11 Best Granola Alternatives for 2026 (Ranked and Compared)

Granola is a well loved AI meeting notetaker with a clean, quiet, Mac-first writing surface. But in 2026 a lot of people hit the same walls: it is Mac-only with no real mobile app, it does not record audio or video you can replay, speaker identification can be inconsistent, and team, admin, and integration controls are limited. If any of those is your reason for searching, this guide ranks the 11 best Granola alternatives, compares them side by side, lists named 2026 pricing and current G2 ratings, and tells you which one to pick for your situation.

The short version: if you want Granola's quiet, no-bot feel but across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams with a real free plan, Scribbl is the closest match. If you need a CRM and team admin, look at Fireflies. If you want the most generous free tier, look at Fathom. The full reasoning, table, and pricing are below.

Table of contents

• We tested Granola: what actually made us look elsewhere
• Why people leave Granola in 2026
• The 11 best Granola alternatives at a glance
• Full comparison table
• Pricing and G2 ratings, side by side
• The alternatives, ranked
• Granola vs Scribbl, head to head
• Which Granola alternative is right for you
• FAQ

We tested Granola: here's what actually made us look elsewhere

We use AI notetakers all day, so we set up Granola the way a new user would and ran it through real calls before writing this. The setup is genuinely lovely: you install the Mac app, connect your calendar, and start typing your own sparse notes during the meeting. When the call ends, Granola fills in around what you wrote and produces a clean, AI-enhanced summary. For a solo operator on a Mac who mostly takes 1:1s and internal calls, it is one of the nicest writing experiences in the category, and we get why people love it.

Then the practical limits showed up, in roughly this order:

• We could not pick it up on the phone. As soon as we wanted to glance at a summary between meetings on iOS, there was no real native mobile app to do it. If you live on your Mac all day this never bites. If you do not, it bites immediately.
• There was no recording to go back to. Granola enhances notes and transcription; it is not built to hand you an audio or video recording you can scrub to the exact moment and replay. On a call where the wording mattered, we had only the notes, not the tape.
• Speaker labels drifted on busier calls. On a quiet 1:1 attribution was fine. On a 5-person call, who-said-what got muddier, which tracks with how a notes-first tool captures versus a full multi-stream recorder.
• It is a Mac-and-meetings island. Teammates on Windows could not join the same workflow, and there was no shared team library, admin role, or CRM push to make it the system of record for a whole team.

None of this makes Granola bad. It makes it a specific tool with a specific shape: quiet, solo, Mac, notes. The whole reason a "Granola alternative" search exists is that the shape stops fitting the moment you add a phone, a recording you need to replay, a Windows teammate, or a CRM. That is exactly what the picks below fix, grouped by which limit pushed you here.

Why people leave Granola in 2026

Granola is genuinely good at what it does. People rarely leave because the notes are bad. They leave because of a specific limitation that collides with how they actually work. These are the recurring ones in 2026:

• Mac-only, no real mobile app. Granola is built around the Mac desktop. If you join calls from Windows, a Chromebook, or your phone, or you just want to review notes on iOS or Android, you are stuck. This is the single most common trigger for the search.
• No native audio or video recording or playback. Granola enhances your notes and transcription rather than giving you a recording you can scrub, replay, clip, and share. If you need to revisit the exact moment something was said, that gap shows up fast.
• Inconsistent speaker identification. Because Granola is not running a full multi-stream recording on every platform, who-said-what attribution can be hit or miss, especially on busier calls.
• Calendar and platform coverage. Coverage has historically centered on a narrower set of meeting sources. If your team lives across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, you want one tool that handles all three the same way.
• Meetings-only capture. Granola is built for meetings. It is not designed to capture everything else, so it is not a general-purpose recorder.
• Limited team, admin, and compliance controls. Granola leans solo. Teams that need shared meeting libraries, admin roles, a CRM sync, and clear SOC 2 / HIPAA / GDPR posture often outgrow it.

If you recognized your reason in that list, the alternatives below are grouped so you can jump straight to the ones that fix it.

