Free alternative to Granola and Superwhisper (Mac).

A free alternative to Granola and Superwhisper should cover both jobs on its $0 plan: dictation into any app, and notes from the calls and meetings you sit in. As of 14 November 2026, Noted’s free plan does both with unlimited dictation, meeting transcripts and a monthly quota of AI meeting notes, no card needed. Granola’s free plan now does both too; Superwhisper’s free plan dictates but leaves Meetings to Pro.

This is for you if you dictate and sit in calls, and you would like to pay nothing until you know what you need. You get what each free plan includes and where it stops, a 45-minute test to run tonight, and where a rival beats us.

What does Granola’s free plan include?

Granola’s free plan is called Basic and costs $0. On Granola’s pricing page (read 12 November 2026) it lists AI meeting notes, AI chat, shared folders, custom note templates, voice typing in any app, several languages and a per-user opt-out from model training. Capture is bot-free, using your device’s audio. The limit is history: Basic shows 30 days of meetings, while Business and Enterprise show unlimited history. The page shows no date for these terms. Granola’s voice typing page (read 14 November 2026, no date shown) says voice typing is free for all users, Basic included, with unlimited words, on Mac among other platforms; its help page labels it beta and stops each dictation at 20 minutes.

Check one thing yourself. Granola’s pages disagree on Slack. The pricing page lists it on every plan; Granola’s free vs paid article (read the same day) says Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity and Zapier are Business-only. Both are dated “March 20” with no year; the footer says 2026.

Is there a meeting cap? Not on Granola’s pages. Its startup pricing article says Basic “has no meeting limits” and that notes older than 30 days are “stored but not visible in the app” until you upgrade (read 12 November 2026). Some comparison sites quote a meeting count; we found none on Granola’s pages, so we treat it as unverified.

What does Superwhisper’s free plan include?

Superwhisper’s plans page (read 12 November 2026, no date shown) says Free gives unlimited dictation with local Whisper models, custom vocabulary, text replacements and up to two modes without AI processing. Free does not include cloud voice models, file transcription, AI modes, context awareness, realtime transcription, system audio recording, speaker separation, your own API keys or priority support. Meetings need Pro; on Free you get trial words only. The page says free dictation stays on the machine. Review sites differ on the mode count; we use only the plans page.

Pro is $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year (the page says about 17% off) or $249.99 once. The page says every plan has the same features and only billing differs. New users get 3000 words of free access to all Pro features, then the app falls back to Free and nothing is deleted. At 150 words a minute (our estimate), 3000 words is about 20 minutes of speech.

What does Noted’s free plan include?

From our pricing section, read 12 November 2026: $0 with no card. Free has unlimited dictation in any app, 35 languages with a style for each app, meeting transcripts where no bot joins the call, a generous monthly quota of Polish (dictation cleanup) and AI meeting notes, reset on the 1st (UTC), and Ask across your notes and documents, with sources. Pro is $14.99 a month or $149 a year and makes AI meeting notes, Polish and Ask unlimited, and adds Live Answers and screen answers. Your first month of Pro is free with no card needed, and two months with a work email. Noted runs on Mac and Windows. Speech turns into text on your computer; cloud features such as Polish, AI meeting notes and Ask send the text they need to our AI providers (see the privacy page).

How do the free plans compare?

Sources: Granola pricing, Granola voice typing (read 14 November 2026), Superwhisper plans and Noted pricing.

Where is Noted better?

Some of what the two rivals charge for is free in Noted. Their pricing pages re-read 14 November 2026.

• Dictation and meeting transcripts, both free. Noted Free has dictation with no word limit, and meeting recording and transcripts with no bot in the call. Superwhisper’s plans page puts system audio recording in Pro, and Meetings on Free run on trial words only.
• Every note, for as long as you keep it. Your notes stay on your computer, with no cloud copy unless you share a note by link, and none is hidden after 30 days. Granola’s pricing page lists Basic’s meeting history as 30 days, and unlimited history on Business.
• Your documents, free. Add your documents to Knowledge once, and Ask answers from them and your notes, with sources, on Free.

Noted’s Pro is for answers during the call: Live Answers answers questions on your call from your documents and past meetings, and screen answers answer from a capture of your screen. Only you see them.

What can you test tonight?

Free plans cost nothing, so the fair comparison is your own call. Give it 45 minutes and one real meeting or a recording you are allowed to use.

