The best Granola alternatives in 2026

Why look past Granola

Granola is a very good AI notepad. It never uses a bot, it fills in your own rough notes from the transcript, it lets you chat across meetings, and it runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch. It even added Voice Typing for dictation in late 2026.

People still look elsewhere, usually for one of these reasons:

• History on the free plan. Free notes are kept for 30 days. Business is $14 a month for unlimited history.
• Follow-up. Granola writes great notes, but you still turn them into tickets and messages yourself.
• Dictation. Voice Typing is new and in beta on Mac only.
• Data location or languages. Some people need EU hosting or many languages.

We make Collabute and list it first. Facts about the other apps come from their own websites, checked in November 2026.

1. Collabute: for meetings that turn into work

Collabute records meetings on your Mac, including Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and gives you a transcript with speaker labels. Like Granola, no bot joins.

The difference is what happens next. Collabute turns what was decided into a Linear or Jira ticket, posts the update to Slack, and can hand the brief to a coding agent like Cursor, Claude or Devin. Claude, Codex and Cursor can also read your meetings through Collabute's MCP server once you allow it.

It is also a full dictation app. Flow types what you say into any app, free and unlimited. And on Pro you can talk to Obvee, a voice assistant that does tasks in your browser and Mac apps and answers out loud.

Price: Lite is $9 a month for 10 meetings, Pro is $29 a month for 100 meetings and 100 Obvee minutes, and Ultra is $99 a month for unlimited meetings. You can try Lite or Pro for $2 for 7 days. See pricing.

Where Granola is better: Collabute is Mac only for now, with no phone or watch app, and it gives you a transcript rather than Granola's style of enhanced notes you write yourself. See Collabute vs Granola.

2. Jamie: the closest like-for-like swap

Jamie is the most Granola-like app here. It runs on your device with no bot, works with any meeting platform, and captures in-person meetings from your laptop or phone. Notes and transcripts work in more than 99 languages, and data is hosted in the EU.

The free plan gives 10 AI notes a month for meetings up to 30 minutes. Plus is listed at €21 a month, and Pro at €39 a month billed yearly for unlimited notes.

Where Granola is better: apps for Android and Apple Watch, and its notepad style, where your own notes lead.

3. Wispr Flow Notetaker: if dictation comes first

Wispr Flow is a dictation app that added a notetaker on Mac and Windows. It runs on your device with no bot, identifies speakers, answers questions across meetings, and makes notes available to AI tools through MCP.

The free plan includes a limited number of meetings each week. Pro, $15 a month or $12 a month billed yearly, makes meetings and dictation unlimited.

Where Granola is better: the notes. Granola is built around the meeting, and Wispr Flow is built around dictation. See Wispr Flow vs Collabute Flow vs Granola.

4. Otter.ai: for live transcription

Otter shows a live transcript as people talk, which Granola doesn't focus on. Its notetaker joins Zoom, Teams and Google Meet, so it can record a call you can't attend. The Otter desktop app for Mac and Windows records without a bot when you'd rather not have one.

The free plan gives 300 minutes a month with a 30-minute cap per conversation. Pro is $16.99 a month, or $8.33 a month billed yearly.

Where Granola is better: no bot by design, and notes that read like your own. See Otter alternatives.

5. Fathom: for the best free plan

Fathom's free plan has unlimited recordings, transcripts and AI summaries, with no 30-day limit. It also records video, so you can share clips of key moments.

It uses a bot by default, with bot-free capture in beta on Mac. Premium is $20 a month, or $16 a month billed yearly.

Where Granola is better: if no-bot is a must, Granola's capture is the default, not a beta.

6. Circleback: for automations

Circleback writes notes and action items, then runs automations into tools like Notion, HubSpot and Salesforce. You can choose a bot or its bot-free desktop app, and it has phone and Apple Watch apps for in-person meetings.

The free plan keeps 30 days of history. Pro is $15 a month.

Where Granola is better: the note-taking experience during the meeting.

What to check before you switch

Moving notetakers is mostly about your history and your habits. Before you cancel anything:

• Save what you need. On Granola's free plan, notes older than 30 days aren't kept. Copy or export the notes you want before you move, and don't expect your new app to import them.
• Decide on bots once. If you switched to Granola to get rid of bots, stay with an app that never uses one, or turn the bot off by default in apps that offer both.
• Think about where you meet. If many meetings happen in person or on your phone, you need an app with a phone app. Granola, Jamie and Circleback have one. Collabute doesn't yet.
• Check how you take notes. Granola's style is to write rough notes and let AI fill them in. Some alternatives give you a transcript and summary instead. Try one week of real meetings before you decide which you prefer.
• Tell people you record. Bot-free tools are invisible to the other people in the call, so a short heads-up at the start keeps things fair, and in many places it is the law.

Which alternative to pick

• You want the meeting turned into tickets and updates, plus dictation: Collabute.
• You want something close to Granola with EU hosting: Jamie.
• You mostly dictate and sometimes need notes: Wispr Flow.
• You want live transcripts or a bot for meetings you miss: Otter.
• You want the most for free: Fathom.
• You want automations into a CRM: Circleback.

More options: the best AI meeting notetakers without a bot and our notetaker guide for founders.