Most leaders do not need more meetings. They need to leave each one with clear decisions and owners, without a second job in their inbox.
Granola is an AI notepad for meetings. It listens through your computer, with no bot in the call, and turns your rough notes and the transcript into clean meeting notes. Because it works on your device, one tool covers every meeting, whoever sends the invite.
Where to find Granola
Download the app from granola.ai for Mac or Windows, and connect your Google or Microsoft calendar. Granola reminds you when a meeting starts and captures your computer's microphone and system audio. That works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack huddles or any other call. The iPhone app covers in-person conversations.
No bot joins the call, so nobody sees that Granola is listening. That makes telling people your job, every time.
What your plan includes
- Basic (free): unlimited AI meeting notes, chat within and across meetings, templates, recipes and shared folders. Notes older than 30 days stay hidden until you upgrade.
- Business: about $14 per user per month, adding unlimited history, more advanced AI models, integrations with tools such as Slack, Notion, HubSpot and Zapier, and admin controls.
- Enterprise: from about $35 per user per month, adding single sign-on, retention policies, sharing restrictions and an organization-wide opt-out from model training.
Prices change often, so check Granola's pricing page before you buy for a team.
When Granola earns its place
- Your meetings span platforms, such as clients on Zoom and your team on Teams.
- A bot would feel out of place, such as in client conversations, interviews or a one-to-one.
- You like to take your own notes and want AI to fill in the gaps rather than replace your judgment.
- Back-to-back days, where you need a reliable recap of calls you could only half follow.
How to use Granola, step by step
Step 1: Connect your calendar and check your settings. On Basic and Business plans, Granola may use anonymized meeting data to improve its models. Opt out in Settings before you take work notes.
Step 2: Tell people Granola is there. Mention it at the start of the call, and leave it off for sensitive conversations.
Step 3: Jot what matters. Type a few rough notes as the meeting runs, such as a decision or a number you want to remember. If you lose the thread, ask Granola Chat what you missed.
Step 4: Enhance your notes. When the meeting ends, select Enhance notes. Your own notes stay in black and the AI additions appear in gray, so you can see what came from where.
Step 5: Check the important parts. Granola keeps the transcript, not the audio. Spot-check one or two key decisions against the transcript before anything leaves your hands.
Step 6: Turn the meeting into a deliverable. Ask Granola Chat for a summary you can share, or save the prompt as a recipe you reuse:
Create a one-page executive summary from this meeting. Include the objective, key discussion points, decisions, action items with owners and due dates, open risks or unresolved questions, and recommended next steps. Keep it concise, flag anything unconfirmed and do not invent missing details.
Step 7: Share or hand off. Share the notes, send them to Slack or Notion, or use the open questions as the agenda for the next meeting. Send any follow-up yourself after you review it.
A CODO prompt for the follow-up
The notes are only half the job. Use this prompt, built with our CODO framework, to turn any transcript into decisions, owners and a follow-up message. Replace the bracketed parts. Review the follow-up before you send it, and send it yourself.
Character: You are an experienced chief of staff who turns meeting transcripts into clear follow-up. Objective: I am the [role] at [company]. Turn the attached transcript of [meeting name] into a post-meeting package I can act on today, for [the people who attended]. Do: - Separate real decisions from things that only sounded like agreement. - Use speaker names from the transcript for action items, and flag any item without a clear owner. - Give every action item an owner, a next step and a deadline, and flag dates nobody actually stated. - Keep it skimmable, with short headers and bullets. Don't: - Don't invent anything that is not in the transcript. If the transcript is thin, say so. - Don't bury open questions. They are often the most valuable part. Output: A post-meeting package with five sections: a 3 to 4 sentence summary, decisions made, action items, open questions, and a follow-up message I can review and send myself.
Want to go further? These pages build on the same habits:
- How Jakob Knutzen (GM, Miro) uses AI before, during and after every meeting: a senior leader's routine for preparing, running and following up on meetings.
- Your meeting architecture is broken: decide which meetings should exist before you automate their notes.
- Our guide to reusable AI assistants: save the prompt above as an assistant you reuse after every meeting.
What will your IT and legal teams ask?
- Where is our data stored? With Granola, an independent company, under its own terms rather than your agreement with Microsoft or Google. Granola is SOC 2 Type 2 certified and does not yet offer EU data residency.
- Is audio kept? No. Granola deletes the audio after transcription and keeps the transcript and notes.
- Is our data used for training? On Basic and Business plans, anonymized data may be used unless each person opts out. Enterprise turns training off for the whole organization by default.
- How do we handle consent? Because no bot appears in the call, people must say they are using Granola. Follow your company's policy and local recording rules.
- Is this approved? Many companies limit third-party note takers. Check your policy before you connect a work calendar.
Granola or another meeting assistant?
Granola is a strong choice when your meetings run on several platforms, or when you want notes without a bot in the room.
If your company runs on Microsoft 365, Copilot in Teams keeps notes inside your tenant. On Google Workspace, Gemini in Google Meet writes notes into Google Docs. ChatGPT Record and Meetings records on your Mac without a bot, and Claude Meetings brings Claude into Google Meet calls. Our overview of AI meeting assistants compares all five options.
Key takeaways
- Opt out of model training before you take work notes.
- Tell people Granola is listening, because no bot shows it.
- Jot what matters and let Granola fill in the rest.
- Check key decisions against the transcript.
- Send the follow-up yourself after you review it.
