Granola is an AI notepad for meetings. It listens to your computer's audio, so it does not send a bot into the call, and it turns the notes you type and the transcript it hears into clear notes with action items. In this Granola AI review, the free plan, Basic, keeps 30 days of meeting history, Business costs $14 per user per month and Enterprise costs $35.
If you came for the limits, jump to the Granola free plan. If you record in person or on calls, skip to Granola vs Comu.
Granola AI review at a glance
| Granola | |
|---|---|
| What it is | An AI notepad for back-to-back meetings |
| Where it works | macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other meeting apps |
| How it captures | Your computer's audio, so no bot joins the call |
| Free plan | Basic, $0, with 30 days of meeting history |
| Paid plans | Business $14 and Enterprise $35 per user a month |
| AI chat | Auto mode on Basic, model selection on Business and Enterprise |
| Security | SOC 2 Type II on every plan, HIPAA-compliant workspaces on Enterprise |
| Best for | People whose meetings happen on their computer |
How Granola works
Granola runs on your computer and listens to the audio that your computer plays and hears. Because it does not invite a bot, nobody on the call sees an extra participant. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and any other meeting app.
You open a note for the meeting and write as much or as little as you like. Granola transcribes the audio and uses the meeting context to write clear notes in your own structure. Notes, action items and follow-ups are ready when the meeting ends. Granola also syncs with your calendar, and on Business a Brief before an external meeting shows who is attending, what you discussed last time and what matters now.
Granola for mobile covers meetings on the go and phone calls. Voice typing by Granola is a separate feature for dictation anywhere you type.
Granola AI review: features on each plan
Granola's main features are bot-free capture from your computer's audio, enhanced notes, speaker tagging, AI chat across meetings, shortcuts for actions and follow-ups, pre-meeting briefs, shared folders, integrations, MCP and apps for desktop and mobile.
- Capture. Computer audio, with no bot in the meeting. The mobile apps cover in-person meetings, walking meetings, conferences and phone calls.
- Notes. Your typed notes and the transcript combine into enhanced notes. Customized note templates shape the output.
- Speakers. Speaker tagging is on every plan.
- AI chat. Ask questions across your meetings. Basic uses Auto mode, and Business and Enterprise add model selection.
- Actions and follow-ups. Shortcuts list actions, write a follow-up email and draft a project plan. Follow-up emails start on Business.
- Briefs. Pre-meeting briefs start on Business.
- Folders and sharing. Notes are private by default and shared folders are on every plan.
- Languages. Multi-language support is on every plan.
- Integrations. Slack is on every plan. Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Attio and Affinity start on Business. The API starts on Business.
- MCP. Basic exposes personal notes from the last 30 days to tools such as Claude and ChatGPT. Business adds public workspace notes, and Enterprise lets admins configure it.
- Apps. Desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps are on every plan.
Granola reviews: pros and cons at a glance
What Granola does well
- No bot. Capture uses your computer's audio, so no participant joins the call.
- Your notes lead. You write what matters to you and Granola fills in the rest from the transcript.
- Private by default. Notes stay private until you share them.
- Audio is deleted after transcription, on every plan.
- Student program. Granola is free for 12 months while you are a student.
What to weigh before you pay
- History. Basic keeps 30 days of meetings. Business keeps unlimited history.
- Seats. Business costs $14 per user per month, which is $168 a year for each person.
- Briefs and follow-up emails. Both start on Business.
- Where it captures. Granola hears what your computer hears, plus what the phone apps record. A recorder that records the room covers in-person meetings without a computer.
Granola free plan: what Basic includes and where it stops
Basic is the free plan. It includes AI meeting notes, bot-free capture using your device's audio, the desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps, speaker tagging, customized note templates, multi-language support, voice typing, shared folders, a Slack integration, and the option to opt out of model training.
Where Basic stops:
- 30 days of meeting history. You take as many notes as you like and upgrade to view and work with notes older than 30 days.
- Pre-meeting briefs and follow-up emails start on Business.
- No workspace-wide dictionary. Business and Enterprise have it.
- Integrations stop at Slack. Notion, Zapier and HubSpot start on Business.
- AI chat uses Auto mode. Business adds model selection.
- API access and full MCP start on Business.
