Fellow vs Granola AI: Which AI Notetaker is Better in 2026?

Choosing between Fellow and Granola AI? Both promise to transform how you capture and manage meeting notes, but they take fundamentally different approaches. Fellow positions itself as a comprehensive meeting management platform for teams, while Granola focuses on frictionless, botless recording for individuals.

After extensive hands-on testing of both platforms, we've identified clear winners in each category—and a definitive answer on which tool delivers more value overall.

Quick Verdict: Fellow Wins for Teams, Granola for Solo Users

Fellow scores 84/100 with best-in-class security, robust collaboration features, and action items that actually function as trackable tasks. Granola scores 66/100, excelling at botless recording and AI-powered search across meetings, but struggling with export limitations and integration friction.

If you work on a team and need meeting notes to flow into your existing workflow, Fellow is the clear choice. If you're an individual contributor who wants private, lightweight note-taking without bots joining your calls, Granola may work better for your needs.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Recording Approach

Both Fellow and Granola now offer botless recording options, but they handle it differently.

Granola built its entire product around botless recording. The desktop app captures audio directly from your computer, transcribing in real-time without any visible indicator to other participants. This works seamlessly once set up, though it creates disclosure challenges for external calls.

Fellow offers both bot-based and botless recording. Bot recording provides automatic disclosure since participants can see the bot on screen. The recently launched botless option works similarly to Granola but lacks automated disclosure tools for external participants.

Winner: Tie. Both offer botless recording. Fellow's bot option provides better disclosure compliance for client-facing calls.

Onboarding Experience

Getting started matters. A tool you can't figure out quickly won't get used.

Fellow (17/20) guides new users through setup with an action item checklist, feature walkthrough, and helpful chat shortcuts. You can record your first meeting within minutes of signing up. The calendar syncs automatically, and demo meetings let you explore AI outputs before your first real call.

Granola (13/20) requires a desktop app download and mandates a work email, immediately excluding freelancers and consultants using personal accounts. The onboarding video from the founder covers features well, but then guidance stops. Users are left to discover powerful features like Recipes on their own.

Winner: Fellow. Smoother setup, better guidance, and no arbitrary restrictions on email domains.

Security and Privacy

Meeting recordings capture sensitive information. Data handling policies matter.

Fellow (18/20) explicitly states they never use customer data to train AI models—a commitment most competitors won't make. Admin controls allow granular policy management including content redaction before sharing. Auto-delete options prevent meeting archives from becoming a liability.

Granola (14/20) makes smart architectural choices by not storing audio or video files. Transcription happens in real-time, then source material is discarded. However, data sharing for AI training is enabled by default, requiring users to dig into settings to opt out—a practice that feels intentionally obscure.

Winner: Fellow. Transparent data policies and stronger admin controls edge out Granola's privacy-by-design approach.

Collaboration Features

Meeting notes gain value when teams can actually work with them.

Fellow (18/20) treats meetings as collaborative workspaces. Team members can contribute to agendas before calls, with automated reminders pushing people to actually prepare. Action items function as real tasks with due dates, assignees, and direct integration with project management tools. Incomplete tasks carry forward to the next recurring meeting automatically.

Granola (13/20) keeps notes private by default, which some users appreciate. The chat feature lets you search across all meetings, which is genuinely powerful for finding past context. But creating tasks requires manual steps, and there's no automated distribution based on meeting type or participants.

Winner: Fellow. Collaboration is Fellow's core strength. Granola is designed more for individual use.

Integrations

Notes trapped in a standalone app create extra work. Integration depth determines real-world usefulness.

Fellow (14/20) connects deeply with Slack and Teams, allowing you to add agenda items directly from chat. Native integrations with Linear, Asana, and Trello mean action items can become trackable tasks without copy-paste. The Zapier integration opens additional possibilities, though some workflows require manual triggers.

