Granola alternative
The open-source, local Granola alternative
Like Granola, Nootle records meetings from your Mac with no bot in the call. Unlike Granola, it transcribes on your Mac, keeps recordings and transcripts there, and is free and open source.
Why people switch from Granola
Transcription happens on your Mac
Nootle transcribes with NVIDIA Parakeet running on your Mac. Meeting audio is never uploaded, and recordings and transcripts are stored only on your Mac. As of October 2026, Granola transcribes in the cloud.
Speaker labels beyond Me and Them
Your mic is labeled “You” and the other speakers are told apart. After the meeting, a second pass relabels speakers using the whole recording. Turn on Remember voices and Nootle names people automatically in later meetings; the voice fingerprints stay on your Mac, are opt-in, and can be deleted.
Your notes stay readable by your own tools
Export every meeting as Markdown, query your meetings from the CLI, or connect an AI assistant through the MCP server, with a read-only mode if you want one. The code is MIT-licensed, so you can see how your data is stored.
Pick the AI, or keep it all local
Summaries, chat and action items use the provider you choose: local Ollama models, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, OpenRouter or AWS Bedrock with your own key, or your Claude or ChatGPT subscription through Claude Code or Codex CLI. Local-only mode sends meeting content to local models only.
Bring your Granola history
Import transcripts you’ve exported from Granola (or Otter, Fathom, Zoom, Teams and Meet) as SRT, VTT, TXT or Markdown, then ask questions across all of them with answers that cite the transcript.
Nootle vs Granola
| Nootle | Granola | |
|---|---|---|
| Bot joins the call | No | No |
| Where transcription runs | On your Mac | In the cloud |
| Speaker labels | “You” plus each speaker told apart, relabeled after the meeting; optional named voices | “Me” and “Them” in desktop transcripts |
| Getting your notes out | Markdown export, CLI, MCP server | Encrypted its local note cache in 2026, which broke third-party scripts |
| Price | Free, open source (MIT) | Free plan with limited history; Business $14/month |
Granola details as of October 2026.
Questions
Can I move my Granola notes into Nootle?
Yes. Export your transcripts from Granola and import them into Nootle as SRT, VTT, TXT or Markdown files. They become searchable alongside the meetings you record in Nootle.
Does Nootle join my calls as a bot?
No. Nootle records your microphone and your Mac’s system audio directly, so nothing joins the call. It works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack, FaceTime and Discord.
Is Nootle really free?
Yes. Nootle is free and open source under the MIT license. If you choose a cloud AI provider for summaries with your own key, that provider bills you for your usage. Local Ollama models or your existing Claude or ChatGPT subscription avoid that.
Which Macs does it run on?
macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. Intel Macs aren’t supported.
Try Nootle free
Free and open source under the MIT license. Requires macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon.
Download for MacOr install with Homebrew:
brew tap michellemayes/nootle https://github.com/michellemayes/nootle && brew install --cask nootle