- Centralized billing and user management start on Business.
For someone who takes notes in a handful of meetings a month and does not need to go back past a month, Basic can be enough. The 30-day window is the main limit to weigh, because a client conversation from last quarter is already older than 30 days.
Granola pricing: what each plan costs
Granola costs $0 on Basic, $14 per user per month on Business and $35 per user per month on Enterprise. For the full breakdown, read our Granola pricing guide.
| Plan | Price per user per month | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | AI notes, 30 days of history, Slack |
| Business | $14 | Unlimited history, briefs, follow-up emails, workspace dictionary, Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity, MCP, API, centralized billing |
| Enterprise | $35 | SSO, SCIM, HIPAA-compliant workspaces, org-wide auto-deletion, admin controls, dedicated support |
Basic includes AI meeting notes, AI chat within and across meetings, shared folders, customized note templates, voice typing and multi-language support. Business adds unlimited meeting history, access to advanced AI thinking models, pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails and a workspace-wide dictionary. SSO is available for Enterprise workspaces with 50 or more users. Business costs $168 a year per user, and Enterprise costs $420.
Granola privacy and security
Granola is SOC 2 Type II certified on every plan, deletes audio after transcription, and offers a DPA. Granola states that third parties such as OpenAI and Anthropic may not use your data to train their models. Granola trains on anonymized data itself, and each user can opt out in Settings with one click. Enterprise has model training turned off for everyone by default.
Enterprise adds org-wide auto-deletion periods, admin controls for sharing and API access, an org-wide notification that Granola is being used, and HIPAA-compliant workspaces. Tell the other person you are recording. Laws on recording calls differ by country, and you are responsible for following them. Granola offers an automated message at the start of each meeting that lets others know it is in use.
Who Granola fits
| If you | Granola fits when |
|---|---|
| Spend your day in Zoom, Meet and Teams | Capture uses your computer's audio with no bot |
| Want to keep your own note structure | You write the notes and Granola fills in the rest |
| Take notes in a few meetings a month | Basic covers the 30-day window |
| Need full history, briefs and follow-up emails | Business at $14 |
| Need SSO, SCIM or HIPAA workspaces | Enterprise at $35 |
| Are a student | The student program, 12 months free |
| Meet on the go or take phone calls | The iOS and Android apps cover meetings on the go and phone calls |
Granola review: what a team of five pays
A team of five pays $840 a year on Business, which is $2,520 over three years, and $0 on Basic, where each person keeps 30 days of history. Give Business seats to the people who go back to older client conversations and leave everyone else on Basic. Enterprise at $35 per user adds SSO, SCIM and HIPAA-compliant workspaces, and SSO is available for workspaces with 50 or more users, so a team of five on Enterprise would not get SSO.
Granola AI reviews and Granola reviews: what to check
Check four things in any Granola review: the plan the reviewer used, the length of history, the device and the date. To compare Granola with other tools, read Granola alternatives compared by price.
- Which plan did the reviewer use? A Business review does not describe Basic.
- How long was the history? The 30-day window changes how useful Basic feels after a month.
- Which device? Desktop capture uses your computer's audio, and the iOS and Android apps cover meetings on the go and phone calls.
- How recent is it? Check the review's date against Granola's current plans and prices.
Granola review: how to try it on the free plan
Try Granola on Basic for a few weeks and watch for the 30-day limit.
- Download Granola on Basic and connect your calendar.
- Run three real meetings and write your own notes while they run.
- Read the enhanced notes and the action items afterward.
- Try a shortcut such as List actions or Write follow-up email.
- Check the 30-day window after a few weeks and note which older meetings you went back to.
- Decide on seats. Give Business to the people who need history and keep everyone else on Basic.
Granola AI review: cost over three years
One person on Granola Business pays $504 over three years and one person on Enterprise pays $1,260, while Basic costs $0.
| One person | Year 1 | Year 2 (total) | Year 3 (total) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business, $14 a month | $168.00 | $336.00 | $504.00 |
| Enterprise, $35 a month | $420.00 | $840.00 | $1,260.00 |
Granola is software, so the cost repeats every year you use a paid plan. For a team of five on Business, the cost is $840 a year and $2,520 over three years.
