Minutes vs Granola: which meeting notetaker should you use?
Granola is the polished cloud notetaker a lot of teams love. Minutes takes the other road: it records, transcribes and summarizes entirely on your Mac, for one payment, into plain files you own. Here is an honest side-by-side, including what Granola genuinely does better.
Last updated: July 2026
Full disclosure: this page is published by the makers of Minutes, part of the Crest suite. We have kept the Granola side fair and specific, including the things it does better, so this is useful whichever tool you end up with.
Up front, because it decides everything: Minutes requires macOS 26 on an Apple Silicon Mac. That is a hard floor, not a preference, and it is the reason Minutes can run its transcription and summaries entirely on your Mac. Granola has no such requirement because it does that work in the cloud. If you are not on macOS 26 Apple Silicon yet, Minutes is not for you today.
The short version
Pick Granola if you want a polished, team-friendly notetaker with shared workspaces, integrations, and access to your notes from any device or the web, and a monthly subscription is fine.
Pick Minutes if you want every meeting to stay on your Mac with nothing uploaded, a one-time price instead of a subscription, and plain Markdown files you own, and you are on macOS 26 with Apple Silicon.
Side by side
| Minutes | Granola | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29.99 one-time | Monthly subscription |
| Account required | No account, no API key | Yes, sign-in required |
| Transcription | On your Mac, Apple SpeechAnalyzer | In Granola's cloud |
| Summaries | On your Mac, Apple FoundationModels | In Granola's cloud |
| What is uploaded | Nothing leaves your Mac | Transcript and notes to the cloud; audio uploaded for transcription, then deleted |
| Works fully offline | Yes, after activation | Needs the cloud to process |
| Your notes are | Plain Markdown plus audio, in a folder you own | Kept inside Granola's app and cloud |
| Records both sides | Mic plus system audio | Captures the call locally |
| Team and web access | Single Mac, no web app | Shared workspaces, integrations, web |
| System requirement | macOS 26, Apple Silicon | No macOS 26 requirement |
Real Minutes screenshot. One meeting note: its catches, summary, and two-lane transcript, all on the Mac.
Where Granola is better
- Teams and sharing. Granola is built for people who share notes. Shared workspaces, a web app, and integrations mean a whole team can read the same meeting from any device. Minutes is a single-Mac tool and does not try to be that.
- Polish and reach. Granola has years of product work behind it and reaches you anywhere you sign in. If you jump between a Mac, a phone and a browser, that matters.
- No modern-macOS requirement. Because the intelligence runs in Granola's cloud, it does not care whether your Mac is new. Minutes needs macOS 26 on Apple Silicon; Granola does not.
Where Minutes is better
- Nothing is uploaded. Granola captures audio on your Mac, then sends the transcript and notes to its cloud to process and store, and uploads the audio for transcription before deleting it. Minutes does recording, transcription and summaries on your Mac. Unplug the network and it still works, because there is no server on the other end.
- One-time price. Minutes is $29.99 once, with free updates. Granola is a monthly subscription, so the meter never stops. Over a couple of years that gap is large.
- Files you own. Every meeting is plain Markdown next to its audio, in a folder you choose. Point it at Obsidian, drop it in a git repo, back it up like anything else. Granola keeps your notes inside its own app and cloud.
- No account, no keys. There is nothing to sign up for, no API key to paste, nothing to sync. Less to set up, and nothing to leak.
- Catches you approve. Minutes reads the meeting for what was actually agreed and surfaces it as catches. You review each one, then send it to Apple Calendar and Reminders with a tap. Nothing is filed behind your back.
What we will not claim: that Minutes is more capable for teams than Granola. It is not, and it is not trying to be. What we do claim is the specific split above, and a design where your meeting never leaves your machine.
The privacy difference, in plain terms
This is the row that usually decides it. With Granola, your meeting is processed and stored in the cloud: the transcript and notes are sent to Granola's servers, and the audio is uploaded for transcription and then deleted. That is a normal, reasonable design for a cloud tool, and it is fine for plenty of meetings. It is not fine for the meeting that legally, or personally, must never leave your machine. Minutes was built for exactly that meeting: the recording, the transcript and the summary all stay on your Mac, with no account and no server involved.
The pricing math
Minutes is $29.99 one-time with free updates, and it activates on up to 2 Macs as part of the Crest suite. Granola runs on a monthly subscription, which is convenient to start and never stops. If you keep meeting notes for years, the one-time purchase is simply cheaper, and there is no renewal to forget.
Real Minutes screenshot. Recording, with the indicator always visible. Consent-forward by design.
The requirement, stated plainly: macOS 26 on Apple Silicon
Minutes only runs on macOS 26 on an Apple Silicon Mac. There is no Intel build and no macOS 25 build, and there will not be. The reason is the same reason it can be fully on-device: Minutes transcribes with Apple's SpeechAnalyzer and summarizes with Apple's FoundationModels, and those frameworks ship only with macOS 26. That is also why there are zero model downloads, the intelligence is already on your Mac. If you are still on an older macOS or an Intel Mac, Granola will run for you today and Minutes will not. We would rather you know that before you buy than after.
How to decide
Ask one question: does your meeting need to leave your Mac? If it needs to live in a shared cloud workspace your team reads from anywhere, Granola is the better fit and worth its subscription. If it needs to stay on your machine, as plain files you own, for one payment, Minutes is built for that, provided you are on macOS 26 with Apple Silicon. See Minutes for the full walkthrough.
FAQ
Is Minutes cheaper than Granola?
Yes over time. Minutes is $29.99 one time with free updates. Granola is a monthly subscription, so its cost keeps adding up every month you use it. If you keep meeting notes for years, a one-time purchase is the cheaper path.
Does Minutes upload my meetings the way Granola does?
No. Granola captures audio on your Mac but sends the transcript and notes to its cloud to process and store them, and it uploads the audio for transcription before deleting it. Minutes does all of it, recording, transcription and summaries, on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded, because there is no server.
What do I give up by choosing Minutes over Granola?
Granola is polished and built for teams, with shared workspaces, integrations and web access from any device. Minutes is a single-Mac tool with none of that. If your notes need to live in a shared cloud workspace, Granola fits better. If a meeting must never leave your machine, Minutes is the point.
What Macs does Minutes need?
Minutes requires macOS 26 on an Apple Silicon Mac, and this is a real limit, not a preference. It transcribes with Apple's on-device SpeechAnalyzer and summarizes with Apple's on-device FoundationModels, and those frameworks ship only with macOS 26. Granola has no macOS 26 requirement because it runs the intelligence in the cloud.
Can I keep my Minutes notes in Obsidian or git?
Yes. Every meeting is plain Markdown next to its audio, in a folder you choose. Point it at Obsidian, drop it in a git repo, or back it up like any other files. There is no proprietary database and no lock-in.
Meeting notes that never leave your Mac
Minutes records both sides, transcribes and summarizes on your Mac, and saves plain Markdown you own. One-time $29.99, no subscription, no account. Requires macOS 26 on Apple Silicon.
$29.99 one-time · 7-day trial · macOS 26, Apple Silicon
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