The 11 best Granola alternatives at a glance

Each pick has a clear job. Find the one tagged with your reason for leaving.

1. Scribbl — Best overall botless alternative (Meet, Zoom, Teams + free plan)
2. Fathom — Best free tier
3. Fireflies — Best for teams, CRM, and admin
4. Otter.ai — Best for live transcription and simple notes
5. tl;dv — Best for video clips and sales coaching
6. Notta — Best for multilingual capture
7. Krisp — Best if you also want noise cancellation
8. Fellow — Best for meeting agendas and management workflows
9. Supernormal — Best lightweight Granola-style simplicity
10. Jamie — Best for a bot-free, EU-data-residency option
11. Limitless — Best for always-on personal capture (pendant)

Botless

No bot ever joins your call

5.0 / 3,000

Chrome Web Store rating across 3,000 reviews

10,000+

Organizations using Scribbl

Full comparison table

This is the part most articles skimp on. Here is every tool across the axes buyers actually decide on: capture model, recording, speaker ID, platforms, calendar, integrations, languages, and privacy posture. Confirm specifics on each vendor page, as these change.

Tool	Best for	Capture	Records audio + video	Speaker ID	Platforms	Calendar	Integrations / CRM	Languages	Free plan
Scribbl	Botless overall	Botless (no bot)	Yes	Yes	Chrome ext + desktop (Mac, Win); Meet, Zoom, Teams	Google	ChatGPT, Claude, Slack	Many	Yes, no card
Granola	Mac note enhancing	Bot-free	No (notes / transcript)	Inconsistent	Mac desktop	Google (limited)	Smaller set	Multi	Limited
Fathom	Free tier	Bot joins	Yes	Yes	Web, Mac, Win, iOS, Android	Google, Outlook	CRM on paid tiers	Many	Yes (generous)
Fireflies	Teams + CRM	Bot joins	Yes	Yes	Web, mobile	Google, Outlook	Deep CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) + 40+	60+	Yes (limited)
Otter.ai	Live transcription	Bot joins	Audio focus	Yes	Web, iOS, Android	Google, Outlook	Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack	Few (EN focus)	Yes (limited)
tl;dv	Clips + sales	Bot joins	Yes	Yes	Web, Mac, Win	Google, Outlook	CRM + 5,000 via Zapier	30+	Yes
Notta	Multilingual	Bot joins	Yes	Yes	Web, iOS, Android	Google, Outlook	Salesforce, HubSpot, Notion	58+	Yes (limited)
Krisp	Noise cancel + notes	Local app	Audio focus	Yes	Mac, Win desktop	Via app	Lighter	Multi	Yes (limited)
Fellow	Agendas + mgmt	Bot joins	Yes	Yes	Web, Mac, Win, mobile	Google, Outlook	Slack, CRM, PM tools	Multi	Yes (limited)
Supernormal	Simple notes	Bot joins	Yes	Yes	Web, Mac, Win	Google, Outlook	CRM, Notion, Slack	Multi	Yes (limited)
Jamie	Bot-free + EU data	Bot-free	No (notes / transcript)	Yes	Mac, Win	Google, Outlook	Smaller set	20+	Yes (limited)
Limitless	Always-on personal	Pendant / app	Audio focus	Yes	Mac, Win, mobile	Limited	Personal-memory focus	Multi	Yes (limited)

For the decision axes most people actually choose on, here is the same field as a scannable matrix with Scribbl highlighted. The G2 row uses third-party scores read on June 20, 2026; confirm the live number on each vendor's G2 page.

