The best Granola AI alternatives in 2026

Granola calls itself the AI notepad for back-to-back meetings. You start it for a call, it listens through your computer's audio, so no bot joins, and it turns your rough notes and the transcript into tidy meeting notes with action items. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and any other meeting app, and runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. You can chat with your notes across meetings, use templates, share folders, and on paid plans get briefs before a meeting and follow-up emails after it.

The part worth reading closely is Granola's security page. It says Granola sends your audio to transcription providers like Deepgram and Assembly, and uses AI providers like OpenAI and Anthropic to write the summary. Granola “doesn't store the audio from meetings”: on a computer it transcribes in real time and keeps the transcript and your notes. Those are stored in a US-hosted AWS private cloud, encrypted at rest and in transit, and backed up daily. Its FAQ adds that notes and transcripts are kept indefinitely unless you delete them, with custom retention on Enterprise.

On model training, Granola says it doesn't let OpenAI or Anthropic train on your data, but it does train its own models on your anonymized data unless you opt out in Settings. Enterprise has training off by default. Prices on Granola's pricing page: Basic is free with 30 days of meeting history, Business is $14 per user a month, and Enterprise is $35.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Koi is first below because it's ours. Every fact about another app comes from that app's own site, checked October 7, 2026, and we didn't run tests or benchmarks.

Granola does a lot well, and if your team lives in shared notes it may be the right tool. The usual reasons to look elsewhere come down to where the meeting goes, and Granola's own pages confirm each one:

• The audio leaves your computer. Transcription is done by third-party cloud providers, and summaries by cloud AI models.
• Transcripts and notes are kept on Granola's servers in the US until you delete them.
• Training on your anonymized data is on unless you turn it off.
• There's no recording to go back to. Audio isn't kept and there's no video, so the transcript and your notes are all you have.
• Free keeps 30 days of history. Unlimited history starts at $14 per user a month.

Platform usually isn't the reason: Granola already runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. If you need the same notes on every device and a team that searches them together, a cloud tool is the honest answer, and several are below.

From each app's own site. “Not listed” means the site doesn't mention it.

They solve the same problem from opposite sides. Granola is better if you want your own scribbles blended into the meeting notes, and a team around them: calendar briefs, shared folders, Slack on every plan, and Notion, HubSpot or Zapier on Business. It's also on Windows and your phone.

Koi is better if the call itself should stay with you. The transcript and a video of the screen are files on your Mac, made on your Mac, with no audio sent anywhere. Turn on call notes and Koi writes a summary and your to-dos when the call ends, from the transcript's words alone. The same app gives you unlimited dictation in any app and an assistant you can ask about your screen. And Lifetime, $99 once, includes unlimited recorded calls.

One limit to know: Koi splits a call by microphone and speakers, not by person. On a call with five people, the other four are all Them. Granola tags speakers.

By the usual measures, Granola takes security seriously. It says it has passed a SOC 2 Type 2 audit, encrypts notes at rest and in transit, doesn't keep meeting audio, offers a GDPR data processing agreement, and removes all your data within 30 days of deleting your account. Notes are private until you share them.

Safe isn't the same as local, though. Every meeting is transcribed by another company's servers, summarized by a cloud AI model, and stored by Granola until you delete it. Its FAQ says some notes and history are also kept on your device for offline viewing, but transcription and summaries use cloud processing. For most meetings that's fine. For a call with a lawyer, a doctor or a client under NDA, you might want the transcript to never leave your Mac.

Yes. Koi, Meetily and MacWhisper all turn the call into text on your own computer, so no transcript sits on anyone's server. Koi also keeps a video of the screen with both sides' sound, which Granola doesn't record at all. Jamie transcribes in the cloud, but keeps your data in the EU and deletes audio after transcription.

The tradeoff is the one you'd expect. A local recording is a file on your Mac. There's no link to send a colleague, no team-wide search, and nothing on your phone unless you put it there. Summaries are your choice: Koi writes them only if you turn call notes on, from the transcript's words alone, and Meetily and MacWhisper use a model you pick. If those don't bother you, local is simply more private.

Before you pick, ask four questions of any meeting app:

• Where is the audio turned into text: on your computer, or on someone's servers?
• Is the audio or video kept afterwards, and where?
• Can the company train its models on your calls, and is that on by default?
• Does anyone on the call see that you're recording?

For Koi the answers are short. On your Mac. Kept as files on your Mac until you delete them. Nothing to train on, because the recording never leaves your Mac. And no, so tell people.

Often, yes. A bot shows up in the participant list, so people know. Bot-free tools don't, which puts the job on you. Granola has a setting to let people know you're using it, and Fireflies shows an indicator when its desktop notetaker is on. Koi doesn't announce itself to the call.

So say it out loud at the start, and check the rules where you and the other people are: some places require everyone's consent. Our guide to recording a Zoom meeting on a Mac walks through the setup and the etiquette.

• Transcript and video kept on your Mac, no bot, and AI notes only if you turn them on? Koi.
• Open source and local, on Mac or Windows? Meetily.
• Local meetings plus file transcription, paid once? MacWhisper.
• A big free plan and video you can rewatch? Fathom.
• A notetaker for the whole team? Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai.
• Cloud notes, but kept in the EU? Jamie.

Koi's free plan includes 2 recorded calls a month, so you can try it on a real meeting before paying. See Koi's plans for how many calls each one includes.