Granola review vs Comu AI: usage cost compared
Over three years, one person on Granola Business pays $504. Comu is a pocket recorder with an app. Comu Note Pro is €139.99 and Comu Action Pro is €179.99. Comu prices are euro prices from the EU store (Nov 6, 2026); competitor prices are US dollar prices from each company's own site. The free plan that comes with a Comu device includes unlimited transcription, unlimited real-time transcription, speaker identification, summaries, action items, templates, and Comu AI for questions across your recordings. Comu records phone calls, supports 113 languages, imports external audio files, and is GDPR, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant.
The Comu rows use only that free plan. Granola Business adds unlimited meeting history, pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails, integrations and API access, so the table compares Comu with Granola's paid plans and lists Basic at $0 for reference.
| One person | Year 1 | Year 2 (total) | Year 3 (total) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comu Note Pro, free plan | €139.99 | €139.99 | €139.99 |
| Comu Action Pro, free plan | €179.99 | €179.99 | €179.99 |
| Granola Basic, 30 days of history | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Granola Business, unlimited history | $168.00 | $336.00 | $504.00 |
| Granola Enterprise | $420.00 | $840.00 | $1,260.00 |
For a team of five, five Granola Business seats cost $840 a year, and five Comu Note Pro devices cost €699.95. Granola Basic costs $0 and includes AI meeting notes, speaker tagging and customized note templates, with 30 days of meeting history. Comu's included plan adds unlimited transcription, recording of the room and phone calls, imports of external audio files, and export to TXT, Markdown, Word, PDF, MP3 and WAV.
| Feature | Comu (included with the device) | Granola Basic | Granola Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Note Pro €139.99, Action Pro €179.99 | $0 | $14 a month |
| Where it records | A recorder you carry, in person and on the phone | Your computer's audio, plus the phone apps | Your computer's audio, plus the phone apps |
| Templates | 30+ built in and unlimited custom | Customized note templates | Customized note templates |
| Languages | 113 | Multi-language | Multi-language |
Comu records the room and the phone from a device you carry, so it works for an in-person interview, a client visit, a lecture or a call, and it does not depend on a laptop being open. The transcript, speaker labels, summary and action items arrive in the app. To see every feature in the included plan, read our guide to the features that come with Comu, or look at Comu Note Pro and Comu Action Pro.
Common questions about Granola AI
Is Granola AI worth it?
Granola is worth it if most of your meetings happen on your computer and you want bot-free notes in your own structure. Business at $14 a month costs $168 a year per user. If your meetings are in person or on the phone, compare it with a recorder you carry.
Is Granola free?
Yes. Basic is free and includes AI meeting notes, speaker tagging, customized templates, voice typing, shared folders and a Slack integration. Meeting history is limited to 30 days.
How much is Granola per month?
Basic costs $0, Business costs $14 per user per month and Enterprise costs $35 per user per month.
Does Granola join the call as a bot?
No. Granola uses your computer's audio and does not invite a bot. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other meeting apps.
Is Granola safe and private?
Granola is SOC 2 Type II certified on every plan, deletes audio after transcription and offers a DPA. Granola states that third parties may not train on your data, and you can opt out of Granola's own training with one click.
Does Granola work on a phone?
Yes. Granola has iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps for meetings on the go and for phone calls.
Is there a Granola student discount?
Yes. Granola's student program is free for 12 months while you are a student.
Is there a recorder alternative to Granola?
Yes. A recorder such as Comu captures in-person meetings and phone calls without a computer. Comu Note Pro is €139.99 and its free plan includes unlimited transcription, speaker identification and AI summaries.
Related reading
- Granola Pricing (2026): Free Plan, Business at $14 and Enterprise at $35
- Granola Alternatives (2026): 7 AI Note Takers Compared by Price and Use Case
- Otter AI Pricing (2026): Free Plan, Paid Plans and What Each Includes
- Granola vs Otter (2026): Pricing, Free Plans and Features Compared
- AI Notetaker for In Person Meetings (2026): 7 Options Compared by Price and Use Case
Sources
Pages were checked on Nov 2, Nov 4 and Nov 6, 2026.
- Granola, Pricing, home page and student program
- Comu, Comu Action Pro, Comu Note Pro, and app downloads
