Granola vs Fathom: Which Meeting Notes Can You Trust?

Published on October 18, 2026 by Steven Jones

Fathom is our pick for checking disputed meeting details when you retain an audio or video recording. Granola is a good fit when you want to shape a written record with your own notes and avoid retaining replayable meeting audio. The Granola vs Fathom decision depends on what you can inspect after a mistake, plus capture settings, correction controls, sharing, and price.

If you already have a consented MP3 or WAV recording, our speech-to-text tool can create an editable transcript. Keep the original audio available so you can check disputed wording.

Your priority	Granola	Fathom
Replay the words behind a disputed point	Searchable transcript, without a saved audio recording.	Better fit with audio or video capture. Transcript Only has no recording.
Develop your own rough meeting notes	Our preference for a notes-led workflow: inspect, edit and re-enhance raw notes.	Fathom 3.0 has a Scratch pad whose notes can feed the summary.
Avoid retaining meeting audio	Standard approach: retain the written record.	Choose Transcript Only deliberately.
Use bot-free capture on Windows	Documented support.	The new bot-free experience is currently in beta on Mac.
Keep a free, searchable meeting archive	Basic shows the latest 30 days in the app.	Stronger free archive: unlimited recordings and transcriptions, with limits on advanced AI features.

Assessment basis: We checked current official documentation on 18 October 2026. This is a comparison of documented workflows; the scripted trial below has not been run by DIY AI. We do not claim any measured accuracy scores or verification timings. Our testing methodology and productivity dataset explain how we document scored evaluations.

A transcript can support the summary and still mishear the meeting

There are two different mistakes to investigate. The summary might omit a correction that appears clearly in the transcript. Alternatively, the transcript itself might contain the wrong name, date or amount. A tool can faithfully summarise that wrong text.

Granola lets you search the transcript and inspect individual enhanced points using a magnifying glass. Its documentation says those points can come from either the transcript or your raw notes. Check which source supplied the disputed detail: something you typed during the call is not automatically something the group agreed aloud.

Granola’s audio-retention policy says desktop meetings are transcribed in real time, while mobile uses temporarily cached audio. The retained record consists of transcripts and notes, without a meeting recording you can play back. That supports a deliberate choice to retain less source media, but limits recovery when the transcript mishears a crucial word.

Fathom provides a stronger verification route when it retains audio or video. Its call-library documentation describes searching for a phrase and using Play to jump to the matching moment. Search for both the original deadline and its replacement, then listen to the surrounding exchange. A later suggestion may still be tentative; hearing it mentioned does not establish that it became the final decision.

Fathom’s Transcript Only mode removes this playback advantage. Asking either product’s AI to explain its answer can help locate evidence, but it cannot restore speech that was never captured or retained.

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Choose the capture mode before comparing the notes

Fathom now documents bot-free audio and transcript-only capture on Mac, plus bot-free video in a limited Zoom beta. It also retains the familiar bot-based audio/video option. Availability depends on the application version, meeting platform, and account rollout; organisations can also disable bot-free capture. Check the selected mode before each important call.

Granola captures microphone and system audio through its desktop applications on macOS and Windows. Open the meeting note or a new note to start the workflow. Its browser interface is for working with existing notes, so opening a web page alone will not capture a meeting. Because desktop capture uses combined system audio, unrelated audio playing on the computer can enter the transcript.

For in-person meetings, Granola has iOS and Android applications. Fathom’s iPhone app launched in October 2026 and can capture in-person conversations, though it lacked meeting search and Ask Fathom at launch. Test the device you intend to use; a desktop trial won’t show how a shared-room microphone performs.

Bot-free capture also says nothing about offline processing on its own. Granola sends audio to transcription providers, and Fathom’s locally captured recordings can be processed and accessed through its service. If processing must remain on your hardware, see our offline speech-to-text guide.

Manual notes can help both tools and introduce their own mistakes

Granola combines the transcript, your raw notes and calendar information when producing enhanced notes. You can edit the finished version directly, or return to the raw notes, correct them and re-enhance. That makes it attractive if you already write short cues during meetings and want to develop them afterwards.

