The right Granola AI alternative depends on why you're leaving. If it's privacy, pick a tool that transcribes on your own machine. If it's price, Fathom's free plan has no recording cap. If you want a replayable recording or CRM automation, look at Otter or Fireflies. One assumption to drop before you compare: "no bot in the call" no longer sets Granola apart. Otter, Fireflies and Fathom all ship bot-free desktop capture now.
Disclosure: I build Vext, one of the five tools below, so weigh what I say about it accordingly. Every competitor claim links to that vendor's own page, checked on October 2, 2026.
What Granola does well, and why people look for an alternative
Granola is an AI notepad rather than a transcription archive. You jot rough notes during the call, and Granola expands them using the transcript afterwards, with its additions marked apart from what you wrote (Granola). That's the main reason people stay.
It captures your microphone and system audio from the desktop app, so no extra participant shows up in the meeting (Granola help center). It's available for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, and the phone apps cover in-person meetings (Granola). Templates and shared folders are included even on the free plan.
People who leave usually give one of three reasons:
- The audio goes to cloud providers. Granola names Deepgram and Assembly for transcription, and OpenAI and Anthropic for summaries (Granola security). It deletes the audio after transcription and keeps the transcript and notes.
- Training is on by default. On the Free and Business plans, anonymised data may be used to improve Granola's own models unless you opt out in Settings. Enterprise has training off.
- There's no recording to go back to. Because the audio is deleted, you can't replay a moment to check what someone actually said.
Is Granola free? Granola pricing and plans
Yes. The Basic plan costs $0, but it only shows 30 days of meeting history. Business is $14 per user per month and Enterprise is $35 per user per month, as of October 2026 (Granola pricing). Business adds unlimited history, the advanced AI models, and integrations with Attio, Notion, HubSpot, Affinity and Zapier. Enterprise adds SSO, HIPAA-compliant workspaces and org-wide auto-deletion periods.
If the 30-day window is your only complaint, upgrading to Business may cost less than switching.
Granola competitors compared: where your meeting data goes
The five tools differ less on "bot or no bot" than on where transcription happens, what gets kept and what gets used for training. Every cell comes from the vendor's own pages as of October 2, 2026.
| Bot-free capture | Where transcription happens | Audio kept? | Trains on your data by default? | Free plan | Paid from | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granola | Always (Mac, Windows) | Cloud: Deepgram, Assembly | No, deleted after transcription | Anonymised data, opt-out (Free, Business) | 30 days of history | $14/user/mo |
| Otter | Desktop app (Mac, Windows) | Otter's cloud (stored on AWS S3) | Yes, playback included | De-identified data used for training | 300 min/mo, 30 min per conversation | $16.99/mo, or $8.33/mo billed annually |
| Fireflies | Desktop "Take Notes" (Mac, Windows) | Fireflies' cloud (web dashboard) | Not in bot-free mode | "We don't train on it by default" | $0 tier | $18/user/mo, or $10 billed annually |
| Fathom | Beta, Mac only | Fathom's cloud, stored in the US | Yes, unless you pick transcript-only | De-identified data for its own models, opt-out | Unlimited recordings and summaries | Team $19/user/mo, or $15 billed annually (2-user minimum); Premium $20/mo, or $16 annually |
| Vext | Always, Mac only | On your Mac | Off by default; opt-in local playback copy, deleted after 30 days by default | Nothing leaves the Mac in the default local setup | 10 meeting recordings (trial) | $49 once |
Sources: the vendor pages linked in each section below, plus the Fireflies pricing guide.
Granola vs Otter AI
Pick Otter if you want the recording itself and not only the notes. Its free plan includes audio playback, live transcription and speaker identification (Otter pricing). That covers exactly the gap Granola leaves by deleting audio.
Otter also has a desktop app that records Zoom, Google Meet, Slack Huddles and in-person conversations without a bot (Otter desktop), so you no longer give up bot-free capture by switching. The free plan allows 300 minutes a month, with a 30-minute limit per conversation and three lifetime file imports. Pro costs $16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed annually. On data, Otter says it "uses a proprietary method to de-identify user data before training our models" (Otter privacy and security).
Granola stays the better choice if you want an editable note built from your own outline, not a transcript to search.
Granola vs Fireflies
Fireflies suits teams that live in the web dashboard and want the bot's full feature set. Granola suits one person who wants clean notes. The difference shows up when you drop the bot.
The desktop app's Take Notes button records system audio on Mac or Windows with no bot in the meeting, and the transcript and summary land in the Fireflies web dashboard. In that mode, though, speakers appear as "Speaker 1 / Speaker 2" instead of named participants, Sales Assist needs the bot, and no audio or video file is saved (Fireflies guide). So bot-free Fireflies is closer to Granola than to bot-based Fireflies.
Fireflies says it doesn't train on your data by default (Fireflies security). Pro costs $10 per user per month billed annually or $18 billed monthly. Business costs $19 or $29 per user per month, depending on billing term.
Granola vs Fathom
Fathom has the most generous free plan here: unlimited recordings and transcriptions, plus instant AI summaries (Fathom pricing). The catch is capture. Bot-free mode is a beta on Mac only, and everywhere else a bot joins the call.
Fathom keeps recordings and lets you choose transcript-only, audio-only, or full video with screen capture (Fathom vs Granola). That suits teams who share clips. Data is stored in the US. Fathom uses de-identified customer data to improve its own models, and you can opt out in settings (Fathom security FAQ). Premium costs $20 a month, or $16 a month billed annually; the Team plan is $19 per user a month, or $15 annually, with a two-user minimum.
A local Granola AI alternative: Vext
If cloud processing is why you're leaving, a local tool removes the question. Vext records your microphone and system audio as separate streams on your Mac, with no bot. It transcribes them with Parakeet on Apple Silicon and labels speakers locally.
Name a speaker and tick Remember this voice on this Mac, and later meetings recognise them automatically. Automatic summaries with key points, decisions and action items are off by default; switch them on in settings or click Summarize on a single meeting. They run on a local model unless you point Vext at a cloud API yourself.
Vext can offer to start recording when it detects a call, and it exports Markdown, txt, SRT or VTT. The temporary audio is deleted once speaker refinement finishes, unless you turn on Keep meeting audio for playback, which keeps a local copy to replay for 30 days by default.
What Granola does better: notes built from your own outline, shared folders, Windows and mobile apps, and team features. Vext is Mac-only (macOS 14+, Apple Silicon) and has no team workspace. For how recording on your own Mac compares with a bot in the call, see meeting transcription without a bot.
Which Granola AI alternative should you pick?
Match the tool to the problem that sent you looking:
- You need to replay what was said: Otter. Audio playback is on the free plan.
- A team wants the full bot-based workflow, including Sales Assist: Fireflies. Use its desktop mode when a bot isn't welcome, and accept generic speaker labels there.
- You want the most free usage: Fathom, if your team is fine with a bot or you're on a Mac for the bot-free beta.
- Audio and transcripts must stay on your laptop: Vext, on a Mac.
- You like Granola and only the 30-day history bothers you: Granola Business at $14 a month is the smallest change.
Whichever you choose, read the retention and training settings before the first sensitive call. Are AI meeting notes private? walks through what to check. For the Otter side of this comparison, see Otter.ai alternatives for Mac.
If you want to try the local route: Download Vext. It costs $49 once, and the free trial covers 100 dictations, 50 notes and 10 meeting recordings. It needs macOS 14+ on Apple Silicon. Or install it now:
brew install muvon/tap/vext