Ranking 2026 · As of October 10, 2026

Top 5 Granola alternatives

Granola is one of the best-known AI notepads for meetings: it captures the call without a bot, merges your own notes with the transcript and lets you ask about all your meetings. Still, many people look for alternatives. Notes and transcripts are stored in the cloud in the US, no audio is kept, the free plan shows only the last 30 days, and you need a Google or Microsoft account. Business costs $14 a month per user.

We put together the apps that really compete with Granola for meeting notes on the Mac. We compared them only on their public pages, pricing and help centres (as of October 10, 2026): where your data goes, working offline and without an account, price, free plan, AI notes, questions across meetings, listening back to recordings and languages. Here is the result.

Five apps to use instead of Granola, in order.

  1. 1. Captylo

    Our product

    Captylo is a Mac app that puts privacy first. Speech recognition runs on your Mac, offline too, and your history with recordings, your meetings and your notes stay in a local database on your disk. In the Free plan nothing leaves your computer until you turn on the cloud yourself. There is no telemetry, and you do not even need an account.

    One app gives you dictation into any program, meeting notes without a bot and voice notes, Polish first, with English and 23 other European languages. Free has no word limit; with your own API key it also gives you the cloud and AI modes for dictation and AI in notes. Pro costs $84 a year (about $7 a month) or $9 a month and adds the cloud with no keys plus the meeting AI: notes with decisions and tasks, questions across all meetings and citations that play the recording. The Pro server streams the data and stores none of the content. The app is open source (GPLv3).

    Key features

    • Speech recognition on your Mac, works offline
    • A local database: history, recordings, meetings and notes on your disk
    • No account and no telemetry in the Free plan
    • Dictation into any Mac app with one hotkey
    • AI modes: cleanup, email, to-do list, English and your own
    • Meeting recording without a bot, a live transcript on your Mac
    • AI meeting notes and questions across all meetings (Pro)
    • Voice notes: a hotkey, dictating into a note, audio import
    • Search across meetings and notes
    • A local MCP server for your AI assistant
    Pricing:
    Free with no word limit and no account, forever. Pro $84 a year or $9 a month, 7 days of Pro free for a new account, no card.
    Best for:
    people who care about privacy: they write a lot, have meetings and want their recordings and notes to stay on their Mac.

    Why it is number 1 here

    • It recognises speech on your Mac, offline too. Granola sends the audio to cloud transcription.
    • Your meetings stay with you: recordings, transcripts and notes sit in a local database on your disk, not on servers in the US.
    • In Free nothing leaves your Mac until you turn on the cloud yourself. There is no telemetry, and the Pro server stores none of the content.
    • No account in Free and no 30-day window: meeting recording with a live transcript, search and export to Markdown and JSON.
    • The recording stays on your Mac as long as you choose, and in Pro the [mm:ss] citations in answers play that exact moment.
    • Polish first, with English and 23 other European languages, and a Polish interface.
    • The same app dictates into any program and records voice notes. Pro costs $84 a year instead of $168 for a year of Business, and the app is open source (GPLv3).
  2. 2. Granola

    Business: $14 a month per user

    Granola is an AI notepad for meetings by Granola, Inc. It runs on the Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch: it captures your microphone and system audio with no bot in the call, and after the meeting it turns your own notes and the transcript into structured AI notes. The audio goes to a cloud transcription provider and is not saved, while notes and transcripts are stored on AWS servers in the US. By default Granola may use anonymised data to improve its models (you can turn that off).

    The free Basic plan gives you AI notes and chat with no daily transcription limit, but the app shows only the last 30 days. Business costs $14 a month per user (billed monthly only), and Enterprise starts at $35. You need a Google or Microsoft account. On the desktop Granola transcribes 31 languages, and its interface is English only.

    Key features

    • Bot-free meeting capture on the Mac and Windows, in-person conversations on the phone
    • AI notes from your own notes and the transcript, templates and Recipes
    • Chat with one meeting, a folder or all your meetings
    • Pre-meeting briefs and follow-up email drafts (Business)
    • Note sharing, Spaces and folders for teams
    • Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Zapier, an API and a hosted MCP server

    Strengths

    • Apps for the Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch
    • AI meeting notes in the free plan too
    • Team and company features: Spaces, SSO, SCIM, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA on Enterprise

    Limits

    • Notes and transcripts live in AWS in the US, with no choice of region
    • Polish is not transcribed on the desktop, and the interface is English only
    • No audio is saved, so you cannot listen back to a moment
    • The free plan shows only the last 30 days of notes in the app
    • Needs a Google or Microsoft account, no own API key
    Pricing:
    Basic free (30-day history); Business $14 a month per user; Enterprise from $35 a month per user.
    Best for:
    teams that meet in English, work across systems and want to share notes and send them to Slack, Notion or a CRM.

