A Granola alternative with offline transcripts.
Is Noted a good Granola alternative?
Noted is a Granola alternative for Mac and Windows that turns your meetings into text on your computer, so recording and transcripts work without internet, and every note stays on your computer for as long as you keep it, on the free plan too. Like Granola, no bot joins the call. Granola is the better pick if you need phone or watch apps, Notion, Zapier or HubSpot links, SSO, or AI meeting notes with no meeting cap shown on a free plan. Both are below.
At a glance
| Noted | Granola | |
|---|---|---|
| Bot in the call | No. Noted takes notes from your computer’s audio. | No: “Granola doesn’t join your meeting.” (home page) |
| Where speech becomes text | On your computer. Audio never leaves it. | In the cloud: “For transcription and AI summarization, Granola uses secure cloud processing” (security). |
| Works without internet | Yes, once you’re signed in and the voice is downloaded: recording, transcripts and dictation need no connection. AI meeting notes, Polish, Ask and Answers need one. | No: “Transcription needs a live connection to our transcription providers.” (transcription help) |
| Where notes are kept | On your computer, unless you share a note by link; Noted has no other cloud copy of them. | “Notes are stored in our US-hosted AWS Virtual Private Cloud”, with some data also kept on your device (security). |
| Meeting history on the free plan | Every note, for as long as you keep it. | 30 days on Basic; unlimited on Business and Enterprise (pricing). |
| AI meeting notes on the free plan | A generous monthly quota, reset on the 1st (UTC). Recording and transcripts have no limit. | Included on Basic, with no meeting cap shown (pricing). |
| Dictation in any app | Free, with no word limit, in 35 languages. Hold ⌃ Shift Space on a Mac or Ctrl Alt Space on Windows. | Voice typing, free on every plan and in beta on Mac, Windows and iPhone; “A dictation can be up to 20 minutes long.” (voice typing help) |
| Help during the call | Live Answers (Pro) hear a question on the call and answer it as it’s asked, from your documents in Knowledge and your past meetings. Screen answers (Pro) answer from a capture of your screen. Only you see them. | Chat about a meeting “before, during or after” it, from prompts you write; you can attach files (chat help). |
| Training on your data | No. Our AI providers keep none of it and don’t use it to train their models; we would train our own only with your separate opt-in. | “Granola trains on your anonymized data”; you can opt out in Settings (security). |
| Phone and watch apps | No. Noted’s downloads are for Mac and Windows. | Desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps on every plan (pricing). |
| Integrations and team features | None. | Notion, Zapier, HubSpot and more on Business; Salesforce and SSO on Enterprise (pricing). |
| Pricing | Free, and Pro (your first month or two of Pro are free); see Noted’s pricing. | Basic, Business and Enterprise (Granola’s pricing). |
Weighing more apps? Noted, Wispr Flow, Granola, Otter and Superwhisper side by side.
Where is Granola better?
- Phone and watch apps. Granola has iOS, Android and Apple Watch apps on every plan (pricing). Noted’s downloads are for Mac and Windows.
- Integrations. Notion, Zapier, HubSpot and more on Business, and Salesforce on Enterprise (pricing). Noted has none.
- Teams and admin. A workspace-wide training opt-out and SSO on Enterprise (pricing), and a SOC 2 Type 2 report (security).
- No meeting cap shown for AI notes. Granola’s free Basic plan shows AI meeting notes with no meeting cap (pricing). Noted Free has a monthly quota of AI meeting notes; recording and transcripts have none.
- Chat during the call. Granola’s chat works during a meeting and takes attached files (chat help). Noted’s Live Answers and screen answers are on Pro.
Where is Noted better?
- Speech becomes text on your computer. Audio never leaves your computer. Granola says “For transcription and AI summarization, Granola uses secure cloud processing” (security).
- Recording and transcripts work without internet. Once you’re signed in and the voice is downloaded, recording, transcripts and dictation need no connection; AI meeting notes wait until you’re back online. Granola’s help says “Transcription needs a live connection to our transcription providers” (transcription help).
- Every note, on the free plan. Noted keeps every note for as long as you keep it. Granola Basic shows 30 days of meeting history; unlimited history is on Business (pricing).
- No cloud copy of your notes. Your notes stay on your computer, unless you share a note by link; Noted has no other cloud copy of them. Granola’s notes “are stored in our US-hosted AWS Virtual Private Cloud” (security).
- Not used for training. Our AI providers keep none of what Noted sends and don’t train on it, and we would train our own models only with your separate opt-in. Granola says it “trains on your anonymized data”, with an opt-out in Settings (security).
- Answers as the question is asked. Live Answers (Pro) hear a question on your call and answer it from your documents in Knowledge and your past meetings, without you typing; screen answers (Pro) answer from a capture of your screen. Only you see them. Granola’s chat help shows answers to prompts you write (chat help).
Both have dictation in any app on their free plans. Noted’s has no word limit and works in 35 languages, including in the terminals Dictate into Claude Code and Cursor lists; Granola’s voice typing is in beta, and its help says “A dictation can be up to 20 minutes long” (voice typing help). Knowledge and Ask are free in Noted: add your documents once, and Ask answers from them and your notes, with sources.
Privacy, layer by layer
Where speech becomes text
Dictation, recording and transcripts are free forever; speech becomes text on your computer.
What cloud features send
Cloud features, such as Polish (dictation cleanup), AI meeting notes and Ask, send the text they need to our AI providers.
Where your notes are kept
Your notes stay on your computer, unless you share a note by link; Noted has no other cloud copy of them. Audio never leaves your computer. It isn’t kept after your note is written, unless you turn on Keep audio for 7 days.
More detail: how meeting notes work without a bot, recording both sides of a call (Mac), Granola’s and Superwhisper’s free plans on a Mac and on Windows.
How do I switch from Granola?
- Download Noted for Mac or for Windows, open it and create your free account.
- Join your next call on Zoom, Google Meet, Teams or a Slack huddle, and click Start meeting in Noted, or press ⌘ Shift N on a Mac or Ctrl Alt G on Windows. Tell people you’re taking notes, as you would with any recording.
- Hang up: the notes and to-dos are ready. Add the documents you work from to Knowledge, so Ask can answer from them.
FAQ
Is Noted free?
Yes. Dictation, recording and transcripts are free forever; speech becomes text on your computer. Free includes a generous monthly quota of AI meeting notes and Polish, reset on the 1st (UTC). Pro makes AI meeting notes, Polish and Ask unlimited, and adds Live Answers and screen answers.
Does Noted join my meetings?
No. Noted takes notes from your computer’s audio, so nobody sees a bot. Let people know you’re taking notes, as you would with any recording.
Does Noted work on Windows?
Yes. Noted runs on Mac (macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel) and Windows (Windows 10, version 1903 or later, 64-bit).
Is Noted on iPhone or Android?
No. Noted’s downloads are for Mac and Windows.
Sources
Granola’s own pages. Checked 14 November 2026.
- granola.ai/pricing
- granola.ai/security
- granola.ai
- docs.granola.ai: Transcription issues
- docs.granola.ai: Voice typing
- docs.granola.ai: Chatting with your meetings
Noted is not affiliated with Granola. The name is used only to identify the product compared.