HearkeeperJoin the waitlist

A local Granola alternative for Mac

Granola and Hearkeeper both record without a bot. The difference is where the work happens: Granola transcribes in the cloud, Hearkeeper on your Mac. Here is an honest comparison, with Otter.ai alongside.

Last checked:

Granola is a popular AI notepad for meetings, and it is easy to see why. It captures your device’s audio instead of sending a bot to the call, and transcribes in the background while you stay present in the conversation. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, has a free plan, and connects your notes to other AI tools through its MCP connector. If you want a polished notepad that works across your devices today, Granola is a strong option.

Hearkeeper is not released yet. Like Granola it never adds a bot, but it keeps the whole pipeline on your Mac.

The core difference

Where your audio is transcribed. Granola’s security page says it does not store the audio from meetings; it transcribes in real time on macOS and Windows using third-party providers, naming Deepgram and Assembly, and uses AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic for summaries. Notes and transcripts are stored in a US-hosted AWS Virtual Private Cloud. Granola says third parties may not train on your content, and that it improves its own models with anonymised data unless you opt out in Settings.

Hearkeeper transcribes on your Mac with whisper.cpp, accelerated by Metal. Live captions arrive within about two to four seconds, and after the call a final pass with Whisper large-v3 turbo separates speakers. On Apple silicon we measured it at about ten times faster than real time. Summaries, decisions and to-dos come from a local language model, with no API key. Nothing is uploaded unless you connect a team server or your own API key.

Bot or no bot. Neither joins your call. Both record from your computer, so nobody else installs anything and the participant list stays as it was. Hearkeeper works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, FaceTime, and meetings or lectures in the room.

Consent. Hearkeeper starts every recording with a consent step: read a short notice aloud, post it in the chat, or both. It saves a consent receipt with the recording, and the recording pill stays on screen, including in screen shares, with no way to hide it.

Icelandic. Granola’s help center lists 31 desktop languages, and Icelandic is not one of them. Hearkeeper treats Icelandic as a first-class language, detects mixed Icelandic and English on its own, and supports 99 languages in all.

Granola and Hearkeeper side by side

Granola Hearkeeper
Bot in the call No. Captures device audio No. Records on your Mac
Where audio is processed Cloud transcription providers (Deepgram, Assembly); audio not stored On your Mac (whisper.cpp with Metal)
Where notes are stored US-hosted AWS Virtual Private Cloud One SQLite file and your own audio and note files on your disk
Works offline Not described on the pages we read Yes, fully
Consent step and receipt Not covered on the pages we read Consent step before every recording; receipt saved with the recording; pill that can’t be hidden
Icelandic transcription Not in the 31 listed desktop languages Yes, first-class, with mixed Icelandic and English
Platforms Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android Mac (macOS 14.2+, Apple silicon and Intel), when released; other platforms later
Price as listed Basic free (limited meeting history); Business $14 per user a month; Enterprise $35 per user a month (as listed on 28 September 2026) Not announced yet

Granola vs Otter

People often weigh Granola against Otter.ai, so here is the short version from each vendor’s own pages. Otter can send a notetaker into Zoom, Meet and Teams calls, or record without a bot from its Mac and Windows desktop app. Granola never adds a bot. Both process meetings in the cloud and store data on AWS in the United States. Otter’s plans start with a free Basic tier of 300 transcription minutes a month, and its Pro plan is listed at $16.99 per user a month, or $8.33 billed yearly. Otter’s published language list is short; Granola’s desktop list has 31 languages. Neither list includes Icelandic.

If the reason you are comparing them is privacy, the bigger question may be whether you want the cloud involved at all. That is the choice Hearkeeper is built around. There is more on Otter in our Otter.ai comparison.

When Granola is the better choice

  • You need it today. Granola is available now; Hearkeeper is on a waitlist.
  • You use Windows or a phone. Granola runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. Hearkeeper starts on the Mac only, and other platforms have no date yet.
  • You want a free plan now. Granola has one. Hearkeeper’s pricing is not announced.
  • Your team shares notes. Granola has business and enterprise plans, and connects notes to other AI tools. Hearkeeper is built for your own Mac first.

When Hearkeeper fits better

  • You’d rather nothing left your computer. Transcription, summaries and search all run on your Mac, and keep working without a connection.
  • You want to keep the audio. Hearkeeper keeps the recording as your own file, and every summary line and answer cites the second it was said.
  • You want consent built in. A consent step before every recording, a saved receipt, and a pill that can’t be hidden.
  • You meet in Icelandic, or switch between Icelandic and English in the same meeting.
  • You want plain files. Search lives in one SQLite file on your disk, and notes export to Markdown.

Sources

All read on 28 September 2026.

Hearkeeper is coming to the Mac first. Join the waitlist to hear when it’s ready.

Try Hearkeeper first

Private meeting and lecture notes, made on your own Mac. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when it’s ready.

One email when it’s ready, nothing else. Leave any time. Privacy