Fathom 3.0 also has a Scratch pad. Its upgrade guide says the final summary highlights material incorporated from those notes. Manual input therefore belongs in a fair comparison of both products.

Use notes to mark the final state of a decision: Deadline moved to Monday; Friday superseded is more useful than leaving an isolated Friday in the editor. Mark personal interpretations separately from agreed actions. An unspoken concern can belong in your private notes without becoming a commitment attributed to the meeting.

Correction controls differ. Granola currently allows changes to raw and enhanced notes, but its help centre says transcript text cannot be edited. Fathom documents transcript editing for users with Admin access to that recording, subject to organisation controls. Preserve an untouched copy before correcting important records.

After a correction, check the summary, action list and any exported task separately. Changing one surface does not demonstrate that another copy changed. Before allowing meeting notes to create work automatically, confirm that the final owner, deadline and supporting passage agree.

Recognising a speaker does not establish who owns the action

Granola now supports named speaker tags for Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams on macOS and Windows. The tags use participant display names and meeting-app information. Set them up before the meeting: they do not add names retrospectively. Without tags, desktop transcripts can fall back to Them and Me.

Its documentation also notes a practical limit: those tags can’t distinguish several people speaking through one meeting-room device. Overlapping speech can disrupt attribution too. Give participants complete display names and test your actual room arrangement.

Then inspect action ownership independently. If Morgan says that Alec Reid will send the brief, identifying Morgan as the speaker is correct. Assigning the task to Morgan would be wrong. A useful action record contains the task, its owner, its deadline and the passage supporting the assignment.

Use a trial that checks corrections, ownership and verification

The following is a repeatable trial you can run with consenting participants. These are scripted inputs and expected answers, with no product results implied. Separate the original statements from the corrections with several minutes of discussion, and avoid a closing recap that simply repeats every answer.

Check	Scripted meeting content	Expected final record
Corrected deadline	Initially: “The brief is due 10 November.” Later: “Move the brief deadline to 12 November 2026 at 16:00 UK time.”	12 November 2026, 16:00 UK time. The original deadline is superseded.
Reversed decision	Initially select Cedar. Later say: “Following the price review, choose Birch instead. Cedar is no longer selected.”	Birch is selected after the price review; Cedar’s no longer selected.
Similar names	“Alex Reed leads quality assurance. Alec Reid leads procurement.”	Alex Reed and Alec Reid retain their separate roles.
Owner differs from speaker	Morgan says: “Alec Reid will send the purchase brief to Birch by the revised deadline.”	Alec Reid owns sending the brief. Morgan announced the assignment.

Have both products capture each run, checking permissions and audio routing first. Run the script once with no typed notes, then repeat it with identical cues entered into Granola’s raw notes and Fathom 3.0’s Scratch pad. Use the same speakers, platform and wording. Record app versions, plans, capture modes, templates and speaker-tag settings so the comparison can be repeated.

For the second run, use three cues after the relevant statements: Final deadline: 12 November, 16:00 UK; Birch replaces Cedar after price review; Alec Reid owns brief; Alex Reed leads QA. Save all four untouched outputs before editing. If either app cannot capture alongside the other, repeat the script and record any deviations.

Measure these outcomes separately:

• Factual retention: mark every expected answer correct, incorrect or missing. Check that superseded decisions are clearly labelled.
• Action ownership: check the assigned person separately from the person speaking, including where the task is exported.
• Correction effort: record active editing time, fields changed, and regenerations needed to reach a correct record.
• Verification time: ask a reviewer who has not seen the answer key to locate support using that product’s available assets. Record elapsed time and whether the answer is supported by replay, by transcript only, or remains unresolved.

Keep a separately consented reference recording for scoring, hidden from the timed reviewer. Alternate product order or use different reviewers to reduce the benefit of already knowing where an answer appears. A quickly located transcript line and a checked audio passage provide different levels of evidence.

For a further challenge, repeat with the original deadline left in the manual notes after the spoken correction. Change only that cue. This tests how conflicting human and spoken inputs affect the result.

User discussions repeatedly raise the frustration of discovering missing content after a meeting ends. Those reports are anecdotal, so they inform this trial rather than establish a current failure rate. During the call, check each app’s capture indicators. After processing, confirm that the transcript includes both sides near the start and the final exchange before sharing the summary.