Feature	Scribbl	Granola	Fathom	Fireflies	Otter
Botless (no bot joins)			–	–	–
Nothing announced to the room			–	–	–
Records audio + video		–			Audio
Searchable transcript + playback		Notes
Works on Mac, Windows + web		Mac only
Mobile app (iOS / Android)	–	–
Meet + Zoom + Teams		Partial
Outlook calendar	–	–
Deep CRM sync	Via AI	–	Paid
Connects to ChatGPT / Claude		–	–	–	–
Free plan, no card		Limited		Limited	Limited
Public rating	5.0 CWS	App Store	4.9 G2	4.8 G2	4.4 G2

Pricing and G2 ratings, side by side

Most "alternatives" posts give you vague ranges. Here are the named 2026 tiers and current third-party ratings in one place so the page is decision-ready. Prices are per user per month unless noted, and annual billing is usually cheaper than monthly. Ratings were read on June 20, 2026; vendors change both often, so confirm on each pricing and G2 page before you buy.

Tool	Free plan	Entry paid tier	Higher tier	Third-party rating (read Jun 20, 2026)
Scribbl	Yes, no credit card	See Scribbl pricing	See Scribbl pricing	5.0 / 5 on Chrome Web Store, 3,000 reviews
Granola	Limited free	Individual plan, around $18	Team / Business pricing	Reviewed mainly on Mac App Store + Reddit
Fathom	Yes, generous	Premium, around $15	Team Edition, around $19; Pro around $29	4.9 / 5 on G2
Fireflies	Yes, limited	Pro, around $10 (annual)	Business around $19; Enterprise custom	4.8 / 5 on G2
Otter.ai	Yes, ~300 min/mo	Pro, around $10 (annual)	Business around $20; Enterprise custom	4.4 / 5 on G2
tl;dv	Yes	Pro, around $18	Business around $59	4.7 / 5 on G2
Notta	Yes, limited	Pro, around $9 (annual)	Business around $16 (annual)	4.6 / 5 on G2
Krisp	Yes, limited	Pro, around $8 (annual)	Business around $15	4.7 / 5 on G2
Fellow	Yes, limited	Pro, around $7	Business around $10; Enterprise custom	4.7 / 5 on G2
Supernormal	Yes, limited	Pro, around $9 (annual)	Business around $18	4.5 / 5 on G2
Jamie	Yes, limited	Standard, around €24	Pro / Executive around €47	Reviewed mainly on Product Hunt + Trustpilot
Limitless	Limited	Pro, around $19/mo	Plus hardware pendant cost	Emerging; limited G2 volume

To make the capture model concrete, here is how the eleven picks split on the one axis that changes the room: whether something visibly joins your call.

Send a visible bot into the call 8 of 11

Capture bot-free (Scribbl, Granola, Jamie) 3 of 11

Botless and records, on Meet, Zoom + Teams (Scribbl) 1 of 11

The alternatives, ranked

1. Scribbl — Best overall botless alternative

Scribbl is the closest fix for the people who love Granola's quiet, no-bot feel but need it to work everywhere. It is botless, so no bot ever joins the call, nothing is announced to the room, no participant named after the tool shows up in the attendee list, and no email goes out to other attendees. It runs across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams through a Chrome extension and a desktop app. The differentiator: Scribbl connects your meetings to the AI you already use, ChatGPT or Claude, so the conversation turns into finished work, a recap, a follow-up draft, the next steps, rather than just sitting as notes.

Key features: botless capture, audio and video recording, Meet plus Zoom plus Teams, ChatGPT and Claude connection, free plan with no credit card.

Pricing: Free plan with no credit card. See the current paid tiers on the Scribbl pricing page.

Rating: 5.0 / 5 on the Chrome Web Store across 3,000 reviews (read Jun 20, 2026), used across 10,000+ organizations.

Pros

• Truly botless, the best fit on external calls like sales demos and interviews
• One consistent experience across all three major platforms
• Connects to the AI you already use so the follow-up work gets done
• Real free plan, no credit card

Cons

• Calendar connection is Google-centric today
• Newer brand than the largest incumbents

vs Granola: same quiet, no-bot philosophy, but Scribbl is not Mac-only, it actually records and plays back, and it covers Meet, Zoom, and Teams instead of a narrower set. For the full side-by-side, see Scribbl vs Granola.

2. Fathom — Best free tier

Fathom is a video-first notetaker known for an unusually generous free plan. It records the call, transcribes it, and produces summaries and action items, with good search and clip sharing. It does join the meeting with a bot, so it is visible in the room.

