Granola vs Fathom for founders: capture, notes and who gets told.
Granola vs Fathom comes down to the bot: 13 of 61 Fathom users we read call it awkward on client calls. Eleven of 93 Granola users say having none is why they chose Granola. Granola joins nothing and keeps no audio. Fathom’s bot, or its bot-free mode on some Macs, keeps a recording, a transcript and a summary. Both have free plans.
Best for: founders choosing a free notetaker for their own customer, investor and team calls.
We make GameTape, a Mac app for founders. We did not run Granola or Fathom. This page draws on each vendor’s own pages and 154 public user reports, read on 19 October 2026.
Pick on how you want the call captured.
Both free plans cover a founder’s own calls. They differ in what joins the call and what you keep afterwards.
Pick Granola if you want nothing joining your calls and mainly want clean notes. It keeps no audio or video, and the free plan shows only your last 30 days of notes.
Pick Fathom if you want a recording you can replay and share. The free plan records without a monthly limit. Its bot shows in the participant list unless your Mac has the bot-free mode.
Look past both if your problem is what happens after the call. Neither vendor documents a due date on action items, and none of the 154 users we read described either tool following one to done. GameTape, below, is built for that job.
Granola and Fathom on the same criteria.
From each vendor’s pricing and help pages, checked 19 October 2026.
| Granola | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| What joins the call | Nothing. The app captures your computer’s microphone and speaker audio | A bot named Fathom Notetaker, shown in the participant list. Bot-free capture is rolling out on Macs with macOS 14.2 or later |
| When it records | After you open the meeting’s note or start a new one | When you send the bot; it records only while you are on the call too |
| What you keep | Your notes, an AI write-up and the transcript. No audio or video | A recording, transcript, summary and clips |
| Free plan | Basic, $0: your last 30 days of notes | Free, $0: unlimited recordings; advanced summaries on your first 5 calls each month |
| Paid plans | Business $14 per user a month; Enterprise $35 | Premium $20 a month, or $16 billed yearly. Team $19 or $15 per user, two users minimum. Business $34 or $25 |
| Speaker names | Display names on Google Meet, Zoom and Teams once speaker tags are on; otherwise “Me” and “Them” | Fathom says transcripts name speakers in both modes |
| Action items | In the notes; no owner or due-date field documented | Detected with an assignee on paid plans; no due-date field in Fathom’s API |
| Devices | Mac and Windows apps capture calls; iPhone and Android apps for in-person notes | Mac and Windows desktop apps; the bot joins Zoom, Google Meet and Teams |
Prices from granola.ai/pricing and fathom.ai/pricing on 19 October 2026, in US dollars. Fathom’s lower figures are billed yearly. Sources: Granola’s help pages on transcription and speaker tags; Fathom’s help pages on bot-free capture and the free plan, and its API reference.
We read the docs and the reviews.
We did not run Granola or Fathom ourselves.
On 19 October 2026 we read each vendor’s pricing and help pages. Then we read public posts by people who use the tools: Reddit threads, App Store reviews, Hacker News comments and independent YouTube reviews. G2, Capterra, TrustRadius and Product Hunt blocked our reader, so their reviews are missing.
For Granola we counted 93 people: 74 on Reddit, 8 App Store reviewers, 8 Hacker News commenters and 3 YouTube reviewers. Fathom’s count was 61: 57 on Reddit and 4 YouTube reviewers. We counted each person once per behaviour, and we left out posts that promote another notetaker, vendor demos and sponsored videos.
The counts show what people chose to write about. They are not rates, and a problem nobody mentioned can still happen.
What users and reviewers report.
Each figure counts people, out of 93 for Granola and 61 for Fathom.
| What they report | Granola (93) | Fathom (61) |
|---|---|---|
| The bot, or the lack of one | 11 say nothing joining the call is why they use it | 13 say the visible bot is awkward on client calls; 4 say people stop noticing it |
| Summaries accurate and useful | 13 | 17 |
| Summaries miss or invent details, or run long | 10 | 1 |
| Speakers not named or not told apart | 9 | 1, in a shared room |
| Recordings that failed, or meetings missed | 5 | 2, the bot failed to join or was blocked |
| Privacy or data concerns | 5 | 6 |
| Action items with an owner and a due date, followed to done | 0 | 0 |
One consultant on Reddit tried both in August 2026. Granola gave “readable summaries and no bot jumped into the call”. Fathom “was quicker to set up and the bot joined every time, but two clients asked who the extra person on the line was.” (Reddit, r/PLAUDAI)
Five Granola users report recordings that failed or meetings it missed. “I leave it open throughout my work day and it only produces notes for ~60% of my calls,” one user wrote in February 2026 (Reddit, r/ArtificialInteligence). Granola’s docs explain part of it: it starts only when you open the meeting’s note.
Fathom’s free plan draws the most praise: 18 of the 61 mention its unlimited recording. Its help center caps the AI layer: free users get “Advanced summaries for your first 5 calls each month” (Fathom help center).
What each one does better.
Granola stays out of the call. Fathom keeps a copy of it.
Granola does better at staying out of the call. Nothing joins, nothing shows in the participant list, and you can type your own notes as the call runs. Seven users praise its integrations, including its MCP server.
