Comparison
Ghosty Notes vs Granola
Granola is a polished, well-funded cloud notepad for meetings, and it is genuinely good at what it does. Ghosty Notes is the local-first, developer-native alternative. Here is the honest difference.
| Ghosty Notes | Granola | |
|---|---|---|
| Records without a bot in the call | Yes | Yes |
| Where transcription happens | On your device | In the cloud |
| Your audio leaves your machine | Never | Yes |
| MCP server for coding agents | Free, every tier | Business plan only |
| Free tier meeting limit | Unlimited | Limited |
| Notes stored as | Markdown on your disk | Granola's cloud |
| Runs fully offline | Yes (free mode) | No |
| Source-available to audit | Yes | No |
| Linux support | On the roadmap | No |
| Entry price | Free, Pro $9 / mo | $14 / user / mo |
Figures from public pricing and the 2026 competitive research brief. Granola raised $125M and is a serious product; the differences below are about approach, not quality.
When Granola is the better pick
- You want a mature product with mobile apps and a large team behind it.
- You are happy with cloud storage and do not need on-device privacy.
- You do not use a coding agent, so a free MCP server is not a draw.
When Ghosty Notes is the better pick
- You live in Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex and want your meetings queryable there.
- Your audio cannot go to the cloud - legal, healthcare, finance, or plain preference.
- You want to own your notes as plain markdown files, not rent them.
- You want the MCP server without paying for a Business plan.
- Unlimited free meetings matter, and a 25-meeting lifetime cap does not work.
Keep the bot-free recording. Lose the cloud.
Try the local-first alternative. Free, on your Mac, no account.
Download free for Mac