6 Best Granola Alternatives in 2026

Full disclosure: I make Humla, one of the options below, so treat me as biased. I've tried to be straight about where the others are the better call.

#Why people look for a Granola alternative

Granola is a genuinely good no-bot notepad. The reasons people still leave, from what comes up most:

• It's cloud-only. Audio goes to third-party transcription and LLM providers and your notes live in Granola's 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.
• It's closed-source, so "trust us with your meetings" is a promise you can't audit.
• Speaker attribution gets weak in 3+ person calls, and it deletes the audio, so you can't re-listen.

If none of those bother you, Granola is fine — stay. If one does, here's where to go.

#The short answer

• Pick Humla if you want the same no-bot idea but free, open source, and running on your Mac.
• Pick Fathom if you want an unlimited free cloud tier and video capture (its paid plans cost more than Humla, though).
• Pick Meetily if you need Windows or the largest open-source community.
• Pick anarlog if you want open source with notes as Markdown files on disk.
• Pick tl;dv if you want a searchable cloud library and 5000+ integrations.
• Pick Notion AI if your team already lives in Notion.

#How they compare

Prices reflect each product's standard plans as of July 2026 — check their sites for the latest.

#1. Humla — the free, local, open-source take on the no-bot notepad

Humla keeps Granola's core idea — you write notes, AI augments them, no bot joins the call — but runs on your Mac. Transcription and summaries can run entirely on-device; it does offline speaker labels (Granola's weak spot in group calls) and keeps a local audio file so you can re-listen. It's free and MIT-licensed.

Choose it when: you want no cloud requirement, real speaker labels, and no per-seat price. Tradeoff: macOS-only, no mobile, no CRM integrations. Full Humla vs Granola.

#2. Fathom — the most generous free tier (pricier if you upgrade)

Fathom's free tier is unusually generous — unlimited cloud recordings plus video capture. Just be clear on what "free" means here: it's a free cloud tier, not a cheaper product. Fathom's paid plans run $15–34/user/month, well above Humla's free app and $5/user/month Cloud — so if price is what's pushing you off Granola, Humla is the cheaper answer, not Fathom. Fathom's bot-free mode is also Mac-only, and meetings still live in its US cloud.

Choose it when: you specifically want an unlimited, hosted free tier with video. Tradeoff: it's cloud, not local; it still trains on de-identified data unless you opt out; and paid plans cost more than Humla Cloud.

#3. Meetily — open source, and cross-platform

A free, open-source, bot-free notetaker with local transcription that also runs on Windows (Linux from source) and has a very large community. Speaker diarization isn't shipped yet, and some features sit behind a $10/user/month Pro tier.

Choose it when: you need Windows or want the biggest OSS community.

#4. anarlog — open source, notes as Markdown files

The macOS-only, MIT successor to Hyprnote. Bot-free, on-device, with diarization and a plugin system — and every meeting is a plain Markdown file you can sync with Obsidian, git, or Dropbox.

Choose it when: you want your notes as portable files and a plugin ecosystem.

#5. tl;dv — cloud library and deep integrations

Records without a bot via its desktop app (recordings save to its cloud), with a free tier and 5000+ integrations plus sales-coaching features.

Choose it when: you want a shared, searchable cloud library and lots of integrations. Tradeoff: cloud-based, not local.

#6. Notion AI — if your team already lives in Notion

Notion's meeting notes are bot-free and flow straight into your workspace. But they're bundled into the $20/member/month Business plan and can't tell you who said what.

Choose it when: your team is already all-in on Notion. Tradeoff: cloud-only, no speaker labels, no standalone purchase. Full Humla vs Notion AI.

#The short version

Staying bot-free but want it local and free? Humla or anarlog. Need Windows? Meetily. Want video and a hosted free cloud tier? Fathom — though on paid plans Humla Cloud ($5/seat) undercuts it. If you're specifically weighing the switch from Granola, I keep an honest Granola alternative guide and a full Humla vs Granola breakdown.

Download Humla for macOS — free, open source, no bot, runs on your Mac.