HumlaThe free, open-source Granola alternative
Granola nails the no-bot notepad — but it's cloud-only and priced per seat. Humla keeps the same idea on your Mac, for free.
Free · Open source · macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon)
Which should you pick?
- Switch to Humla if you want a free, local, open-source alternative that keeps meetings on your Mac.
- Stick with Granola if you want polished first-party integrations (Notion, HubSpot, Slack) and a mobile app today — Humla has neither.
Why people leave Granola.
Why people look for a Granola alternative — the reasons that come up most.
- It's cloud-only. Granola sends your audio to third-party transcription and LLM providers and stores your notes in its US cloud — there's no fully on-device mode.
- It's priced per seat — $14–35/user/month once you're past the capped free tier.
- Your notes can improve the product. Full opt-out of anonymised product-improvement data is standard only on the Enterprise plan.
- Speaker attribution gets weak in 3+ person calls, and it deletes the audio, so you can't re-listen.
What Humla does instead.
Humla is the local, open-source take on the same no-bot notepad.
- Runs on your Mac. Transcription and summaries can run entirely on-device with Whisper on Apple Silicon — nothing has to leave the machine.
- Free forever. The app is free and MIT-licensed; optional team sync is $5/user/month — a third of Granola's entry price — or self-host it free.
- Nothing to train on. No backend and no telemetry — Humla only talks to the providers you choose.
- Real speaker labels, kept audio. Offline diarization with colour-coded pills, plus a local playback file so you can re-listen.
- Open source. Audit the “nothing leaves your Mac” claim line by line instead of trusting a policy.
- Speaks your language. Around 99 languages via Whisper — on-device or with your own key — plus a dedicated Norwegian model and per-language routing.
See a meeting become a note.
New note, record, summary — that's the whole workflow. The cleanup afterwards is none, on a five-minute meeting or an hour-long one.
When Granola is still the better pick.
Humla isn't for everyone. Stick with Granola if:
- You want polished first-party integrations (Notion, HubSpot, Slack) and a mobile app today — Humla has neither.
- You'd rather have fully managed cloud and don't need an on-device option.
- You're not on an Apple Silicon Mac — Humla is macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon) only.
FAQ
Is there an open-source Granola alternative?+
Yes — Humla is MIT-licensed and public. It's a no-bot Mac notepad like Granola, but it can run transcription and summaries fully on-device.
Is Humla free like Granola's free tier?+
The app is free forever with no meeting cap. Optional team sync is $5/user/month, or self-host it for nothing.
Can Humla keep everything local?+
Yes. With on-device Whisper and offline diarization, audio never leaves your Mac. Cloud engines are optional if you bring your own key.