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Granola is a popular AI meeting notepad for Mac. Like Steno, it captures your computer’s audio without sending a bot into the call. The key difference is where the work happens: Steno transcribes and summarizes on your Mac, while Granola relies on the cloud to generate your AI notes and stores them in your Granola account.

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At a glance

StenoGranola
Audio processingOn your Mac, alwaysCaptured locally, processed in the cloud
TranscriptionOn-device (Parakeet / Whisper)On-device or cloud
AI notes / summariesOn-device (local model) or optional cloudCloud (OpenAI, Anthropic)
Notes storedOn your MacGranola’s cloud (US)
Account requiredNoYes
Works offlineYesNo
Meeting botNoNo
PriceFree (personal & team)Free tier (limited history) / 14/14 / 35 per user/mo
Open sourceYes (MIT)No
PlatformmacOS onlymacOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Data used for AI trainingNoYes, unless you opt out
Granola details as of 2026; check granola.ai for current pricing and policies.

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The core difference: bot-free is not the same as local

Granola markets itself as bot-free, and it is — no participant joins your call. But bot-free describes only how audio is captured, not where it is processed. Granola relies on cloud AI to generate your notes, and your transcripts are stored in Granola’s cloud. Steno is bot-free and local: transcription and summarization run on your Mac, and no meeting content is uploaded unless you deliberately choose an optional cloud summarization model. (Steno does send anonymous usage analytics by default — no meeting content — which you can turn off in Settings.) For meetings where the audio itself cannot leave your device, that distinction matters.

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Cost

Granola offers a free tier with limited note history, then Business (14/user/month)andEnterprise(14/user/month) and Enterprise (35/user/month) as of 2026. Steno is free for personal and team use and open source; the only cost is disk space for the local models (roughly 7GB for the default setup).

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Where Granola is stronger

  • Cross-platform and mobile — Granola runs on Windows, iOS, and Android as well as Mac; Steno is macOS only.
  • Team and CRM workflows — Granola offers shared folders and paid integrations (Notion, Slack, HubSpot, and others).
  • Cloud sync — your notes are available across devices automatically.

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When to choose Steno

  • You want transcription and summarization to happen entirely on your Mac
  • You prefer no account and fully offline operation
  • You want free, open-source software you can inspect
  • Your meetings are confidential and the audio cannot go to a cloud service

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When to choose Granola

  • You need your notes on Windows or mobile as well as Mac
  • You want cloud sync across devices and team sharing
  • Cloud processing of meeting audio is acceptable for your work
No. Granola captures audio without a bot, but it relies on cloud AI to generate your notes and stores them on Granola’s servers. Steno runs the whole pipeline on your Mac by default.
Yes. Steno has no account and works fully offline after the one-time model download. Granola requires signing in and stores your notes in its cloud.