Aside vs Granola
Neither uses a bot. Granola transcribes in the cloud and runs on almost every device. Aside transcribes on your Mac and can guide you during the call.
Which should you choose?
Choose Granola if…
- You use Windows, iPhone, Android or Apple Watch, not only a Mac.
- You want to chat with all your meetings at once, with citations.
- You need integrations such as Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Zapier, an API or MCP.
- Your company needs admin controls like SSO and org-wide retention (Enterprise).
- You want a mature product today, with briefs before each meeting.
Choose Aside if…
- You want the call transcribed on your Mac, with the audio never uploaded.
- You want help during the call: your goals, your next move and answers you prepared.
- You want to keep the recording and play back both sides.
- You want speaker names suggested in any call app, with the reason shown.
Side by side
| Granola | Aside | |
|---|---|---|
| How it records | No bot. Captures your microphone and your computer’s audio on your device. | No bot. Records your microphone and the sound your Mac plays. |
| Where transcription happens | In the cloud, through providers such as Deepgram and Assembly. | On your Mac, with an on-device speech model. Audio is never uploaded. |
| The audio afterwards | Not stored. | Kept on your Mac, with playback of both sides. |
| Notes during the call | Your own notes beside a live transcript. The AI expands them after the call. | Press ⌃⌥N in any app to type a note. It lands in the transcript at the moment you started typing. |
| Live guidance during the call | You can ask chat questions during the call. No proactive suggestions are documented. | Optional. Goals you set fill in as dots, one line suggests your next move, and answers you prepared appear when the topic comes up. Paid plan. |
| After-call write-up | Enhanced notes, action items, templates and saved prompts (Recipes). Follow-up emails on Business. | A summary, the goals you reached, next steps and a follow-up email to copy. Paid plan. |
| Speaker names | Participant names on Zoom, Meet and Teams on desktop. Otherwise “Me” and “Them”. | Suggested from clues in the call, like a name said aloud, with the reason shown. Voices you’ve confirmed before are named for you, and you can undo it. |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch. | Mac only (Apple silicon, macOS 14.2 or later). |
| Languages | 31 on desktop and 17 on mobile, per its docs. | English plus 24 European languages. |
| Integrations | Slack on Basic. Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity, Zapier, API and MCP on Business. Salesforce on Enterprise. | None yet. |
| Search or ask across meetings | Chat across all meetings or folders, with citations. | Not yet. |
| AI training on your data | On Basic and Business, anonymised data may be used for Granola’s own models by default. You can opt out. Admins can turn it off on Enterprise. | Nothing you record or write is used to train AI models. |
| Price | Business is $14 per user a month. Enterprise is $35. | $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, for guidance and write-ups. |
| Free plan | Yes. You can see the last 30 days of notes. | Yes. Recording, notes and transcripts. |
Granola prices are from its pricing page on 8 Oct 2026.
What Granola is
Granola is a notepad for meetings. You write rough notes during the call, and afterwards the AI expands them using the transcript. It listens to your microphone and your computer’s audio, so no bot joins. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch.
Where Granola is stronger
Granola runs on almost every device and connects to the tools teams already use. You can chat across every meeting with citations, get a brief before a call, and send notes to Notion, HubSpot, Attio or your own tools through its API and MCP. It is a mature product with a free plan.
Where Aside differs
Aside transcribes on your Mac. Granola sends audio to transcription providers in the cloud. Aside also keeps the recording so you can play back both sides. Granola doesn’t store audio.
Help during the call
Granola helps you write better notes. Aside can also help while you talk. You set a few goals before the call, and Aside shows which ones you’ve covered, suggests your next move and brings up answers you prepared. Turn it off and Aside just records.
Questions
Does either one join the call as a bot?
No. Both record your microphone and your computer’s audio, so nobody gets a join request. Tell people you’re recording either way.
Which one keeps audio off the cloud?
Aside. It transcribes on your Mac with an on-device speech model and never uploads audio. Granola sends audio to cloud transcription providers and doesn’t keep it afterwards.
Can I use Aside on Windows or my phone?
Not yet. Aside is a Mac app for Apple silicon Macs. If you need Windows, iPhone or Android, Granola covers them today.
Does Aside connect to Notion or my CRM?
Not yet. You can copy the summary and the follow-up email. Granola has integrations on its Business plan.
Last checked 8 Oct 2026. Products change, so check each company’s pages before you decide.
Sources
Facts about Granola come from its own pages, read on 8 Oct 2026.