Granola vs Plaud (2026): Pricing, Features and Which to Pick

If you want the money question first, jump to the Granola vs Plaud cost over three years. If you record in person or on the phone and want to compare costs, skip to what Comu costs next to Granola and Plaud.

Granola vs Plaud at a glance

Granola is software that records online meetings from your computer, and Plaud is a recorder that records in person and on phone calls.

Prices are in US dollars. Granola bills per user.

Granola vs Plaud: what you pay for each

Granola costs $0 on Basic, $14 per user per month on Business and $35 per user per month on Enterprise, and there is no device to buy. Plaud costs $159 to $189 for the recorder, then $0 on Starter, $8.33 a month billed yearly on Pro or $20.00 a month billed yearly on Unlimited.

Granola Business is $168 a year per user. Enterprise is $420 a year per user and adds SSO, SCIM, HIPAA-compliant workspaces and dedicated support.

The Plaud Note is $159, the Plaud Note Pro is $189 and the NotePin is $159. The Starter plan comes with each device at no cost. Pro is $17.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed yearly ($99.99 a year). Unlimited is $29.99 a month, or $20.00 a month billed yearly ($239.99 a year). Team is priced per user, at $28 a month until Nov 30, 2026 and $35 after.

Granola Business at $168 a year sits between Plaud Pro at $99.99 and Plaud Unlimited at $239.99.

Plaud vs Granola: free plans compared

Both free plans cost $0 and limit different things: Granola Basic keeps 30 days of meeting history, and Plaud Starter gives 300 transcription minutes a month with the recorder.

Granola Basic includes AI meeting notes, bot-free capture using your device's audio, speaker tagging, customized note templates, multi-language support and voice typing. It also includes the desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps, AI chat in Auto mode, shared folders and a Slack integration. Pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails, a workspace dictionary, Notion, Zapier and HubSpot integrations and API access start on Business.

Plaud Starter comes free with the device. It gives 300 transcription minutes a month, which is 5 hours, and the full Plaud Intelligence feature set. That set covers AI transcription in 112+ languages with speaker labels, summaries from 10,000+ templates, Ask Plaud, AutoFlow, the latest AI models and private cloud sync. Plaud Desktop, audio import and custom templates are included too.

For a few meetings a month, either free plan works. Granola's free plan fits someone who takes notes at a computer and does not need to look back past a month. Plaud's free plan fits someone who already owns the recorder and records under 5 hours a month.

Granola vs Plaud: features row by row

Granola turns what you type and what your computer hears into one set of notes, and Plaud captures conversations on a recorder and sends them to an app for transcripts and summaries.

• Notes. Granola combines the notes you type with the transcript into enhanced notes. Plaud turns the recording into a summary from 10,000+ templates or your own custom template.
• Live transcription. Granola transcribes in real time. Plaud transcribes after the recording ends.
• Briefs and follow-ups. Granola's pre-meeting briefs and follow-up emails start on Business. Plaud's AutoFlow is included on every plan, including Starter.
• AI chat. Granola's chat uses Auto mode on Basic, with model selection on Business and Enterprise. Ask Plaud searches across all your recordings on every plan, and its work modes use credits.
• Templates. Granola has customized note templates on every plan. Plaud has 10,000+ summary templates and custom templates.
• Languages. Granola supports multiple languages on every plan. Plaud transcribes in 112+ languages.
• Integrations. Granola has Slack on every plan, Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Attio and Affinity from Business, plus MCP and an API. Plaud has a Google Calendar integration.
• Sharing. Granola notes are private by default and shared through shared folders. Plaud shares by link or invite and exports in 27+ formats.
• Hardware. Plaud Note is 0.12 inches thick and weighs 1.06 oz, with up to 30 hours of continuous recording, 64 GB of storage and a recording range of 9.8 feet. Plaud Note Pro has four MEMS microphones, 16.4 feet of pickup, a 0.95-inch AMOLED display and a 50-hour Endurance mode. Granola is software and runs on the system audio and microphone of your computer, or the microphone of your phone.

Granola vs Plaud: where each one records

Granola records online meetings from your computer's audio and in-person meetings from your phone, and Plaud records in-person conversations and calls on the recorder and online meetings through Plaud Desktop.

Granola on a computer. The macOS and Windows apps capture system audio, so Granola works inside Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and any other meeting app. They also capture microphone audio for a physical room. No bot joins the call, and no meeting link is needed for in-person use.

