Granola

What it does

Granola is the meeting-notes app for people who hate the "AI notetaker has joined" announcement. No bot enters your call — it captures audio from your device and turns it into clean notes, with AI chat over your meetings. The notes-first design is the differentiator: it feels like a notes app that happens to listen, not a surveillance bot.

Pricing that matters

Free gives you unlimited meetings and unlimited recording with no minute cap — the limit is history. Only your last 25–30 conversations stay visible; older notes lock behind the upgrade, and exports are limited. Business is $14 a user a month, and that's mostly what you're buying: your history back, plus integrations. No annual discount advertised. As of Oct 2026.

Best for

People who take lots of meetings and want great notes without the social awkwardness of a bot in the room. Founders, freelancers, anyone whose calls are relationship-sensitive.

The honest take

The bot-free capture is genuinely great — and it creates a real consent question, because YOU are the one recording. Tell people. There's also a 2026 class action over consent and AI training (not decided), AI training on your data is on by default, and there's no Android or web app. And $14 a month just to see your old notes stings. Lovely product, sharp edges.

Alternatives

Fathom: pick this instead if you want the most generous free AI summaries and don't mind the bot. Fireflies.ai: pick this instead if you need real integrations and team features.