Meetily vs Granola: Local Transcription & Privacy First

Meetily is an open source (MIT) AI meeting assistant. Transcription runs on your device by default, and recordings and notes are stored on your machine. For summaries you choose a local model or your own API key. Granola is closed source: it sends audio to third-party transcription providers, deletes the recording once the transcript exists, and stores notes on AWS in the US. Both run on Windows and macOS, and neither sends a bot into your call. Meetily Community Edition is free; Granola Basic is $0, with Business at $14 and Enterprise at $35 per user per month.

Yes. Granola supports Windows and macOS, as well as iPhone and Android. The difference is where your meeting data goes. Granola sends audio to third-party transcription providers and stores notes in its cloud. Meetily transcribes on your device by default, and on that path your audio stays on your machine. For summaries you choose a local model or your own API key, in both Community and Pro.

Cross-platform support ensures all team members can use the same tool regardless of their operating system, maintaining consistency in meeting workflows, file formats, and features. It eliminates the need for multiple tool licenses and training, reduces IT complexity, and ensures better collaboration across diverse technology environments.

Yes. Meetily ships native desktop apps for macOS (.dmg) and Windows (EXE). For Linux desktop today, build the app bundle from source via the open-source repo (github.com/Zackriya-Solutions/meetily); a native Linux desktop app is in development - join the Granola for Linux waitlist (/granola-for-linux). For Enterprise self-hosted deployments, contact meetily@zackriya.com.

Both have a free plan. Meetily Community Edition is free and open source (MIT). Granola Basic is $0 per user per month, with 30 days of note history in the app. On paid plans, Meetily Pro is $10/user/month billed annually ($120/year) and Granola Business is $14/user/month ($168/year). Granola Enterprise is $35/user/month; Meetily Enterprise has custom pricing.

Meetily's open source model (MIT license) offers transparency, customization, no vendor lock-in, and community-driven improvements. You can inspect the code, modify functionality, and contribute features. Granola's proprietary approach limits you to their roadmap and doesn't allow customization or code inspection.

Yes. Transcription always runs on your device, in every edition, and Community Edition is local end to end. Granola works differently: its security page says audio is sent to third-party transcription providers such as Deepgram and Assembly, and notes are stored on AWS in the US. For summaries on Meetily, you choose: local AI or your own API key (BYOK). With a local model, nothing leaves your machine.

Yes, with Meetily. It supports Windows and macOS, so all team members use the same tool with identical features and workflows. Both Meetily and Granola support Windows and macOS. Meetily's difference is that transcription and storage stay on your own machine by default, with no cloud sync.