Granola on a phone. The iPhone app records in-person meetings and outbound phone calls placed through Granola's built-in dialer. The Android app records in-person meetings. Phones do not let apps capture audio from other apps, so Granola cannot transcribe a Zoom or Meet call running on the same phone.

Plaud on the recorder. Plaud Note switches between a phone-call mode and an in-person mode, and Plaud Note Pro detects phone calls and in-person conversations on its own. The recorder captures the room without a computer.

Plaud Desktop. Plaud Desktop captures Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other online meetings natively, without a bot. It records automatically, on a prompt or manually. It is free and requires a Plaud device.

Both capture online meetings without a bot. Granola needs only the computer you already own, and Plaud Desktop needs a Plaud device. A call you take on Android is outside Granola's phone-call capture, which is iPhone only.

Granola vs Plaud: audio, privacy and data handling

Granola deletes audio after transcription, so only the transcript and your notes remain, and Plaud keeps the recording so you can play it back.

Granola is SOC 2 Type II certified on every plan and offers a DPA. Enterprise adds HIPAA-compliant workspaces. Granola states that third parties such as OpenAI and Anthropic may not train on your data. Granola trains on anonymized data itself, each user can opt out with one click, and Enterprise has model training turned off by default.

Plaud is ISO 27001, ISO 27701, GDPR, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and EN 18031 compliant on every plan. Recordings sync to a private cloud across the Plaud App, Plaud Web and Plaud Desktop.

Tell the other person you are recording. Laws on recording calls differ by country, and you are responsible for following them.

Granola vs Plaud: history, minutes and credits

Granola limits meeting history on Basic, and Plaud limits transcription minutes and sells credits for Ask Plaud work modes.

Granola Basic keeps 30 days of meetings, and Business has unlimited history and unlimited AI notes. Plaud counts minutes: 300 on Starter, 1,200 on Pro, which is 20 hours, and unlimited on Unlimited. Unused minutes do not carry over, and extra minutes come in packs of 600, 3,000 and 6,000. When a plan runs out of minutes, recording continues and only transcription pauses until the minutes reset or you add more.

Separately, Ask Plaud work modes consume credits, sold in packs of 1,000 for $12.99, 5,000 for $69.99 and 20,000 for $279.99, valid for one year.

A person who records ten hours a month fits Plaud Pro's 1,200 minutes. A person who records forty hours a month goes past Pro's 1,200 minutes and fits Plaud Unlimited, while Granola Business includes unlimited meeting notes.

Granola vs Plaud: which one fits you

Granola fits online meetings you attend at your computer, and Plaud fits in-person meetings, interviews and phone calls.

Start on a free plan and note the limit you reach first. For Granola it is the 30-day window. For Plaud it is the 300 minutes. Each product has its own review: Granola AI review and Plaud review.

Granola vs Plaud for a small team

Five people pay $840 a year on Granola Business and $1,294.95 in the first year on Plaud Note with Pro billed yearly, which is five devices at $159 plus five Pro plans at $99.99.

Five Plaud Note recorders on the free Starter plan cost $795 in total, and five Granola Enterprise seats cost $2,100 a year. Granola Basic lets a team start at $0. Granola Business adds centralized billing and user management. Plaud Team adds centralized billing, seat and device management and a shared team workspace. A recorder for each person adds in-person and phone capture, and a Granola seat adds online meetings with no hardware.

Granola vs Plaud: cost over three years

Over three years, one person pays $0 to $1,260 on Granola and $159 to $908.97 on Plaud, depending on the plan.

Granola is software, so its cost repeats each year you use a paid plan. Plaud's device is a single purchase and its plan repeats. Credits for Ask Plaud work modes are bought separately and add to the Plaud totals.

Granola vs Plaud vs Comu AI: usage cost compared

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. Granola Business costs $168 a year per user. Comu is a recorder with an app. The free plan that comes with a Comu device includes unlimited transcription, unlimited real-time transcription, speaker identification, summaries, action items, 30+ built-in templates with unlimited custom templates, and Comu AI for questions across your recordings. Comu records phone calls, supports 113 languages, imports external audio files, exports text as TXT, Markdown, Word and PDF and audio as MP3 and WAV, and is GDPR, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant.