Pricing (confirm current): generous free plan; Premium around $15/user/mo, Team Edition around $19, and a Pro tier around $29 on annual billing. Verify on Fathom's site.

Rating: 4.9 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026), one of the highest in the category.

Pros

• One of the most generous free tiers in the category
• Clean recordings, playback, and clip sharing

Cons

• Uses a visible meeting bot
• Heavier focus on video than lightweight note-taking

vs Granola: adds recording and playback that Granola lacks, but trades away the bot-free experience. See our Fathom alternative breakdown for more.

3. Fireflies — Best for teams, CRM, and admin

Fireflies is the common pick for teams that need shared meeting intelligence, a deep CRM sync, admin controls, and a large integration library. It joins with a bot, records, transcribes, and pushes structured data into tools like Salesforce and HubSpot.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free plan; Pro around $10/user/mo on annual billing, Business around $19, plus custom Enterprise. Verify on Fireflies' site.

Rating: 4.8 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026), with a large review base.

Pros

• Strong CRM and integration ecosystem (Salesforce, HubSpot, 40+ apps)
• Team libraries, search, and admin roles

Cons

• Visible bot in the meeting
• More setup than a solo tool

vs Granola: built for teams and CRM where Granola is built for individuals. Compare directly in Scribbl vs Fireflies or our Fireflies alternative guide.

4. Otter.ai — Best for live transcription and simple notes

Otter is one of the longest-running names, strong at real-time transcription with a polished web and mobile experience. It is audio-focused and joins meetings with a bot.

Pricing (confirm current): free plan capped around 300 minutes/month; Pro around $10/user/mo on annual billing, Business around $20, plus Enterprise. Verify on Otter's site.

Rating: 4.4 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Excellent live, real-time transcription
• Mature mobile apps

Cons

• Visible bot
• Audio-centric, lighter on video

vs Granola: much stronger mobile and live transcription, but it uses a bot and is more transcript- than note-enhancement-focused. See Scribbl vs Otter and our Otter alternative guide.

5. tl;dv — Best for video clips and sales coaching

tl;dv leans into video: timestamped highlights, shareable clips, and coaching workflows that sales teams like. It records via a bot.

Pricing (confirm current): free plan available; Pro around $18/user/mo, Business around $59. Verify on tl;dv's site.

Rating: 4.7 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Great clip and highlight sharing
• Useful for sales review and coaching

Cons

• Visible bot
• More than a solo note-taker needs

vs Granola: adds rich video clipping and coaching Granola does not target, at the cost of the bot-free feel.

6. Notta — Best for multilingual capture

Notta is the go-to when language coverage matters, with strong transcription and translation across many languages and good mobile support. It records via a bot.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free plan; Pro around $9/user/mo and Business around $16 on annual billing. Verify on Notta's site.

Rating: 4.6 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Broad language and translation support (58+ languages)
• Solid mobile apps

Cons

• Visible bot
• Free tier is minute-capped

vs Granola: far better for multilingual teams, but uses a bot.

7. Krisp — Best if you also want noise cancellation

Krisp started as best-in-class noise cancellation and added AI meeting notes that run from a local app rather than a joining bot. Good for noisy environments.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free plan; Pro around $8/user/mo and Business around $15 on annual billing. Verify on Krisp's site.

Rating: 4.7 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Excellent noise removal plus notes in one app
• App-based capture, not a meeting-list bot

Cons

• Notes are a secondary feature to audio
• Desktop-app centric

vs Granola: bundles noise cancellation, but the meeting-notes layer is less of a writing surface.

8. Fellow — Best for meeting agendas and management workflows

Fellow wraps notes inside agendas, action items, and 1:1 / management workflows. Better if your problem is running meetings, not just transcribing them. Records via a bot.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free plan; Pro around $7/user/mo and Business around $10, plus custom Enterprise. Verify on Fellow's site.