    When to stay with Granola

    • You work on Windows or want to capture conversations on iPhone, Android or Apple Watch.
    • Your notes must be shared across a team: Spaces, folders, share links, SSO and SCIM.
    • Your notes must flow into Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Attio or Zapier, or you need an API, pre-meeting briefs and follow-up email drafts.
    • You want AI meeting notes in a free plan: Granola Basic has them (with a 30-day history), in Captylo they are Pro.

    Website: granola.ai · facts from the public offer, as of October 10, 2026

  3. 3. Jamie

    Plus: €21 a month, billed yearly

    Jamie is a meeting notes app by a German company. It runs on the Mac and Windows, and you can also record in-person conversations on iPhone and Android: it captures the call with no bot, and afterwards writes a summary, a full transcript and tasks with owners. The audio is uploaded to a server in Frankfurt and permanently deleted after transcription, while the transcript and notes stay on a server in Germany. Jamie says your data is never used to train models.

    The free plan gives you 10 AI notes a month and meetings up to 30 minutes. Plus costs €21 a month billed yearly or €25 monthly, Pro €39 or €47, and Team €33 or €39 per seat (its help centre says US customers are billed $29, $55 and $45 a month). You need an account. Polish is on its list of supported languages for transcripts and notes, and the website and the iPhone app are in English.

    Key features

    • Bot-free meeting capture on the Mac and Windows, in-person on iPhone and Android
    • A summary, transcript and tasks with owners, custom templates
    • Speaker recognition that remembers voices for later meetings
    • Ask AI: questions across all meetings with links to sources, Sidekick during the call
    • Google Docs, Notion and OneNote; CRMs, Asana, API, webhooks and MCP from Pro
    • Data processed and stored in the EU, ISO 27001

    Strengths

    • Transcripts and notes stored in the EU, audio deleted after transcription
    • Apps for the Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android
    • CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive) and a team workspace

    Limits

    • Transcription and notes only on the server, no offline use and no use without an account
    • The free plan is 10 notes a month and meetings up to 30 minutes
    • The audio is deleted, so you cannot listen back to a moment
    • MCP, API and CRM integrations only from the Pro plan
    • No dictation into other apps, no own API key
    Pricing:
    Free 10 notes a month; Plus €21 a month billed yearly or €25 monthly; Pro €39 or €47; Team €33 or €39 per seat; Enterprise on request.
    Best for:
    teams and companies that want meeting notes in an EU cloud, with speaker recognition and updates to their CRM.

    Website: meetjamie.ai · facts from the public offer, as of October 10, 2026

  4. 4. Wispr Flow

    Pro: $144 a year or $15 a month

    Wispr Flow is a dictation app by Wispr AI, a company based in San Francisco. It runs on the Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android: you dictate into any app, and Flow drops filler words, builds lists and matches the style to the app as you speak. Speech is always recognised in the cloud, so dictation needs an internet connection, and data is processed and stored in the US. Improving the models with user data is on by default in Free and Pro (you can turn it off).

    The free plan is 2,000 words a week on a computer and 1,000 on a phone. Pro costs $15 a month or $144 a year, and the Growth plans for teams start at $23 per seat a month. You need an account. Notetaker comes with it: it records meetings on the Mac and Windows without a bot, writes summaries and answers questions about your meetings. Meeting transcripts and summaries stay in Wispr’s cloud with no way to opt out, and the audio is deleted after 7 days.

    Key features

    • Dictation into any app on the Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android
    • Styles per app (English only) and context from the screen
    • A dictionary that learns names, and snippets
    • Command Mode and Transforms with your own prompts (beta)
    • Notetaker without a bot, with questions about meetings (Ask Wispr, beta)
    • A hosted MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Cursor

    Strengths

    • One account for the Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android
    • Team features: a shared dictionary, SAML SSO, SCIM, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001
    • Meetings linked to your calendar and Slack, import from Granola and Otter

    Limits

    • Cloud only: no dictation without internet, data goes to the US
    • Improving the models with your data is on by default in Free and Pro
    • The free plan is 2,000 words a week on a computer, an account is required
    • No own API key and no audio file transcription
    • English-level quality is claimed for 7 other languages
    Pricing:
    Free 2,000 words a week; Pro $15 a month or $144 a year; Growth $23 or $33 a month per seat; Enterprise on request.
    Best for:
    teams that dictate on Macs, Windows PCs and phones, need admin controls, SSO and Slack, and are fine with working in the cloud.