The Comu rows use only that free plan. Plaud Starter stops at 300 transcription minutes a month and Plaud does not support real-time transcription, while Comu's included plan transcribes without a minute limit and in real time. Granola Basic gives AI meeting notes with 30 days of history and leaves pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails and Notion, Zapier and HubSpot integrations to Business. The tables therefore add Plaud's Pro or Unlimited plan to the Plaud device, compare Comu with Granola Business, and list the free plans for reference.

Comu Note Pro vs Plaud Note vs Granola

Plaud Note's free Starter plan transcribes 300 minutes a month after the recording ends, and Comu Note Pro's included plan transcribes without a minute limit and in real time. Granola Basic is $0 with 30 days of history and deletes audio after transcription, while Comu Note Pro's included plan exports audio as MP3 or WAV and records phone calls from a device you carry. Comu Note Pro records up to 45 hours continuously, against 30 hours on Plaud Note. For a team of five, five Comu Note Pro devices cost €699.95 in total, five Granola Business seats cost $2,520 over three years and five Plaud Note recorders with Pro billed yearly cost $2,294.85.

Comu Action Pro vs Plaud Note Pro

Comu Action Pro's included plan transcribes without a minute limit and in real time, and includes Comu AI for summaries, action items and questions.

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. Its bone-conduction microphone records a call when the device sits against the phone. It does not need a meeting link or an open laptop. The transcript, speaker labels, summary and action items arrive in the app. To see Comu Action Pro against Plaud Note Pro feature by feature, read our Comu Action Pro vs. Plaud Note Pro comparison, our guide to the features that come with Comu, or look at Comu Note Pro and Comu Action Pro.

Common questions about Granola vs Plaud

Is Granola better than Plaud?

Granola is the better fit for online meetings you attend at your computer, and Plaud is the better fit for in-person meetings and phone calls. Granola uses your computer's audio with no bot and costs $0 to start. Plaud is a recorder that captures the room and the phone without a computer, from $159.

Is Granola or Plaud cheaper?

Granola is cheaper to start, because Basic is $0 and there is no device. Plaud costs $159 to $189 for the recorder, then $0 on Starter with 300 transcription minutes a month. On a paid plan, Granola Business is $168 a year and Plaud Pro is $99.99 a year plus the device.

What does Granola vs Plaud cost over three years?

Granola Business costs $504 over three years. Plaud Note with Pro billed yearly costs $458.97, which includes the $159 device, and with Unlimited it costs $878.97. Comu Note Pro costs €139.99 over three years, on the free plan that comes with the device.

Does Plaud work with Zoom and Teams like Granola?

Yes. Plaud Desktop captures Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls without a bot, and it needs a Plaud device. Granola does the same from your computer's audio with no device.

Do Plaud and Granola have free plans?

Yes. Granola Basic is free with 30 days of meeting history. Plaud's Starter plan comes with the device and gives 300 transcription minutes a month.

Which records phone calls, Granola or Plaud?

Plaud records phone calls on a recorder you carry, and Granola records outbound calls on iPhone through its built-in dialer. Plaud Note switches between a phone-call mode and an in-person mode, and Plaud Note Pro detects phone calls on its own. A recorder such as Comu also records phone calls from a device you carry.

Does Plaud have real-time transcription like Granola?

No. Plaud does not support real-time transcription and transcribes after the recording ends. Granola transcribes in real time.

Is there a recorder alternative to both?

Yes. Comu Note Pro is €139.99 and Comu Action Pro is €179.99 (Nov 6, 2026). The free plan that comes with each device includes unlimited transcription, unlimited real-time transcription, speaker identification and AI summaries.

Related reading

• Granola Pricing (2026): Free Plan, Business at $14 and Enterprise at $35
• Plaud Pricing (2026): Note and Note Pro Prices, Plans and Real Costs
• Granola AI Review (2026): Features, Pricing, Privacy and Who It Fits
• Plaud Review (2026): Note, Note Pro and NotePin Compared, With Real Costs
• Granola vs Otter (2026): Pricing, Free Plans and Features Compared
• Otter AI vs Plaud (2026): Software or Recorder, Price and Features Compared

Sources

Pages were checked on Nov 9, 2026.

1. Granola, Pricing, home page, Getting started with Granola for mobile and AI note taker for in-person meetings
2. Plaud, plans and pricing, Plaud Note, Plaud Note Pro, Plaud Desktop and the credits screen in the Plaud app.
3. Plaud, plan comparison and real-time transcription
4. Comu, Comu Action Pro, Comu Note Pro, and app downloads