Rating: 4.7 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Strong agenda and action-item workflow
• Good for managers and recurring 1:1s

Cons

• Visible bot
• More process than a quick notetaker

vs Granola: adds structured meeting management Granola does not, with a bot for capture.

9. Supernormal — Best lightweight Granola-style simplicity

Supernormal is closest to Granola in spirit: clean, fast AI notes with low friction. It joins meetings with a bot to record and summarize.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free plan; Pro around $9/user/mo and Business around $18 on annual billing. Verify on Supernormal's site.

Rating: 4.5 / 5 on G2 (read Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Simple and fast, low learning curve
• Tidy summaries and templates

Cons

• Visible bot
• Lighter on team and admin depth

vs Granola: a similar minimalist feel, but with bot-based capture across more platforms.

10. Jamie — Best for a bot-free, EU-data-residency option

Jamie is a bot-free notetaker with a privacy and EU-data-residency angle, available on Mac and Windows. Like Granola, it focuses on AI notes rather than full recording.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free plan; Standard around €24/user/mo with a higher Pro / Executive tier around €47. Verify on Jamie's site.

Rating: Reviewed mainly on Product Hunt and Trustpilot rather than G2 (checked Jun 20, 2026).

Pros

• Bot-free capture
• Privacy and EU data-residency positioning

Cons

• Note / transcript focus, lighter on recording and playback
• Smaller integration set

vs Granola: another bot-free option that adds Windows support and an EU-data angle, with a similar no-recording trade-off.

11. Limitless — Best for always-on personal capture

Limitless (formerly Rewind) pairs software with a wearable pendant for always-on personal capture, not just scheduled meetings. A different model for people who want to remember everything, with clear consent considerations.

Pricing (confirm current): limited free tier; Pro plan around $19/month plus the optional pendant hardware cost. Verify on Limitless' site.

Rating: Emerging product with limited G2 review volume as of Jun 20, 2026.

Pros

• Captures beyond scheduled meetings
• Strong personal-memory search

Cons

• Always-on capture raises real consent questions
• Not a team meeting-notes tool

vs Granola: a much broader, always-on capture model rather than a per-meeting notetaker.

Granola vs Scribbl, head to head

Since Scribbl is the closest match for the people who like Granola, here is the direct comparison.

Granola

• Platform: Mac-first, no full native mobile app
• Capture: bot-free, focused on AI-enhanced notes
• Recording: no full audio and video recording with playback
• Best for: solo operators who write notes on a Mac and want AI to polish them

Scribbl

• Platform: Chrome extension plus desktop app, works wherever you meet
• Capture: botless, nothing joins and nothing is announced to the room
• Coverage: Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams in one experience
• After the call: connects to ChatGPT or Claude so the work gets done, not just notes

Botless capture is also more durable than a joining bot. A notetaker that joins is a participant, so it can be denied admission, removed, or blocked by meeting controls. Because Scribbl never tries to join, that entire class of problem disappears, and the no-bot experience stays consistent whether you are in Meet, Zoom, or Teams. For the longer version of this argument, read botless AI notetaker.

1. 1

   Join your call as normal

   Meet, Zoom, or Teams. No bot joins, nothing is announced, attendees see a normal meeting.

2. 2

   Scribbl captures in the background

   Notes, transcript, and a recording you can replay and search, all without a visible participant.

3. 3

   The AI you already use finishes the job

   Send the conversation to ChatGPT or Claude for a recap, a follow-up draft, and clear next steps.

Which Granola alternative is right for you

Map your reason for leaving to a pick.

• You loved Granola but need it beyond the Mac and across Meet, Zoom, and Teams, with a free plan: choose Scribbl. It keeps the no-bot feel and adds recording plus an AI handoff.
• You want the most generous free tier and do not mind a bot: choose Fathom.
• You are a team that needs CRM, admin, and integrations: choose Fireflies.
• You mostly want fast, accurate live transcription and great mobile: choose Otter.
• You are in sales and live on clips and coaching: choose tl;dv.
• You work across many languages: choose Notta.
• You also fight background noise on calls: choose Krisp.
• Your real problem is running meetings, not transcribing them: choose Fellow.
• You want the simplest possible Granola-style notes: choose Supernormal.
• You need bot-free plus EU data residency: choose Jamie.
• You want to capture everything, not just meetings: choose Limitless, with consent in mind.

