Granola alternative
On-device meeting notes, when bot-free is not enough
Granola is a strong AI notepad: no meeting bot, capture from your laptop, notes private by default until you share them. Keep it if that is the job. Switch when transcription itself must stay on your computer.
Windows, macOS, and Linux. No credit card.
Granola vs VeloxWaves
| Criterion | Granola | VeloxWaves |
|---|---|---|
| Bot in the call | No. Captures mic and system audio on the device | No. Captures on the computer you are using |
| Where speech is processed | Cloud transcription providers; audio is deleted after STT | Local speech recognition. No cloud transcription mode |
| Where notes live | AWS in the United States, with a local cache | On your computer, in a private second brain |
| Calendar and CRM | Calendar detection; Business adds HubSpot, Attio, Notion, Slack, Zapier, MCP | No calendar auto-start, CRM, or Slack export |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop |
| HIPAA | Not HIPAA; Granola says it cannot sign a BAA | No HIPAA claim. Local processing is not a certification |
| Price | Basic $0 with limited in-app history; Business $14/user/month; Enterprise from $35 | Free forever — no account, no word caps; Teams (per-seat) coming for organizations |
Granola product and privacy details from granola.ai and Granola docs, checked August 19, 2026. Plans can change.
Keep Granola when that is the job
Granola is built for people who already take notes in meetings. The app blends what you type with a transcript and enhanced note. It works with Zoom, Meet, Teams, and in-person capture on a phone. Business adds CRM, Slack, Notion, Zapier, and MCP. If those handoffs are the product, stay with Granola.
Switch when the speech model must stay local
Granola's privacy FAQ is clear: the app runs locally and no bot joins, then audio is sent for transcription and deleted afterward. Notes live on AWS in the United States. Free and Business plans may use anonymised data for Granola's own models unless you opt out. That is a coherent cloud-privacy design. It is not on-device STT.
VeloxWaves is a on-device AI meeting notes app: capture on the computer, local speech recognition, local summary, private second brain. It does not auto-start from your calendar, join a call you skipped, or push notes into HubSpot. The full table is in VeloxWaves vs Granola.
Neither product is HIPAA-certified. Granola says it cannot sign a BAA. VeloxWaves does not present local processing as a compliance claim. Obtain consent from other people on the call either way.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Granola on-device?
- The Granola app runs on your laptop or phone and captures audio there. No bot joins the meeting. Transcription still uses cloud providers. Notes are stored on AWS in the United States. Device capture is not the same as on-device speech recognition.
- When should I keep Granola?
- Keep Granola if you type notes during calls, want them enhanced after the meeting, need calendar detection, CRM or MCP handoff, or a phone app. Those are jobs VeloxWaves does not do.
- When is VeloxWaves the better Granola alternative?
- When the speech model itself must stay on the workstation. Zero-retention cloud still sends audio to a remote model, then deletes it. On-device means the audio never takes that trip.
Try VeloxWaves next to Granola. Keep whichever architecture you actually need.
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