Compare
Granola vs Fathom
A plain-English comparison to help you choose between them.
Both cut the note-taking burden during the call; they differ on whose words form the record. Pick Granola when you want your own judgement at the centre, typing the fragments that matter and letting it merge them with the transcript into a complete personal note. Pick Fathom when free unlimited recording with fast automatic summaries is the whole requirement for an individual.
Both tools chosen. Compare is enabled.
Side by side
- Summary
Granola is an AI notepad for people whose day is back-to-back meetings. It captures the conversation from the computer's own audio, so no bot joins the call, and instead of replacing your notes it enhances them: you type the fragments that matter and Granola merges them with the transcript into a complete, personal record.
Around that sit calendar-synced briefs before each call, action items and drafted follow-ups after, and chat across every past meeting. Spaces give teams shared folders with access controls, and MCP connectors and APIs feed meeting context into AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
MoreLess
It runs on macOS, Windows, iPhone and Android with Zoom, Google Meet and Teams. The free Basic plan keeps a rolling 30-day history window, with Business and Enterprise adding unlimited history, integrations and admin controls.
- Best for
- Bot-free meeting capture from device audio
- Enhancing your own typed notes with the full transcript
- Back-to-back meeting days that still need a usable record
- Chat across past meetings for decisions and commitments
- Feeding meeting context into other AI tools via MCP and APIs
- Cost
- Freemium (Free tier + paid plans)
- Ease
- Openness
- Hosted service
- Data
- Granola is a closed, venture-backed product, and the data question starts with consent. It captures conversations from device audio without a visible bot, so participants get no automatic recording cue, disclosure is the user's obligation and some jurisdictions require all-party consent. For client-confidential or privileged material, the retention and auto-deletion controls arrive at Enterprise, alongside SSO, SCIM and admin controls. A major 2026 funding round is financing a deliberate enterprise pivot, with Spaces, personal and enterprise APIs and MCP connectors that feed meeting context into other AI tools, which means meeting data increasingly travels to wherever you connect it, so govern those connections deliberately. Public material emphasises enterprise security, consent and retention controls; check the current privacy documentation for training and subprocessor detail before rolling it out on sensitive calls.
- Summary
Fathom is the meeting notetaker whose free tier stays genuinely useful: unlimited recording, transcription and storage for individuals at no cost, with output quality that made it many people's default recorder. The free tier is feature-gated rather than metered: instant AI summaries come with it, while advanced summaries, action items and the conversational assistant across past meetings sit on the paid tiers.
Summaries arrive fast after each call and highlights clip for sharing. The generosity remains the strategy: individuals adopt it freely, and the paid tiers add advanced summaries, action items, a conversational assistant across past meetings, team features and CRM sync when organisations follow.
MoreLess
For team-wide revenue intelligence, the dedicated platforms go deeper; for an individual who wants excellent notes at minimal cost, this remains the shortest answer.
- Best for
- Free unlimited recording, transcription and storage for individuals
- Fast, high-quality meeting notes with action items
- Clipping and sharing meeting highlights
- Individuals wanting excellent notes at minimal cost
- Teams graduating gradually into paid features
- Cost
- Freemium (Free tier + paid plans)
- Ease
- Openness
- Hosted service
- Data
- Call recordings sit in Fathom's cloud under its terms; recording-consent rules still apply to you, not the tool.
Pricing
- Granola
Free$14/user·from $35/user
Prices as of August 2026.
- Basic
- Free
- Business
- $14per user, per monthbilled monthly
- Enterprise
- from $35per user, per monthbilled monthly
- Fathom
Free$16/user·$15/user·$25/user·Custom
Prices as of August 2026.
- Free
- Free
- Premium
- $16per user, per monthbilled annually; $20 per user per month if billed monthly
- Team
- $15per user, per monthbilled annually; $19 per user per month if billed monthly; 2+ users minimum
- Business
- $25per user, per monthbilled annually; $34 per user per month if billed monthly; 2+ users minimum
- Enterprise
- Price on applicationno list price published
By area
Where each one pulls ahead, area by area.
| Area | Granola | Fathom |
|---|---|---|
| By task | ||
| Meeting notes & productivity | Granola keeps your own judgement at the centre of the record by merging typed fragments with the transcript | Fathom made the meeting recorder genuinely free: recording, transcription and storage cost nothing at the individual level with unlimited use, at a quality that holds up against paid rivals, which is what drove the word-of-mouth |
Common questions
Do meeting participants know these tools are recording?
Not equally. Granola captures from the computer's own audio with no visible bot, so participants get no automatic signal; disclosure has to be your habit, and some jurisdictions require all-party consent. Fathom is a recorder too, and consent plus workplace policy precede convenience either way. Client-confidential conversations deserve explicit retention and deletion settings before anything sensitive is captured.
What does each free plan actually include?
Fathom's free tier gives individuals unlimited recording, transcription and storage, with instant summaries included; the advanced summaries, action items and cross-meeting assistant sit on the paid tiers. Granola's free Basic plan keeps a rolling 30-day history, a working window rather than an archive. Fathom is more generous for pure capture; Granola's limit bites once you want to look further back.
Which suits a team rather than an individual?
Neither is team revenue intelligence; coaching analytics and deep CRM sync belong to the dedicated platforms. Within that boundary, Fathom's paid tiers add unlimited advanced summaries, team features and CRM sync as organisations follow individual adopters. Granola's Business and Enterprise tiers add unlimited history, wider integrations and admin controls, with Spaces giving teams shared folders under access controls.
Related comparisons
Read the full guides
Where to start
Not sure what to adopt first?
Five quick questions about your job, task and constraints. We'll suggest your top three tools, plus the one to try first.
Tool facts last checked August 2026