Perfect Memory vs Granola: meeting notes without a bot
Granola and Perfect Memory both write up your meetings without a bot joining the call. Nobody else sees an extra attendee. After that they go different ways. Granola is a notepad for meetings: you jot rough notes, it fills them in from the transcript, and the notes live in Granola's cloud so your team can share them. Perfect Memory transcribes on your own computer, keeps everything there, and remembers what was on your screen as well as what was said. I build Perfect Memory, so read this with that in mind; I have tried to say where Granola is the better fit.
Side by side
Granola's column is from its pricing page, security page, privacy FAQ and MCP documentation as of September 2026.
| Perfect Memory | Granola | |
|---|---|---|
| Devices | Mac (macOS 14+, Apple silicon) and Windows 10+ | Mac and Windows, plus iPhone and Android apps |
| Which meetings | Starts on its own when it sees Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, Slack or WhatsApp on screen (plus FaceTime on Mac). No calendar to connect | Records your microphone and your computer's sound, so any call app works. The phone apps cover meetings in person |
| Transcription | On your computer. The audio never leaves it and is deleted once it has been transcribed | Granola's security page says it uses transcription providers “like Deepgram and Assembly”. No audio is kept |
| Where the notes live | On your computer | Granola's cloud (AWS in the United States), encrypted at rest and in transit, with a copy cached on your device |
| Model training | We don't train AI models on your meetings | On Free and Business, anonymised data may be used to improve Granola's models unless you opt out in Settings |
| Summaries | Summary, Action Items and Key Updates for every meeting, plus summaries you define with a title and a prompt | Your own notes, filled in from the transcript, with templates. AI chat within and across meetings |
| Your screen | Also remembered: a screenshot every 15 seconds and whenever you switch apps, so the slide or document from the call is searchable too | Meetings only |
| Ask Claude or ChatGPT | A hosted connector for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor with meetings, transcripts and screen history. Unlimited on every plan, including Free | An official connector for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. On Basic it reaches your notes from the last 30 days; transcripts and folders need a paid plan |
| Free plan history | Everything you record stays searchable for as long as you keep it | 30 days of meeting history |
| Sharing and teams | Made for one person. Notes stay on your own computers | Shared folders, Slack on every plan; Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity and Zapier on Business; SSO and admin controls on Enterprise |
| Price | Free: unlimited recording, search and meeting transcripts, 10 AI prompts and 30 meeting summaries a month. Pro: $15 a month billed yearly, or $19 monthly. Pro Offline: $79 once, with your own AI. Pricing | Basic: free. Business: $14 per user a month. Enterprise: $35 per user a month |
Where Granola is the better fit
- You like to type notes during the call. Granola is built around your own notes: you write a few words, and it turns them into a full write-up afterwards. Perfect Memory writes its summaries from the transcript; there is nothing to type while you talk.
- Your team reads each other's notes. Granola has shared folders, links and integrations with Slack, Notion and CRMs. Perfect Memory keeps notes on your own computers and has no sharing.
- You meet in person, or on your phone. Granola's iPhone and Android apps take notes away from your desk. Perfect Memory only records on your Mac or PC.
- You use a call app Perfect Memory doesn't recognise. Granola records whatever you hear, in any app. Perfect Memory starts on its own only for the apps listed above; for anything else you start it by hand from the menu bar or the tray.
- Your company needs SSO, admin controls or HIPAA. Granola Enterprise offers them. Perfect Memory is sold to individuals.
Where Perfect Memory is different
The audio and the transcript stay on your computer. Perfect Memory transcribes the call on your Mac or PC, deletes the audio when it's done, and keeps the transcript there. The only part that goes to an AI is the text for the summaries, and with Pro Offline even that stays on your machine, answered by Ollama, LM Studio or Jan. How meeting transcripts work.
It remembers the rest of the meeting, too. Because it also keeps a history of your screen, you can find the slide someone shared or the document you had open during the call, not only what was said.
The free plan keeps everything. There is no 30-day window: every transcript stays searchable, and Claude or ChatGPT can reach all of it, transcripts included, on Free. You approve screen history and meetings separately when you connect. Here is how the connector works.
You can pay once. Pro Offline is $79, once, if you bring your own AI.
Trying it
- Install Perfect Memory from the download page. On a Mac, grant the Screen Recording and Microphone permissions when macOS asks.
- Join your next call as usual. Recording starts when the meeting is detected, and the transcript and summaries appear in the Meetings tab afterwards. How meetings are detected.
- Connect your assistant. Turn on “Enable MCP server” in the app (Mac: Settings → AI; Windows: Settings → Advanced Settings & Statistics), then add
https://proxy.perfectmemory.ai/api/mcpas a custom connector and sign in with your Perfect Memory account. Ask “What did I promise in Tuesday's 1:1?” Step-by-step setup.
You don't have to choose. If your team shares notes in Granola, Perfect Memory can still keep your own private record of every call and everything around it.