Granola vs Fireflies.ai
Granola vs Fireflies.ai: task management, focus and automation — honest productivity comparison. Granola is best for bot-free AI meeting notes, pre-meeting.
Granola Best for: Bot-free AI meeting notes, pre-meeting briefs, chat across meetings, MCP for AI tools | Fireflies.ai Best for: AI meeting notes, transcription, action item extraction, and system-wide voice dictation | |
| Overview | Granola is an AI notepad that transcribes meetings from your device's audio without a bot joining the call, then combines your rough notes and the transcript into structured notes, action items and follow-ups. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch. | Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant that records, transcribes and summarizes calls across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and more. Since September 2026 it also offers Fireflies Talk, free unlimited voice dictation into any desktop app on Mac and Windows, available on every plan including Free. |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Users | Free / from $14/mo | 20M+ |
| Advantages | ✅No bot joins the call: captures audio from your device across Zoom, Meet, Teams, huddles and in-person meetings ✅Builds on your own rough notes instead of replacing them with a generic summary ✅Apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch ✅MCP connector and API bring meeting notes into Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor ✅Supports 32 languages since September 2026 | ✅Joins and transcribes meetings automatically across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and other major platforms ✅AskFred lets you query past meetings in natural language for summaries and answers ✅Fireflies Talk adds free, unlimited system-wide voice dictation in 90+ languages on every plan, including Free ✅Automations like CRM autofill and the Slack Assistant reduce manual follow-up work ✅Enterprise tier adds SSO, SCIM, HIPAA and audit logs for regulated organizations |
| Disadvantages | ❌Free Basic plan only shows the last 30 days of meeting history ❌Pre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails, integrations and API need the $14 Business plan ❌SSO, SCIM and admin controls only on the $35 Enterprise plan ❌With no bot, other participants are not automatically told they are being transcribed; the org-wide notice is still a pilot | ❌Advanced AI meeting features now consume metered AI credits, with only 20 to 50 included per month even on paid tiers ❌Heavy use of AskFred, Voice Agents or automations may require additional AI credits beyond the monthly allotment ❌Free plan storage is capped at 400 minutes per team per month, with limited AI summaries ❌Lowest advertised prices require annual billing; monthly rates are notably higher ($18 vs $10, $29 vs $19) ❌Enterprise plan is annual-only with no monthly billing option |
| Rating | … | … |
| Website | www.granola.ai | fireflies.ai |
Verdict: Which Should You Choose?
Choose Granola if…
- ✅ You want meeting notes without a bot joining the call, since Granola captures audio directly from your own device.
- ✅ You like typing rough notes during a meeting and having AI merge them with the transcript instead of just getting a generic summary.
- ✅ You need an app that follows you everywhere, since Granola runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch.
- ✅ You use Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and want your meeting notes available inside those tools through Granola's MCP connector.
Choose Fireflies.ai if…
- ✅ You want a bot that automatically joins and records your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams calls without you starting a capture yourself.
- ✅ You need to ask natural-language questions about past meetings, which Fireflies.ai's AskFred assistant is built for.
- ✅ You want free, unlimited system-wide voice dictation in 90+ languages, which Fireflies Talk offers on every plan including Free.
- ✅ You run a sales or customer-facing team and want automations that autofill CRM fields or post updates to Slack.