    Website: wisprflow.ai · facts from the public offer, as of October 9, 2026

  5. 5. Monologue

    Pro: $144 a year or $15 a month

    Monologue is a dictation app by Every, a US company, released in September 2025. It runs on the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch: you dictate into any app, record voice notes and, in Pro, meetings without a bot. Speech is recognised in the cloud by default (the maker recommends that setting). On Apple silicon Macs a local model can be turned on, but offline it gives you raw text with no formatting.

    Pro costs $15 a month or $144 a year and comes with an Every subscription. Without a paid plan there is a one-time trial of 1,000 dictated words and 10 notes. You need an account to use it. The audio, transcripts and summaries of notes and meetings are stored on Monologue’s servers. AI assistants can read them through a hosted MCP server, the Notes API or a CLI.

    Key features

    • Dictation into any app, with modes per app
    • Meeting notes without a bot, with a summary and speakers (Pro)
    • Voice notes on the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch
    • A hosted MCP server, a Notes API, a CLI and webhooks
    • A local model on Apple silicon Macs (25 languages)

    Strengths

    • One subscription for the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch
    • Included with an Every subscription
    • Its privacy policy says it does not train models on your audio or transcripts

    Limits

    • Free is only a one-time trial: 1,000 words and 10 notes
    • Needs an account, even to download the app
    • Meeting notes are Pro only and stored in Monologue’s cloud
    • The interface is English only
    Pricing:
    Pro $15 a month or $144 a year (included with Every); a trial of 1,000 words and 10 notes.
    Best for:
    people who dictate on the Mac and iPhone, record notes from their watch or already pay for Every.

    Website: monologue.to · facts from the public offer, as of October 9, 2026

Your data stays on your Mac.

In the Free plan nothing leaves your computer until you turn on the cloud yourself. Your history with recordings, your meetings and your notes sit in a local database on your disk, the app has no telemetry, and you do not even need an account.

That is what our privacy policy says

FeatureCaptyloGranola
Speech recognised on your MacyesYes, by default; the cloud only if you turn it onnoNo, audio goes to a cloud transcription provider
History, meetings and notes on your diskyesYes, in a local database on your disknoNo: AWS in the US (only a local cache of your notes on the device)
The maker keeps none of your contentyesYes: in Free nothing leaves your Mac, the Pro server stores none of the contentnoNo; anonymised data improves Granola’s models by default (you can opt out)
Works offlineyesYes, by defaultnoNo: transcription is in the cloud, offline you can only open notes
Works without an accountyesYes, Free needs no accountnoNo, sign-in with Google or Microsoft

Captylo and Granola in detail.

Feature by feature, from the public pages of both apps.

FeatureCaptyloGranola
Privacy and data
Speech recognised on your MacyesYes, by default; the cloud only if you turn it onnoNo, audio goes to a cloud transcription provider
History, meetings and notes on your diskyesYes, in a local database on your disknoNo: AWS in the US (only a local cache of your notes on the device)
The maker keeps none of your contentyesYes: in Free nothing leaves your Mac, the Pro server stores none of the contentnoNo; anonymised data improves Granola’s models by default (you can opt out)
Works offlineyesYes, by defaultnoNo: transcription is in the cloud, offline you can only open notes
Works without an accountyesYes, Free needs no accountnoNo, sign-in with Google or Microsoft
Price
Paid planPro: $84 a year or $9 a monthBusiness: $14 a month per user; Enterprise from $35
Free planyesNo word limit, foreverpartlyAI notes with no daily limit, only the last 30 days in the app
Dictation
Dictation into any appyesOne hotkey, text at your cursornoNo, it is a meeting notepad (voice only for questions in chat)
Your own API key in the free planyesYes: cloud and AI modes for dictation, AI in notesnoNo, the docs say it does not support your own models
AI modes and your own promptsyesCleanup, email, to-do list, English and your ownnoNot for dictation; it has note templates and Recipes
Meetings and notes
Meeting recording without a botyesYes, with a live transcript on your Mac (Free)yesYes, on the Mac and Windows, in-person on the phone
AI meeting notesyesIn Pro: decisions and tasks, 6 templatesyesYes: your notes plus the transcript, templates
Questions across all meetingsyesIn Pro: one meeting or all, with sourcesyesYes (last 30 days on Basic), sources point to the transcript
Citations that play the recordingyesIn Pro: [12:34] plays that momentnoNo: audio is not saved
Voice notesyesA hotkey, dictating into a note, audio importyesVoice memos as a new note, on computer and phone
Polish
Polish speech recognitionyesYes, Polish is the first languagepartlyMobile app only; not on the Mac or Windows
Polish interfaceyesYes (and English)noNo, the interface is English only
Openness and platforms
Access for your AI assistant (MCP)yesA local server: meetings and notes (Free)yesHosted server; on Basic notes from the last 30 days
Open source appyesYes, GPLv3noNo
PlatformsmacOS 14.4+ (Apple silicon)macOS 14+, Windows, iPhone, Android, Apple Watch

