Cereal vs Granola: two bot-free meeting notepads
By the Toolbay team · Updated
Granola made bot-free meeting notes popular: you type a few words during the call and AI turns them and the transcript into clean notes. Cereal does the same thing for free, with the speech recognition and the notes AI running on your own computer. Here is how they compare, row by row.
Side by side
| Feature | Cereal | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Basic $0; Business $14; Enterprise $35 (per user per month) |
| Meeting history | Unlimited | Basic: 30 days; paid: unlimited |
| Bot in the call | No | No |
| Transcription | On your computer (whisper.cpp) | Cloud providers (e.g. Deepgram, Assembly) |
| Notes AI | On your computer (llama.cpp, Qwen); your own cloud key optional | Cloud providers (e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic) |
| Speaker separation | Yes, on device (sherpa-onnx) | See granola.ai |
| Templates | 26 built in, plus your own | Yes, custom templates |
| Chat across meetings | Yes, with citations; scopes by folder, person, company | Yes (across meetings on Auto only, on Basic) |
| Calendar | Yes, via your private iCal link | Yes |
| Integrations | Notion, HubSpot, Slack, webhooks (your own tokens); local MCP server | Attio, Notion, HubSpot, Affinity, Zapier, MCP on Business |
| Computers | Windows 10/11, macOS 13+ | See granola.ai |
| Account | Not needed | Required |
| Source code | Public, MIT | Closed |
How fast are local notes?
From Cereal's README, timed on a desktop with an RTX 4070 Ti for a 44-minute, four-person meeting: the transcript with speakers was ready about 60 seconds after the call, and notes about 22 seconds later. On the same PC without the GPU, the transcript is written live during the call and notes take about 9 minutes. Granola runs in the cloud, so its speed doesn't depend on your computer.
What's new in Cereal 0.4
- Hot corner and a mini window; the call's output device is followed when you switch headphones.
- Speaker name suggestions from calendar attendees, and one-click names in 1:1s.
- Optional snapshots of shared screens, kept only when the screen changes.
- Send to Notion, log in HubSpot, and chat answers drafted as email, calendar or Slack messages.
- Light and dark pixel icons; the Dock icon follows your theme.
Every release is written up in the Toolbay newsletter.
Pros and cons
Cereal: good
- Free with unlimited history
- Audio and notes stay on your computer
- Works offline once models are downloaded
- Open source (MIT)
Cereal: not so good
- Notes speed depends on your hardware
- Mac build not yet notarized by Apple
- No phone app
- No shared team workspace
Granola: good
- Polished and well tested
- Fast notes on any laptop
- Team workspaces and admin
- Many integrations on paid plans
Granola: not so good
- Free plan keeps 30 days of history
- Audio is processed by cloud providers
- Closed source
- Paid plans from $14/user/month
Questions people ask
- Does Granola have a free plan?
- Yes. Granola Basic is $0, but its meeting history is limited to 30 days. Business is $14 per user per month and Enterprise $35 (granola.ai/pricing, October 26, 2026). Cereal keeps every note with no limit, for free.
- Do Cereal and Granola join the call as a bot?
- Neither does. Both record the audio on your computer: your microphone for you and the computer's sound for everyone else. Nothing shows up in the participant list.
- Where does my meeting audio go?
- Granola's security page says it uses transcription providers like Deepgram and Assembly and AI providers like OpenAI and Anthropic. Cereal transcribes with whisper.cpp and writes notes with an open Qwen model on your computer; audio and notes stay in your app data folder.
- Is Cereal as good as Granola?
- Cereal's own checklist tracks parity with Granola feature by feature (89% at version 0.4.0). Notes quality depends on your hardware, because the AI runs locally: a recent GPU writes notes about a minute after the call, a CPU-only laptop takes several minutes.
Related
- CerealScreenshots and how to get it
- Free Granola alternativeCereal vs Granola: free, unlimited, no bot
- Free AI meeting notesBot-free, unlimited options that run on your computer
- Free AI notes for Zoom, Teams and MeetTake notes on any call without adding a bot
- Free Wispr Flow alternativeToolbay Flow vs Wispr Flow: free, unlimited, offline
- Free Obsidian Sync alternativeBedrock: encrypted sync for your vault, no subscription
Granola is a trademark of Granola. Toolbay's tools are independent open-source projects, inspired by Granola, and are not affiliated with or endorsed by Granola.