Granola Review 2026

AI-powered meeting notepad that combines real-time transcription with your own notes to produce rich, structured summaries. Unlike bot-based tools like Otter.ai or Fireflies that join calls as visible participants, Granola runs locally and listens via your device's audio—no meeting bot required. Add personal context, highlights, and action items alongside AI-generated notes for a hybrid approach that captures both what was said and what you thought.

Granola is an AI-powered notepad designed specifically for professionals who spend their days in back-to-back meetings. Rather than joining your calls as a visible bot participant—which can make conversations feel surveilled—Granola transcribes your computer's audio directly in the background. You jot down quick shorthand notes during the meeting, and when the call ends, Granola combines your notes with the full transcript to produce rich, structured summaries that capture both what was said and what you were thinking.

The tool is built for product teams, salespeople, VCs, and anyone who needs to extract actionable insights from conversations without disrupting the flow of a meeting. Granola offers customizable templates for common meeting types like customer discovery calls, user interviews, 1-on-1s, standups, and pitch meetings, so your notes come out formatted exactly the way your team needs them. After a meeting, you can ask Granola questions about what was discussed—such as listing action items, identifying objections, or summarizing budget details—using its built-in AI chat.