The best Granola AI alternatives in 2026 for Windows, Mac and Linux
Granola AI is a bot-free meeting note-taker for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android. By its own docs its transcription needs a live connection to its providers, its privacy policy stores data on AWS servers in the US, and there is no Linux build. Here are eight alternatives, ranked by how much of the meeting stays on your machine, with every fact checked on the vendor's own site rather than on a review blog.
- The same app on all three desktops
- Dictation and meetings in one app
- Full offline mode
- External AI can write, not just read
The alternatives, ranked
One line on who each tool is for, then the platforms, whether a bot joins your call, the offline answer and where the audio goes. No pricing: it changes faster than this page.
Mr.Speech: bot-free meeting notes with a fully local mode, on Linux as well as Windows and macOS
Windows, macOS and Linux from one codebase. Full offline mode: meeting transcription, speaker identification and search run on the device. No bot joins the call; recording happens on your computer. In local mode no audio or text leaves the machine; the optional cloud is EU-hosted (Mistral and Nebius) and the processors are named in the privacy policy. Meetings become notes and Kanban tasks, dictation types into any app, and your Granola history imports after one sign-in.
Otter.ai: a team that wants a bot in every calendar meeting plus a bot-free desktop option
Mac and Windows desktop apps, iOS, Android and a Chrome extension. Their help says a recording uploads and transcribes once a connection returns; no offline transcription. Its AI Meeting Agent can auto-join Zoom, Teams and Meet, or the desktop app records without a bot; where audio is processed is not stated on the homepage. Meetings only, no dictation, no Linux.
Fireflies.ai: coverage without discipline: a bot that joins everything, searchable across the team
Desktop app for Windows 10+ and macOS 12+, plus the web. Not documented either way on the vendor's pages. Bot or botless desktop recording, your choice. Not trained on by default, per the vendor; a private storage location is an Enterprise option and the default region is not stated. Its MCP server is read only. No dictation, no Linux.
Notta: a web-first transcriber with mobile apps and a bot-free desktop recorder
Web app, Mac and Windows desktop, iOS, Android and a Chrome extension. Not mentioned on the vendor's pages. A bot can join online meetings or you record on the device with no bot. Hosted on AWS with TLS and AES-256, per the vendor; the region is not stated. Meetings and audio files only, no dictation.
tl;dv: EU-hosted meeting recording for Google Meet, Zoom and Teams
Works with Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams; the vendor says there is no native mobile app yet. Not addressed on the vendor's site. Hosted and stored in the EU in ISO 27001 data centres with AES-256, never used to train AI, and generative AI runs through Anthropic, per the vendor. The homepage shows a no-bot badge without explaining how recording works, so we do not call it botless. No desktop dictation, no Linux app.
Krisp: noise cancellation first, with bot-free notes and on-device English transcription
Desktop apps for Windows and macOS, mobile apps for iOS and Android. The mobile app works offline, per the vendor; the desktop app's offline behaviour is not stated. No bot in the meeting. English transcription runs on the device; fifteen other languages use server-based transcription, and meeting transcripts are stored in Krisp Cloud, region not stated. No dictation into other apps, no Linux.
Meetily: an open-source, fully local note-taker you can build for Linux
Native apps for macOS and Windows; Linux by building from source. Works completely offline with local Whisper models, per the vendor. Bot-free, captures system audio, and everything is stored on your device; MIT licensed. Meetings only, no dictation, and Linux is a build-it-yourself.
Microsoft Teams built-in transcription: Teams meetings where the admin already allows transcription
Live transcription only on Teams for desktop; the mobile app shows the transcript afterwards. A cloud service; there is no offline transcription. No extra bot, because it is the meeting itself. Transcripts are stored in the organiser's OneDrive for Business, and transcription is an admin policy that is on by default for new policies. Teams only, no notes workspace, no dictation.
