Granola alternative for Mac

The Granola alternative where you decide if your meetings leave your Mac

Transcribe on your Mac by default, or in the cloud with OpenAI if you prefer. No bots and no recordings. Notes, tasks and an AI chat you can also talk to — in English or Spanish.

Download & try Pro for 14 days How to import from Granola

14-day Pro trial, no card required · Notes & tasks free forever · macOS 14.6 or later

Why switch to NotesXD

Granola is a great product. NotesXD is built for people who would rather keep their conversations on their own computer.

1

You decide if your meetings leave your Mac

By default, NotesXD transcribes on your Mac with Apple's speech recognition and the audio never leaves your machine. If you prefer, you can choose cloud transcription with OpenAI. Either way, no audio is recorded and your notes and transcripts are stored on your Mac, not on our servers. Granola, according to its own docs, always sends audio to its transcription provider and stores notes and transcripts on AWS in the US.[1][2]

2

Your data doesn't train models

NotesXD never uses your content for training. AI chat only receives the fragments you use, through Google's paid Gemini APIs. On Granola's Free and Business plans, anonymised data may be used to improve its models by default unless you opt out.[1]

3

More than meeting notes

Free-form formatted notes, tasks with priority and due dates, a dashboard, files (PDF, Word, images and more) that chat and voice use as context, YouTube video transcripts just by pasting the link, and Active Listening: a continuous log you can search by meeting or time range.

4

Talk to your notes — in Spanish too

Ask out loud “what did we agree on Tuesday?” and the assistant answers and can create tasks or notes. The app is available in English and Spanish; Granola's interface is currently English only.[3]

NotesXD vs Granola, side by side

Verifiable facts only. Granola details come from its documentation and pricing page, reviewed on October 11, 2026, and may change.

Sources at the bottom of the page. Reviewed: October 11, 2026.
Topic NotesXD Granola
Where transcription happens You choose: on your Mac with Apple speech recognition (default) or in the cloud with OpenAI[4] Always in the cloud: audio is sent to its transcription provider[2]
Transcribe without sending audio to a third party Yes, with the local option (the default) No[2]
Where notes and transcripts are stored On your Mac[4] AWS servers in the US, cached locally; no EU data residency[1]
Your data used to train AI No[4] By default, anonymised data on Free and Business (opt-out available)[1]
What leaves your device when you use AI Only the fragments you use in chat or voice, sent to Google Gemini[4] Chat works on notes and transcripts stored in its cloud; its AI providers (such as OpenAI and Anthropic) may not train on your data[1]
Talk to your notes by voice Yes: real-time voice conversation; it answers out loud and can create notes, tasks and folders (Pro) Dictation only: you speak your question and it answers in text[5]
Interface language English and Spanish English only
Free-form notes and dashboard Yes AI meeting notes, with templates and recipes[6]
Formatted notes Yes: headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, lists, checklists, quotes, links, images and file attachments Basic markdown formatting: headings, lists, checkboxes, bold, italic, underline and images[7]
Files as AI context Yes: attach PDF, Word, Pages, text, CSV, JSON, RTF and images (with OCR) to your notes, and chat and voice use them as context (Pro) Yes, by uploading files to chat or to folders (chat uploads aren't available on iOS)[8]
YouTube video transcription Yes: paste the link into a note and get the transcript from the video's captions (free) No
Tasks Yes, tasks with priority and due date, also created from meetings No (only AI-generated action lists)
Continuous log across meetings Yes, Active Listening (Pro, optional) No
Certifications No SOC 2; there is no server storing your notes SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA on Enterprise only[1]
Free plan Notes and tasks free forever; transcription and AI are Pro AI meeting notes with visible history limited to 30 days[6]
Paid plan Pro: US$11.99/month Business: US$14 per user/month; Enterprise: US$35[6]
Trial 14-day Pro trial, no card required Free Basic plan[6]
Import from the other Yes: Granola notes, folders and transcripts —

Move from Granola in a few minutes

NotesXD includes a Granola importer. Everything you import is stored on your Mac.

1

Download NotesXD

Install it on your Mac. You start with 14 days of Pro, no card required.

2

Open the importer

From the menu bar: File → Import from Granola…

3

Choose how to bring your notes

  • API key: imports folders, Markdown notes and transcripts with speaker labels. Granola API keys require a Business or Enterprise plan and are created in Settings → Connectors → API keys.[9]
  • CSV: in Granola, Settings → Profile → Generate CSV. Granola emails you the file (it can take a few hours) and it includes your full history, including notes older than 30 days.[10]

Granola's CSV only includes notes that have a summary; deleted notes and notes without a summary are not exported.[10]

What leaves your Mac

We'd rather be precise than overpromise.

  • Transcription: only if you choose. By default it runs on your Mac and the audio never leaves your machine. If you choose OpenAI in Settings → Transcription, the audio is sent to OpenAI to be transcribed. NotesXD never records the audio.
  • AI chat and voice use Google Gemini: they only send your question and the fragments needed to answer, when you use them, and they are not used to train models.
  • In voice mode, the audio of that conversation with the assistant is streamed to Gemini so it can hear you.
  • Details in our privacy policy (sections 2.3 and 2.7).

Frequently asked questions

Is NotesXD free?

Notes and tasks are free, forever. Pro (live transcription, AI chat, voice, Active Listening and calendar meeting alerts) is US$11.99/month, and every new install starts with a 14-day Pro trial, no card required.

Do my meetings leave my Mac?

You decide. By default, transcription runs on your Mac with Apple's speech recognition and the audio never leaves your machine. If you choose OpenAI in Settings → Transcription, the audio is sent to OpenAI to be transcribed (requires an active trial or Pro). Either way, NotesXD does not record audio, and your notes and transcripts are stored on your Mac. AI chat uses Google Gemini and only receives the fragments needed to answer you, never used to train models.

Can I bring my Granola notes into NotesXD?

Yes. In NotesXD go to File → Import from Granola… and pick one option: with a Granola API key (requires a Granola Business or Enterprise plan) you import folders, Markdown notes and transcripts; or use the CSV you export from Granola (Settings → Profile → Generate CSV), which Granola emails to you.

Try NotesXD with your own meetings

14 days of Pro, no card required. If it's not for you, keep your notes and tasks on the free plan.

Download for Mac

Sources

Granola details reviewed on October 11, 2026. Granola is a trademark of its respective owner; NotesXD is not affiliated with Granola.

  1. Granola Docs, “Security, Privacy & Data FAQs”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/security-privacy-data-faqs
  2. Granola Docs, “How transcription works”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription
  3. Granola Docs, “Multi-language support”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/customising-granola/multi-language
  4. NotesXD, Privacy Policy, sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.7.
  5. Granola Docs, “Granola Chat: Dictation vs. Transcription”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/getting-more-from-your-notes/granola-chat-dictation-vs-transcription
  6. Granola, “Pricing”: granola.ai/pricing
  7. Granola Docs, “Writing your own notes”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/taking-notes-in-granola
  8. Granola Docs, “Chatting with your meetings”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/getting-more-from-your-notes/chatting-with-your-meetings
  9. Granola Docs, “Granola API”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/granola-api
  10. Granola Docs, “Exporting historical notes”: docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/exporting-notes