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Sharing a recap can leave its evidence behind

Granola’s Copy notes command copies the enhanced summary as Markdown. Copying the transcript is a separate action. Shared web notes provide the summarised-note experience; collaborators opening a shared folder in the desktop app get full transcript access. Test the exact shared note or folder as the intended recipient, especially when sending it outside your organisation.

Fathom lets you copy summaries with or without hyperlinks, and copy transcripts through a separate clipboard command. Keep supporting links when verification matters, then check that the recipient can open them. You can view a shared recording with Limited access, but downloading it requires Standard or Admin access. Its documented video download format is MP4.

Granola also provides a bulk CSV export through Settings > Profile > Generate CSV. The current export includes titles, summaries, and transcripts for owned notes with a summary, including history outside Basic’s 30-day app window. It is emailed within a few hours, can be generated once per 24 hours, and has a download link valid for 24 hours. Enterprise administrators can restrict export.

Fathom’s automatic sharing deserves a deliberate setting. Summary Only does not automatically grant access to the recording. When auto-share is enabled, its documentation says all calendar invitees receive the selected material, including people who did not attend. It runs immediately after the meeting. For decisions needing review, choose manual distribution after checking the record.

Another Fathom sharing shortcut: mention someone in the Scratch pad who isn’t on the call to email them your comment and grant call access. Check the audience before using mentions as personal reminders.

Keep the reviewed summary and its supporting record together. If Zoom is your meeting platform, our guide explains the available ways to save a Zoom meeting transcript. A transcript export preserves text; keeping the associated recording enables a later audio check.

Compare the history you can check, as well as the subscription price

These are the listed US-dollar prices checked on 18 October 2026. Annual equivalents require annual billing.

Plan	Listed price	Limit or reason to upgrade
Granola Basic	Free	No daily transcription limit, but only 30 days of history visible in the app.
Granola Business	$14 per user/month, billed monthly	Unlimited history, broader integrations, and more model options.
Granola Enterprise	From $35 per user/month	Organisation controls, including sharing and retention policies.
Fathom Free	Free	Unlimited recordings and transcriptions; advanced summaries for the first five calls each month.
Fathom Premium	$20 monthly, or $16/month billed annually	Unlimited advanced summaries and additional AI features for an individual.
Fathom Team / Business	Team: $19 per user/month, or $15 with annual billing. Business: $34 per user/month, or $25 with annual billing. Minimum two users.	Team collaboration, with additional CRM and coaching features on Business.

Fathom Free continues to provide its General/Enhanced summary after the first five advanced summaries. Do not confuse the advanced-feature allowance with a recording cap. If you mainly need a retained meeting archive, test the free workflow before paying for specialised summaries or team features.

Granola Basic’s history limit also needs careful reading. Notes older than 30 days remain stored, but cannot be accessed normally in the app without upgrading; the export route can still retrieve eligible historical notes. Business is therefore useful when you regularly revisit older decisions inside Granola.

Granola’s separate transcript auto-deletion setting can permanently remove the underlying transcript while leaving notes intact. Regeneration then becomes unavailable, and meeting chat has only the surviving notes to work from. A visible summary does not prove its source is still available. Choose a retention period that covers when you expect to review the meeting.

For a small team, price the actual seats and billing commitment. Fathom Team’s $15 figure is an annual-billing rate with a two-user minimum. Granola bills active workspace members on a common plan. Correction time and recipient access may matter more than a small difference in the advertised per-user price.

Our verdict: choose the record you need to revisit

Choose Fathom with retained audio or video when exact wording matters to customer commitments, interviews or disputed assignments. Its strongest advantage here is the route back to what was said. Confirm the recording mode, retention and recipient access before relying on that advantage.

Choose Granola when you want to develop your own meeting notes, inspect how the written summary was formed and avoid keeping a replayable audio archive. Its raw-note controls are useful, provided you accept that a transcript error may require participants to confirm it.

For anyone comparing Fathom vs Granola, the final buying check is practical: can the person responsible for the work recover the final decision, identify its owner and inspect the supporting record later? Use the trial above to establish that for your meetings.