Fathom does better at keeping the call. You get a recording to replay and clip, and the free plan has no recording limit. Its action items name an assignee, and Fathom syncs calls to HubSpot.
Granola’s limits start with history: Basic shows 30 days of notes. With no audio saved, you cannot replay a moment. On one shared laptop, its docs say it “cannot distinguish the individuals”.
Fathom’s bot-free capture is Mac-only and still rolling out, and free users get advanced summaries on five calls a month. Fathom’s privacy policy says it may train its own models on de-identified meeting data unless you opt out. Granola’s pricing page says the same of its anonymized data.
Choose by the call you’re recording.
Match the tool to the meetings you record most.
If a bot would raise questions on your customer and investor calls, use Granola, or Fathom’s bot-free mode if your Mac has it. Turn on a notice either way.
Fathom suits calls you want to replay, clip or share with a team. It also gives the longer free history: recordings without a monthly limit, against 30 days of notes on Granola Basic.
On Windows both apps capture calls, though Fathom’s bot-free mode there is a limited alpha.
For in-person meetings, Granola’s iPhone app labels speakers as Speaker A, Speaker B and so on. Fathom says speaker naming in hybrid rooms “may be limited at first”.
When the promise matters more than the notes.
We make GameTape. It costs more than either free plan and keeps track of what you promised.
GameTape is a Mac app for founders. It records the meetings it detects during your work hours. From each one you get who said each line, every promise with its owner and any date someone named, and coaching on your own part in the call.
Meeting review · Acme pricing call
For next time: Priya asked about price twice before you gave a number. Next call, give the number first, then ask what it has to cover.
Commitments
I owe
Send Priya the revised quote
Owed to me
Onboarding plan for Acme
Done
Send Acme the security one-pager
Closed by the tape · Sent to Priya · Tue Oct 14 4:10 pm
Illustrative. Dana is the founder using GameTape; the people and the call are made up.
A promise stays on your list until GameTape sees proof it is done, such as the email going out, or until you tick it off. If a name on the transcript is wrong, tap it and choose the right person; your fix overrides the model. You can stop taping any time to skip a meeting.
GameTape costs $95 a month. It runs on Mac only and does not give your team a shared recording library.
Who gets told they’re being recorded.
Recording laws differ by place, and some require every participant’s consent.
| Tool | During the meeting | Before the meeting | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granola | No bot joins. An optional chat message goes out once, after another person joins; Google Meet needs Granola’s Chrome extension. An optional badge can show on your video. | No email | You set up each notice in Settings |
| Fathom, bot | The bot shows in the participant list, and a recording banner shows to everyone. | Consent email 24 hours ahead, when turned on, for an external meeting you host with one guest. None for same-day meetings. | Fathom says there is “no way to silently record” |
| Fathom, no bot (Mac) | A “Recording Notice” message in the meeting chat when recording starts, or in-app consent prompts. | Consent email 24 hours ahead for external scheduled meetings, when turned on | Fathom says participants are “always notified” |
| Otter | Otter Notetaker joins as a named participant and posts a chat message with a link to the live transcript. | An email to every calendar guest, when turned on | Not stated for individuals |
| Fireflies, bot | “Fireflies.ai Notetaker” shows in the participant list. A pinned chat message, when turned on. Where the platform asks everyone for recording consent, as Zoom can, one “No” stops the recording. | An email one hour ahead with a link to decline, when turned on | Not stated for the bot. Its no-bot desktop mode turns its notices on by default |
| GameTape | No bot joins. “Tell the room” posts one line in the chat, “I’m using GameTape to take notes on this call.”, once per meeting after someone else joins. Google Meet in Chrome and Zoom only. | No email | Off until you turn it on |
Checked 19 October 2026 against Granola’s notice guide, Fathom’s pages on recording without permission and consent emails, Otter’s recording notices, Fireflies’ pages on recording consent and bot and no-bot capture, and GameTape’s own settings.
A proposed class action filed on 30 July 2026, Chamberlain v. Granola, alleges that Granola “surreptitiously intercepts, records, and interprets the communications of every participant”. These are allegations, and the court has not ruled.
Straight answers.
No. Granola sends your microphone and computer audio to its transcription provider during the call. Its help center says it does not record or save audio or video. You keep the notes and the transcript.
Partly. Fathom’s standard mode is a bot named Fathom Notetaker that shows in the participant list. A bot-free mode is rolling out on Macs running macOS 14.2 or later, and on Windows it is a limited Microsoft Teams alpha.
Fathom’s, if you want to keep calls. Fathom Free records without a monthly limit and gives advanced summaries on your first five calls each month. Granola Basic shows your last 30 days of notes and keeps no recordings.
Fathom’s bot shows in the participant list with a recording banner, and its bot-free mode posts a chat notice or shows consent prompts. Granola joins nothing. Its chat message and video badge are optional, and you set them up yourself.
Neither documents a due date. Fathom detects action items with an assignee on paid plans, but its public API has no due-date field. Granola puts action items in your notes. None of the 154 users we read described either tool following an action item to done.
No. We make GameTape, a Mac app that competes for some of the same founders. We built this page from each vendor’s pages and 154 public user reports read on 19 October 2026.
Know tomorrow morning what you promised today.
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