Facts about Granola come from the maker's public website, as of October 10, 2026. Their offer may change; Captylo's is always current. granola.ai/pricing

Prices side by side.

Every plan from the public pricing pages, no asterisks.

Captylo

  • Free$0, foreverDictation and meetings on your Mac with no limit and no account, cloud and AI with your own key
  • Pro$84 a year or $9 a monthCloud and AI with no keys, the meeting AI, fair use: 20 h of cloud and 3 million AI tokens a month

Prices include VAT. A new account gets 7 days of Pro free, no card.

Granola

  • Basic$0AI notes and chat (Auto model only), the last 30 days in the app, Slack as the only integration
  • Business$14 a month per userFull history, model choice, briefs and follow-up emails, Notion, HubSpot, Zapier, API; billed monthly only
  • Enterprisefrom $35 a month per userSSO (50+ seats), SCIM, HIPAA, workspace-wide policies, annual billing available

From the public pricing page of Granola, as of October 10, 2026. granola.ai/pricing

What a year costs.

The same year of work, in US dollars.

  1. Captylo Free$0 a year
  2. Captylo Pro, yearly$84 a year
  3. Granola Business, 12 months$168 a year
  4. Granola Enterprise, 12 months (from)$420 a year

Prices from the public pricing pages, as of October 10, 2026.

Questions we hear most.

Short and concrete, from the public pages of both apps.

What is the best Granola alternative?

If privacy matters to you, the strongest candidate is Captylo: bot-free meeting recording, speech recognition on your Mac, recordings and notes in a local database, Free with no account, and Pro with AI notes for $84 a year. Also worth a look: Jamie (data in the EU, Windows and phones too), Wispr Flow (dictation and meeting notes in one) and Monologue (Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch).

Does Captylo send my recordings to the cloud?

Not unless you turn it on. In the Free plan meeting recording, the live transcript, notes and search all run on your Mac, and recordings and notes sit in a local database on your disk. The app has no telemetry and you need no account. When you turn on the cloud in Pro, Captylo’s server streams the data and stores none of the content. Granola sends the audio to cloud transcription and keeps notes and transcripts on AWS servers in the US.

How is Captylo different from Granola?

Both record meetings without a bot, write AI notes and answer questions across all your meetings. Granola does it in the cloud, runs on the Mac, Windows and phones, needs an account and has team features. Captylo runs on the Mac, recognises speech on the device, keeps recordings on your disk, needs no account in Free, and also dictates into any app and records voice notes.

Which languages does Granola support?

According to its help centre, Granola transcribes 31 languages on the Mac and Windows and 17 on iPhone and Android, and its interface is English only. Captylo is built Polish first, with English and 23 other European languages.

Which is cheaper: Captylo or Granola?

Granola Basic is free but shows only the last 30 days in the app. Business costs $14 a month per user, so $168 a year, as it is billed monthly only. Captylo Free costs nothing and has no history limit, and Captylo Pro costs $84 a year or $9 a month.

Does Captylo keep the meeting recording?

Yes, on your Mac, for as long as you choose; you can also set it to delete automatically. That is why in Pro a [mm:ss] citation in a note or an answer plays that moment of the call. Granola does not save audio, so its sources lead to the transcript text.

Where do the facts about Granola come from?

From the public pages of granola.ai and its help centre at docs.granola.ai (pricing, security, transcription, languages, data and model training) and its App Store listing, as of October 10, 2026. Their offer may change, so the source is linked under the table.

Your next email can be spoken.

Captylo for Mac is free, with no account and no word limit. New versions arrive in the app.

Version 1.0.17 · macOS 14.4 or newer · Apple silicon · signed and checked by Apple

Source code and earlier versions