Savory
Savory vs Granola, without the strawman.
Granola is good software, and like Savory it refuses to send a bot into your calls. The fork in the road is what happens to the audio after capture, and what the notes are organized around.
The key differences
Where transcription happens
Granola sends meeting audio to its cloud to transcribe. Savory runs the model on your Mac, so the audio never leaves the device.
What the notes orbit
Granola files notes by meeting. Savory files them by person, so every conversation you have had with someone sits on one page.
Working offline
Granola needs the network to generate notes. Savory transcribes and organizes on a plane, in a basement, or anywhere the wifi drops.
| Privacy and architecture | Savory | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription runs on your device | Yes | No |
| Audio never stored, anywhere | Yes | Partial |
| Works fully offline | Yes | No |
| No bot joins the call | Yes | Yes |
| Tells speakers apart / speaker diarization | Yes | Partial |
| Emails, phone and card numbers removed before any AI summary | Yes | No |
| AI summary only when you ask, never automatic | Yes | 1No (see note 1) |
- 1Granola, Otter and Fireflies write notes or a summary for every meeting on their own. Savory writes one only when you ask, one meeting at a time, and never sends a transcript anywhere until you do.
| People and follow-through | Savory | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| A page per person, not a pile of meetings | Yes | No |
| Two-way action-item ledger, per person | Yes | No |
| Knows when you last met someone, automatically | Yes | No |
| More than a meeting recorder | Savory | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Google and Apple calendars together, record any event | Yes | No |
| A notebook for your own notes (Notes mode) | Yes | No |
| Separate academic space for lectures (Student mode) | Yes | No |
| Free plan | Savory | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited meetings and minutes, free | Yes | 2No (see note 2) |
| No card to start | Yes | Yes |
- 2Granola's free plan limits meeting history; Otter's allows 300 minutes a month and 30 per conversation; Fireflies' free plan comes with fewer transcription credits. Savory transcribes on your device, so the free plan has no minute or meeting cap.
| Where cloud tools still win | Savory | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-device sync | Yes | Yes |
| Team sharing and workspaces | No | Yes |
| Windows and web apps | No | Partial |
Reflects publicly documented behavior as of July 2026. Corrections welcome via the contact page.
Where each tool wins
Where Savory wins
- Transcription runs on your own hardware, never a datacenter.
- Notes organized around people and relationships, not a pile of meetings.
- A two-way action-item ledger on every person's page.
- Full capture that works offline, with no bot in the room.
Where Granola wins
- Shared team notes and workspaces, available today.
- Notes you can reach across more devices than a Mac and iPhone.
- Advanced integrations with tools like Notion, Slack, and HubSpot on paid plans.
Pricing, side by side
The Savory app is free. Here is what each plan includes.
Savory
- Free$0the whole app on your device, forever
- Pro$19.99 a monthAI summaries and action items, first 30 days free
No card to use the app. Cancel Pro anytime.
Granola
- Free$0AI notes with limited history
- Business$14 per seat a monthunlimited history and integrations
Granola pricing as observed July 2026. Tell us if it has changed.
You do not have to switch to find out
No import, no migration, no lock-in. Run Savory alongside Granola and keep whichever earns the habit.
1Download Savory, free
The whole app on your Mac, no card. Nothing to cancel later.
2Record your next real meeting
Capture happens on your device, with no bot in the room and nothing uploaded.
3Keep Granola as long as you like
Nothing to export and nothing to migrate. Run both until Savory has earned the switch.
Savory vs Granola, answered straight
No. Savory starts fresh and builds your library from your next meeting on. Anything already in Granola stays in Granola.
No. Nothing conflicts, so you can run both and keep whichever earns the habit.
Not with Savory. Transcription runs on your Mac, so the audio never leaves the device. Granola transcribes in its cloud.
People who want their notes organized around the people they meet, on hardware they control. Granola leans toward shared team notes in the cloud.
No. It transcribes and organizes offline. Granola needs the network to generate its notes.
Try the private one first. It's free.
If the architecture argument lands, the download settles it.
Free to download · 30-day Pro trial · macOS 26+ on Apple silicon