Granola vs Shadow

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, Shadow from $8/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Granola has one; not confirmed by us for Shadow
Higher Trust score: Granola — 91 vs 79 for Shadow
Best fit: Granola: Founders, salespeople and consultants in back-to-back external meetings who want a brief before and a summary after · Shadow: Mac users wanting meeting notes without a visible bot joining the call

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.

ShadowMac app that records meetings without a bot and runs custom AI Skills to draft notes, emails, or summaries.

Side by side

Fact	Granola	Shadow
Category	Meeting Assistants	Meeting Assistants
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$14/seat/mo	$8/mo
Public API	Yes	Not confirmed
Trust score	91 / 100	79 / 100
Platforms	macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, API	macOS
Company	Granola, Inc.	Taper Labs, Inc.
Last verified	Sep 6, 2026	Sep 1, 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

Shadow

Shadow's bot-free recording and on-device transcription solve two real complaints about meeting-notetaker tools: awkward bot participants and audio leaving your machine. Skills give it more range than a plain transcription tool, but the whole product is Mac-only, so it's not an option for Windows-based teams.

Pros

Free tier includes unlimited transcription and recording, not just a trial
No bot joins the call, capture happens locally on the Mac
Custom Skills extend beyond notes into emails and structured summaries
On-device processing keeps audio off external servers

Cons

Mac only, no Windows or Linux client
Not joining as a visible bot could raise meeting-recording consent questions depending on jurisdiction

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 Shadow if you need

Mac users wanting meeting notes without a visible bot joining the call
Privacy-conscious teams wanting on-device transcription
Sales teams wanting BANT or similar structured meeting breakdowns automatically