Side by side
Every cell is checkable from the vendor's own site. Dimensions we could not verify were left out rather than filled with a shrug.
| Mr.Speech | Granola | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on macOS, Windows and Linux | All three, natively, from one codebase | macOS 14+, Windows, iOS and Android; Linux not mentioned |
| Types into any desktop app | System wide, including native apps and terminals | Meeting notes, not system-wide dictation |
| Dictation and meetings in one product | Both, plus notes and task boards | Meetings only: notes, briefs and action items |
| Works with no internet | On-device speech, search and meeting transcription | Their docs: transcription needs a live connection to their providers |
| Notes and task boards in the same app | Notes, wiki links, semantic search and Kanban boards | Notes, folders and action items, no Kanban boards |
| External AI can write into your workspace | 59 tools locally, 45 over the cloud connector | MCP and API are read only |
Competitor details checked on their own public pages in August 2026. Products change, so verify anything decisive yourself: granola.ai
Reading this fairly
Each of these is better than us at something. If that something is what you need, buy theirs.
What Granola is genuinely better at
The note-taking feel. It records from your computer audio without inviting a bot, syncs with your calendar and preps a brief before external meetings, has iOS and Android apps, and its MCP connector makes Claude or ChatGPT aware of your meeting notes. For a manager who lives in back-to-back calls, that is a polished loop.
Where Mr.Speech differs
It runs on Linux as well as macOS and Windows, and has a fully local mode: by Granola's own docs, its transcription needs a live connection to its transcription providers, and its privacy policy stores personal data on AWS servers in the US. Mr.Speech also dictates into any app, turns meetings into Kanban tasks, and lets external AI write into the workspace rather than only read it.
The honest test
If meetings are the whole job, a cloud transcription is fine for you and you want the lightest note-taker with mobile apps, Granola is a good answer. If you need Linux, an offline mode, dictation everywhere, or boards, that is where Mr.Speech fits. And your Granola history imports in one sign-in.
Questions
Is there a Granola AI alternative for Windows?
Granola's own site now lists a Windows app, so the question is really which alternative does more on Windows. On the list above, Mr.Speech, Otter, Fireflies, Notta, Krisp, Meetily and Teams all run on Windows. Of those, Mr.Speech and Meetily transcribe on the device without an internet connection.
Can I import my Granola notes into Mr.Speech?
Yes. Sign in once in your browser, approve access, and Mr.Speech brings over transcripts, summaries, attendees and your folder structure into their own project. Importing again never overwrites titles, summaries or filing you edited yourself.
Does Granola work offline?
Not according to its own docs, which say transcription needs a live connection to its transcription providers, and recommend checking for a slow, unstable or filtered connection when transcription stops. Mr.Speech and Meetily are the two on this list that transcribe meetings without an internet connection.
Does Granola run on Linux?
Granola lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android on its site and does not mention Linux. Mr.Speech ships a native Linux build; Meetily can be built for Linux from its open-source repository.
Where does Granola process my meeting audio?
Its privacy policy says personal data is stored on AWS servers in the US, that recordings are not retained once the transcription is created, and that third parties such as OpenAI or Anthropic are not allowed to train on your data. The transcription providers themselves are not named on the pages we read.
Which Granola alternative records without a bot?
Mr.Speech, Krisp and Meetily are bot-free by design. Otter, Fireflies and Notta offer a bot-free desktop recorder alongside their bot. Teams needs no bot because it is the meeting. tl;dv shows a no-bot badge on its homepage without explaining the mechanism, so we leave that one to the vendor.
How does Mr.Speech handle privacy and GDPR compared with Granola?
Mr.Speech has a fully local mode in which no audio and no text leaves your device, and an optional EU-hosted cloud mode (Mistral and Nebius) with no training on your data. The processors are named in the privacy policy. It is designed for GDPR requirements; whether a given deployment is compliant depends on how you configure and document it, so we do not claim a blanket 100 percent.
Why is there no pricing row?
Because pricing moves faster than this page will, and a stale price is a false claim. Check each vendor's pricing page directly.
How do I know these are accurate?
Every claim comes from the vendor's own public pages, checked on the date shown under the table, with a link to the source. We do not use reviews, blogs or third-party comparisons.
Do you compare on things you cannot verify?
No. If a question has no definite public answer, it does not belong in a comparison table, so it is left out rather than filled with a shrug. Every row here has a source.
What if a competitor's page changes?
Then this table is wrong until we recheck it, which is exactly why the date is on it. Tell us and we will fix it.