1. Get consent first. Noted and Granola capture without joining the call, so tell people you are taking notes.
2. Sign up for all three free plans. Noted needs no card. Check the other two sign-up pages for what they ask.
3. Dictate the same paragraph into the same text box. Use a paragraph with names and jargon you really type. Note which app got the names right and which needed a second pass.
4. Run one call through each, or the same recording. Write down what you get at the end: a transcript, AI notes, or a prompt to upgrade.
5. Hunt for the limit. On Granola, look for the 30-day window against your oldest note. On Superwhisper, open Meetings and see what the trial words allow. On Noted, see what the note shows when AI notes are unavailable.
6. Pay only for the gap. If the free plan of one app did your whole week, stop. If you hit a limit, pick the paid plan whose extra is the thing you hit.

What we have and have not tested

Dated 12 November 2026. We state plainly what was checked and what was not.

• Tested by hand by our founder on Mac and Windows, November 2026. Noted’s dictation, meeting recording and transcripts.
• Read in Noted’s code. The desktop app’s dictation is hold-to-talk: it records while the shortcut is held, turns speech into text on release, pastes it into the focused app and puts your previous clipboard back. Pasted text goes into a local history that skips password fields and excluded apps.
• Read in Noted’s code. When a free allowance for AI notes runs out, the meeting keeps its transcript, shows no AI notes, names the reset date and offers Pro. We read this path in the source at the 10 November 2026 commit; we did not run a free account to its limit for this post.
• Read on our own site. The quota is described as “generous” and reset on the 1st (UTC). Marketing copy gives no count, so this post gives none; the exact figure is on our privacy page.
• Not tested. Granola and Superwhisper: we installed neither and hit neither’s limits. Everything above about them is from their pages.
• Not tested. Granola’s voice typing. We read its pages on 14 November 2026; we did not dictate with it.
• Not tested. The three-way test on Windows, since we did not run Granola or Superwhisper there. Noted runs on Windows 10 (version 1903) or later.

Our point of view

We think a free plan should cover the whole basic job and cap only what costs real money per use. In Noted, speech turns into text on your computer, so dictation and transcripts cost nothing per use and are free forever. Polish, AI meeting notes and Ask run in the cloud, so those carry a monthly quota. That is the line we drew.

It also shaped one detail we care about: a free account that reaches its quota still keeps the meeting transcript. You lose the AI notes until the reset, not the meeting. We would rather you leave with the words than with a paywall.

Limitations, honestly

• Granola is better for teams. Shared folders, Slack on its pricing page, Notion, Zapier and CRM links on Business, SSO on Enterprise, and phone and watch apps. Our pricing section lists none of these integrations.
• Granola states no meeting cap. Noted’s free AI notes have a monthly quota. If you hold many meetings a week and need AI notes on all of them for nothing, that matters. The cost is Granola’s 30-day history window.
• Superwhisper is cheaper and has a lifetime option. $8.49 a month against our $14.99, and $249.99 once. We have no one-time purchase, no model choice and no bring-your-own-key option.
• Superwhisper keeps free dictation on the machine. Its page says so. Noted’s dictation also turns speech into text on your computer, but Polish sends text to AI providers.
• Prices move. Check each page before you buy. Noted isn’t affiliated with Granola or Superwhisper.

Related reading

Our explainer on meeting notes without a bot shows how capture works, and Dragon for Mac alternatives covers the dictation side. If a flight is coming, see Mac dictation with no internet.

Only weighing Granola? See Noted and Granola compared, row by row.

Only weighing Superwhisper? See Noted and Superwhisper compared, row by row.

FAQ

Is Granola free?

Yes, Basic is $0. On Granola’s pages it states no meeting cap and a 30-day history window.

Is Superwhisper free?

Partly. Free gives unlimited dictation with local Whisper models and two modes; AI modes and Meetings need Pro, which is $8.49 a month on its plans page.

Is there a free alternative to Granola?

Noted’s free plan has meeting transcripts and a monthly quota of AI meeting notes, plus dictation, at $0 with no card. Granola’s free plan already covers AI meeting notes and voice typing (beta); the trade-off is its 30-day history.

Is there a free alternative to Superwhisper?

Noted’s free dictation is unlimited in any app, with a monthly quota of Polish cleanup. Superwhisper’s free plan has no AI processing; Noted’s adds meeting transcripts and AI notes.

What happens to Granola notes after 30 days on the free plan?

Per Granola, they are stored but not visible in the app until you upgrade.

Can I try Noted Pro before paying?

Your first month of Pro is free with no card needed, and two months with a work email.

Want to compare on a real call? Try Noted Notetaker, free to start.