Granola (10/20) offers calendar integration that works flawlessly—this is its standout feature. But other integrations feel deliberately limited. Slack sharing is manual every time. Notion integration only creates links back to Granola rather than actual Notion documents you can use in your workflows.

Most critically, Granola has no export function. Getting transcripts or notes out requires copy-paste. For a business tool handling valuable meeting data, this limitation feels like intentional lock-in.

Winner: Fellow. More integrations, deeper functionality, and actual export options.

Output Quality and Templates

The notes themselves need to be useful without extensive editing.

Fellow (16/20) produces structured summaries that are ready to share with minimal cleanup. AI notes include X-Ray links showing exactly where each point came from in the transcript. Over 500 agenda templates cover most use cases, and the AI notes templates help standardize outputs. The main weakness: AI action item detection sometimes misses items or flags conversational questions as tasks.

Granola (16/20) generates clean, focused notes without overwhelming detail. The template system (called Recipes) is intuitive once you find it. Over 40 pre-built Recipes from recognized industry figures provide solid starting points. However, templates must be applied manually after each meeting—the system doesn't learn from patterns.

Winner: Tie. Both produce quality outputs. Fellow offers more templates; Granola's outputs are slightly cleaner by default.

Who Should Choose Fellow?

Fellow is the better choice if you:

• Work on a team that needs shared meeting context
• Want action items that integrate with project management tools
• Require enterprise-grade security controls and compliance
• Need flexible bot and botless recording options
• Value transparent data policies (no AI training on your data)
• Want automated meeting prep reminders and agenda collaboration

Who Should Choose Granola?

Granola makes sense if you:

• Work primarily alone and don't need to share notes frequently
• Strongly prefer botless recording without any visible indicators
• Want a lightweight tool without extensive feature complexity
• Plan to keep all meeting data within Granola's ecosystem
• Don't need task management integration

The Bottom Line

Fellow wins this comparison with an 84/100 score versus Granola's 66/100. The 18-point gap reflects fundamental differences in philosophy: Fellow builds features that help teams work together, while Granola focuses on individual note-taking with friction around sharing.

Granola's botless approach and cross-meeting AI search are genuinely innovative. But the lack of exports, limited integrations, and manual workflows create friction that compounds over time. For a tool handling critical business information, locking users into a closed ecosystem feels like the wrong trade-off.

Fellow isn't perfect—the export options could be more discoverable, and AI action item detection needs refinement. But its collaboration features, security transparency, and integration depth make it the more complete solution for most business users.

Our recommendation: Start with Fellow if you're evaluating AI notetakers for your team. Try Granola if you're a solo user who values privacy and simplicity over integration depth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fellow or Granola better for recording without a bot?

Both now offer botless recording. Granola was built around this feature and executes it seamlessly. Fellow added botless recording more recently but also offers bot-based recording with automatic participant disclosure, making it better for client-facing calls where consent documentation matters.

Which AI notetaker has better security?

Fellow leads on security with explicit commitments to never train AI on customer data, granular admin controls, and content redaction capabilities. Granola makes smart choices by not storing audio files, but enables data sharing for AI training by default—users must opt out manually.

Can I export my meeting notes from Granola?

No. Granola has no export function for notes or transcripts. Your only option is copy-paste. Fellow allows export of AI notes and agendas, though transcript exports are in a separate menu that takes time to discover.

Which tool is better for action item tracking?

Fellow significantly outperforms Granola here. Fellow treats action items as real tasks with due dates, assignees, and project management integration. Granola can identify action items through its chat feature but presents them as plain text without task management capabilities.

Do Fellow and Granola work with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams?

Both platforms support all three major meeting platforms. Calendar integration is automatic with Google and Microsoft 365 accounts on both tools.

Which AI meeting assistant is more affordable?

Fellow's team pricing starts around $7 per user per month, while Granola's paid plans start at $18 per month per seat. For teams, Fellow offers better value. Solo users on Granola's free tier get 25 meetings monthly, though a work email is required.