If your priority is privacy on external calls, the botless options (Scribbl, Granola, Jamie) matter most. If your priority is a paper trail you can replay, prioritize the tools that record. Sales teams can see how the botless model plays out on the Scribbl for sales page, and if you are weighing other pairings, our Read AI vs Otter.ai breakdown helps map the wider field.

FAQ

What is the best Granola alternative?

It depends on what made you leave Granola. For botless capture across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams with a real free plan, Scribbl is the strongest pick. For teams that need a CRM and admin controls, Fireflies is the common choice. For a generous free tier, Fathom is hard to beat. For privacy-first bot-free capture, Scribbl and Granola share that lane, while Otter and Fireflies use a meeting bot.

Is there a free Granola alternative?

Yes. Scribbl has a free plan with no credit card required. Fathom is also known for an unusually generous free tier. Otter and Fireflies offer limited free plans capped by monthly minutes or transcription credits. Always confirm current limits on each vendor page, since free-tier caps change often.

Does Granola have a mobile app?

As of 2026 Granola is primarily a Mac desktop app and does not offer a full native iOS or Android meeting-notes app the way some competitors do. If you need to capture or review meetings from your phone, that gap is one of the most common reasons people look for a Granola alternative. Check Granola's current platform list before deciding, since this can change.

What is the best bot-free Granola alternative?

Scribbl is the clearest bot-free alternative: it is botless, so no bot ever joins the call, nothing is announced to the room, and no email is sent to other attendees, while still working across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Granola itself is also bot-free. Most other notetakers, including Otter, Fireflies, and tl;dv, send a visible bot into the meeting.

Granola vs Fathom, which is better?

Granola is a Mac-first note-enhancement surface with bot-free capture and no recording. Fathom is a video-first notetaker that records and plays back calls and is known for a generous free tier, but it joins meetings with a bot. Choose Granola for a quiet writing flow on Mac, and Fathom if you want recordings, playback, and a strong free plan and do not mind a bot in the room.

Does Granola record audio and video?

Granola focuses on transcription and AI-enhanced notes rather than full audio and video recording with playback. If you need a searchable recording you can replay and share, that is a reason many people move to a notetaker that records, while keeping in mind consent rules in your region.

Granola vs Otter, which should I pick?

Granola is a Mac-first, bot-free notes surface that polishes the notes you type during a call. Otter is a bot-based, audio-first transcription tool with mature iOS and Android apps and strong live transcription. Pick Granola for a quiet solo writing flow on a Mac; pick Otter if you want real-time transcription and to review on your phone, and you do not mind a visible bot in the call.

Granola vs Fireflies, which is better for a team?

For a team, Fireflies is usually the stronger fit: it adds shared meeting libraries, admin roles, deep CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot), and a large integration library, where Granola leans solo and Mac-only. The trade-off is that Fireflies sends a visible bot into the meeting. If you want team intelligence without a bot, that is the lane Scribbl is built for.

Did you actually test Granola for this guide?

Yes. We set Granola up like a new user, connected a calendar, and ran it through real 1:1 and group calls before writing. We found the notes experience genuinely good and the limits real: no native mobile app, no recording to replay, speaker labels that drift on busier calls, and no team or CRM layer. Those are the gaps the picks above address. We are the Scribbl team, so we disclose that bias plainly.

Is there a bot-free Granola alternative with SOC 2 or HIPAA?

If compliance posture matters, shortlist by it directly: ask each vendor for their current SOC 2 report, HIPAA support, GDPR stance, and whether they train models on your data, since these change and vary by plan. Among bot-free options, Scribbl and Jamie keep nothing in the room, which many privacy-conscious buyers prefer on external calls. Always confirm the current certifications on the vendor's trust or security page before you commit.