for you, not a gap.

Granola also keeps shipping. It added pre-meeting briefs, API and MCP access, Android, and Apple Watch in 2026. Switching is only worth it when another tool solves a problem Granola doesn’t.

Which Granola alternative should you choose?

• You want help during the meeting without typing questions: Hedy.
• You need meetings processed offline or on your own hardware: Hedy with Local AI Processing, or Anarlog if you’d rather set up your own models.
• You need European data handling: Hedy (EU residency at signup) or Jamie.
• You want the best free plan: Fathom.
• You run a sales team and need CRM sync: Fireflies.
• You need to replay audio from a team archive: Otter.
• Your team works in Notion: Notion AI Meeting Notes.

How do you switch from Granola?

Copy or export the notes you want to keep before you cancel, and check your history first: on the free plan, notes older than 30 days are stored but hidden in the app. Then run the new tool alongside Granola for a week of real meetings. That’s long enough to see how it handles your accents, your vocabulary, and your meeting apps.

If you move to Hedy, add your recurring clients or projects as Topics so prep notes build up from the first session. Pro users can also import past recordings. Hedy runs on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, and the free plan needs no credit card.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Granola?

It depends on why you’re leaving. Hedy is the best Granola alternative if you want help during the meeting without having to ask for it, a fully local AI option, and EU data residency, at $99.99 a year. Jamie suits people who want bot-free notes processed in Europe. Fathom has the most generous free plan. Fireflies fits sales teams that need CRM sync. Notion AI Meeting Notes fits teams already working in Notion.

Is there a free Granola alternative?

Yes. Fathom’s free plan includes unlimited recordings and transcripts, with advanced summaries on five calls a month. Hedy’s free plan covers 5 hours of sessions a month, including the first 30 minutes of Automatic Suggestions in each session. Otter’s free plan gives 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation. Anarlog is free when you run it with local models.

Which Granola alternatives work without a meeting bot?

Hedy, Jamie, Notion AI Meeting Notes, and Anarlog all capture audio from your own device, the same way Granola does. Otter and Fireflies offer both a meeting bot and bot-free desktop capture. Fathom uses a bot by default, with bot-free capture in beta on Mac.

Does Granola use my meeting data to train AI?

According to Granola’s documentation, anonymized data from Basic and Business users may be used to improve Granola’s own models by default. You can turn this off under Settings, Preferences, Data & sharing. Enterprise workspaces are opted out by default, and Granola says third-party model providers can’t train on your data. Hedy doesn’t use session data to train AI models on any plan.

Is there a Granola alternative that works offline?

Yes. Hedy’s opt-in Local AI Processing runs transcription, summaries, notes, chat, and live suggestions on capable hardware, including Apple Silicon Macs, Windows PCs with a suitable GPU, and recent iPhones and iPads, and it works with no connection. Anarlog can also run offline once you configure local models. Granola, Jamie, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, and Notion all process meetings in the cloud.

Which Granola alternative is best for European data protection?

Hedy and Jamie both offer European data handling. Hedy lets new users choose EU data residency at signup, with EU AI processing in Sweden. Jamie processes and stores data in the EEA, Switzerland, or the UK. Granola hosts data in the US and doesn’t currently offer EU residency.

Should I stay with Granola?

Stay if Granola’s notepad workflow suits you, you’re happy with notes that start from what you type, and your team already relies on its shared folders and integrations. Switching only makes sense when another tool solves something Granola doesn’t, such as live suggestions you don’t have to ask for, offline processing, EU residency, a lower price, or retained audio.

More Granola and meeting assistant comparisons

• Hedy vs Granola: a detailed head-to-head
• Granola’s 2026 rebrand: what changed
• Best AI meeting assistants and note takers
• Best local AI meeting assistants for Mac
• Hedy vs Otter, Hedy vs Fireflies, and Hedy vs Fathom