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Granola vs Parlo

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Entry price
Granola from $14/seat/mo, Parlo from $8/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan
Only Granola (Parlo has paid plans only)
Public API
Granola has one; not confirmed by us for Parlo
Higher Trust score
Granola — 91 vs 73 for Parlo
Best fit
Granola: Founders, salespeople and consultants in back-to-back external meetings who want a brief before and a summary after · Parlo: Mac users on recent Apple Silicon hardware who want dictation and meeting notes in one app

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

GranolaMeeting notepad that captures computer audio without a bot and merges your typed notes with the transcript into a summary.ParloMac app in alpha that bundles voice dictation, on-device meeting transcription, and spoken commands to control the OS.

Side by side

FactGranolaParlo
CategoryMeeting AssistantsSpeech-to-Text & Transcription
Pricing modelFreemiumPaid
Starts at$14/seat/mo$8/mo
Public APIYesNot confirmed
Trust score91 / 10073 / 100
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, iOS, Android, APImacOS
CompanyGranola, Inc.Parlo
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Oct 14, 2026

What our research says

Granola

Granola is the note-taker for people who dislike note-taker bots: nothing joins the call, you keep writing your own shorthand, and the transcript fills in what you missed. The free tier is genuinely usable for an individual as long as you do not need notes older than a month; teams pay $14 a seat for history, integrations and the API, and anyone who wants a searchable archive of every call they ever had should budget for that from day one.

Pros

  • Bot-free capture through system audio works on every meeting platform and in person
  • Your typed notes stay the backbone; the AI enhances rather than overwrites them
  • Native apps on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android and Apple Watch
  • MCP connector and, on Business, an API and Notion/Zapier/HubSpot integrations
  • Free tier with unlimited notes and Slack sharing

Cons

  • Free plan keeps only 30 days of meeting history
  • Business and Enterprise prices are listed without saying whether they are annual or monthly rates
  • Model-training opt-out is per user below Enterprise, so a team cannot enforce it centrally
  • Captures only what the computer hears — a muted colleague's side on a phone call is lost

Parlo

Parlo's pitch is voice control that never leaves your Mac, and combining dictation, meeting notes, and OS commands into one app is a genuinely different bundle than single-purpose dictation tools. It's also openly alpha software with a hardware floor (Apple Silicon, macOS 15+) that shuts out a lot of otherwise-willing users.

Pros

  • Combines dictation, meeting transcription, and OS voice commands in one app
  • On-device processing by default, with cloud as an opt-in using your own keys
  • Meeting notes can be routed straight to iCloud, Google Drive, or a network folder

Cons

  • Alpha-stage software with the rough edges that implies
  • Restricted to macOS 15+ on Apple Silicon, so most non-Mac and older-Mac users are excluded

Which one fits

Choose Granola if you need

  • Founders, salespeople and consultants in back-to-back external meetings who want a brief before and a summary after
  • People who take their own notes and want them enhanced, not replaced
  • Teams that cannot have a visible bot in client or candidate calls

Choose Parlo if you need

  • Mac users on recent Apple Silicon hardware who want dictation and meeting notes in one app
  • privacy-conscious users who want processing to stay on-device by default
  • early adopters comfortable with alpha-stage bugs

Granola vs Parlo: the questions people ask

Is Granola cheaper than Parlo?

They charge in different units, so there is no like-for-like answer: Granola starts at $14/seat/mo, Parlo at $8/mo. Entry price is the lowest paid plan as we last verified it.

Does Granola or Parlo have a free tier?

Granola has a free tier; Parlo has paid plans only.

Which has a public API, Granola or Parlo?

Granola ships a public API, as of our last verification. A public API for Parlo is not confirmed by us — check its developer docs before you plan an integration.

More comparisons

All Parlo alternatives →Browse all Meeting Assistants →