Granola's 2026 Rebrand: What Changed and How Users Are Reacting

Let’s get this out of the way first: Granola makes a solid product. Their approach to meeting notes has earned them a loyal user base, and rebranding takes guts. Sometimes it lands, sometimes it doesn’t.

But based on what we’re seeing across LinkedIn, Threads, and Reddit, a lot of Granola users are unhappy with the new direction. Some are calling it the worst tech rebrand in recent memory. Others are staying put but quietly wondering what else is out there.

May 2026 update: The backlash is no longer just about the redesign or free-plan storage limits. The Verge has also reported concerns around Granola’s privacy defaults: shared notes are viewable to anyone with the link by default, and non-enterprise users may have anonymized data used to improve Granola’s service unless they opt out in settings. Granola says third-party AI providers do not train on user data, and users can change these settings. Still, for sensitive meetings, defaults matter. If that is why you are comparing tools, read the full Hedy vs Granola privacy comparison.

If that’s you, keep reading.

This post is about the rebrand and what it changed. If you want the full feature-by-feature comparison of the two products, that lives in our Hedy vs Granola comparison.

It’s Not Just the Redesign

The visual changes happened alongside some practical ones that are worth noting. Granola recently moved to a model where free users only see the last 30 days of meeting notes. Older notes are stored but locked away unless you upgrade to their Business plan at $14 per user per month, or their Individual plan at $18 per month.

If you’ve built up months of meeting history in Granola, that’s a real constraint.

A Different Approach to Meetings

Hedy and Granola solve different problems, and it’s worth being honest about that.

Granola is a notepad. You take notes during meetings, and AI fills in the gaps afterward. It’s good at what it does.

Hedy is a meeting coach. Instead of just capturing what happened, Hedy actively helps you during the conversation. Our automatic suggestions feature analyzes your meeting in real-time and surfaces insights, questions, and opportunities at exactly the moment they’re useful. You don’t ask for help. Hedy knows when to offer it.

Here’s a practical example: you’re in a client call and they mention budget constraints twice but never specify a number. Hedy might suggest you ask about their budget parameters right then. That’s the kind of intelligence that changes meeting outcomes, not just meeting notes.

Beyond real-time coaching, Hedy also provides transcription, summaries, to-do extraction, and our Topics feature that connects insights across multiple meetings. So you’re not giving up the documentation side of things.

What Else is Different

A few specifics that matter if you’re comparing:

Cross-platform from day one. Hedy runs on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web. Granola started Mac-only and has been slowly expanding. If you work across devices, Hedy has you covered.

On-device speech recognition. Your conversation audio stays on your phone or computer by default. We don’t send audio to the cloud unless you explicitly choose to. On capable hardware, Local AI Processing runs the AI analysis on-device too, so nothing about the conversation has to leave your machine. For anyone in healthcare, legal, or sensitive business conversations, this matters.

30+ languages. Granola supports around 10. If you work with international teams or clients, that’s a meaningful gap.

Your data stays accessible. No 30-day windows. No locking away your meeting history behind a paywall. Pro users get unlimited sessions with full history across all devices.

Pricing. Hedy Pro costs $12.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Granola’s comparable plan runs $14 to $18 per month.

Try Hedy Free for 3 Months

Switching tools is always a hassle. We get it. To lower the barrier, we’re offering any current or former Granola user 3 months of Hedy Pro, completely free. You’ll need to enter a credit card, but you won’t be charged during the trial period and can cancel anytime.

Visit granola.hedy.ai to claim your free trial.

That gives you plenty of time to run Hedy as a Granola alternative alongside your current workflow and see if it fits.

Who We Answer To

Granola has raised $67 million in venture capital. That’s a lot of money, and that money comes with expectations. When your investors include firms like Lightspeed and your valuation sits at $250 million, the product roadmap inevitably bends toward enterprise deals, large contract sizes, and an eventual exit. Individual users who fell in love with the original product tend to take a back seat to organizations buying hundreds of licenses.

We’ve already seen early signs of this shift. The 30-day note history limit on the free plan. The new Business and Enterprise tiers. The team-focused 2.0 launch. None of this is unusual for a VC-backed company following its natural trajectory. But it does mean individual users are no longer the primary audience.

Hedy has raised zero external funding, with no plans to raise funds from investors. We’re profitable and growing organically. The only stakeholders we’re accountable to are the people who actually use the product every day. When we decide what to build next, we look at our feature board and listen to our users. Not a board of directors, not a growth-stage investor pushing for ARR targets.

That’s not a knock on Granola’s team. It’s just a fundamentally different incentive structure. And if you care about where your tools are headed long-term, it’s worth thinking about who’s steering the ship.

Frequently asked questions

What changed in Granola’s 2026 rebrand?

The February 2026 rebrand changed more than the visual identity. Granola’s free plan now shows only the last 30 days of meeting notes, older notes stay stored but locked until you upgrade, and the paid tiers were restructured around a $14 per user Business plan and an $18 Individual plan. The 2.0 launch also leaned toward team customers rather than individual users.

Can I still access my old Granola notes on the free plan?

Not directly. Granola keeps notes older than 30 days stored but locked on the free plan until you move to a paid tier. Nothing is deleted, so the history is still there, but if you have built up months of meeting notes you either pay to reach them or export what matters first. Hedy has no history window: Pro sessions stay available with full history across all your devices.

What is the Hedy offer for Granola users and how do I claim it?

Any current or former Granola user gets three months of Hedy Pro free at granola.hedy.ai. You enter a credit card to start, you are not charged during those three months, and you can cancel any time before the trial ends. After that, Pro is $12.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Three months is enough to run Hedy alongside your current setup and see whether it fits.

How is Hedy different from Granola?

Granola is a notepad: you take notes during the meeting and AI fills in the gaps afterward. Hedy is a meeting coach. Automatic Suggestions read the live conversation and surface the question worth asking or the detail nobody pinned down, while you can still act on it. You still get transcripts, summaries, to-dos, and Topics after the session. The difference is when the help arrives, not how polished the notes look.

Is it worth switching from Granola if my current setup works?

If clean notes after the meeting are all you need, Granola does that well and switching costs more than it returns. Switch if the meeting itself is the hard part, or if the 30-day history limit on the free plan has started to bite. Broader platform coverage and 30+ languages matter too if you work across devices or in more than English. Three free months is enough to find out without guessing.

Julian Pscheid
Founder, Hedy AI