Granola AI is an application that automatically records, transcribes, and summarizes your meetings using advanced AI models like GPT-5 and Claude 3.7. It integrates with your calendar to detect calls and provides a searchable database of all your conversations, helping you recall key details and action items instantly.
You just finished your third video call of the day. Important points were discussed, action items were assigned, and decisions were made. Your notes are a jumble of disconnected phrases. You remember promising to follow up on something specific, but the exact detail is lost. This gap between conversation and actionable record is where many great ideas and critical tasks fall through the cracks.
What Is Granola AI, and How Does It Work?
Granola AI is a desktop and mobile application designed to function as your personal meeting assistant. It runs quietly in the background on Windows, macOS, or iOS. Once you grant it access to your Google Workspace or personal Gmail account, it automatically detects scheduled meetings in your calendar. When a call starts on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, or Slack, Granola springs into action, transcribing the conversation in real time.
The core process is simple. The app listens to the audio, converts it into a written transcript, and then uses powerful AI to generate a concise summary. You don’t have to manually start or stop the recording, though you have the option to disable automatic detection if you prefer more control. While its main integration is currently with Google, a waitlist is available for Outlook users. The setup is straightforward, allowing you to focus on the conversation instead of on taking notes.
AI Note Summaries That Go Beyond Basic Transcription
A simple transcript is useful, but Granola’s main strength lies in its intelligent summaries. The application uses the latest large language models, including GPT-5 and Claude 3.7, to distill lengthy conversations into clear, actionable notes. After a meeting, you receive a summary with bullet points highlighting the key topics and decisions. You can choose to make these notes more detailed or more concise with a single click.
The real power comes from the “Chat with meeting” feature. This turns your static transcript into an interactive database. Imagine you’re a photographer who just finished a consultation call for a large event. Instead of rereading the entire transcript, you can ask Granola direct questions like, “What were the three must-have shots the client mentioned?” or “Summarize the discussion about the lighting preferences.” The AI will scan the text and provide a direct answer, complete with a link to the exact moment it was mentioned in the conversation. This feature alone can save hours of manual review.
Gain a High-Level Overview with ‘Ask Granola’
While individual meeting summaries are helpful, tracking themes and commitments over weeks or months can be challenging. The “Ask Granola” function addresses this by serving as a central intelligence hub for all your recorded conversations. It allows you to query your entire meeting history at once, which is especially valuable for recurring team meetings or ongoing project discussions where details can blur together over time.
You can use preset prompts like “Who have I promised to follow up with?” to instantly generate a list of all your outstanding action items from every call. Or you can get more specific. For example, a store owner could ask, “What were the final terms we agreed on with Supplier X across our last three meetings?” Granola will search every relevant transcript to piece together the answer. This transforms your meeting history from a passive archive into an active, searchable knowledge base.
Collaborative Features for Team Productivity
Granola is not just a tool for individual use; it also includes features built for teamwork. After a meeting, you can generate a shareable link to the transcript and its AI-powered summary. Anyone with the link can access the notes and even use the “Chat with meeting” feature to ask their own questions. This ensures everyone on the team has the same information, even if they couldn’t attend the call.
You can create shared folders within a workspace, giving your entire team simultaneous access to project-related meetings. This eliminates the need to manually send notes back and forth. Another advanced option is adding preparatory notes to Granola *before* a meeting starts. If you have a specific agenda or data points to discuss, you can provide this context to the tool, which will then use it to generate a more focused and relevant summary of the ensuing conversation.
Understanding Granola’s Approach to Privacy and Security
Handing over conversation data to an AI tool requires trust. Granola addresses this with several key privacy measures. According to its policy, it does not allow third-party AI providers like OpenAI to use your personal data to train their models. The original audio from your meetings is discarded immediately after transcription, so the raw recordings are never stored. All data, both in transit and at rest, is encrypted.
The company is also SOC 2 compliant, a significant security standard that verifies its controls for protecting customer data. Still, it is wise to be cautious. You should avoid discussing highly sensitive information like passwords or proprietary intellectual property during a recorded call. For general business conversations, the safeguards are robust, but properly securing your digital information should always be a priority.
Pricing: Is the Investment Justified?
Granola AI offers a free trial that includes your first 25 meetings. This gives you ample opportunity to test its features and see if it fits your workflow. After the trial period, the service costs $18 per month for an individual user. This subscription includes unlimited meetings and the ability to integrate with thousands of other applications through Zapier.
The price may seem steep for a single utility. For professionals who spend a significant portion of their week in meetings—such as project managers, consultants, or team leads—the cost can be easily justified. The time saved on writing notes, recalling details, and tracking action items can translate directly into increased productivity. The value depends entirely on how many meetings you have and how critical it is to retain the information discussed within them.
Granola AI stands out as a powerful and intelligent meeting assistant that does more than just transcribe. It organizes, summarizes, and makes your conversational data searchable. If you find yourself struggling to keep track of details from frequent calls, the best next step is to use the 25-meeting free trial. You can experience its benefits firsthand and determine if it’s the right investment for your productivity.
FAQ
Does Granola AI work with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack?
Yes, Granola AI is platform-agnostic. It detects when you start a video or voice call on your computer, regardless of whether you are using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack, or another application.
Is there an Android version of Granola AI available?
As of early 2026, Granola AI is available for Windows, macOS, and iOS. An Android version is not yet released, but the company maintains a waiting list for users interested in being notified upon its launch.
Can I use Granola to record and summarize in-person meetings?
Yes, you can use Granola for in-person meetings. By opening the app on your computer or phone and manually starting the ‘listen’ function, it will use your device’s microphone to capture, transcribe, and summarize the conversation.
What AI models does Granola AI use for its summaries?
Granola AI gives you a choice of several leading AI models. You can select from general-purpose models like GPT-5 and Claude 3.7, or switch to reasoning models such as Gemini 2.5 Pro and Claude 4 Sonnet for more complex tasks.
